Internet responds to laptop-shooting dad
Associated Press
It’s classic parent-teenager strife, revamped for the Internet age: A 15-year-old takes to Facebook to curse her parents and complain about chores and the pressures of youth. Her disgusted father videotapes and posts a lengthy rebuttal punctuated by nine gunshots as he empties his pistol into her laptop.
The bizarre tech-xecution has garnered more than 26 million views on YouTube and tens of thousands more on Facebook, touching a nerve with others tired of their kids’ attitudes but also drawing backlash from parents who have kept such desires in check, people who believe the father is the one being childish.
The furor began when Tommy Jordan of Albemarle, N.C., aired his feelings in the video he posted last week.
“You don’t have to worry about buying a new laptop battery. You don’t have to worry about buying a new power cord. You don’t have to worry about buying a new camera. Because you won’t be using any of them till probably college,” he says in the video. “I don’t know how to say how disappointed I am in you and how disrespectful you were to every single adult in your life. But, kid, you’ve got it easy, way easy. It’s about to get harder.”
Rising from his chair and picking up the video camera, he settles the image on the laptop, set on a patch of dirt among the grass. He shows his .45-caliber gun for the camera, then fires nine rounds into the computer.
Sonia Carballo, 37, of Bethlehem, Pa., found herself laughing aloud when she saw the video last week. Her three children — ages 9, 13 and 16 — air similar complaints that their mother is too strict, that she doesn’t understand, or that they have too many chores.
Dr. David Reiss, a psychiatrist, said the teen was expressing normal emotions of someone their age.
“A kid who isn’t complaining, a kid who isn’t testing limits isn’t going to grow up,” he said. “The worst thing you can do is to show inappropriate behavior as a parent. What does that lead the kid to want to do? To one-up that.”
