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A. Pedant

 
The smacking debate, again

I shall be too busy to make a considered posting today. However, given the resurgence of the debate on smacking children, I have to repeat part of an earlier blog to make my position quite clear:

There are many common sense reasons for us to continue physical punishment of children. Firstly, the majority of the population is in favour of it so they must be right, mustn't they?

There have been so many occasions on which British legislation has flown in the face of public opinion: race relations, the wearing of crash helmets, the wearing of seat belts, speed limits and, of course, the abolition of the death penalty. These all represent infringements of individual freedom. It's about time we stopped allowing such namby-pamby restrictions on our civil liberties.

There is another, perhaps stronger, reason to keep our laws on punishment unchanged, in particular among the upper classes. How otherwise can we be sure that there is a continuing supply of children that accept, or even like physical punishment? We would not want 'le vice Anglais' to die out, would we? Flagellation is such an integral part of sexuality, that we must, on no account, do anything to suggest that it is wrong. Half the House of Lords wouldn't know what to do in the brothel, otherwise.

I should perhaps have included MPs, as well, given the reluctance of the administration to have a debate on the subject..


posted by josh at 7:09 am