Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for May 29, 2010

Just making up the rules as you go along, eh Danae?

I like that rule!

Ohhh…the poor guy that she marries………..

Household “peacekeeping” rules! Love it!! Danae seems to have the upper hand.

is danae trying to tell pop that she’s a lesbian?? lol

Why do all these people always want Danae to get spanked? We love Danae because she IS the way she IS. Besides, spanking is a cheap form of discipline, not to mention Danae is a COMIC character!

Doc: Joe could have had kids by adoption. So you might check the sights on the gun before you fire.

I believe Danae is a “Brat”, but a nice one. Notice she is not being brought home by police officers, nor is she into the cultures which lead to drug addiction, etc. It wouldn’t surprise me to see her experiment with tobacco (possibly the worst drug) though. Some funny possibilities there.

I love Danae. She keeps daddy on his toes!

If it weren’t for Danae, we wouldn’t have much of a comic strip.

There are roughly 6 main stereotypes that succeed in comics from the Dagwood/Jon, the Blondie, the Beetle, the Zit kid, the Soap Queen and the Brat. Wiley has managed to incorporate them at various levels in most of his stuff and that creativity along with a refining of the character is what makes his stuff enjoyable. The limited plots of life make character the thing that has to drive even a comic strip.

Danae is a BRAT. Garfield skinned, Calvin in a skirt, Bart in freeze frame. Take your pick. There are a number of them in the various comics and they are precisely that: BRATS. Purposely placed for the humor of seeing them ruin the day or someone else and exist in their own little world of personal standards that annoy everyone and get them into a heap of hurt. Perfect word which should be used a lot. We don’t have to worry about their self-esteem as we might have to about an actual person. Like if we cared about actual people. Like the ones who comment here.

so, will Victoria be a yea or a nay to Danae

;)

Hmmmm, spank Danae? Then what?

One of functions of literature (including comics) is to allow us to explore parts of ourselves that should be restrained in public. Each of us has a little Danae inside, and that’s where she should stay most of the time.

Joe is paying dearly for not giving Danae proper disciple when she was younger.

Mr. Doty, try to remember that this is a comic strip, and that none of the characters are real.

Is someone advocating child abuse by spanking {{{GASP}}}!!

J.A.Doty seems to have lost touch with reality altogether. Maybe he was spanked so hard and tooo often by his parents that it knocked all the sense out of him.

Children who are spanked become more aggressive that those who are not. They see aggression and violent behaviour as the answer to a situation. Doty was obviously spanked as a child and now sees spanking as a reasonable punishment. Q.E.D.

Joe disapproves of independent action and independent thought at any age. Don’t you people know that there are AUTHORITIES to be unquestionably obeyed?!? Parents, teachers, anybody older than you are, Bronze Age creation myths… We know what’s appropriate because we’re TOLD what’s appropriate! We’re told by Joe. Q.E.D.

Thanks freeholder1 and lonecat, for the literary explanation of the characters. It’s nice to be reminded of such things at times.

“Joe”, interesting that you would use the word ‘disciple’ instead of ‘discipline.’ “Discipline” does indeed come from the same word as “disciple” and it means to teach. Quite different from punishment -> punitive action, e.g. spanking.

Bdaysuit said, about

“If it weren’t for Danae, we wouldn’t have much of a comic strip.”

I disagree. Without her, Wiley would have a pretty good strip. The continuing episodes with Danae puts this strip on the top of the mountain.

Was Danae adopted by Joe from “The Adams Family”?

I was spanked. My sister was spanked. We were also switched. But not frequently. Neither of us is/was aggressive.

If you and your sister were switched, that sets up a whole ‘NOTHER set of problems…

@ thebird55. Thank you for standing up against the liberal position that corporal punishment produces mass-murderers.

There’s a difference between a spanking and a beating, of course, and the line is sometimes crossed. But if the child is old enough to understand reason, I don’t see how corporal punishment can be anything other than damaging. It doesn’t instill respect, it instills fear and resentment. Unless, of course, you see childrearing as a process of “breaking them to the whip.”

I believe in limited corporal punishment. But NEVER in anger.

(It doesn’t really have to hurt).

When I was a child protection worker, I told my clients that a smack on the behind – particularly if there is a well-padded diaper – doesn’t hurt the child. However, if that smack is done with a hairbrush, belt, electrical cord or any other weapon of child destruction, and particularly if it is done in anger, it does damage to more than the child’s body. One cardinal rule – don’t leave marks.

However, I don’t think Danae has done anything here or in most cases, to warrant a spanking of any kind. She usually talks back – big deal. If parents can’t handle that without resorting to child abuse, they shouldn’t be parents.

If it doesn’t hurt, where’s the punishment. I think child protection has gone too far. Parents are afraid to properly discipline their children because of all those bleeding hears out there.

I’m glad I’m not a parent. I feel as though in these days my hands are tied, and talk is ever so cheap. Kids don’t listen and have no respect for their elders.

Maybe I should have said, “It doesn’t have to really hurt”. In my experience, if you do it right the child just thinks it hurts. A little sting goes a long way. If you make it clear that you find doing this distasteful, most children view this as having let you down and don’t really want to go there again.

Obviously, the expression of anger can get carried away. It takes training to be able to instill the ‘Fear of God’ in your subject, and still maintain yourself (as the God Surrogate, authority figure).

Drill instructors learn this. They will take a young punk and make him think he’s about to die. Mostly, this works.

Parents sometimes learn it.

My three daughters got an occasional crack on the po-po (for cause), but never a complete going-over.

Never strike your child except in anger; they’ll detect the subterfuge immediately, and your attempt fails. YMMV.

Yes, spanking - teach them using physical violence. The last resort of the ignorant.

Like capital punishment: killing people to show them that killing people is wrong.

People used to think it was necessary to “spank” adult members of the community, military trainees, and prisoners. In some countries they still do. In our country, it is considered sexual battery if a person over the age of 18 is “spanked”, but only if over the age of 18.

For one thing, because the buttocks are so close to the sex organs, anal region, and so multiply linked to sexual nerve centers, striking them can trigger powerful and involuntary sexual stimulus in some people. There are numerous physiological ways in which it can be intentionally or unintentionally sexually abusive, but I won’t list them all here. One can read the testimony, documentation, and educational resources available from the website of Parents and Teachers Against Violence In Education at www.nospank.net.

Child bottom-slapping vs. DISCIPLINE:

Child bottom-slapping/battering (euphemistically labeled “spanking”,”swatting”,”switching”,”smacking”, “paddling”,or other cute-sounding names) for the purpose of gaining compliance is nothing more than an inherited bad habit.

Its a good idea for people to take a look at what they are doing, and learn how to DISCIPLINE instead of hit.

I think the reason why television shows like “Supernanny” and “Dr. Phil” are so popular is because that is precisely what many (not all) people are trying to do.

There are several reasons why child bottom-slapping isn’t a good idea. Here are some good, quick reads recommended by professionals:

Plain Talk About Spanking by Jordan Riak http://nospank.net/pt2010.pdf

The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children by Tom Johnson http://nospank.net/sdsc2.pdf

NO VITAL ORGANS THERE, So They Say by Lesli Taylor MD and Adah Maurer PhD http://nospank.net/taylor.htm

Just a handful of those helping to raise awareness of why child bottom-slapping isn’t a good idea:

American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, Center For Effective Discipline, Churches’ Network For Non-Violence, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Parenting In Jesus’ Footsteps, Global Initiative To End All Corporal Punishment of Children, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

In 26 countries, child corporal punishment is prohibited by law (with more in process). In fact, the US was the only UN member that did not ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.