You can tell a lot about a society by its taboos. Several weeks ago, America reeled when Adrian Petersonâ??the great NFL running back of his generationâ??was indicted on charges of â??reckless or negligent injury to a child.â? Peterson is alleged to have disciplined his son by â??whoopingâ? himâ??these are Petersonâ??s words, not mineâ??with a â??switch.â? The child, a 4-year-old boy, suffered cuts on his backside and thighs. For this act, which 50 years ago was commonplace, Peterson was arrested, suspended by his employer (the Minnesota Vikings), and publicly castigated by all and sundry.
Unremarked upon was the fact that the 29-year-old Peterson does not live with this boy and reportedly has seven childrenâ??that we currently know aboutâ??with five different women. Which illustrates nicely the changing mores in America: Corporal punishment is a scandal, or even a crime, but there is no judgment about men who father children out of wedlock and then abandon the vulnerable mothers and children. Yet only one of these pathologies poses an existential threat to our society. This problem, which scientists refer to as â??family fragmentation,â? is the subject of Mitch Pearlsteinâ??s new book.
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