There are few excuses for striking one's child and none for striking one's spouse. The sometimes quite extreme brutality with which many parents treat their children in the African diaspora (and I think especially in the caribbean, though that could be just my perspective) is a direct legacy of slavery. (Both in the sense of imitating massa's whip, and trying desperately to save your kids from experiencing that worser whip by trying to keep em on the straight and narrow through hardcore physical discipline). People say "I got my butt whupped as a kid and I turned out OK", well that's their own opinion that they turned out OK. A lot of people might have a different opinion. I didn't get beat a lot by my parents growing up but I did get beat a lot at school, for the most minor nonsense or literally for nothing at all, this is by no means a good example to teach youths. Recently I even read bout a teacher back home (Guyana) breaking a child's hand whilst beating him. If that was my child I woulda broke the teacher's damn hand and took the consequences.
It should flippin well go without saying in this day and age that it's unacceptable to beat your spouse, especially if you're a male. I mean, OK, if your wife is six seven and you're five foot and scrawny and she's coming at you with a knife, by all means defend yourself. But we all know that's not usually the case. Usually the case is males defending their fragile little egos by using their big ol muscles to beat the crap out of females who "get out of line". That crap has gotta stop and it's disgusting that there are still people in this day and age on a Rasta messageboard promoting that backwards crap. That was supposed to be thrown out long time ago. Yeah I know wombman can use their tongues as quite a nasty weapon sometimes but there is no excuse to throw blows. Hell, a girlfriend of mine done punched me in the face and drew blood and I ain't hit her back(I was asking for it kinda, LOL... I hit the wall instead LOL)... there should be no excuses for that crap. It's a new day, new time, new feeling, a new sign, oh what a new day...