When Tommy Jordan came across a bad-mouthing Facebook post written by his 15-year-old daughter, he chose not to ground her or cut off her Facebook access. And a simple comment on her wall just wouldn’t do. He decided, quickly and effectively, to pump her laptop full of bullets.
All of this, sure enough, was filmed by Jordan himself and uploaded to YouTube. The video is a whopping eight minutes long, with more than seven minutes of exposition before the bullets start flying. But that hasn’t deterred nearly 19 million views (and counting) of the video of Jordan giving his daughter Hannah a verbal lashing – and then taking out the remainder of his anger on the laptop.
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This dramatic situation started when Jordan discovered a Facebook post from Hannah, complaining about her daily life at home. The note, which Jordan read and analyzed in his sit-down chat with the camera, takes issue with the slew of chores she’s forced to do each day. “To my parents: I’m not your damn slave,” the note begins. The teenage angst bleeds from the note, as Hannah proposes that her parents pay her for the chores that she does. This point, in particular, sets off Jordan, an IT worker from Albemarle, N.C., who proceeds to delineate how entitled Hannah sounds in the note. But that wasn’t the only punishment he planned for his daughter’s supposedly “hard” life.
“That right there is your laptop,” he explains, filming the newly-upgraded computer perched vulnerably in the grass. “This right here is my .45.” A quick cock of the gun, and Hannah’s laptop takes a shot through the screen. In the next 30 seconds, he proceeds to empty his gun, and the bullets shatter the computer’s plastic shell.
Naturally, the video has inspired an onslaught of commentary, from shocked teens distraught that a father could do such a thing, to praise from other parents equally annoyed at their children’s complaints. But Jordan has affirmed on Facebook that it’s outside observers that are the most outraged – enough to inspired Child Protective Services to show up at his home. “My wife is OK with it. My daughter is OK with it. My Mother is OK with it. I’m OK with it. We’re the only ones that matter,” he posted.
Though what rings truest is the idea that nothing is private online. Perhaps Hannah will ponder that as she faces an untold amount of time cut off from the Internet.
