from usa today article
All of those allegations are false, Peterson said, repeating what he told police: He had his son take off his pants and whipped him with a switch, which he didn't realize was wrapping around the boy's thigh and leaving marks.
This is the obvious bottom line from the start of this thing. Even the initial leaked text messages indicated this and made it clear.
Anyone who has ever been a parent has made mistakes. This is just the a mountain of moral indignation (largely media driven) being made out of a simple mistake.
This is why the Vikings were right to reinstate Peterson from the start. And why they were wrong to cave to this ginned up mess.
Meanwhile the whole GD discussion has been obfuscated by the fact that beyond an inadvertent injury we are really talking about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of using corporal punishment (all while using highly charged euphemisms like "child abuse", "monster" and "child abuser" and endless discussion of the "strength" of peterson, as though when he throws darts, or plays ping pong he must surely use every bit of his physical strength with each attempt? Its just ridiculous). If we can dial it down and have a reasoned conversation debating the merits of corporal punishment is a valid discussion for society to have, but its not an issue the NFL needs to weigh in on. And yet its now an issue the NFL has decided to weigh in on.
The whole thing is just the biggest bunch of sensationalized and overwrought crap.
