talktomeplease
Posts: 21
Joined: 8/1/2008 Status: offline
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Destroying inanimate objects in anger is not a wonderful thing, and depending on how it was done, it might make me trust someone less, but I don't see it as abuse. And I'm female. Also, even *if* it is well-documented that abusive people start out with objects (and I'm skeptical of that), that still doesn't mean that all people who destroy objects will move on to people. That is a logical fallacy called affirming the consequent. I had a boyfriend when I was a teen who on occasion would smash his fist through walls, sometimes requiring hospital treatment. Never once did he direct this rage towards me. I still maintain contact with him today, 20 years later. He's never been abusive that I can tell, to anyone. So there's a counter-example for you all who say that anyone who smashes a phone is going to become a wife beater. I think that it's important that words not lose their meaning by trying to fit everything but the kitchen sink into them. Rape means someone forcing someone else to have sex, either by physical force, drugging, or credible threats. Talking someone into sex when they started out not really wanting to is not rape. Agreeing to sex when you're drunk and then later blaming the guy is not rape. Likewise, if we try to fit everything that we don't consider stellar behaviour into the word "abuse", the word loses meaning. And frankly, I think it's disrespectful to those who have experienced real abuse, to label smashing a phone in the same way as smashing someone's face.
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