Does Go the F**k To Sleep harm kids?

Sometimes, I think that there really are no truly stupid people in the world of journalism. Some people seem so mad, so moronic that you wonder if they spend their waking moments smearing peanut butter all over themselves and then shouting at traffic. I think that they might be putting on a facade, a farce to draw people in and gather clicks. There are a few people (and thankfully only a few) who believe that articles in The Onion are real, so why not believe that the people taking those journalists seriously are also being fooled?

Karen Spears-Zacharias, you are testing my belief to the breaking point.

In a recent opinion piece on CNN, she argues that the book 'Go the F**k to sleep' isn't funny. Which on its own is a valid opinion to have: after all, I think things like Hagar the Horrible and Wayans Brothers movies aren't funny either. But she didn't stop there. She kept on a train of thought that metaphorically ran right through the houses of the people you don't like: you want to laugh, but you just can't bring yourself to doing it.

The whole article reads like a cavalcade of stupid falling down a set of stairs. The logic has more leaps than Mario Brothers. Part of the painful realization is that she just doesn't get it.
"Nobody is suggesting that there's a connection between Adam Mansbach's book and child abuse or child neglect. Still, there's no denying the reason "Go the F*** to Sleep" should be kept out of reach of children is because of its violent language and because of the way it demeans children."

She is correct in saying that nobody conflated possession of a lighthearted humorous book about an uncooperative child with acts of immense cruelty deserving of some of the harshest penalties our society allows. But that's a notion so obvious that you don't even need to bring it up. The first clause of the second sentence is also painfully obvious. Yes, this is a book meant for adults. Of course we're not going to show it to our children. But we want to keep it out of the reach of children because they like to chew, rip and drool on things.

There is a truly unnecessary tangent that follows in which Karen plays the race card: If these same "demeaning" ideas were applied to minorities, wouldn't we all be up in arms? Children aren't a special minority class, seeing as 100% of the adult population had been a child for roughly eighteen years. And children - especially the younger ones at whom the book is centered around - are in absolute terms, quite dense. It isn't demeaning to treat a child like you know more than he or she does; you do.

In spite of all of my introspective qualities, as a child I was dumb. And I did not want to sleep. In fact, I would not sleep until all eighteen of my stuffed animals were in my crib with me. And if even one was missing, you could not try and mislead me by saying that the missing animal was in the pile somewhere: I knew. I was difficult, because I thought I knew better than my parents. Telling 4 year old me to go the F**k to sleep would have been one of the nicer options.

Topping it all off the article ends on an attempt to suck the joy out of life itself.
"The violent language of "Go the F*** to Sleep" is not the least bit funny, when one considers how many neglected children fall asleep each night praying for a parent who'd care enough to hold them, nurture them and read to them."
It is at this point that I realize that this woman is not an imbecile. She is a genius. How else do you explain the ability to find just the right way to spin this book into a feeling of incredible guilt? She probably fills piñatas with notes explaining that animal abuse is no laughing matter. Don't buy Nike shoes after she's been in the store.

So no, I don't think that the book Go the F**k to Sleep is harmful to kids any more than something like being human and having emotions like frustration is. We all get frustrated. We should just make sure we're not yelling at traffic.