> Nonetheless the empirical observations made in this article seem to be in direct opposition to multiple other sources of data we have. That seems bad. More specifically it suggests the article is suffering greatly from selection bias and its conclusions are therefore suspect.
Yes, the article is overly broad if you take it to mean 'all Inuit', but I don't think that's a reasonable reading of the article. This is a 'feel-good' story talking about ideals of child raising in an Inuit town. Scott objects to this narrative, so he collects negative evidence to debunk the article. He isn't picking neutral counter-evidence, he is exclusively saying that Inuit abuse their kids and each other:
- "protesting Canada's anti-child-abuse policy": this cannot be discussed without the context of history mass child-separation by the Government.
- Interviews of "how things were in the traditional old days.": This book interviewed elders in 2000, which means they grew up in the Residential School era. The white culture approved of corporal punishment at the time, and the residential schools used most corporal punishment than average. Scott is focusing just on the existence of spanking, and is ignoring the ideals the interviewees express.
> Ilisapi: Some of us tended to take out our frustration on our children when it was our husband who we were angry at. Even if the child had done nothing wrong, if he made one small mistake, we took out our frustration on him. If children were treated like that, they could be damaged. It was their spouse they were angry at in the first place but they took their frustration out on their child. That is not the way to treat a child. It is not good.
...
> Tipuula: Yes. When they are finished crying and are feeling better, that is a good time to talk to them. You need to explain the situation. Let them know you do not like spanking them but what they did required discipline. Once they understand that, they will feel closer to the mother or the father. Things are completely different today. We only reprimand our children verbally because we are not allowed to use physical discipline with our children anymore.
- "(some of these are adult abuse statistics rather than child abuse statistics, but if adult Inuit never get angry or act impulsively, why are they doing all this abusing?)": This is straight-up character assassination. This is the point which I most object to, not because the abuse statistics are wrong, but because it is being used to discredit the ideals of a community.