I could relate somewhat to Oprah about the corporal punishment.

I am a white guy who was raised in a lower middle class family in rural northwestern U.S.—actually I feel like my childhood was similar to Robert's in a lot of ways that he describes it, even though I'm a little bit older—so obviously my situation is different. But my mother used to spank us with a wooden spoon when we did something she would get really angry about. At the time, it was considered perfectly normal. I don't blame her at all because it was the way she was raised, and I think really more a reflection of the punitive, violent attitudes inherent in U.S. culture, and I can remember her and her family members disgusted with Hollywood liberals saying you shouldn't spank your kids, which was wrong because you can't rationalize with them, quoting my grandfather who would say "pain makes the brain work," and it was the only way to teach consequences, blah blah blah. But I can tell you that while I can remember various times getting spankings, I can't remember a single reason why it happened or the lesson I was supposed to learn other than I would get hurt if I did something wrong, knowingly or not. And to this day, I have a pathological need to please people and am always waiting for the beating to come, like Oprah said. It has even exacerbated perfectionism and OCD symptoms that I have to deal with because I have an irrational fear that if I don't do things perfect at work or in other endeavors I will be punished horribly in some way.

Anyway, I was reflecting on the recent episode and felt a need to say something about it. I'm sure a lot of people from my generation, older generations, and even younger ones, though, thankfully, it has become less common, can relate.