Let's get some perspective

Joan Greenberg gave toddlers a lollipop, snatched it away, and took their picture. Then she gave it back. The parents were right there, approving in advance.

Is this art or is it mean? Your mileage may vary.

What it is not is child abuse.

Saying, as one social worker did, that "these children could be scarred for life" is ridiculous. A two-year-old who loses his lollipop for five minutes has not been abused, and saying he has is trivializing the very real and terrible problem of abused children. Comparing that lollilop-less kid with one who has been raped, beaten, burned, and abandoned is far, far more troubling than anything Greenberg did.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in a world where the worst thing that could ever happen to a two-year-old was somebody snatching away his candy?

We should work to make that world, not get hysterical over something which is, essentially, a meaningless episode.