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In the midst of all the television talk about domestic violence and the NFL over the weekend, with players and even sportscasters suspended for what they've done and said, the most appalling comments came on CBS' "NFL Today" when guest Charles Barkley defended child abuse.

That's harsh, but that's what happened. Barkley defended Adrian Peterson abusing his child. If you've seen the pictures of what Peterson did to his 4-year-old son, beating him with a branch, there's no gray area. There is no defense. That is child abuse.

CBS' Boomer Esiason hit it on the head when he said. "That guy should never be on the field again. I don't want to hear about how he grew up, what he learned. This was a whipping of a 4-year-old boy for God's sake!"

But Barkley, a guest with Jim Rome, came to Peterson's defense. And painted Southerners and African-Americans with a very broad brush as child abusers.

"I'm from the South," he said. "I understand Boomer's rage and anger … but he's a white guy and I'm a black guy. … I'm from the South. Whipping — we do that all the time. Every black parent in the South is going to be in jail under those circumstances."

When Rome argued that "right is right and wrong is wrong," Barkley argued back.

"I don't believe that because, listen, we spank kids in the South," he said. "I think the question about whether Adrian Peterson went overboard — listen, Jim, we all grow up in different environments. Every black parent in my neighborhood in the South would be in trouble or in jail under those circumstances."

You've got to wonder how every black parent in his neighborhood feels about Barkley calling them out like this. You've got to wonder how Southerners in general feel about Barkley's characterization of them.

Barkley went on to argue that "we have to really be careful trying to teach other parents how to discipline their kids. That's a very fine line."

No, it's not. If you beat your child with a stick, causing bruising and drawing blood, you've crossed far over that line.

And arguing that it's OK because that's how you were raised just doesn't cut it.

It could be that Barkley was a lone voice in the wilderness with his defense of child abuse. But there was Hans Olsen on The Zone local talk radio stations 1280 AM and 97.5 FM on Monday afternoon praising Barkley's statements, expressing concern about anyone telling parents how to parent, and agreeing that there's a "fine line" between discipline and abuse. His co-host, Scott Garrard, agreed with him.

Again, no, there's not. There's no fine line when it comes to bruises and bleeding. It's troubling that Barkley could make that argument; it's equally troubling that anyone could agree with him.

Just days ago, both the San Francisco 49ers and the Pac-12 Network suspended sportscaster Ted Robinson for two games after he said on his radio show that Ray Rice's wife, Janay, was partly to blame for what happened to her because she didn't speak up.

"That, to me, is the saddest part of it," he said.

Compare that to Barkley's defense of child abuse. We all have freedom of speech, but we don't have freedom from the consequences of what we say.

Barkley doesn't work for CBS. He works for TNT as an NBA analyst.

How TNT does or does not deal with Barkley will tell us a lot about TNT.

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.