His parents beat the hell out of him, slapping him with shoes and, on at least one occasion, whipping him with a 16-pound girdle. His household contained “a million rules…regulations and prohibitions for almost every imaginable situation,” and he could be punished for transgressions as mild as uttering the exclamation “hot dog!” He tried being a bully and was soundly thrashed by a boy everyone acknowledged was a sissy. He cruelly sic’ed a bulldog on a scottie, which almost died when the bulldog clamped down on its throat. When he talked back to his mother, his family up and moved to a different town. Today, he’s a wildly popular advocate of corporal punishment and strict parenting who commands an international movement millions strong.

Who is he?

Ezra Klein is a former Prospect writer and current editor-in-chief at Vox. His work has appeared in the LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Slate, and The Columbia Journalism Review. He’s been a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and more.