Many people call men who beat and kick their own wives scum, but after the scolding is over, it's over. It has no real impact on the abusers.
They just continue the beatings. No one can stop them.
Beating your wife and kids is perfectly natural.
This was the mindset of many abusive men, and also the prevailing view of many people at the time.
When a man beats his wife and children, for neighbors and passersby, stepping in to stop it for a moment was already doing more than enough.
Anything beyond that was their family's private business. It wasn't for outsiders to manage or interfere.
At the time, there were no anti-domestic violence laws. There was no widespread sentiment against it, no ideology of protecting women by encouraging divorce in cases of abuse, and certainly no awareness that one should call the police.
And it wasn't as if the police could do anything about such "family matters" anyway.
