I felt just like you did and disagreed vehemently. Take a look at the science though and you’ll change your mind. Spanking doesn’t help in the long run and can even hurt the relationship. Your dad is a rare one as most spankers are angry when they spank.
I’ll bet that you and most of your friends did much more than spank and that spanking lasted only a very short time. As an aside, I once saw a child hit their younger sibling in the store. The mom grabbed the kid and shouted, “We don’t hit!” as she smacked him.
Any discipline, given out in anger rather than a consistent level of punishment, will not be effective.
I’ll bet that you and most of your friends did much more than spank and that spanking lasted only a very short time.
Yes, with us, prior to the spanking was a much longer discussion, confirming that the child knew the rules and the consequences.
The problem I see is not the spanking, but those that lash-out in anger, regardless of it being a backhand, or a grounding out of proportion with the act.
My point, and the experience I've seen after paying attention for decades, it that spanking is effective, if done in a controlled and consistent manner.