Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Thursday, November 24, 2005

(James Dobson)

On November 14, Focus on the Family launched a sickening national ad campaign for it's TroubledWith web site that teaches hate and offers free advice on how to screw up one's family. It includes a variety of backwards and outdated advice from pseudo experts.

The campaign features a 30-second television commercial that will run in Times Square and during The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil in the New York market. The campaign will conclude with a grassroots effort along the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route with volunteers distributing TroubledWith.com promotional items. Folks, if you see these creeps handing out offensive knick-knacks, please give them a piece of your mind. I certainly will if I attend the parade.

The only silver lining to this garbage, is that Fucking Up The Family is giving us a glimpse on who they really are. For example, on the web-site, James Dobson talks fondly of how his mother once sent him to the woodshed to make a paddle that she could beat him with.

"My mother always used a small switch, which could not do any permanent damage," Dobson wrote. "But it stung enough to send a very clear message. One day when I had pushed her to the limit, she actually sent me to the backyard to cut my own instrument of punishment. I brought back a tiny little twig about seven inches long. She could not have generated anything more than a tickle with it. She never sent me on that fool's errand again."

What loving family values! After reading this heart-warming story, I can see why Dobson is such an abusive tyrant. It really wasn't his fault, just the disastrous way he was raised. By beating him, his parents created a monster.

Dobson's lowbrow morals are apparent when he discusses his view of a working mom dividing daily chores with her husband.

You might ask the married woman, "Where is your husband and father in all this exertion? Why isn't he carrying his share of the homework?" Well, he may be working a fifteen-hour day at his own job. Getting started in a business or a profession often demands that kind of commitment. Or he may simply choose not to help his wife. That is a common complaint among working mothers. "Not fair," you say. I agree, but that's the way the system often works.

Just the way the system works? No, in happy, functioning families (particularly gay families) the chores are divided equally. It seems to me like Dobson is placing the primary burden on working moms and letting lazy fathers have a pass. If you ask me, this patriarchal attitude is why divorce has exploded in America. With shallow, misogynistic answers such as this, Dobson is actually contributing to the divorce rate.

The bottom line is Dobson is partially responsible for creating the very problems he is attempting to fix. This new website is a disgrace to cyberspace.

4 Comments:

My observations about the unesteemed Dobson is that he is the product of an abusive and oppressive upbringing, highly prejudiced and racist. That is pretty much what his organization is all about: letting the inferiors know their place in the world and using force and violence to keep them there. It would be shocking to know just how much spousal and child abuse this sick bastard has caused, not to mention the number of families shattered as christians show their unique brand of love and toss their gay and lesbian children out on the street as Alan Keyes did to his daughter last year. As well, history has shown the results of creating a good ole boys club mentality, the same is happening in the churches of these utter fools. I do beg the question about how far do they think their southern back bush thinking is going to go in New York City?
posted by Anonymous, at 11/23/2005 10:23 PM

Yes, and it's no coincidence that those 2 teenagers in the news of late who murdered the girls parents (the boyfriend did the deed) and ran away together, only to be caught in another state, were BOTH from home-schooled uberchristian families. It also came to light that they were having sex---OMG!---good christian robots dont do that!!
You dont need to be a psych major to see that dobson, falwell and the rest of their ilk were abused as children and are only spreading their poison to the next generations. In the past people like this had Witches and Jews to burn and more recently African Americans to lynch. The only scapegoat left for them to project all their rage onto are Gays, Lesbians and other sexual minorites. Hence their unending and totally sick obsession with us!
Gary (NJ)
ps..that goes for the pope too who was raised under uncle adolf.
posted by Anonymous, at 11/24/2005 8:28 AM

The annoying thing about conservatives and liberals in general is their love of extremes. For instance, liberals would have it that raising one's voice to a child is abusive and criminal - apparently in an attempt to seperate themselves from conservatives' stories of getting a spanking. I'm gay, well-adjusted, and successful. If I had a spanking or twenty along the way, who can say my parents were not right?
Yes, liberals, you can cry out against child abuse. Yes, conservatives, you can glorify the old days. Just try to remember you have a point.
posted by Anonymous, at 11/30/2005 12:12 AM

I never have or never will understand the left wing, liberal, inconsistent, putting words in other people’s mouths, screwed up way of thinking you all share. You guys are exactly what is wrong with this nation. You are classic example of wanting someone else to look bad, so desperately, that you are willing to make yourself look like a fool to do so. Your complaints about Doctor Dobson are based on half truths and whole lies, quotes he never said, and beliefs he never held. You say negative things about the man, while having nothing to back it up with. You make the claim that the website “teaches hate and free advice on how to screw up ones life.” I’m asking you to give me an example. You make the claim that his mother made young Dobson fashion a paddle so she could beat him. Look up the two words, spank, and beat, and you will quickly realize the error of your statement. Last but not least, how you came up with this one is completely unfathomable. In regards to the working mother doing housework, you say he is for uneven distribution of household chores. He said and I quote, “Not fair you say, I agree.” You built your case on this man on the exact opposite of what he is saying. Look all I am trying to say is this. If you have a legitimate complaint with what this man stands for, by all means speak you mind, but I beg of you, for your sake, speak truth, and be honest. James Dobson is full of wisdom, and knows, and wants what’s best for us all.
posted by amark, at 12/21/2006 4:31 AM