Spock vs. Dobson

There was a story once on DU a while back.

"My baby won't stop crying! We've tried hitting him and beating him and we did everything else that James Dobson said in his book, but he JUST WON'T STOP!!!!"

We all found it funny. Hey, even I did. But, when the laughter stopped, I hope we all came to the conclusion that someday this child will grow up and he may live a very sad life.

With James Dobson controlling more and more of America, we're forgetting that he is an 'authority' figure on child-rearing. We can't forget that.

An Alternative to Dobson is Benjamin Spock.

What are your opinions on him?

Is there anyone you know who was raised the Dobson way or the Spock way?

Oh...wait a minute...

The Dobson stuff strikes me as child abuse.

It does me too. Who the heck tells parents to beat their kids?! Who tells them to shower with you and show you their private parts to show them what a real man is about? What a sick bastard.

Kirk could hit him with that 2-hand punch.

:)

What the hell was he, some kind of fucking helpless baby?


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Oh yeah. I guess he was...

He ran against Nixon & Humphrey on the Peace & Freedom Party platform.

My first presidential vote.

1960's, railing against Benjamin Spock. Now they are elderly and retired and think Dobson is just plain looney. Of course, back then they were Republicans. . ."conservative" hero Ronald Reagan changed all that - they've been Dem ever since the air controllers were fired.

Much better. I was raised that way, and I turned out fine. I have a hard time believing that people raised under the Dobson seal of approval will spend much time out of therapy.

Remember that much of Dobson's audience consists of fundies, and unless that poor kid has been exposed to other attitudes, he probably won't even think of seeking professional help: Fundies believe that psychology is just a sham and exemplar of secular society's focus on the self and that anything that might be considered mental illness is just a matter of lack of prayer and faith.

Heh. And from a Christian stand point we've been blessed with people who care about mental illness and psychology and emotional abuse and want to help us so we should seek them if we need help. They're there for a purpose to help us.

But that was what I was taught in the Baptist church I attended as a child. (The pastor, who has since moved to another church, still does training sessions on the evils of psychology). So, I suppose it depends on whose Christian standpoint you're talking about.

The only person I was raised on in my home (my family's all Christian) was a preacher named James Watkins. I love his stuff. He's very old-timey.

James Dobson is "controlling more and more of America." He would like us to think so. He'd also like to think he and his kind are mainstream Americans. He's a constitution hating ignorant religious zealot who has to rely on fellow ignorant hating Americans for an income. His base is topped off at best.

the choir. I don't think he's anywhere near being "mainstream."
James Dobson: Child abuser Animal abuser Nut for "God"

Same thing with in the republican party. They just have way too much power in the party and loud voices. Remember the Terri Schavio thing? Not many were there in reality. Not like at anti-war protest's.

"Power of Pride" bumperstickers that adorn many a car here in Michigan. A dead give-away that the driver is a "Focus on the Family" type.

My sister in-law flew one of those bad boy stickers until I sharpied "gay" (not that there's anything wrong with that, either)before the "pride". It was so tiny that only someone opening the hatch would notice it. I still snicker when I think of it, because her 3 home-schooled boys are SO homophobic.

I like the stickers that say "Focus on your OWN DAMN FAMILY!"

As regards his childrearing, it is heavy on the rod, lots of punishment.

but what has recently been on my mind about him is his instructions to men on how to "prevent" your son from becoming gay. He says that little boys become gay because dads aren't manly enough. One of the best things a dad can do is to shower with their son so the child can see a "manly penis" (I'm not making this up), and therefore become more secure in "manhood" rather than "gayness".

I was raised with spankings with a belt on the butt, (wearing my jeans). My wife got a belt on the legs. We raised both kids without spanking, and they were well behaved, disciplined, smart, creative, democrats!!!, good humored. That of course is anecdotal, but does seem to show that you don't always parent like you were parented, and its not necessary to beat a child to have desired outcomes.

And that is so sick. Ugh. Isn't that on the line of porno? I got spankings here and there but my brother and I turned out pretty well.

In fact, I find it hard to believe he ever learned a damn thing in graduate school. He is a piece of shit. And I say this as a clinical psychologist, professional courtesy be damned. He deserves no courtesy of any kind. Somebody pour some water on this religio - christo-fundo-pile of crap.

I'm sure there are lots of people better than him.

Obviously, the political differences between Dr. Spock and Dr.(?) Dobson are enormous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Spock

Spock was politically outspoken and active in the movement to end the Vietnam War. In 1968 he was prosecuted by then Attorney General Ramsey Clark, alongside four other men, on charges of conspiracy to counsel, aid, and abet resistance to the draft. Spock and three of his alleged co-conspirators were convicted although the five had never been in the same room together. His two-year prison sentence was never served, as the case was appealed and in 1969 a federal court set aside his conviction.

Spock was the People's Party candidate in the 1972 United States presidential election with a platform that called for free medical care, the legalization of abortion and marijuana, a guaranteed minimum income for families and the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from foreign countries. <2> In the 1970s and 1980s, Spock demonstrated and gave lectures against nuclear weapons and cuts in social welfare programs.

In 1972, Spock, Julius Hobson (his Vice Presidential candidate), Linda Jenness (Socialist Workers Party Presidential candidate) and Socialist Workers Party Vice Presidential candidate Andrew Pulley wrote to Major General Bert A. David, commanding officer of Fort Dix, asking for permission to distribute campaign literature and to hold an election-related campaign meeting. Based on Fort Dix regulations 210-26 and 210-27, General David refused the request. Spock, Hobson, Jenness, Pulley and others then filed a case that ultimately made its way to the United States Supreme Court (424 U.S. 828 -- Greer, Commander, Fort Dix Military Reservation, et al., v. Spock et al), which ruled against the plaintiffs

...this.

Thank you NYCGirl.
Funny how Ramsey Clark is the "militant" now!

Shudder......The first time I saw his face, I had no idea who he was but I shuddered and had the feeling I was looking at a hateful, evil man. Later I found out who he was and was stunned at the accuracy of my perception.

My favorite child expert is Dr. William Sears. Quite the opposite of Dobson.

BTW, my child is turning out just fine so far with Dr. Sear's advice.