By dying, on August 21 Dr. James Dobson, evangelical thought leader, anti-gay activist, and staunch defender of child abuse, did the only good thing he ever did with his life.
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His most famous work, 1970’s Dare To Discipline, stands as both his entry into the public consciousness and as an early salvo of his views. It endorses hitting toddlers as young as two and three years old (pg. 40 & 41, et al)*. It praises trauma bonding–which is classified as a form of abuse by many actual practicing psychologists, for the record–as a genuine expression of parental love (ch.1 p.2, pg. 23), bemoans the lack of stick-beatings in the classroom (ch. 3, pg.81) and spends a good deal of a book on raising children decrying the ACLU (pg. 87), the agency of women (pg. 39 & 40, et al), birth control (pg. 146), and most if not all expressions of human sexuality (ch. 5).
A follow-up, 1978’s The Strong Willed Child, begins by recounting a time he beat the shit out of his dog (p. 11-14) and goes on to extol the virtues of doing the same to children.
The author does state at the end that they don’t believe in an afterlife. The title is meant to be more provocative to draw in theistic readers.
I agree with your comment. He escaped all accountability while inflicting suffering and feeling morally justified in it. Makes me sick to my stomach.
I was too angry by the end to notice that. The bullshit these idiots peddle and the damage they’ve done to our society truly pisses me off. Like it’s hard for me to see past that now.
I wish this wasn’t true, but I’m becoming blinded by my disdain, to the point I can’t even read anymore.
Did you see they’ve done a trial run of their red heifer sacrifice in Israel? Apparently Mike Johnson was there for the pre-ceremony. I literally can’t.
e: link.
e2: when the house is burning down should we be debating which shades of yellow we’re seeing?