In truth, Dr. Dobson created his so-called empire more than three decades ago to help husbands and wives be better spouses, to help parents raise healthy and godly children and to help Christians walk out their faith with consistency, boldness and compassion.

"On p. 135 Dobson is asked this question: "Q: How long do you think a child should be allowed to cry after being punished or spanked? Is there a limit? A: Yes, I believe there should be a limit. As long as the tears represent a genuine release of emotion, they should be permitted to fall. But crying can quickly change from inner sobbing to an expression of protest aimed at punishing the enemy. Real crying usually lasts two minutes or less but may continue for five. After that point, the child is merely complaining, and the change can be recognized in the tone and intensity of his voice. I would require him to stop the protest crying, usually by offering him a little more of whatever caused the original tears."

On p.136 Dobson recommends using a switch or paddle to beat children. (link above)

On p.137 Dobson says "The spanking may be too gentle. If it doesn't hurt, it doesn't motivate a child to avoid the consequence next time. A slap with the hand on the bottom of a diapered two-year-old is not a deterrent to anything. Be sure the child gets the message."

James Dobson and religiously motivated child abuse (new window)

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what Subby is calling stupid with the tag. The Activists or James Dobson. If the former, I would tend to disagree. If the latter, well, that's what we call "pointing out the obvious."

I'm no fan of Dobson, but the gay activist sounds like an AW Drama Queen.

Pulled of the site for Dr. Dobson's show:

To confront the pro-gay theology, then, is to confront a deceptive element of our time -- the tendency to subjugate objective truth to subjective experience.

A portion of his time to the air has been dedicated to confrontationalism and regardless of how well thought out the arguments are, that will piss off a bunch of folks who have been targetted. Dobson is an adult who makes a living with his opinion and he can deal with the consequences of that.

The only thing that strikes me as lame about the whole thing though, FTFA:

Bruce DuMont, chairman of the hall of fame, said Dr. Dobson meets the requirements for induction.

"Our only criterion is the number of years in the business," he told the Chicago Reader.

Great way to make this distinction look like those little league trophies that even the kid who spent the entire season picking his nose gets.

Also from FTFA:
"It's not everyone today who is willing to stand up and do right in the face of the acidic criticism that comes from activists like Wayne Besen," he said.

My office archenemy said "oh damn, really sorry you lost your keys" and yet that is still the most disingenuous thing I have encountered today. This is a peaceful and often reasoned discourse, not the abject hate and possibility of death many others have had to face to make their stand. Dobson should feel thankful for that, and I know many members of the LGBT community do.

I'm going to have to distribute the asshole quotient here as 3 parts to Dobson to 1 part protester.

Suicidal Writer: "On p. 135 Dobson is asked this question: "Q: How long do you think a child should be allowed to cry after being punished or spanked? Is there a limit? A: Yes, I believe there should be a limit. As long as the tears represent a genuine release of emotion ...

Pretty farking rational to me. Kids NEED to be whupped, for proper reason.

Like Mama Thomas used take Raj's belt from him back on WHAT'S HAPPENING.

Inducting a guy who is pro-censorship and discriminatory into a broadcast hall fame. Real nice.

You know who else had their own nationwide radio program?

rocinante721: Pretty farking rational to me. Kids NEED to be whupped, for proper reason.

If someone is to be hit, they should be able to fight back. Whupping children is child abuse, just like sexual molestation.

Suicidal Writer: Whupping children is child abuse, just like sexual molestation.

lolwut

Suicidal Writer: If someone is to be hit, they should be able to fight back. Whupping children is child abuse, just like sexual molestation

You just became irrational there. There is a huge difference between spanking a child for disciplinary reasons, and sticking a dick in their ass Hoss.

I hate James Dobson but I advocate tormenting children so I'm a little torn on where to land in this thread.

sepuku2: You just became irrational there.

Pretty sure Suicidal Writer passed that milestone a looong time ago.

I'm sadly disappointed in all of you at the lack of funny protest sign pics in this thread.

Tsk tsk.

Dr. Dobson on how to keep your son from becoming teh ghey:

"Meanwhile, the boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."

Now, imagine that being read in Dobson's (not exactly manly) voice.

/shudders

Okay, tell you what...

The minute, the very MINUTE, one of the gay activists shows up with a sign saying that God is killing our troops because Dobson is getting inducted into the hall of fame...

Let me know, and I'll gladly pull my support for the protesters.

... He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard


This skill has proven very useful for me throughout my life..

Wasn't it Dobson who's analogy for how to raise your children was about how he beat his dog?

Didn't his son turn out gay? Wait, no... that was Hubbard.

/same craziness, different cult.

Suicidal Writer: If someone is to be hit, they should be able to fight back. Whupping children is child abuse, just like sexual molestation.

Both are cases of parents or guardians using the child as object, and physical abuse would be a crime had it been against an adult, namely a spouse or relative. The same rationale in favor of child abuse was historically enshrined in law to deal with disobedient wives (and slaves also).

One of the common excuses of pedophiles is that they were doing it for the child's own good, or to educate them. Similar to the reasons for the physical abuse of children in order to subjugate them to the parental figure and objectify them.

Not surprisingly, America lags behind many countries in the area of children's rights.

Fifteen states in Europe ban corporal punishment of children both in the home and elsewhere: Sweden (1979), Finland (1983), Norway (1987), Austria (1989), Cyprus (1994), Italy (1996), Denmark (1997), Latvia (1998), Croatia (1999), Bulgaria (2000), Germany (2000), Israel (2000), Iceland (2003), Romania (2004), Ukraine (2004), Hungary (2005), Greece (2007), Netherlands (2007), and Portugal (2007). 15
bullet There are a few non-European countries that also ban corporal punishment: New Zealand (2007), Uruguay (2007), and Venezuela (2007).

Legal status of spanking. (new window)

CagedDepravity: He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger. He can teach him to pound a big peg into a little round hole."

There we go, I fixed that. We all know what he really meant :D

Diogenes: Inducting a guy who is pro-censorship and discriminatory into a broadcast hall fame. Real nice.

The Radio Hall of Fame is a crapfest some dude is trying to get started. Howard Stern turned it down (again) because he recognizes that it's just another publicity stunt by someone that can't get famous on their own.

Now that article was fair and balanced...

Spanky_McFarksalot: I'm sadly disappointed in all of you at the lack of funny protest sign pics in this thread.

Tsk tsk.

vernonFL: You know who else had their own nationwide radio program?

And I thought Charlie Chaplin's silent films wouldn't translate well to radio.

CagedDepravity: He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."

Son, have you ever watched Gladiator movies?

FTFA: Gay activist Wayne Besen, who reportedly preferred Howard Stern to win the popular vote, plans to protest the Chicago event.

He's called Dr. Dobson "an extremist who has built his empire on the backs of gays and lesbians"


Didn't Stern build his empire on the backs of lesbians?

/Just sayin'

Spanky_McFarksalot: I'm sadly disappointed in all of you at the lack of funny protest sign pics in this thread.

Tsk tsk.

I'm glad the office is nearly empty today, because that one had me bust up laughing.

Radio hall of fame? wasn't radio good for about 6 weeks in the 60s?

Darconix: I really wish that gay rights activists would stop giving off the suggestion that they live in a state analogous to Nazi Germany because people express moral opposition to their lifestyle. It's called freedom of expression, people. You're free to think that heteros live "morally repugnant" lives and express as much as freely and openly as you like.

No one is preventing you from living your life, and people who commit crimes are prosecuted. I know that gay rights activists are given to being overly dramatic, but Jesus tap-dancing Christ!

THIS

Darconix: I really wish that gay rights activists would stop giving off the suggestion that they live in a state analogous to Nazi Germany because people express moral opposition to their lifestyle. It's called freedom of expression, people. You're free to think that heteros live "morally repugnant" lives and express as much as freely and openly as you like.

No one is preventing you from living your life, and people who commit crimes are prosecuted. I know that gay rights activists are given to being overly dramatic, but Jesus tap-dancing Christ!

You'd feel oppressed too if you spent day and night fighting for equal rights and all you got for your troubles was a dick up your ass.

PC LOAD LETTER: CagedDepravity: He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."

Son, have you ever watched Gladiator movies?

Didn't Dane Cook make that joke?

Holy crap,

Dane Cook made a joke

/Seriously, anyone remember what comic said that?

Darconix: Memes Ate My Balls: This is a peaceful and often reasoned discourse, not the abject hate and possibility of death many others have had to face to make their stand. Dobson should feel thankful for that, and I know many members of the LGBT community do.

I really wish that gay rights activists would stop giving off the suggestion that they live in a state analogous to Nazi Germany because people express moral opposition to their lifestyle. It's called freedom of expression, people. You're free to think that heteros live "morally repugnant" lives and express as much as freely and openly as you like.

No one is preventing you from living your life, and people who commit crimes are prosecuted. I know that gay rights activists are given to being overly dramatic, but Jesus tap-dancing Christ!

I don't know how many people are seriously drawing connections with Nazi Germany, but...

James Dobson isn't just some radio personality douchebag. He runs a political group bent on restricting gay rights and preventing gays from getting equal rights. Dobson himself has the ear of many conservative politicians, and has demonized homosexuals by saying, among other things, that a law banning descrimination based on sexual orientation would mean that "every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence."

CagedDepravity: Dr. Dobson on how to keep your son from becoming teh ghey:

"Meanwhile, the boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."

Now, imagine that being read in Dobson's (not exactly manly) voice.

/shudders

He's a psychologist, so I'm sure he's perfectly aware of every last Freudian undertone in everything he said there. Which just means it's intentional conditioning - practically trying to brainwash your kid into being straight.

Which is completely farked.

You don't want your kid to be gay. Fine. Whatever. But you're consciously going to condition him into being straight like he's some kind of lab rat?

Bloody William: Seriously, anyone remember what comic said that?

Peter Graves (Captain Over) in Airplane!

My email to Bruce DuMont (brucedumont "at" museum.tv), chairman of the National Radio Hall of Fame:

Dear Mr. DuMont,

As you know, radio is a neutral technology that can be used to entertain or inspire, to promote happiness and well-being or to incite darker emotions. Any recognition of the role that a broadcaster has played in this industry should not be made independent of the values that broadcaster reflects. It is in no way appropriate for you to honor a speaker such as Dr. James Dobson, whose message of bigotry has caused and continues to cause incalculable harm to families across our country. Please look beyond your formulaic criteria and recognize that inducting Dobson in a slap in the face to the millions of Americans whose lives he has devalued and disrespected.

Sincerely
. . .

Don't use the email form on TFA's site; that's just giving your contact information to Focus on the Family.

vernonFL: Bloody William: Seriously, anyone remember what comic said that?

Peter Graves (Captain Over) in Airplane!

No, not the gladiator films thing. The bit that "I'm gonna show my kid my dong when he's really little and then never again, and all his life he'll think his daddy had the biggest johnson in the world!"

Suicidal Writer: Suicidal Writer: If someone is to be hit, they should be able to fight back. Whupping children is child abuse, just like sexual molestation.

Both are cases of parents or guardians using the child as object, and physical abuse would be a crime had it been against an adult, namely a spouse or relative. The same rationale in favor of child abuse was historically enshrined in law to deal with disobedient wives (and slaves also).

One of the common excuses of pedophiles is that they were doing it for the child's own good, or to educate them. Similar to the reasons for the physical abuse of children in order to subjugate them to the parental figure and objectify them.

Not surprisingly, America lags behind many countries in the area of children's rights.

Fifteen states in Europe ban corporal punishment of children both in the home and elsewhere: Sweden (1979), Finland (1983), Norway (1987), Austria (1989), Cyprus (1994), Italy (1996), Denmark (1997), Latvia (1998), Croatia (1999), Bulgaria (2000), Germany (2000), Israel (2000), Iceland (2003), Romania (2004), Ukraine (2004), Hungary (2005), Greece (2007), Netherlands (2007), and Portugal (2007). 15
bullet There are a few non-European countries that also ban corporal punishment: New Zealand (2007), Uruguay (2007), and Venezuela (2007).

Legal status of spanking. (new window)

More and more I start to think that someone took inspiration from the idea of the "Bevetsbot", threw some code together, refocused the monstrosity onto other topics, renamed it "Suicidal Writer", and set it loose on TotalFark.

For what cruel purpose, I don't know quite know.

vernonFL: I'm no fan of Dobson, but the gay activist sounds like an AW Drama Queen.

Well DUH!

But Dobson has that nice story where the use of a hot iron was a great tool to control a disobedient child and made him the man he is today. Lovely.

Your Faith is Creepy: My email to Bruce DuMont (brucedumont "at" museum.tv), chairman of the National Radio Hall of Fame:

Dear Mr. DuMont,

As you know, radio is a neutral technology that can be used to entertain or inspire, to promote happiness and well-being or to incite darker emotions. Any recognition of the role that a broadcaster has played in this industry should not be made independent of the values that broadcaster reflects. It is in no way appropriate for you to honor a speaker such as Dr. James Dobson, whose message of bigotry has caused and continues to cause incalculable harm to families across our country. Please look beyond your formulaic criteria and recognize that inducting Dobson in a slap in the face to the millions of Americans whose lives he has devalued and disrespected.

Sincerely
. . .

Don't use the email form on TFA's site; that's just giving your contact information to Focus on the Family.

And to the TSA for inclusion on the No Fly List.

CagedDepravity: He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."

Seems Dobson likes the idea of naked little boys in the shower with him.

I Said: Darconix: I really wish that gay rights activists would stop giving off the suggestion that they live in a state analogous to Nazi Germany because people express moral opposition to their lifestyle. It's called freedom of expression, people. You're free to think that heteros live "morally repugnant" lives and express as much as freely and openly as you like.

No one is preventing you from living your life, and people who commit crimes are prosecuted. I know that gay rights activists are given to being overly dramatic, but Jesus tap-dancing Christ!

You'd feel oppressed too if you spent day and night fighting for equal rights and all you got for your troubles was a dick up your ass.

If you're lucky!

I dont get these people that have nothing else to do with their lives other than protesting against things that really do not matter.

Darconix: I really wish that gay rights activists would stop giving off the suggestion that they live in a state analogous to Nazi Germany because people express moral opposition to their lifestyle. It's called freedom of expression, people. You're free to think that heteros live "morally repugnant" lives and express as much as freely and openly as you like.

No one is preventing you from living your life, and people who commit crimes are prosecuted. I know that gay rights activists are given to being overly dramatic, but Jesus tap-dancing Christ!

You could hardly be more wrong. Gays do not have the same civil rights, are subject to violence, and discrimination on a daily basis. My sarcasm meter may be off, and I really hope you were kidding, but that statement really reflects the thinking, or not thinking, of Dobson et al.

If you were trying for it, perfect irony.

Suicidal Writer: Suicidal Writer: If someone is to be hit, they should be able to fight back. Whupping children is child abuse, just like sexual molestation.

Both are cases of parents or guardians using the child as object, and physical abuse would be a crime had it been against an adult, namely a spouse or relative. The same rationale in favor of child abuse was historically enshrined in law to deal with disobedient wives (and slaves also).



Okay when we're talking about spanking, we're not talking about bloodying their face or lacerating their backs with whips. You're blowing it way out of proportion.

vernonFL: You know who else had their own nationwide radio program?

HeHeHe: Darconix: I really wish that gay rights activists would stop giving off the suggestion that they live in a state analogous to Nazi Germany because people express moral opposition to their lifestyle. It's called freedom of expression, people. You're free to think that heteros live "morally repugnant" lives and express as much as freely and openly as you like.

No one is preventing you from living your life, and people who commit crimes are prosecuted. I know that gay rights activists are given to being overly dramatic, but Jesus tap-dancing Christ!

You could hardly be more wrong. Gays do not have the same civil rights, are subject to violence, and discrimination on a daily basis. My sarcasm meter may be off, and I really hope you were kidding, but that statement really reflects the thinking, or not thinking, of Dobson et al.

If you were trying for it, perfect irony.

What civil rights are gays lacking besides marriage in most states? And when you think about it, is that really ruining their lives, that they can't have a state-signed piece of paper calling them "married"? If I'm genuinely in love with somebody, I couldn't care less whether or not the state recognized it on paper. Is there another civil right you're talking about? You said Right(s) plural.

And being subject to violence? Lots of people are. Somebody in my neighborhood just got mugged for his car.
Discrimination? So are fat people, and ethnicities, and people with acne, or a lisp (gay reference not intended but noted).

The world is an unfair place. Yes, gays have it a tiny bit worse than most people. But when Darconix said I really wish that gay rights activists would stop giving off the suggestion that they live in a state analogous to Nazi Germany because people express moral opposition to their lifestyle. I think he's spot on.

Please stop using the word "fabulous" to imply "gay".

Fabulous is a perfectly cromulent word, and it doesn't need the stigmatafizication associated with teh ghey. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

I thank you.

Mr_Fabulous: Please stop using the word "fabulous" to imply "gay".

Fabulous is a perfectly cromulent scrumtrulescant word, and it doesn't need the stigmatafizication associated with teh ghey. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

I thank you.

FTFY