Monday, April 25, 2005

Dr. Phil is an asshole, (comma)

Dr. Phil is an asshole, in my opinion and among other things, so your lawyers can piss off, Phil.

It amazes me how we have been trained to get defensive when someone challenges our opinions, or when someone states an opinion or lives a lifestyle that is different from our own. You never have to convince me of your opinion, you merely have to convince yourself. The law, by the way, has never been a good dictator of morals, so don’t expect to change anyone by passing laws. I am about to come to the defense of someone who is living a controversial, even inflammatory, lifestyle. This is not the same as defending that lifestyle, but due to the standard confusion of ideas, I have to make that distinction for many who might read this.

Why do I think that Dr. Phil is an asshole? Because he behaved like one. Maybe this shouldn’t surprise me, but my experience is based on the one and only time that I bothered to watch his show. He had a couple on the show, ostensibly to talk about the fact that they were swingers (casual sex, multiple partners). I tuned in just in time to hear him ask (something like) “You would let this guy crawl all over you while your five year old son was asleep upstairs????”

Let me break this down. First, no good psychologist, interested in his patient’s welfare, would ask such a question. A good psychologist might ask, “How would you feel if your son walked into the room, and how would you explain what he would see?” Phil didn’t do that. Phil pandered to the TV audience, reinforcing their own mainstream, self-righteous values. “... crawl all over...”, like an insect or a snake? Nice imagery. Gee, I guess Phil has a problem with this lifestyle and wants to make sure that I do too. Confusion of ideas: “Provide sexual stimulation” becomes “crawl all over you”. Confusion of ideas again: how visually different is it if mom and dad are getting it on, and if mom and someone else are getting it on? I’m not saying that there aren’t more complex problems in the second case, but would Phil ask, “Would you let your husband crawl all over you while your five year old son was asleep upstairs?” Easier to justify perhaps, but no easier to explain to a five year old. Phil is an asshole.

10 Comments:

At 8:13 PM, Blogger MCG said...

English is full of ambiguous words. For this reason I always preffer Esperanto (all my blog with the title "Bendis" is in this great language). Actually on http://www.lernu.net one can easily learn it. Great blog and thanks for the comments in mine :-).

 
At 8:34 PM, Blogger Kalanchoe542 said...

You hit the nail on the head with "pandering to the TV audience". Dr. Phil is no less vulnerable to the attraction of money and fame than any other garden variety asshole, he just has a PhD (maybe) to make it sound acceptable to the masses. It's interesting how the choice of words can make all the difference. Indeed, crawl all over makes it sound like something nasty and distastful, whereas make love to sounds sweet and wholesome and at least as American as apple pie. Not that I advocate making love to apple pies...:-)

Dr. Phil lends credence to small-minded opinions, because he is a small minded person. I think he used to have some credibility once upon a time, but that disappeared when the ratings weren't what the network wanted.

Look up more on this topic under "assholes masquerading as saviors".

 
At 5:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It would be bad enough if this clown actually believed what he preaches to America's ignoranti; but he does know better, and has made the corrupt, cynical, self-serving choice to pander to the misperceptions of mouth-breathing conformist peasants, thereby promulgating socially damaging misinformation on a wholesale basis. The masses' self-assured "knowledge" of things that ain't so is possibly science's biggest hurdle in contemporary Western society; those who feed that ignorance - e.g., the ambulatory sphincter under discussion - so as to personally profit from retarding public understanding, number among the genuine enemies of civilization.

 
At 6:09 PM, Anonymous Black Leopard said...

I'm in unabashed general agreement on this one. His target audience are the people who watch Jerry Springer, as well. Now if you are stuck in an office waiting to be seen and you get mesmerized into watching it, that's one thing. If you choose to watch it on your home turf, that's another.

 
At 11:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

He can't get a handle on his own marriage, let alone tell someone else how. And the fat ass that created him "OPHRA" is just as bad.

 
At 7:00 PM, Blogger AERIA Records said...

Dr. Phil is a pompous as IMHO :)

Colie

 
At 9:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just watched Dr. Phil on an episode about desperate women who "hate" their children, really women who have such psychological problems that they are unable to cope with the motherhood of mentally challenged children. He was so impulsive, rude, assuming and judgmental. I am weeping. I am weeping for all the people who watch him and will never seek help for themselves based on what they see on this show. I am weeping for the parents who came for help and got shit on. I am weeping for so many things. We can write blogs but what can we do to get him off the air? Are psychology associations doing anything about this?

 
At 4:40 PM, Anonymous Sash said...

Major diiiiiiiickhead. When I think of the people who keep the National Enquirer in business and the ones who unquestioningly gave more than the 8 million dollars to Oral Roberts (or else God would kill him, he said)... it's no wonder America has such terrible shows. I'm convinced many people around me are mentally ill and/or cognitively impaired.

I don't know if they've removed critical thinking and debate from schools by now, but it's obvious in comment sections everywhere that my fellow citizens can't even stay on topic during arguments... and everything turns into an argument here. It's not even coherent (between the facetious remarks, name calling, and inability to use facts). It's no wonder people watch.

Dr. Phil sensationalizes his guests' issues, then turns around and badgers them all the way to the last minute of the show, where he 'redeems' himself by offering professional 'help'. And his so called experts are just as self-righteous. He interjects his typical Texan one-liners and the audience is told to clap. He's in control, never wrong, and decides who is at fault and runs with it. Guests often say they felt blindsided afterwards. What truly disgusts me is how many guests have said, (during his rants) 'well Dr. Phil, that's why we're here.. we need help'. Yet he keeps ranting and making jokes at their expense. How is that constructive or helpful?

I will party hard the day reason and rational thinking arrive in America. Though I suspect I may be partying from my grave! It's hard to live amongst people who regurgitate everything they saw on a screen. *sigh*

 
At 7:14 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Latest asshole statement:
"Justin Bieber is a result of being surrounded by people who won't tell him the truth". I TOTALLY agree! Then he lists others that have fallen to that syndrome. Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain??????????
If he knew anything about these two musicians, he would know that they didn't have sycophants around them telling them they were geniuses and they should keep up their behavior however they see fit. Morrison's band hated his self destructive behavior and he died in France alone in a bathtub. The only person he had at the time was his girlfriend and I seriously doubt she was approving of his drug use. Cobain blew his brains out with a shotgun. I hate to tell the good "DOCTOR" that there was no one there cheering him on.
What a creep! Do some research before you make a statement and NEVER NEVER NEVER refer to Justin Bieber, and Morrison and Cobain in the same conversation.

 
At 3:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought I was the only one that thought this...Phil the Ass...its disgusting a man no one knew a few years ago is a household name making millions off the flaws of people and families. It should be outlawed. He sometimes seems genuine and then other times is a complete ass....and when it comes to kids issues it is automatically the parents fault...which sometimes is...but a lot of times unless you had a psychology major how would you even know some of this stuff when it comes to kids. I mean I can understand why my daughter became a whore just because I didn't buy her the latest fashion ...right??? Asshole is too nice for this guy Dr Phil and his old lady is getting just as sickening...they are doing some good works but Im sure making money from it.

 

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