Out Of Focus

 More often than not, when I feature a celebrity death here at Entropical Paradise, it is to shine a light on someone whose work I admire. It's usually someone who has touched or affected my life in significant ways. Someone whose passing made me say, "Awwww." 

Not so here. This man's death left me with a sense of relief. Evangelical Christian author and psychologist James C. Dobson made his way to the Pearly Gates last week. Whether or not Saint Peter lets him in is a matter of some discussion. Mister Dobson was the founder of Focus On The Family, an evangelical group that sprang to life in 1977. His mission, as he chose to make it, was to recruit foot soldiers in what he called "The Civil War of Values." His side was that of heterosexual marriage and "traditional" family values. The other side was filled with feminists and homosexuals and anyone that didn't fit in his narrow-minded reading of The Bible. It should be noted from the outset that Mister C. Dobson was never an ordained minister, but he did tend to play on the radio and TV.

He resigned from The American Psychological Association in 1973 when that organization removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders. A few years later he left the University of Southern California and Children's Hospital on Sabbatical. And never went back. 

Instead, he turned his narrow mind to The Family, which he believed was headed by a male breadwinner and a female caregiver. When Jimmy Carter organized a White House Conference on Families, eighty thousand letters were sent to the President to protest C. Dobson being left off the guest list. His influence was felt even more when Reagan was elected, and gave rise to the Family Research Council. The FRC has the distinction of being an echo chamber for Dobson's ideas as well as being designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a Hate Group. 

So, there's all that political and social hysteria, but the part that makes me truly glad to have James C. Dobson move on to another plane is his book, Dare To Discipline, in which he advocated for spanking children as young as fifteen months old. Parents should use switches or belts kept on the child's dresser as a reminder of who the boss is. His book was the "answer" to the one by Dr. Spock. The pediatrician, not the Science Officer on the Enterprise. Dobson's answer: "I'll give you something to cry about!"

Like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson before him, James C. Dobson will now have eternity to sort out his vision of the world with The Powers That Be. 

I hope he can stand the heat. 

Bye bye Jimmy. You won't be missed.