Denver Post columnist Cindy Rodriguez discusses some reasons why followers of Focus on the Family obey the organization’s advice — and vote against their own families.
Rodriguez’s own bias is obviously Democratic.
W
Rodriguez’s own bias is obviously Democratic.
You think, lol. Seems like a light weight pundit piece to me, and so biased that one almost has to check one’s voter registration before reading it. My beef is with Dobson for abusing the trust put in him. Telling a significant portion of the country that they are not as enlightened as you is not a good way to get the message across. Poorly written and a wasted opportunity to say something effective.
Keep on ’em Cindy!
BTW did you see their rebuttle to this article?
It begins with this:
Consider yourself a values voter who trusts Dr. James Dobson? Then a columnist for the Denver Post considers you an idiot.
And ends with this:
You also can e-mail two of her superiors, Features Editor Judith Howard and Editor Greg Moore.
http://www.family.org/cforum/commentary/a0042398.cfm
I think that Ms. Rodriguez was probably more successful at galvanizing those that are already opposed to Mr. Dobson’s organization.
The one interesting thing in the response from FOF was their also using the line that gays are not interested in marriage rights (and by extension-civil rights). This seems to be a campaign point of the Religious Right at this time. Key folks from different parts of the Religious Right are all parroting the same line. That isn’t an accident.
While I think that many gay folks might answer “no” if asked if they want to get married, I think that the answer would be very different if they were asked if they thought it was a good idea for Congress to pass a Constitutional Ammendment forbidding them from ever having the option of getting married, and likely denying them other rights and protections currently afforded to them.
We’ll see how far this campaign that “gays don’t care about equal protections and equal rights” goes. Their statements would imply that FOF, Exodus and other Religious Right organizations are in very close contact with at least a representative sampling of the millions of gay people in the US. But I am unaware of this outreach program that has allowed them to come to conclusions that don’t square with most public policy polling of the American gay population.
John W. Dean has an article in a similar vein at FindLaw, entitled David Kuo’s Book “Tempting Faith”: The Author’s Agenda, the Authoritarian Behavior He Reports, And the White House’s Response. The article has some intersting Q&A with Sociologist Bob Altemeyer, including:
Dean’s quote is much better written than Rodriguez’s piece, and without the unnecessary political slant. Interesting, with all that other stuff washed away one realizes that this phenomenon can be found in all circles. Perhaps this tendency is part of the human condition? That doesn’t necessarily make it good or bad, but it does make it easier for us to deal with, removing the “us against them” mentality and replacing it with “we all need to re-evaluate.”
David,
I agree with you Rodriguez’s piece. The opening sentences were so condescending and vitreolic that it was hard to read beyond. And, unfortunately, I didn’t see a single “reason” why people vote against their own families (she says its because they are listeners which makes them exploited – but that’s hardly a reason).
In my opinion the piece is a mirror of the stuff that you’d find on WorldNetDaily and not really worthy of much consideration.