# When is the best time to do a I hate Dr Phil thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 17, 2007, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454 "2007-04-17T11:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/41 "2007-04-17T22:40:54Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] \He plays into viewers’ prejudices, and it’s a great way to sell books and TV shows, even if it’s not an effective approach to fix psychological problems. Gee, Phil, you mean, you think I should exercise self-discipline? \and they like the fantasy of the easy solution, and that’s what Dr. Phil markets. Of course Dr. Phil pushes people to “take responsibility” and “stop playing the victim” - because those empty-headed slogans are incredibly popular, due to the way they’ve been pushed (for political reasons) by media organizations. \ [/QUOTE] Deciding to stop playing the victim and take responsibility for yourself and your life is far from being an easy fix. It is “common sense” (I don’t personally like that term - I prefer “good judgement”), and it actually does fix a lot of common problems, but that doesn’t make it the easy way out. I see things almost exactly the reverse of you, **Excalibre**. I think people have been brainwashed into a victim, it’s not my fault, blame your parents mentality, not a good judgement, change the way you do things if what you’re doing isn’t working mentality. In a way I think you’re right - most of the people who have perpetual victims complaining to them probably think the things Dr. Phil says at some point with regard to the perpetual victims. I just don’t agree that the perpectual victims think them about _themselves_. If people think that reading Dr. Phil’s books or watching Dr. Phil’s show will fix their problems, though, I agree with you that that isn’t anywhere near a complete solution to solve peoples’ problems. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/42 "2007-04-17T22:56:25Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’] _“Today is a good day to Pit Dr. Phil” - Ancient Klingon Proverb_ Just this morning, I read that Dr. Phil is willing to blame the Virginia Tech shootings on video games. You know, without a shred of evidence that the shooter had ever actually even played anything more violent than Tetris. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I read that, too. His reasoning for video games being the trigger for mentally unstable kids to fly off the handle does make a modicum of sense – but then the same can be said of, say, gangsta rap, or a violent movie, or – hell, the news, so singling out video games, especially when there is absolutely zero evidence that video games had anything at all to do with the incident, is just being a dumbass attention whore. The Golden Asshat award for _that_ bit of dumbassery though goes to Jack Thompson, who was [spouting this shit](http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=231053&cid=18755139) before they even figured out who the shooter was, so he’s got the “doctor” beat by a day. 'Course, you _expect_ that from Thompson. Phil, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/43 "2007-04-17T23:06:49Z")
But video games are so easy to use. I am pretty sure that this guy played violent video games. I base this on the fact that he is male under 30 and living in the US. I suspect that the number of men under 30 who don’t play violent video games is pretty small. When I was in college 15 or so years ago all of my male acquaintances played video games and if anything video games are more popular now. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/44 "2007-04-17T23:11:12Z")
[QUOTE=gazpacho] But video games are so easy to use. I am pretty sure that this guy played violent video games. I base this on the fact that he is male under 30 and living in the US. I suspect that the number of men under 30 who don’t play violent video games is pretty small. When I was in college 15 or so years ago all of my male acquaintances played video games and if anything video games are more popular now. [/QUOTE] I heard Charles Whitman spent hours locked in his dorm room playing Doom. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/45 "2007-04-18T00:08:37Z")
At Columbine it was a combination of _Doom_ and scenes from _Basketball Diaries_, Tarantino films, and Third Reich games and videos that supposedly drove them over the edge. I know for a fact that Tarantino films resurrected Travolta’s career and made _Countin’ Flowers on the Wall_ a hit again, so it’s certainly possible. Last night on Anderson Cooper they played an interview taped last year twixt (my future husband) AC and [Evan Ramsey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Ramsey) , who killed one and injured two students at his Alaska high school. Ramsey said he did it because other students made his life hell by calling him names like _retard_, _spaz_, and _braindead_, and with a straight face and a retarded, spazzy, braindead voice he also blamed Doom. Full transcript [here](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/25/acd.02.html): > [@](#): > > Keep in mind that I didn’t understand how life worked at the time. I didn’t know that when you shoot somebody, they don’t just get back up. > > COOPER: What do you mean? > > RAMSEY: I did not understand that if I, like using myself in using an example, if I pull out a gun and shoot you, there’s a good chance that you’re not getting back up. You’re going to bleed to death and die either right there or on the way to the hospital. That part of reality didn’t click for whatever reason. > > COOPER: I don’t know, I think it’s probably hard for some people to believe that you didn’t know, you know, dead is dead. > > RAMSEY: I based a lot of my knowledge solely on video games. You shoot a guy in “Doom,” and he gets back up. You’ve got to shoot the things in “Doom” eight or nine times before it dies. And I went with that concept on – with – from the video game and added it to life. Guns don’t kill people. People don’t kill people. DOOM kills people. (Some people would tell you that violent people are drawn to violent entertainment, but nope… violent entertainment turns people into murderers, just like in the 1950s it turned them into showtune singers and characters from bad Biblical epics.) Speaking of the Bible, Hitler, and Dr. Phil, it occurs the same works in earning converts for all three. \*Until now you have wandered in darkness and done many stupid thoughtless things. \*It’s not all your fault. You’ve been misled by those you trusted. \*I have the answers. They’re simple: part of them you already knew on some level, and the rest I’ll tell you now. \*All your past misdeeds are forgiven you if you’ll repent them here and follow my words. \*You are absolved. Go and sin no more. \*And put a dollah in the box. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/46 "2007-04-18T01:20:36Z")
Jesus! Are you kidding me? I’m calling Evan a braindead spastic retard right now… :rolleyes: Whatever, kid. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/47 "2007-04-18T02:47:32Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] Jesus! Are you kidding me? [/QUOTE] Jesus doesn’t kid. He doesn’t really have that great of a sense of humor. His Dad, though … Have you ever really looked at our naked genitalia? Hello? What’s THIS thing called, Love? ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/48 "2007-04-18T03:04:48Z")
Doesn’t Oprah actually OWN Dr.Phil…That would explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/49 "2007-04-18T03:18:15Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] People who can’t afford any kind of dealings with a shrink get at least some benefit from him and his freebie advice. [/QUOTE] Indeed. Just as people who can’t afford a marriage counselor (or decay-preventive dentifrice) can get quality advice from Jerry Springer. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/50 "2007-04-18T05:16:54Z")
[QUOTE=hlanelee] Doesn’t Oprah actually OWN Dr.Phil…That would explain a lot. [/QUOTE] She used to, but the Supreme Court ruled\* he could buy himself free after she crossed the line into Wisconsin with him. She still owns his wife. Majority ruling: Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito dissenting. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/51 "2007-04-18T05:30:03Z")
Look, what’s really objectionable about Doctor Phil is not his simplistic snap diagnoses/therapies but the **content** of them. He thinks every problem can be solved by conformity to conventional moral standards, and that’s a lie; in many cases even the attempt will do more harm than good. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/52 "2007-04-18T07:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Indeed. Just as people who can’t afford a marriage counselor (or decay-preventive dentifrice) can get quality advice from Jerry Springer. [/QUOTE] Fah. Not the same thing at all. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/53 "2007-04-18T10:47:36Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Look, what’s really objectionable about Doctor Phil is not his simplistic snap diagnoses/therapies but the **content** of them. He thinks every problem can be solved by conformity to conventional moral standards, and that’s a lie; in many cases even the attempt will do more harm than good. [/QUOTE] Like what? This is a serious question. I’ve never seen him give any advice more specific than “don’t be an asshole” about how someone should lead their life – no expectations about job (other than that the able-bodied should probably consider having one), sexual preference, politics, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/54 "2007-04-18T13:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=tashabot] I hate Dr. Phil for the same reason I hate Loveline. I dislike any institution that enforces the idea that you are not complete without someone in your life, or calls anything dysfunctional that is simply a preference. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] He does neither. [/QUOTE] So … that’s not Dr. Phil shilling [Match.com](http://Match.com)? Is it his evil clone? ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/55 "2007-04-18T15:11:04Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] So … that’s not Dr. Phil shilling [Match.com](http://Match.com)? [/QUOTE] He says and writes that it’s not only acceptable to not need a mate, but tells people how to live a happy life without one. He shills [Match.com](http://Match.com) for people who want to find a mate. Have you heard him say anthing along the lines of ‘your life can’t possibly be fulfilled unless you use [Match.com](http://Match.com)?’ No? Thought not. Then you have no point. ---
**Author:** ![jakeline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@jakeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakeline)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/56 "2007-04-18T15:22:10Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] [QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Indeed. Just as people who can’t afford a marriage counselor (or decay-preventive dentifrice) can get quality advice from Jerry Springer. [/QUOTE] Fah. Not the same thing at all. [/QUOTE] Aww, I made the same point as Vinyl Turnip (“I feel like the whole show is just exploiting the suffering of people who can’t afford care.”), but I didn’t get so much as a “Fah.” I’m so hurt! What would Dr. Phil tell me to do? “You don’t need clam chowder to act real sassy-like.” Hmm… I guess I _could_ be more sassy! The random Dr. Phil phrase generator is the best thing ever! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/57 "2007-04-18T15:22:11Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Like what? This is a serious question. I’ve never seen him give any advice more specific than “don’t be an asshole” about how someone should lead their life – no expectations about job (other than that the able-bodied should probably consider having one), sexual preference, politics, etc. [/QUOTE] He’s the guy everyone loves to hate…for no good reason. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/58 "2007-04-18T15:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=jakeline] Aww, I made the same point as Vinyl Turnip (“I feel like the whole show is just exploiting the suffering of people who can’t afford care.”), but I didn’t get so much as a “Fah.” [/QUOTE] Don’t fret; gotta work your way up the ladder. Me and **QG** , we go way back. Had our ups and downs, but thanks to Dr. Phil’s guidance, I think we have a real future ahead of us. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/59 "2007-04-18T19:05:21Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] He’s the guy everyone loves to hate…for no good reason. [/QUOTE] That he jumped onto his stupid video game hobby horse in the immediate aftermath of a horrifying and totally unrelated tragedy is a really, really good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454/60 "2007-04-18T19:18:13Z")
He annoyed me with the whole diet thing. He’s no diet expert, and he’s sure no lightweight himself to be giving out diet advice. That wouldn’t be _so_ bad, but then he puts out a line of diet bars and diet books. He brings his son in, and his son is now a diet expert for young people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-a-i-hate-dr-phil-thread/400454.md?page=4)