A Mixed Review of Dr. Phil's Latest Attempt to Cover Transgender Children
by: Autumn Sandeen
Thu Jan 15, 2009 at 17:00:00 PM EST
http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=0A36097A20B4A2412A2333E4EFFEAFE2?diaryId=9052 (http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=0A36097A20B4A2412A2333E4EFFEAFE2?diaryId=9052)
Note from Autumn: This last Tuesday, Dr. Phil did another show on transgender youth. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's (GLAAD's) Director of National News, Cindi Creager, reviewed the show, and gave it mixed review. We're crossposting the review with permission.
I've added some links to some other reviews of the show below Cindi Creager's excellent review.
A Mixed Review of Dr. Phil's Latest Attempt to Cover Transgender Children
By Cindi Creager
Crossposted from the GLAADBlog
January 15, 2008
Dr. Phil McGraw once again tried to tackle the subject of transgender children on his January 13 broadcast. The segment, titled, Little Boy Lost, explored a mother's journey to understanding her transgender child's path to living as her true self.
January 15, 2009 by Cindi
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fglaadblog.org%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Frevolution_pro-30%2Fimages%2Flogo.gif&hash=fe283422bafa3a08b41e272ea8099a64683ce8a2) (http://glaadblog.org/2009/01/15/a-mixed-review-of-dr-phil%E2%80%99s-latest-attempt-to-cover-transgender-children/)
QuoteAlthough some good information did emerge during the program which supported transgender children being who they are—even a few sound bites from an endocrinologist and a pediatrician from the transgender clinic at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles— the time devoted to refuting the wildly bogus claims of Stanton and Nicolosi took away valuable oportunities to substantively educate the American public on this most important topic.
The popular gay blog Good As You summed up the Dr. Phil episode well: (http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/01/audio-sorry-phil-but-all-positions-are-not-created-equal-oh-and-some-are-anti-equality.html)
The primary problem? That shows like "Dr Phil," with their "neutral ground," facilitate the idea that both sides hold equal merit. While we get and even respect the suggestion to delve into the teachings of the side with which you do not agree, the simple fact is that when you are talking about LGBT matters, those involved in the professional anti-LGBT industry (as both Glenn Stanton and Joseph Nicolosi are) are simply not objective counterpoints! And it's not us being closed-off or intolerant to say that. It's us, as ones who spend every single day analyzing the anti-LGBT movement, presenting our educated findings.
The links from the Pam's cross-post of the GLAAD article are very nice. Very well-done pieces that definitely pinpoint THE problem with most of the Media and especially the pseudo-media like Dr. Phil, Oprah, etc.
Under the guise of promoting "expert" opinion they often raise the level of some yahoo to expert, simply because the yahoo has a desire to discuss the issue a lot. That does not an "expert" make. But the talk-shows don't really care so much. I suppose if they did, Oprah would have first billed Dr. Phil as someone who may well have bilked his ex-partner outta her program, and thus, an expert in chicanery and fast-dealing! :)
an expert in chicanery and fast-dealing
Oh she gets taken in a lot, as do the people who watch or listen to these experts. Often it turns out the the experts know a lot less then the people around them, they are just better at jiving it.
There was a big deal a few years ago with some book that turned out to be pretty much fake. A Million Tiny Pieces or some such. I remember reading it - and its not a bad book, I'd almost recommend it even, but I do recall getting close to the end and thinking, "what a pile of crap" because he went on in detail about something that I knew was incorrect. So I gave it to a bud at work and had him read it, and he came back and said the same thing. For the same reason. As it turns out you could have asked anyone who lived in the Twin Cities and they would have noticed it too.
But O and the rest, they want so desperately TO believe that they don't notice when what they are believing in is more or less bunk.
Turn off your TV, Blow up your TV. Why do you think they call it 'programing'?
There's another person whose fooled her now, a guy who's been on her show twice saying he met his wife in a concentration camp. And don't forget The Education of Little Tree, an "autobiography" about a boy and his Native American family which was actually written by a former KKK member under a pseudonym.
Turn off your TV, Blow up your TV. Why do you think they call it 'programing'?
Amen.