Part One: Focus on the Family: James Dobson

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Behind the Bastards, the only podcast about bad
people that there's ever been under only one NATO law. Um.
I'm Robert Evans, host of this podcast. Formally, I tell
the the very detailed story about a terrible person, or
a terrible group of people, or a terrible thing that
was done by terrible people. But this week we're we're

(00:25):
doing things a little bit a little bit different. Garrison,
Uh my, my, my, my friend, um, local youth about town,
Portland photo journalist, Garrison, you want to explain what's going
on today? Have the last name just just oh yeah,
this this This is Garrison Davis, local youth in Portland.
And reporter my young Ward Yeah, robertson Ward. And because

(00:49):
of Robert's injury, I have not successfully coded this podcast.
You did, and I am now gonna be running the
show for today until there is a coup to the
is coup to counter coup? Counter coup has been studying
the School of the Americas. Is it really a coup?
If you go, hey, can I host your podcast? And

(01:10):
Lynn Robert and I both go, Yeah, I don't know
either way, Sophie. I've got some death squads in El Salvador.
But that may wind up just being just a separate
thing I do. Anyway, Garrison is going to be presenting
the episode this week, an episode that he wrote, and
I will be the guest on my own show, and
I will supervise all of it well while drinking, Yeah,

(01:33):
while I drink a paraseco out of a glass straw.
And we've we've scheduled this for Garrison's eighteen birthday, so
that I'm no longer violating child labor law by having
you on the podcast. Yeah, hello, yes, yeah, it's my
birthday today. So Garrison, you want to tell the people America, England, Australia,

(01:54):
numerous other countries, Canada, maybe you want to tell them
what the episode for today is. UM. We already talking
about an organization called Focus on the Family with IF
if you've if you've heard of that, you've probably heard
of it from John Oliver's show. UM, or you grew
up with this organization kind of in your life, as

(02:15):
like like if you grew up as a Christian. Um,
we're be yeah, we're gonna be learning all about some
weird stuff. They did, some surprising stuff they did. Um Yeah,
and I was it was actually a surprised for even
though I'm familiar with this organization, like personally, I learned
some new things when I was doing research for this,
so even I was surprised with what I found. Yeah,
and for our our listeners who haven't been stalking you

(02:36):
on the internet, you grew up in what you've called
to me repeatedly a cult. Yeah, I, me and my
family were in a cult in Canada for about eleven years.
We moved to Portland to get out of the cult
and have been here and I I've been here ever since.
Some of my family's back in Canada but not but
not in a cult. Yeah, when you're in a Canadian cult,

(02:57):
is it the Mounties that burn your compound UM by
incenterating tear gas or is there another agents? I've seen
the Mounties do stuff like that. Also, the Canadian Revenue
Service UM was the big enemy of our cult. That
makes sense, that was the one that they had fights with.
I'm gonna guess a lot of people didn't think they
ought to pay taxes illegally trying to get like tax

(03:20):
cuts for their like fake school that they were running
that I went to for the first like six months
of my first six years in my schooling. Yeah. Anyway, alright,
we'll talk this this this DEVI will come back later.
So let's talk about Focus on the Family. Focus on
the Family start. Yeah, thank you, Sophie. To really understand
what Focused on the Family is both in the past

(03:41):
and what it kind of is now, we're first going
to have to kind of learn about its founder, James Dobson,
or technically it should be Dr James Dobson, but we'll
talk more about why. I don't want to say that later. Um,
since Focus on the Family is really just an extension
of who Dobson is as a person. Um. Dobson was
born in nineteen already six and he is still alive.

(04:02):
He was born in ninety six. He's still alive. Uh.
He was born in Louisiana. His father was a traveling evangelist.
Religion was a prevailing part of Dobson's life since he
was essentially a baby. Quoting a book about Focus on
the Family and Christian right wing radio and the influence
they had on American culture and the like across the
whole twenty century. Um, it's a book called Stations at

(04:23):
the Cross, actually a pretty pretty good book. But this,
this is this is a quote. Dobson claims to have
been able to pray before he could talk, and to
have felt God's calling from as early as age three,
when he toddled up to the altar in response to
his father's Sunday morning altar call that the unsaved offered
their lives to Jesus Um and this this isn't that
all uncommon for like people as on young as three

(04:44):
to like have their parents pressure them into doing I
this even now, this is still this isn't this isn't that.
If you if you want to, if listeners want another
look at what it's like to be pushed into stuff
like this when you're three, check out the documentary Marjo,
which is about the youngest pastor in American history who
was performing marriage ceremonies when he was like four years.

(05:08):
His name was Mary and Joseph. That the photo and
video that's been going around the interwebs this week of
the baby that was jet skiing that's six months old,
Well that's just red. That sounds good. Actually, I don't
see a problem with that. No. I actually think baby
should be jet skiing at even younger ages. They should
be jet skiing before before they should be able to pray.

(05:29):
That is my opinion. I would agree with you, all right, um,
and uh, there there's a there's an article from in
the Washington Post by a journalist name Laura strepp Um
and and the detailed a lot of stuff about focus
in the family in the seventies and eighties, and it
details some of Dobson's early life and family. This is
a quote from that article. His father and mother, James

(05:50):
and Myrtle Dobson, were married for forty three years. His
father never went to college and became a traveling evangelist
UM in the Church of Nazarene, which is like a
fundamentalist Protestant type of church. UM. As an only child,
he received all the attention and love his parents had
to give. His mother deferred to her husband on all
major matters, but she often found herself alone from her

(06:12):
Dobson says he got his idea that firm discipline is
the cornerstone of the parent child relationship. And this, this
is very this is very important. Here's a quote from
Dobson's first book when he when he talks about his mother,
she knew that backtalk and lip are the child's most
potent weapons of defiance. And must be discouraged. On one
occasion weapon backtalk, back talk, violent weapon and speaking on

(06:35):
what occasion she cracked me with a shoe. At other
times she used a handy belt. This is in response
to back the weapon of back talk. Yeah, you got
to use the weapon of a shoe against the weapon
of back talk. That's just this is fine. The day
I learned the importance of staying out of reach shines
like a neon light in my mind. I made the
costly mistake of assassing her. When I was about four

(06:57):
feet away, her hand landed on a girl roll. It
waited to put sixteen pounds and was lined with leaden steel. Jesus,
she drew back and swung that abominable garment in my direction.
The intendant blow caught me across the chest, followed by
a multitude of straps and buckles wrapping themselves around my midsection.
She gave me an entire thrashing with one massive blow.
From that day forward, I cautiously retreated a few steps

(07:19):
back before popping off. Good lesson for kids to learn,
stay out of reach of adults because they want to harm.
But remember this is the stuff that that influenced his
ministry because this is the stuff that he thinks is
the corner His earliest lesson is you always want to
stay away from adults. Is out of reach of adults
because you never know when they will want to physically damage. Yes,

(07:41):
and but this is a keyton of his ministry is
teaching stuff like this though. This is like the cornerstone
of a strong parent child relations. Does this guy tie
into to train up a child in that book and stuff? Awesome?
Wait until we talked about his first book and what
some fun, some fun fun legal issues that happened. Boy,
it's a child abuse episode, everybody. This is very exist whole,

(08:03):
this whole two partners, a child abuse episode. Sophia sent
Sophia a letter of apology that we we don't have
her on to talk of our children. Are there dead babies? Um,
there's dead teenagers? Hell? Yeah, all right, Um, but I
mean and yeah, what well damn right, Well we'll figure

(08:24):
this out later. Um. The Washington Post article continues. As
Dobson was about to start his junior year in high school,
his father decided to take a job as a pastor
and settled down in San Benito, Texas. Um a very
hot flat outpost near the Mexican border. Because of his
religious beliefs, Dobson couldn't dance or go to the movies
like the rest of his friends, but he earned their

(08:44):
respect by becoming a top tennis player. Okay, which okay,
so in terms of cults, but tennis is tennis. Tennis
in the colt No, what is involved in the cult
is like being able, like in these kind of very
firm Christian kind of churches, and also you know some
more of the worst cult stuff. Not being able to

(09:05):
dance or go to the movies is pretty standard, Like
I couldn't go to the movies for most of my
most of my life so far, I've not been well, yeah,
because that's like Hollywood's just straight. My parents at my
parents wedding, they weren't allowed to dance. There was no
dance allowed at all. There was no dancing. Well the
devil right into the wedding. You would have grown up
with your brother the devil if that had happened. But wait,

(09:26):
I don't understand how does what does tennis have to
do with this? Tennis is how he is. How he
gained his friend's respect because he couldn't go to the
movies or dance. So the thing Dobson did to get
like friends is play tennis very well. So it's like,
I guess it's not like how Keith Ronary made all
his people play volleyball at like three in the morning. Right,
I don't know what that means. I'm too young. Oh

(09:47):
that was another guy we did an episode on where
he forced them to play volleyball at like three and them. No,
it sounds like it was just a kid. This is
a kid trying to find anything to gain friends because
he can't because he lives in a situation. Yeah. Um,
those were the best years America ever had, said one
of Dobson's high school friends, retired Colonel Harland Baker Jr.

(10:13):
That's his high school friend. Okay, Colonel Bake Baker Jr.
Bake Baker. We had the hamburgers, the milkshakes. We didn't
drink or smoke. Our parents gave us room to spread
our wings, but also set limits. Again, this is the
kind of stuff he's gonna talk about in his ministry.
You know, we'll find well, I'm seeing what's building. This
is kind of bodies. What's kind of being built here? Um?

(10:35):
After graduating high school, Dobson went to Pasadena College, a
small liberal arts college, well, a small liberal arts Christian
college UM in southern California, with an interest in human
behavioral studies. Uh the Washington Post the yeah, yeah, you
can see where this is gonna go in like the
fifties and sixties Washington Post article rights. But after he

(10:55):
had taken a couple of psychology courses, Dobson was convinced
that God was calling him to go all way into
the field. It was not an easy time for a
Christian to go into psychology. Some psychologists thought Christians were
deluded no nothings, and some Christians thought psychologists were devil
worshippers or worse. Okay, I'm not sure what worse. I
don't know that I believe either side of that. I don't.

(11:16):
I don't really believe that there was ever a situation
in which like a bunch of psychologists were like, oh, hey,
members of the largest in the surely dominant region in
the country, y'all are silly, You can't be psychologists. Yeah.
I don't think that ever happened. No, not in the sixties.
But he's into psychology because I know a lot of
colts are like against likeschology, is anti psychology, etcetera. He's

(11:41):
into He's into psychology, and this is gonna be his
most potent weapon in trying to take over the country.
I think this is going In'm so excited. Continue yeah soon.
Dobson went on to the University of Southern California to
get his PhD in child development UM. This is when
Dobson became doctor James. Dobson's was in nineteen sixty seven.

(12:02):
His doctor's status was very important to him as he
became popular in the eighties and nineties, with his employees
only being able to refer to him as Dr Dobson.
Like this was this was very important to give him
credibility to speak in like wide settings with politically and
and and like two Christian people. He was very happy
about being being able to be called a doctor. Yeah,

(12:22):
I mean, I'm pretty proud of being a reverend doctor.
According to the State of New Jersey, um so Dobson.
According to the Post, Dobson took the precise number of
credits needed to get his doctor into not one more.
He was anxious to get his family life going and
to speak out on the values he believed were a
roting at breakneck speed. It's a little weird to critique

(12:43):
him for not taking more credits than he needed to
get a lot of credits, but he was very anxious
to get his work started. Um and the values that
he thinks, Sarah Wroting Um. He he writes about in
one of one of his books. This was this was
when he was getting his doctor. He was in l
A during the mid sixties. And yeah, and one of

(13:07):
Dobson's books from the nineties called the book selled the
Strong Willed Child. By the way, just you know, get
a sense of what his books are titled. I guess
strong willed means talking. Yes. Um, this is what Dobson
writes about. The summer of nineteen sixty five in l A.
Our cities began to burn during the hot summer of
racial strife that signaled the start of the chaos to come.

(13:28):
The class of nineteen sixty five entered college at a
time where drug abuse was not only prevalent, but became
almost universal for students and teachers alike. Intellectual deterioration was inevitable.
Accompanying this social upheaval was a sudden disintegration of moral
and ethical principles such as which has never occurred in
the history of all of mankind. All at once. There
was no definite values, no standards, no absolutes, no rules,

(13:51):
no traditional beliefs on which to lean. Um. Now, when
Dobson's referring to this talk of chaos in a long
hot summer of racial strife, quote unquotes referring to the
rising of when he was in l A. And that
that was if you're unfamiliar, this started when the police
assaulted uliple people during an arrest for reckless driving. Um
the l A Times Rights um. After rumors spread of

(14:13):
the police and rough people up and kicked a pregnant woman,
angry mobs formed, turning a forty six square miles swath
of the city into a combat zone. And this this
isn't like exaggerating, So people get angry when you kick
pregnant women. The police kick a lot of people during
a nasty arrest. UM. It's estimated that thirty or five

(14:34):
thou people took part in the mass rioting and looting
over the course of those six days. Fourteen thousand members
of the California National Guard were deployed to put an
end to this civil unrest. Again, this is for like
six days. UM. In all, sixteen thousand law enforcement officers
were mobilized as a self described attacking force. Thirty one
people were killed by law enforcement during these protests and riots. UM.

(14:58):
They were over a thousand reports injuries, arrests over the
course of these six days. UM. The police chief that
handled this uprising was the same chief that UM, if
not coined, at least popularized the term thin blue line.
Same same guy, so and and Dobson. Dobson was here
for all of this. He he watched this unfold and

(15:19):
he was very upset UM. In referring to this, referring
to the wats uprising, he said, what's what's happening to
this country? And what what will happen to my children
as a result. So he was, he was there for this.
He was not He was not a fan because I mean,
you know, he's not a fan of all of these
people getting angry that a cop kicked a pregnant one. Yeah,
and he's not that pro racial civil rights that much.

(15:44):
That's not going to be like a big part of
what we're talking about. But he was. He was known
to be a racist, which we know he's a guy born.
I know, someone's a real character when you can say,
like he was super racist, but we're not We're not
going to talk about that. The conversion therapy, which is
much worse. Um. Yeah, really the racism was the best

(16:06):
part of it. It's at least about a damage. Um. Yeah, yeah,
it's unfailing obedience to authority, an old fashioned Christian morality
became Dobson's signature talking points. Um, when you spoke about
raising children. Um. Despite him having like an actual job
at you know, the university. He had a job at
the University of Southern California's School of Medicine for quote,

(16:28):
researching childhood disorders that led to mental retardation. Because again,
this is the sixties and that's how we phrase things. Um.
Even though Dobson had a job, Dobson just eventually began
showing up at local PTA meetings to like talk about
child development, like, not for his own kids, just local
ones showing up at TAM. Yeah, I've I've done the

(16:50):
same thing before. Sometimes I'll get a little bit drunk,
like it's you know, it's a good way to spec
And then eventually he got invited to teach Sunday school
classes and then got invited to speak on like Rado talks.
He actually he actually got on just invited to speak
on Barbara Walters TV talk show. Um, just about random
stuff because I mean again, he's a doctor in child development.
But this was just like a thinly veiled thing to
spread his religious um kind of parenting advice. M that

(17:14):
sounds fine. His biographer Rolf Zetterston, I believe that's how
you say it. Whatever. Um, we don't renounce things right
on this podcast. It's fine, cool, great, um he he
he wrote about why Dobson had such immediate popularity with parents. Uh,
this is this is what Rolf says about Dobson in
one Adopson's biographies. Um. He condemned the so called numerality.

(17:37):
He demanded more discipline into schools. He taught parents how
to restart their story at home, and he unflinchingly called
sin by its biblical name Sin. That's all caps. That's
all the only difference is it's all in all caps
the end. That's that's that's really yet. Um. By nineteen seventy,
Dobson was able to publish his first book, UM by
Christian publisher uh Tynedale House. The was called Dare to Discipline,

(18:02):
and I'm sure we can all guess what that book
was about, because what is his discipline? It means it
means picking up a girdle, a bit of tennis racket
was and slashing your children like what happened to him,
and probably tennis rackets. Yeah, I mean the key to
meeting children. I've always said this is that you want
to use improvised weapon rate because that shows that there

(18:22):
wasn't intent. If you wind up in a court case
like later, you want to be able to claim that
it was just an accident the kid ran into your girdle,
which you can't claim if you're like using a telescope
and baton on a child. Yeah. Yeah, um. Five years
later he released another book, and this book is the
best title this is. This is the title to his
his second book, released five years later, What What Wives

(18:46):
Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women, which is really that
this is full of a lot of good information. I
really love that. Again, him as a man born in
the thirties, wrote a book called What Wives Wish their
Husband's Knew about Women? And that's that's that's that's the
second vibes wish their husbands knew about women. Okay, wrong

(19:07):
answers only, Robert, Uh, oh boy, you know what, I
don't want to get canceled, So I'm not even going
to try to make a joke about that. Moving on,
it might be in hot water after the baton in
children remarks. So let's just let's just say all on, yeah,
because we're like, you know a right, Um, we're like

(19:29):
twenty minutes in. Oh, I think you know what. Won't
baton your children? Oh? Yes, you need them baton You
know what, Garrison, Garrison, Garrison, you're the host. You get
to do it. Will not get your children hit by
a girdle giving them a thrashing in one single below?

(19:50):
Any guesses? Uh, Sophie, what is it? Robert? Is it
the services that support some services? Indeed products? We're back. Um,

(20:10):
that was a great ad pivot, Garrison, really good for
a first try. I tend to advise more death threats
against billionaire social media, which which we'll then get edited out. Yeah. Yeah,
that's key to the processes, all of the all of
the incitements to violence that we have to have Chris

(20:31):
edit from the podcast, which is like of the run
time generally, so that's why these takes along to record. Okay. Um.
In seven is when Jobson really started the thing that
they kind of makes them famous or that will eventually
make him, you know, that eventually be what he's known for. Um.
He started his own weekly radio show, initially got picked
up by forty stations. Um. The Washington Post article reads,

(20:54):
by night, oh wait, sorry, yeah, this is this is
this is separate. So he he had his radio show.
What he was also doing at the time was filming
seminars and selling them. And then also churches would like
invite him to teach seminars like across the country. Um.
And then here's here's the Watchington Post article by Dobson's

(21:15):
seminars on the family, like on family issues. We're making
so much money, drawing up to three thousand people per
weekend at twelve dollars a ticket. That he finally quit
his job at University of Southern California and formed his
own nonprofit company focused on the family, which was then
he what he retitled his radio show as well. So
he's making so much money from these like seminars you

(21:36):
would do every once in a while, Like I'm it's
unclear how often he did these. It's not you can't
really find that kind of information because this is like
in the sixties or seventies. Um. But it's enough that
he was able to quit his people hearing this guy
talk about kid beating, Yeah, um, what women want, yes,
about what wives wished their husbands knew about women? Yeah. Um.

(21:56):
But despite Dobson formerly making this a nonprofit company, what
he was really starting was a Christian media empire. Um,
as the name suggests, focused on the family, was primarily
about Christian family life and how to properly raise your kids.
A short quote from the post says, uh, Dobson's adult
journey into family psychology and family politics is one man's
attempt to retrieve the era that he grew up in,

(22:19):
which is really fair. All of his kind of stuff
is about going back to this era in like the
thirties and forties, about what family life was like back then. Yeah.
It's the essence of conservatism looking back at a past
that's half remembered and half imagined. That's yeah, that's that
is very that's very accurate. Um. This sentiment is shared
by Joyce Johnson of the Child Welfare League, saying of Dobson, um,

(22:43):
about about how Dobson clings to his philosophy from quote
twenty to thirty years ago that said children were property
of their parents. I mean kind of kind of fair. Yeah,
they're like cats or dogs. Um, but they yell more
creatively when you hit them. Good. Yeah, Dobson would like
even in the even in the eighties, people people thought

(23:03):
his philosophy was like thirty years old, are you hitting?
It was because their property. Yeah, you can hit your property.
According to Dobson, you can just hit your property. Would
you get angry at somebody who like, I don't know,
pounded on their desk because they were frustrated. No, And
it's okay for people to hit kids because kids are
like a desk, but they're not like a dog. A

(23:26):
dog is like a desk. It's property, it's property. Oh
my god, I'm just I'm just saying the speaking of
child abuse. The next canceled. The next paragraph is going
to be a good finn. So uh yeah, here's a
here's what the post says about some controversy that that like,

(23:47):
of course, is going to develop eventually along Dobson's parenting
advice quote. But it is Dobson's view on childhood punishment.
They got him into the most hot water several years ago.
This is um. Several years ago. For example, a Massachusetts
couple was charged with child abuse because they beat their children,
and and they say it's because their pastors said it

(24:09):
was all right. Based on Dobson's writings that I'm gonna
bet that's the only time that happens now. Dobson said
his books have never advocated beating children. But again, his
first book was called Dare to Discipline and about physically
punishing your children. Yeah, I think he might argue that
it's not beating them as long as you're angry. But yeah,

(24:33):
it's like this, this this was an ongoing problem back
in the twentieth century for most of the twenties and
since still now seems like it's still an and it's
still an ongoing problem. Yeah, a lot of seems like
it might have something to do with all those guys
who keep assaulting people based on their political opinions. Um. Yeah,

(24:54):
a lot of a lot of beating is still is
still to come cool. Yeah. Mainstream family psychologists say that
while setting limits to help build secure parent relationships are good,
there are better methods than the back of the hand
or a strap such as giving you know stuff that
was recommended back in the nineties was giving you know
people time outs. That was kind of a new concept

(25:15):
in the nineties. And the article rights spanking can quote
stimulate rebelliousness rather than respect and wisdom for the parents,
which she wash. It's you know, a psychologists trying to say, Dobson,
you're not gonna do good. Your kids are not going
to respect you if they're always thinking about whether or
not they're far enough away that you can't. Yeah. Like

(25:36):
part of the cult I was in, I was spanking
to my people that aren't even my parents. And I
have grown up with heavy respect for authority. Yeah, which
is why I'm now a journalists whatever covering the uprising
respect authority. Yeah, I love all authority. Um. Yeah. So
I don't think his really philosophy even that work. It
doesn't He doesn't even work that much. Um. Even though

(25:56):
these psychologists criticize a lot of a lot of dobson
the work because they thought it was you know, bad, um,
they were quick to admit that he is better known,
like as a psychologist, and probably a lot richer than
they'll ever be. Um. I I doubt there's any American
psychologists selling more books than dobbson. This is a quote
from from a psychologist. I I doubt there was any

(26:17):
other psychologists selling more books to the American public right now,
uh than any other psychologist. This was a psychologist named
Paul klement Was who was also a professor of psychology. Um.
So yeah he was. You know, he was really the
man for psychology in the eighties and nineties and in
the in the in late seventies, Dobson was just really
starting to kick off. Um. But eventually Dobson wanted to

(26:40):
be more than someone who gives bad parenting advice. At
the start of Focus on the Family, it was relatively nonpartisan,
still very like conservative, but it wasn't it wasn't really
about partisan politics. He wasn't like, he wasn't advocating for
candidates or like endorsing parties. Um. In fact, when he
when he filed nonprofit statists, he answered no to the
question if Focus in the Family would engage in activities

(27:01):
intending to influence legislation. Now, this very quickly turned out
to be not true. By night so get he started
his radio show in seventy seven, he got his nonprofit
status and seventy eight. By late seventy nine, Dobson started
to get more formally involved with politics. President Carter was

(27:22):
forming what becomes known as the White House Conferences on
the Family, and Dobson wanted in focus on the family's
vice president and co founder named Gil Alexander Mogarel described
Dobson's entry into politics like this, quote, Jim got tired
of telling people what to do when a six year
old was the bed unquote, yes, you might as well

(27:43):
start making policy on like nukes and shop so he
may as well start making a lot of a lot
of This is a really interesting time in the history
of like American evangelism because that period of time, like
right as so, Carter came got elected off the strength
of the evangelical Christian vote, and he was the last
Democrat that that was ever true of because Reagan was
elected immediately afterwards based on a lot of friends of

(28:06):
Mr Dobson's, including Dobson in uniting them all, you know,
mainly to deal with abortion and gay rights and women
doing stuff that isn't getting hit by their husbands. Um, yeah, yeah,
this is that whole very cool period of time in politics. Yeah,
it's it's not great. Um. The way Dobson describes his

(28:27):
move into politics, UM, and the way he marketed the
change in topic to his audience, because again he has
to switch his audience to being used to him talking
about like family issues to talking about political stuff. Now.
The way he the way he gets past this is
talking about how like schools and governments are taking authority
of parenting away from the parents. Like the schools governments
are becoming too influential in deciding what kids are and

(28:50):
aren't allowed to do. Essentially, um. Dobson says this in
an interview. Until fifteen years ago, a girl couldn't pierce
your ears without getting her parents permission. Now a parent
can send a thirteen year old to school, The school
can transplant that child to have an abortion, and the
parents won't even know about it. She may come home
and begin to bleed and the parents won't know why parenting.

(29:11):
The parents have been eliminated from the entire process. How
did that happen? It was discussed somewhere, even debated, but
Christians didn't participate. So I don't think true in the
seventies or eighties, nor even now, can a thirteen year
old get sent to a hospital to have an abortion
by a school and the parents not know. Yeah. I
don't think that's ever happened ever. I I don't know,

(29:35):
at least not in the seventies. Yeah, I think we would. Yeah,
I I don't think that's that's a thing. But I
don't know. Maybe maybe maybe I'm wrong on this. We
could be, but I think not in the seventies. No,
because it's a minor and it's a major medical procedure.
You usually don't get um like rights over your body
medically into you don't have any right to privacy is

(29:56):
a thirteen year old because your property like a desk.
That's what Dobson would say. Um. Dobson's uh, you know,
co founder of Folks in the Family who later you know,
came out kind of against Dobson because he was scared
of what he was doing. Um. Gil Alexander Mogarel wrote
a whole book about Dobson called James Dobson's War on America. Um,

(30:17):
now this is I hope somebody writes a book like
that about me one day. Robert Evans bar in America,
well on the FDA. Maybe it's a good title. Yeah, Um, noted.
Here's a quote from the very good book James Dobson's
War in America. Two years after we started Focus on
the Family, Jim got his first taste of the surreal

(30:38):
sense of power and control that working in Washington offers.
The flavor was sweet to to this only child, and
ever since focused on the Family's component about political activism
has been a central feature in the life and work
of James Dobson, and one that he personally relishes more
than any other aspect of it. And this absolutely is true.
He as soon as he got some political influence, he

(31:00):
got like addicted to this. Yeah. It's almost like power
is is a literal drug that that ruins people. And
if you were already kind of shitty beforehand, it makes
you into something, um more frightening than any any anything
Lovecraft ever dreamed up. Sure, yeah, yeah, how did we
end up at love Craft? I don't know, But like

(31:22):
cosmic James Dobson, I think about cosmic car I think
but the death of stars, Yeah, and the death of
many teenagers. Yeah, a lot of teenagers. Um, which will
we'll find out about? Yeah? Yeah. The first taste of
worming his way, like the first taste of power was
him worming his way onto the Carter Family Advisory Council,

(31:44):
like the thing that President Carter established. UM. By now
Focus on the Family's radio program was expanded to a
daily fifteen minute program instead of a weekly one. Um.
It was on hundreds of stations now um A year
later in the program got turned into a thirty minute show.
It became racking up thousands of stations around then. UM

(32:05):
what Now. The way Dobson got on this council is
that one day on air, he persuaded his listeners that
he needed to be on this this this whole like
family conference thing, telling them that such conferences are usually
dominated by quote Eastern establishment to liberal secular humanists. Um,
he's got all the buzzwords in there. Yeah. So Dobson

(32:27):
was fear was trying to scare his audience UM and
saying that maybe if um, maybe that he can maybe
Dobson can get invited on if his listeners right into
the conference director urging to invite Dr Dobson UM and
wrote and wrote in They did. Eighty thou people either
called in or wrote into the White House UM requesting

(32:48):
Dobson joined the committee slash conference. UH an invitation was
to join was sent out to this relatively unknown Christian
radio psychologists from l a UM. Yeah, also take notes, listeners,
because I would like to be on a commission. People
call in. Yeah, just whatever commism, whatever commission, it doesn't matter.

(33:09):
Whatever commission Robert wants, We're going to get him on. Yeah.
Everyone gets your phones ready to take a random something
like something to do with like like like potatoes or
some ship something something in their potato conference would be good. Yeah,
I could. I know a lot about potatoes, you know,
like the ones I'm talking in your house a few
weeks ago. I did. I did have some poto anywhere.
Were left my cabinet for far too long. Yeah, an

(33:33):
not really potatoe. After this invitation was sent out the
post article rights that's when he realized the power of
his electronic forum UM, the power he's not hesitated to
use on other issues, including the Civil Rights Restoration Act
and now here this Dobson got. Dobson got hundreds of

(33:54):
thousands of people to call in and oppose the Civil
Rights Restoration Act of UM. The bill then failed to
pass on the on the first few votes that they
tried to do. It only passed four years later after
quote abortion neutral language was added, so, you know, utilizing

(34:17):
your public power to quash the Civil Rights Restoration Act
as one does. Yeah. So here here's the good part.
After the bill was passed with you know, the uh,
with the abortion neutral language, Reagan then vetoed the bill
great great politics sational. The Senate then had to override

(34:44):
his veto. UM. It's unclear how much influence Dobson had
on this whole like videoing process with Reagan and stuff.
But as we'll soon see, UM, Dobson and Reagan became
very close friends. UM, and Dobson did not hesitate to
use his power to mobilize hundreds of people to call
the government to complain about that just happened to agree
with him about hitting little kids. That was my Reagan.

(35:08):
There's some really good pictures of Dobson and Reagan together,
just together, pretending the AIDS crisis isn't happening. Dobson was
happy about the AIDS crisis. Dobson hated gay people so much.
I'll bet that was the best thing that ever happened.
That's why he wasn't talking about gay people in the eighties,
because he was happy where things were going. He only

(35:28):
started talking with them in the nineties and two thousands
when they started to get a little bit better. Yeah,
when when they weren't all dying. Yeah, Yeah, I'm sure
that was hard for him. Shortly after UM Ronald Reagan's election,
he put Dobson on the National Advisory Commission to the
Officer of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Program, which
is way too long of a title. Yep, that's way

(35:50):
too long of a title for anything. But Dobson got
put on this because Reagan liked him. UM Dobson also
served as co chairman on the Citizens Advisory Panel for
Tax for Form in consultation with Reagan. I don't know
what Dobson's qualifications were for tax reform because that's not
really part of any of his education training. And there

(36:12):
he was running a nonprofit tax adam business that was
just a media empire at this point, So I really
don't think he should be the one on this tax advice.
Is just convinced me that I do have what it
takes to run the American Coastguard. I'm gonna I'm gonna start,
I'm gonna start putting up feelers to the Biden put
me in charge of the Coastguard. Listener, everyone, let's email
the Biden team and let's get Robert and charged. I

(36:34):
don't know what I'll do, and neither will the Coastguard.
That'll keep them on their toes. Uh. Dobson also served
as a member Dobson Dobson also served as a speaking
of the Coastguard. UM. Dobson served as a member and
the and the chairman of the United States Armies Family Initiative,

(36:55):
which was like about Army families and stuff and you know,
you know stuff. Um. He was appointed UM to Attorney
General Edwin Meeces Commission on Pornography in the mid eighties,
and he got put on a teen pregnancy prevention panel,
which I just think is not a good call as
someone who hates abortion. But you know, seems like he

(37:15):
might not have a lot of helpful things to share there. Yeah,
and he also got put on Attorney General's Advisory Board
on Missing and Exploited Children. Um, he was up to
so much stuff. Seems like he actually might know why
some kids are missing. He's he's responsible for a lot
of missing children. His kind of workers the reason why
a lot of kids ran away. Yeah, especially in the

(37:35):
nineties and two thousand's good decision for those kids to make. Yeah. So,
despite him being up to a lot of stuff during
the reggae years, Dobson wanted more and he wanted more
direct lobbying power. UM. This next bit is taken from
the Washington Post article again UH the nineteen In the
Dobson convinced that. Dobson was convinced that the Conservative cause

(37:59):
needed more help than he alone could give. He persuaded
the Focus on the Family Board to buy the Family
Research Council. Since that purchase, the Family Research Council has
become one of the largest evangelical Christian lobbying organizations in Washington. UM,
and this is likely inaccurate. It was the biggest Christian
lobbying group ever in the history of this country. Awesome

(38:22):
UM former the former vice president and UH and co founder,
who since since like came out against Dobson, now says
of Dobson, he is a tremendous threat to the separation
of church and state. UM. James Dobson lobbies Washington more
powerfully than any individual or organization within the religious right.
I mean, I'm glad he figured it out after a while,

(38:42):
but It would have been nice if he hadn't helped him,
if he didn't help him start the business, start the
thing that is essentially a giant weapon aimed at shooting
all of our freedom in the dick. He should have
or whatever, he should have realized that. Um, do you
know who won't shoot your freedom in the dick? Robert
or whatever? Or very inclusive. Here the fine products and

(39:03):
services that support your very show. Thank you, Garrison. Yeah, products,
and hello, we are back. This is Garrison talking about
focus on the family here, and this is Robert listening
and planning a violent counter coup. Yes, and well we'll

(39:25):
figure things out after the recording session. Why doesn't have
to be violent just because of the mercenaries I hired?
Oh sorry, I should have been more prepared. I should
have brought more than one. You should have brought mercy.
It's a coup. Yeah, I should have planned this a
little bit. You want to get yourself some former Navy
seals who have just been doing nothing but mainlining cocaine
ever since they got building and building a pipe part.

(39:48):
Those are the best guys to help you do a coup.
They never, for example, wind up arrested on the streets
of Venezuela's soaking in their own urine. Uh. Good times,
better times than this because in the mid better times
than the mid nineties in America, because in the mid
nineties Dobson was receiving a hundred twenty five million dollars

(40:11):
in lobbying power between Focus and Family Family Research Council
in the nineties, UM the Family the f r C.
That's kind of referred to UM or. They continue to
be an active Christian lobbying group today. It's not as
influential now, but it's still as active. UM. It also
is affiliated with a with a conservative pack called Family
Research Council Action UM. In two ten, the Southern Power

(40:34):
they were skipping ahead a little bit, but we'll we'll
go back in time later. UM. Twous and ten, the
Southern Poverty Law Center declared the group as an anti
gay hit group. UM. Yep, seems like that's fair. This
is the Family Family Research Council lobbying up here. Focus
on the Family never got declared an anti gay hit
group because it was they were too religious about it
that Southern Center didn't feel comfortable calling it that. I

(40:57):
feel very comfortable calling it an anti gay group. Because
they ran a conversion therapy program. We're gonna talk more
about what Focus in the Family was doing for anti
guay stuff in in part two because they didn't really
get really active that until the nineties. UM. But the
Post article sums up quite well what made Dobson's entry
into politics unique at the time, and they kind of
ushered in a whole new type of political Christian conservative activism. UM.

(41:21):
Dobson says he has no intention of ever running for office,
a pledge even his critics believe, but he also he
also says Focus in the Family should not endorse candidates,
although letters to the GOP and Democratic presidential nominees in
competance sent out to constituents UM leaves little room for
doubt that he believed Bush to be the better candidate.
But what it made it more unique is how Dobson

(41:42):
entered into politics quietly, without the press conferences and pomp
that surrounded predecessors like Reverend Jerry Folwell. Uh. This represents
a maturing of a certain segment of evangelicalism within mainstream politics,
particularly in the in the Republican Party. According to a
Brooking Institution fellow UM, an expert on religious life. Gone
are the days of TV preachers and bombast What lay

(42:03):
in their place are layman like Dobson who are emerging
and taking more of a talking more about with a
palatable language that's less about religion and more about civil rights.
So like trying to like, you know, their their rights
to run, the right to raise their kids their way,
and they're right for you know, unborn babies. That's like
kind of it's like, it's the real change from from

(42:24):
like religious conservative activism to being like to be mainly
about religion to being more about civil rights. Was was
Dobson kind was the first one to do that, which
is now we see a lot of that nowadays in
the Senate and Congress, in the White House. Okay, yeah,
so yeah it is um ABC primetime profile on Dobson

(42:48):
opens up, opens up like this. He was one of
the most powerful men in the country, and yet few
people even know his name. On Capitol Hill. He's treated
like some big powerful lobbyists because he was and yeah,
uh but and you've probably never you've never you've probably
never heard of him. But James Dobson's one of the
most influential leaders in the entire religious right. Dobson's vision

(43:08):
to transform America is known to every member of the
House and Senate, and he's been delivering his messages to
the White House in person for years. Thanks ABC for
really cracking the case on that one in the nineties. Uh.
Dobson's often described as like a stealth campaigner or a
stealth lobbyist for his ability to remain kind of under
the radar despite his massive influence. Because yeah, if if

(43:29):
you even if you're kind of into politics, there's a
good chance that now you've never even heard of focus
on the family or family research counsel or Dobson, because
he was very good at staying under the radar despite
his massive power. Yeah, they're just one of those groups
that you like, you see them referenced constantly, you see
their logo on things, but it's usually just with a
bunch of other fucking different like non governmental organizations, Like

(43:51):
it doesn't He's not the kind of Yeah, that's that's
really how you exercise terrifying power. That's good, Yeah, because
it's more dangerous because because we knew so little about time, Well,
everybody's angry about I don't know, there was other stuff happening.
There was other stuff happening. Um, couple of wars, I think,
Yeah yeah, Um. Well, as Dobson's political aspirations were growing,

(44:13):
so was focused on the Families so called nonprofit publishing
empire UM citing the book Stations at the Cross Christianity Today,
which is the biggest evangelical slash Christian magazine UM dubbed
focused on the Family's president and founder, James Dobson, the
undisputed king of Christian radio. Focus on the Family was
the third most listened to radio show in the entire

(44:34):
country after the Rush Limbaugh and Paul Harvey programs, and
estimated twenty point six million people listened to his evangelical
radio program at least once a week, so in the
in the nineties he was the third. He had the
third most popular radio show in the entire in the
entire country. Yeah yeah, I'm not I'm not happy with

(44:59):
the way this is going. Really thinking electricity might have
been a mistake. And it's good that Rush Limbaugh is
the most and then and then it's Paul Harvey, and
then it's James Dobson. Although actually, according to other sources,
James Dobson beat out beats out Paul Harvey Um. In
some years it's there. They're kind of neck and neck. Um.
But Russia Limbaugh is the first one, and that you

(45:19):
have that, you have James Dobson Rush Limbaugh is the
first one, the good old, the good old one to
combo us James Dobson. Dobson wasn't a big part of
my childhood, but Limbaugh was. Um. And I that's why
I had fun lessons from my mom, like why it's
okay to carpet bomb the Middle East? Yeah, and had
I had the opposite. I didn't have Russia Limba, but

(45:40):
I had James Dobson. Yeah. So yeah, that explains the
differences between the only differences we have is that that
one event and the Canada thing. You like, you call
hats the wrong word. What do you call hats? It's
a it's a little too degenerate term. I canceled me
on Twitter off do it post listeners can't see it,

(46:04):
but my face went, oh yeah, it went like Sophie's
expressed the proper reaction to Canadian burbiage. Um By. They
had seven separate magazines in print, focus on the Family
here for for this norm. They had good content for
all it's not this nonprofit magazine at seven seven of them,

(46:24):
which they sold again nonprofitly um Focus on the Family
successfully had books being published themselves. At this point, many
seminars and sermons were taped and then sold nationally and internationally.
They got to deal with the US Army that the
US Army like bought and set them out to teach
army parents and get their kids. Yes, yeah, yeah, because

(46:45):
you're in the army, you know how to hit, but
you might not know it's okay your own children. You
don't just have to hit Iraqis. You can hit your kids.
It'll help you get better at hitting iraqi. Yeah, it's
good practice. If you get good at doing it to
your children without remorse, you can hit any of their
child interact. If you can harm your own children without
a thought, then you can really commit violence on behalf

(47:06):
of the state. A Focus on the Family made a
thirteen episode live action like half live action, half animated
TV show called mcgeene me Um. They started a whole
film department, most popular for their Last Chance Detectives series
in the mid nineties, which cost by like one million
dollars per film to make. And it's all just propaganda, right, here,

(47:27):
here's the not all of it, which is why it
gets actually really interesting and dangerous. It's why you hear
about focus on the family, like you'll see their name
at the end of a bunch of different like public
TV shows and stuff. Yeah. Yeah, So like the thing
about um all of their entertainment media is that more
often than not it's frustratingly competent um because again, they

(47:49):
had hundreds of millions of dollars at the disposal UM.
A review of mcgheine me, which I've watched all of
as a kid, I watched, I watched all these to
all these things. Slash Ens Detectives is kind of helped
me get on my detective path, which I now you
sing you are you are a detective? Yeah, um but
but yeah, those of you who don't know you are

(48:09):
track down the identity of Kyle Rittenhouse, the Kenosha shooter,
like six hours before the police figured out who it was.
There's a Forbes article about it. Yeah, thanks, focused on
the family of A review of m ME from Chicago
from the Chao Tribune says that the show is exceptional.
I'm saying it has the pression qualities top notch. The

(48:32):
show offers an entertain a mixture of live action animation
as well as well written stories with positive more messages,
and although the stories are definitely based on principles from
the Bible, the series isn't excessively preachy or pushy, which
is why I can get on the air. And apparently
the animation from the show was done by the award
winning team from fregl Rock, My Little Pony and Mappa Babies.
Fraggle Rock, Yeah, I know the drawn into this and

(48:59):
Mappa Babies that's the one that hits. I didn't want
to hear the rock dudes helped make little dominionist Christian property.
Let us let us talk about the babies and Frago
Rock Sophie, come on, Little unacceptable. I'm not happy with
any of this. Um, but by far, the most successful
and popular media program that folks the Family has ever

(49:20):
made and run is an audio drama series called Adventures
in Odyssey. Now we're gonna go on a bit of
an aside here, because again this is this is radio.
We're on radio, um right is Radio Garrison. It sounds
with your voices, and sounds with your voices, concept forms
and wavelengths, and yeah, I'm not sure it's gonna catch on,
but continue. Um. I listened to shiploads as of the

(49:43):
show as a kid. Um. It's been running NonStop since
nineteen eighty seven. Um, and it was the second most
listened to Christian radio program. Can you guess what? It was?
Only beating up by the other focus of the family programs? Great? Okay. Um.
So the premise of the show is that you're in
this small Midwestern town on the main character is this

(50:05):
old Christian man named Mr. Whittaker, who is an ex
secret agent and a genius inventor who runs like an
ice cream shop slash learning center called wits End. Here's
a picture, Roberts. It sounds like you're describing the kind
of dreams that you get after I don't know, like
taking a shipload of acid. This show is so weird.
So here's Mr Whittaker. He can you describe how that

(50:27):
looks to the audience. Um, it looks like Wilfred Brimley. Yeah,
he looks like Wilford. Um. So, even though I said
the main character is this old ex agent man who's
an inventor and runs an ice cream shop, their prospective
characters are these like different families that cycle out of
the show every ten years or so. Um, they deal
with like family issues and small town political issues, and

(50:47):
this old guy is like a mentor figure to this
whole town. Um, I'm gonna show you. I'm sure, Robert,
I'm sure Robert a picture of of one of these families.
I don't like his outfit. You don't like his outfit? Now? Okay, well,
I'm gonna sure Robert a picture one of these families.
And note these are the only black characters they've ever
had in the entire show. When when they were so
he got were the course of the thirty years, for

(51:09):
five years out of the thirty years, their Maine family
with the black family. Uh, but besides that, they've had
no black characters. Oh no, it's really oh no, oh no,
So they just drew O. J. Simpson, right, They just J.
Simpson for the dad. Okay, that's oh boy. And they

(51:34):
all boys accentuated teeth and really Johnny foreheads, tiny eyeballs.
It's really bad J. Simpson though, That is absolutely O. J. Simpson.
That is James or in fall Simpson, the most innocent

(51:54):
man in history. Yeah, the juice was loose for five years.
Christian television. Now, this episode that I listened to as
the episode that that Arbork is from gave me nightmares
as a child. By the way, before I saw the
artwork was because of something. It was like it was
their closest together getting to like a horror episode. I
see that they're in an old West town there, they're
only there. Why is the kid hold I just realized

(52:17):
acting it's because they were like they were like, I forget,
but I know this episode. I know this specific episode
gave me a nightmares because they went to this old
western town had like take up a treasure or something. Yeah,
I'm sure there were ghosts listeners all post start alloud
because of Christian stuff, right, because that would imply an

(52:39):
afterlife outside. I've told you this before, but one of
the most popular episodes is called Castles and Cauldrons, and
they had a d an episode about how D and
D is bad and satanic? Yeah good, Yeah good. This
seems like a fun show that you watched as a kid.
Game so much of this yeah, so like it was
radio show. They also made a television show based off

(52:59):
of it, okay animated. Um so, the original gimmick of
the show is that Mr Whittaker, the inventor X agent guy,
made this invention called the Imagination Station, which is like
a mix of the hollow Deck and a time machine
kind of unclear. Um. Now, the purpose that serves in
the show is a way to travel to the quote
unquote past to teach the audience. Um, an audience surrogates

(53:19):
quote unquote history an incredibly an incredibly whitewashed pro colonial
Christian revisionist history. I mean, that's all terrible, but I'm
already coming up with an alternate cannon in my head
in which Mr Whittaker is a former CIA agent and
all he's doing is dosing these keys from the n
s A. Yeah, I've got my own head cannon. He's
given MLSD. This is all he's continuing mk ultra on

(53:42):
his own make a way that would make way more sense.
Um yeah. But like again, the frustrating thing is that
the show is very well produced, often hiring l A
voice actors, like it has people from the Animaniacs who
are still on the show now, which I don't know how, Yeah,
because people need paychecks. The main character from Steven un Verse,
like the guy who was to Stephen used to when

(54:02):
he was a very small child voiced a character on
this show before he broke out into animation. Um for
Stephen Universe and stuff. You know, a very gay show.
Um and focused on the family is a very not
gay friendly company. I mean, if he was a kid,
he was, he was a very young child, and he's
now he's an adult. Um. Yeah, we all need paychecks. Yeah, um,

(54:22):
we get good health insurance in this country. Years. And
I don't know if they taught you that in Canada. Yeah,
I know, I live here, I know. Yeah. Yeah, not
a great call, by the way, I know. Anyway, Yeah,
there was spinoff movies, tons of books. Um, for some reason,
Mr Whittaker's son is also a secret agent. Okay, of

(54:46):
but the goal you see, right, so we stopped, so
we stopped. Wait guys, all right, So the goal of
the show runners supposed to make him like an anti
James Bond, or like a Christian version of James Bond. Now, Robert,
picture that man in your head? What people in the nineties,
Christian people in the nineties thought the Christian version of

(55:06):
James Bond would look like picture that end in your head. Okay,
do you have him? Yeah? All right? And the scrolled
down here he is, which wait, all he's all of them,
all these all three is Indiana Jones clearly in one
of those there's three pictures here, one of them in
like a very tight shirt. First Sync, Yeah, yeah, he
looked he does look like a member of in Sync.

(55:26):
And the first one he has three has like he
has like he has like a goatee. He has like
a little like soule patch and gotee. It's not attractive,
it's not good. Has he has giant feet future abnormal
and elf like at the toe. And then in one
of these pictures, they've done a terrible thing and put
him in Indiana Jones out of that, which I am

(55:47):
offended by. Yeah, it's very upsetting. Who was he in
the middle, because Indiana Jones, that's very famously was not
a Christian, because he knew for certain about the existence
of their deities, the magical. All three of the same
character these looks like this is the same this is
the same guy. This is the same guy. Yeah, well,

(56:09):
I guess, I guess. Indiana Jones's religious status is unknown,
but he both engages with like mystical powers on behalf
of Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, so you have to assume
he's got some new nuanced understanding of the Yeah. I
just don't like that. Yeah, that this person they tried
to make a cool Christian version of James Bond, who

(56:30):
looks terrible. The first guy is definitely the most babilicious
of the three. Yeah, I really he looks like Lance Bass.
No he doesn't. He looks like the j c uh
oh no, I'm so sorry nineties. We'll have to agree
to disagree, all right. Anyway, from I don't know who
that is, I think he's he definitely knows the bye

(56:52):
bye bye. Back to Dobson. Back to Dobson specifically, Um,
one of his more weird griffs was doing Ted Bundy's
final interview. How did that happen? You're gonna find out? Okay?
On the date. On the day before Bundy was executed
in nine Bundy received hundreds of interview requests from media outlets.

(57:16):
He denied all of these, and specifically requested to be
interviewed by James Dobson. The entire interview was about how
it was actually pornography that caused Bundy to murder and
rape all of those people. What a weird last flip
which which which which was which Bundy specifically argued against

(57:36):
in court he said it wasn't pornography, and then as
a final troll, he got Dobson in to like record
this whole interview about how was actually poor and that
made him murder and right pulled his people. What a
piece of So not only does he kill all those people,
but like the last thing he gets a choice over,
he uses that choice to funk up porn for everybody. Yes,

(57:57):
so it's cleared us. It's about this Ted Bundy character. Oh,
this has really pushed you over the edge. I'm no
longer I'm no longer neutral on Well that's that's a
good development. I'm kind of concerned for your previous Bundy views.
But okay, like I have one tattoo of the guy
that doesn't mean tattoo. Yeah, it's like so it's clear

(58:24):
that Bundy was essentially trolling Dobson and the entire world here. Um,
But Dobson found a way to capitalize on this exclusive um.
The tapes were technically free to use, but with the
stipulation that the interview be aired in its entirety without
editing or interruption, which is over like an hour long.
So it gave Dobson a lot of time to talk
and of course the news news media is not going

(58:45):
to do that. Um. So it's technically free to you
because again he runs a nonprofit company. UM. But he
would he would sell if you cut down the interview
at all, he would charge you for the tapes. Uh.
This it proved to be extremely profitable for Dobson. Um.
He either gets here yeah okay, capitalized on Ted Bundy.

(59:08):
He either gets a straight hour of media exposure on
national news programs, or he gets money. Within a year,
Dobson ranked in over a million dollars in profit from
the tapes. Um. He initially pocketed all of the money
for himself. Oh yeah good, why would you give it
to the families of his victims? But amid public outcry,
he donated six dollars to it, sillars of it to

(59:31):
anti porn groups and anti abortion groups. You know you're
a good person when your backstory repeatedly includes the line
amid public outcry. Um so that he kept um he
kept so like he kept four d dollars for himself
and but but part of the six dollars donated to
anti porn and anti abortion groups. UM Focus on the

(59:53):
Family is included as those groups. So can you just
give the money to himself? He killed a piece of ship,
he kept beautiful, He kept four dollars in his own
bank account and then gave the rest to the business
he owns. That's UM, I gotta hand it to him.
That's a good grift. That's a good Grift's a good grift.
Not not many people would look at a man who

(01:00:17):
repeatedly raped and molested the corpses of his victims and go,
I bet I can make a million dollars off this guy.
So every media empire needs its own castle. Folks in
the families no exception. UM Focus on the Family claims
they accepted a four million dollar grant from the Colorado
based L. Palmer Foundation. The foundation's website says they accept

(01:00:37):
applications from five O one C three organizations UM to
serve Colorado in the areas of arts and culture and
community and health and blah blah blah whatever. So at
the time, Focus on the Family was based on the
California So they applied for this grant UM and then
they got this money, so that they had then they
had to move to Colorado's to get the grant accepted,
so for four million dollars UM, they they transferred three

(01:01:04):
employees from California to Colorado and hired four hundred more
in state. Forty six acre lot was purchased um to
build their grand headquarters in Colorado Springs. They have their
entire They have their own entire zip code for their
further headquarters. During a tour of the folks in the
family offices, a couple from Michigan asked if handling all

(01:01:28):
of the sightseers in the main building was a distraction
from the regular working staff. The working staff said yes.
The couple then donated four million dollars to build a
new visitors center on the land u so Focus. The
family soon had built five hundred and twenty six thousand

(01:01:49):
hundred square feet of stuff on their Colorado, Colorado property,
including an entire replica of wits end that the ice
cream shop, slash of learning center from their radio program Amazing,
which um which I have been to. How's the ice cream?
I screams, not that the rest of it. I may

(01:02:09):
have some notes. Did you get drugged by a former spook? No,
but my brother did cut his head open in here
he fell and cut his head, opens his scar. You'll
you'll shoot a suit. Well we were very happy at
the time because we were they are called yeah whatever. Um. Yeah,
so i I've been there. Um in the focus on
the Family is like welcome center. Kind of film he

(01:02:29):
has like always you know people have Liken always have
like a film playing on a television. Ever. Um Dobson
compares his decision to build the headquarters in Colorado Springs
to the founding of the Temple at Jerusalem. Okay, makes
a lot of interesting calls. This. So when when I
went to the Focus of the Family headquarters when I

(01:02:49):
was like ten, I was not there in a journalistic
capacity because I was ten years old. Um, an intercult Um.
So I'm gonna refer to Auslan article about touring the
facility in the in the late nineties. Um. The tour
guide takes me upstairs to where the real work happens.
We Uh. We stopped first at a at a viewing
room for an area full of cubicles. Hundred and twenty

(01:03:10):
people work here. The tour out explains all they do
is answer focus on the Family correspondence. Uh. The room
is empty today because it's a Saturday, but he says
during the week it brims with activity. He tells me
how Focused listeners pour out their problems, asking for prayers
on on their behalf and UH and seek advice on
things like marital problems, depression, and their sons and daughters
who are gay. We receive about ten thousand letters a day,

(01:03:32):
he says. Sometimes they send money. The guy that mets,
but Focus on the Family doesn't require them to every
Every letter gets an answer, regardless of who sends it.
He points out that the correspondent staff takes the initiative
to send out free literature books and tapes of Focus
on the Family broadcasts even to those who don't donate. UH.
Focus on the Family also keeps a database with description
of everyone's problem to refer back to them if the

(01:03:54):
person ever writes again. This database is over four million names.
That's really creepy. It gets so weird, it gets worse.
This database is very interesting and terrifying. UM. A big
part of the daily radio show is asking listeners to
write in with questions or for people to send donations.
Sometimes they'll advise like, if you donate x amount, will
shipt you this book as a thank you. Um, you

(01:04:16):
know this stuff like that, that's kind of common. Um.
The Folkus of the Family co founder describes the radio
business model like this, most focused on the family broadcast
give the appearance of half of half howurd talk shows,
but are actually thirty minute infomercials for our focus on
the family product. It's as ingenious as it is perfectly legitimate.
The goal here is obviously for people to send money,

(01:04:37):
because you know, there are a donation primarily donation based
nonprofit quote unquote. Um, they also sell stuff or or
you like, buy stuff, but it's a technico donation that
they send you a book, So thank you, just you know, yeah, Um,
But so sending them to the goals to send money,
but just sending them any correspondence is a win, because
whether they send in money or just a question, their

(01:04:59):
names and address is get added to this master database. Um.
A special complimentary magazine is sent out monthly to everyone
in this database, just like um, just like the radio
show is a product catalog thinly veiled as a parenting guide. UM,
so is this this magazine that they send out? It's
mainly but people, it's it's too you know, the advertising

(01:05:20):
products and stuff. But It's thinly veiled as like parenting
advice for like you know, a free free magazine from
Focus on the Family UM. People on Smiling This are
also strongly encouraged to set up a monthly donation with
with different like thank you gift tears kind of like
Patreon UM. Not only does Dobinson and Focus on the
Family use this database as like a grifting machine, it's
also another way for Dobson to deploy his army of supporters.

(01:05:42):
He will routinely personally write letters for a call to action,
including a way for someone to contact Capitol Hill UM.
Then then he can just like mail out to everyone
in this database, you know, for people to respond so
you can easily, you know, get changes in legislation done
so this database, combined his ability to simply disparagingly mention

(01:06:02):
a piece of let of of a piece of legislation
on air UH can get resulting in hundreds of thousands
of people to write in or call in. He also
he also has the power to mobilize people UH to
meet his political goals through this like database like letter
system UM. And everyone in Washington knows this, which is
why so many conservative politicians have gotten so cozy with

(01:06:23):
Dobson is because he has this database that he can
just use on a whim to like mail something else
to like millions of people and then also just address
stuff on his radio show Agress. And part of why
this works is because he develops a p social relationship
with his listeners. It's like, hey, I James, as your
friend needs your help with this thing. I will send

(01:06:43):
you on a letter, you know, call in to us
if you have a family issue. You know, He'll get
people to respond, then just get more and more names
added added to the database. Uh, massive thing. A huge
amount of the right wing, like the whole right wing,
is all about getting mailing lists which then monetized and
used to drive donations and stuff. Yeah. So in the
in the next episode, we're gonna hear about the best

(01:07:06):
thing that ever happened with this database. Um. But also
all the gay conversion therapy program do it. So we
have those two things to look forward to. But that
is the end of this section about focusing the family
and James Dobson. How do you How do you feel, Robert?
I feel good. Um, I love that I've been pretty
standard kind of Yeah. I love that he managed to

(01:07:29):
make hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and his organization,
although those two things are essentially the same because nobody
ever goes after these people for breaking the law flagrantly. UM.
I loved that he monetized a mass murderer. UM and
then when he got in trouble from monetizing it, he
still gave the money to himself himself. UM I love.

(01:07:49):
I love. What I love about the right is the
complete lack of ethical consistency and the total and all
consuming lust for power. UM. And I think in James
Dobson embodies that in a number of ways, but most
clearly in his desire to have people do violence to children,
because that's really the core of like that right wing

(01:08:10):
obsession with power is like, if a child disrespects an adult,
they deserve to be harmed. This was an idea that
I grew up with a lot too, Like my mom
would tell me if I ever if I ever hear
you talk back to an adult, like I'll beat the
ship out of you, UM and variations of that. UM.
And the things that I got the most physical punishment
for as a kid were times in which UM I

(01:08:33):
disrespected an adult. This idea that like, the worst thing
you can do as a child is not respect the
power of adults. Um. It it all speaks to the
kind of man he is. And as soon as he realizes,
like like when he's got no power, um, before he
gets into politics, then he's obsessed with this idea of
disciplining children. Um. But as soon as he has some

(01:08:55):
chance to force his views on everyone else, he takes it.
Because that's the kind of person he is. He does
want people to be able to do things he doesn't
personally want them doing. That's the essence of him and
of conservatism. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. As as we'll learn
more about gay conversion therapy, which in alves a lot
of child abuse in the next episode. Awesome, m Robert,
do you have any pluggables you want to plug? Um?

(01:09:20):
Yeah you know, Um, I have a podcast it's this one.
Um you can probably yeah, you can listen to it
on the internet. Yeah. She's great. Um. The internet is
also great. One of many things that has no consequences.
So find me. Find me on the internet alongside a
bunch of racists plotting the downfall of civilization. But Roberts

(01:09:43):
on Twitter and I right, Okay, I'm on Twitter and
there's a t public store behind the bastards. You can
get the FDA approved to prevent all diseases thing. I'll
see you guys the next episode. Yeah shook right now.
Look how while he did, I always knew he was
coming from behind. Dude phrasing all right, goodbye, mm hmm

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Part One: Focus on the Family: James Dobson