If I may offer a different perspective. What I found personally frustrating about this thread is the narrow focus on Phil’s status of as a doctor which was a comment from Xeni, the content of what "?"Phil said in both video’s was by and large ignored.
In defense of @Michael_R_Smith I believe this was a response triggered by the content of my comment. This was not out of place with many of the emotive exchanges in this thread.
I agree with @anon61221983 about staying on topic but personally I feel that the topic wasn’t Dr Phil in general but the specific context of his 1st video then follow up apology video and if you like the meta topic of media interpretation.
Personally I feel the thread was predominantly directed/ hijacked by a desire to discredit Phil than to actually discuss the content and repercussions of his speech and actions.
I totally agree but that wasn’t the point of his mea culpa. His follow up video shifted to an emphasis on mental illness, which I also don’t trust his credentials, but he did raise some points that I think are more worthy of discussion.
My point is that his credentials should be the side topic and leave space to talk about something more productive. The comment section was, by and large, not about the videos presented.
At the end of the day what constructive use is this sort of echo chamber.
Kinda missing the point again. Absolutely not defending Dr Phil. Just expressing some frustrations of the circular nature of the discussion in the thread.
Sorry for boiling down the concept of “circular nature of the discussion” to the cliche of “echo Chamber” and happy to elevate your bingo score
I am new here as a participator in the community but have read Boing Boing everyday for the last 20 years. I apologise for for stating my convictions a bit to stridently.
To be clear, I am not defending or justifying Dr Phil. I hate the fact that we have to negotiate pundits like him.
I just wanted to extract from his video that covid 19 isolation is a danger to people who are trapped in abusive situations with abusers. People will surely be damaged and die from this.
For me this is not about Dr Phil as a human being or a celebrity it is about the transmission of knowledge in a popular medium.
I am not being flippant and sincerely want to offer up positive comments to further a discussion that I truly believe is hurting people that I know.
That can happen with or without isolation. Instead of pointing to this as a reason why we should consider stopping isolation, we should be looking for ways to stop the abuse and help the abused under any circumstances.
Are they white and male…? maybe they deserve more than the rest of us… Maybe my family members who are working in jobs deemed essential should die so that white males aren’t inconvenienced.
