Why Can’t I Get No Respect?

“What is your take on the book Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier?” at least twenty-three thousand four hundred and seventeen persons have asked since Shrier’s book came out to deserved accolades.

“Well, now that’s a good question,” I reply to all of them simultaneously. “Shrier’s Bad Therapy, like all her books, is well-written and she does an excellent job of summarizing what I’ve been saying for at least thirty-five years about psychology, therapy for children, and the post-1960s emphasis on children’s feelings.”

Maybe my memory is faulty, but I remember doing a phone interview with Ms. Shrier that lasted forty-five minutes or so. She told me she was writing a book on therapy with children. If that is correct, I have to wonder why she did not list me as a reference. If, on the other hand, my memory is not correct and Ms. Shrier did not interview me, my question then becomes, “Why not?” I was, after all, the first person to say what she says in the book.

Bill Maher had me on his first talk show, “Politically Incorrect,” back in the 1990s. I was that episode’s resident nut-job conservative, a hot seat previously occupied by other nut-job conservatives I highly respected. There I sat, surrounded by that Marilu woman from “Taxi” (who traveled with a woman whose job, it seemed, was to comb Marilu’s hair) and other Hollywood types who frowned severely every time I spoke. Maher attempted to get me into an argument that would have destroyed my career, or so he hoped, but did not because I won. When the show was over, his producer took me aside and said, “That was great, John! We gotta get you back!”

They never did get me back, however, and Maher, it seems, is finally coming to his senses. A friend just sent me a clip of him saying that fathers need to be scary and parents need to answer nearly every question their children ask with “Because I said so.”

Who has kept “Because I said so” alive since it all but completely expired in the 1970s?Me! Who has been telling fathers over that same period of time, to stop trying to be their children’s best friends? Me!

My point, dear reader, is that no one gives me any respect. I say something for forty years, then someone else says the same thing for a week and they get all the credit! Is it my breath? In any case, I need a hug!

Here’s the Short List of Brilliant Things Rosemond Said Before Anyone Else Said Them and Which Have Since Been Proven True by Researchers Doing Credible Science, Thank You:

• Video games are addictive.

• Humility is the centerpiece of proper character, the essence of loving one’s neighbor.

• The more one talks to a child about his feelings, the more feelings he will have and the unhappier he will become.

• Firm, unequivocal parent authority is as essential to a child’s sense of self-worth (very, very different from self-esteem) and well-being as unconditional love.

• Adoption does not cause psychological problems (unless the adoptee’s parents do what “adoption specialists” tell them to do and keep bringing it up ad nauseum).

• The profession of psychology is not a science; therefore, anyone should be allowed to publicly say, “I am a psychologist!” just like anyone should be allowed to say, “I am a mind-reader!”

• Psychological diagnoses have no scientific validity.

• Mental health professionals do more harm than good.

• Psychiatric drugs do more harm than good.

• Traditional child-rearing produces emotionally-sturdier people than post-1970 “parenting.”

• Post-1970 “parenting” mostly produces brats, which is the name given to children who are full-blown narcissists before they are out of pre-school.

• Teaching academics before first grade is largely counterproductive.

• The Bible does not prescribe spanking for misbehavior.

• Spanking, per se, is neither abusive nor psychologically damaging.

• “Because I said so” is nothing but an affirmation of the legitimacy of parental authority.

• All human beings are on the narcissism spectrum, the trick being that of keeping one’s “score” (on a scale of 1 to 10) below 5.

• The diagnosis attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is a complete, unadulterated scam. No one has or has ever had ADHD.

• The term “biochemical imbalance” is completely bogus; in other words, a lie.

• Psychiatric drugs do not reliably outperform placebos in controlled trials; in other words, they are lies.

• Psychiatric disorders are nothing but acquired habits…bad ones.

• A person with high self-esteem is, by definition, a sociopath.

Am I tooting my own horn? You betcha! Apparently, if I don’t, no one will. Except my faithful readers and listeners, that is. My sincere thanks to all of you.

Copyright 2024, John K. Rosemond