Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Q: What do America, Marxism, and Dr. Phil have in common?
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Deconstructing Phil. is Back From the Dead
Actually, the Derridian concept of hauntology might make interesting, even if strange, bedfellows out of yesterday’s episode and today’s blog. You see, instead of using his 40 minutes with
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Shocking 'Caust of Watching Dr. Phil
*At Deconstructing Phil, we always strive to bring you first hand accounts from the writings of prominent philosophers, psychoanalysts, and theorists. While Stanley Milgram is an influential psychologist and his book Obedience to Authority does provide detailed and direct accounts of his famous experiments, all four copies of the book were checked out when I checked in my local university library. Mook’s textbook, however, is a fairly detailed, objective, and accurate look at some of psychology’s most notable experiments. Secondly, it should also be noted that there were serious ethical challenges to Milgram’s experiments. These concerns deal with the circumstances and awareness of the subjects, though, and do not mitigate or call into question the ultimate findings. Lastly, while this post is already long and detailed, it should be noted that another similar experiment which goes a long way toward explaining the interaction between authority and obedience is the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971).
Monday, March 3, 2008
Why I've Become L'Etranger; Dr. Phil Update; Scary Movie
We do hope to post at least once during the week (we have a really good one already in the works that links Dr. Phil to war criminals). In a nice odd turn, for those of us thinking that Dr. Phil is as Conservative as a troglodyte, today's episode is supposed to feature a much more progressive McGraw, apparently yelling at a Sex Ed teacher who refuses to teach anything but abstinence. While there probably won't be a Deconstructing Phil. post, we suggest watching it with a close reading of Macbeth (i.e. "Unsex me here," "Is this a dagger which I see before me,/ The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee." and "something wicked this way comes") to see how a frustrated sexual identity can lead to murderous rage and socio-political chaos.
Or, if you're not a do-it-yourself sort of critical theorist, first of all, work on that, seriously, and second of all, take a look at my friend Jesse's "Filmaday weblog" which usually features his adroit reviews of (mostly current) films, but today features a special guest reviewer (namely myself) providing something of a Lacanian critique of a bizarre PBS documentary called The Queen Family. Scroll down to the links section or check it out here:
http://filmaday.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
I Lacan Quit Any Time I Want
Monday, February 4, 2008
I'm Serious, This is 100% Serious
- "B[deleted for privacy purposes], Emily"
- To:
- Subject: Dr. Phil: 601-16
- Date: Monday, February 04, 2008 21:12:21
Dear Seth,
Thank you for speaking with me. Could you please give me 10 SPECIFIC examples of how being an “intellectual elitist” has caused problems in your life.
Also, as it is our standard procedure, could you please email me some recent photos of yourself?
Thanks!
Emily B[deleted for privacy purposes]
Associate Producer
The Dr. Phil Show
(323) -[deleted for privacy purposes]Thursday, January 31, 2008
Apparently the Social Contract is not in Dr. Phil's Contract
Today’s episode of Dr. Phil was all about vigilante justice. As someone very interested in non-vigilante justice, this is, of course, of great interest to me. Furthermore, while the issue may not be at the forefront of contemporary political dialogue, it does at least weave through many current controversies—from immigration and the “minute men” border guards to