Dr. Phil claimed that extremist factions within U.S. politics are responsible for dividing the nation rather than the conventional “Left versus Right” conflict.
During a featured appearance on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) “Verdict” podcast, McGraw illuminated certain areas that could lead to individuals being “canceled” by society.
“Whether you’re talking about science, history, biology, you pick it,” he began. “What’s happening right now, in my opinion, is the narrative in America is being hijacked.
“And it’s being hijacked by the fringe. It’s not even, it’s not like the Left versus the Right,” he explained. “It’s the fringe. And I call it the tyranny of the fringe.”
Dr. Phil: 'Our Children Aren't Just Being Exposed, They're Being Targeted'
“I wrote a book and I think 2004 called Family First. And at that time, I said, the family in America is under attack… the family values, everything that families stand for in America are under attack.… pic.twitter.com/2C24ilsl1w
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McGraw argued that the “factions in the fringe” employ emotional manipulation to coerce others into adopting their viewpoints on hot button issues.
He said that people who refuse to “fall in line” get “attacked on the internet” to the extreme of being harassed at work and and even their places of worship.
“And there’s something that I know, a lot of people listening, read ‘1984.’ Which by the way, was written in 1948, by Orwell, how prophetic was he in writing this, and he talked about how people would be ‘unpersoned,’” he noted.
Mcgraw said that being “unpersoned” in Orwell’s classic novel is comparable to cancel culture.
“[In 1984] they would just delete that person, they would just take away everything from them. And that’s what happens in canceled culture,” the daytime talk show mediator explained.
He said that involves taking away the “unpersoned’s” social network, support system, and livelihood.
“I’m not saying there aren’t people in this society that have done terrible and egregious things that don’t deserve to play in the game,” he added.
“But there are also a lot of people that get swept up into not buying into the rhetoric.”
He pointed out that so-called “fringe tyrants” will try to “eliminate” anyone that doesn’t fall in line with their thinking.
Dr. Phil and Cruz also discussed the effects of social media platforms targeting children with “toxic information” online.
Cruz said that the “pressures” generation Alpha are under are “qualitatively different” than what past generations have experienced.
He asked Dr. Phil what parents could do in the face of their children being “confronted with themes and messaging and influence that is deliberately poisoning them.”
McGraw said that what worries him is the “competing information” being presented to children in cyberspace.
“One of the things I talk about is the fact that our children aren’t just being exposed, they’re being targeted,” he explained. “And when I say targeted, I wrote a book in I think 2004 called ‘Family First.’”
When McGraw wrote the book, he pointed out that “everything that families stand for in America” is under attack.
“This was 20 years ago,” he noted. “Let me tell you, it is so much worse now than it was then.”
“And when I say they’re under attack, one of the ways is what’s happening on the internet, what’s happening on the social media platforms,” he went on.
Dr. Phil said that the American public doesn’t understand how algorithms work to target kids with “toxic information,” and social media companies knowingly push them towards content that “creates anxiety, depression, loneliness, confusion, self-hatred.”
“And if you want to create chaos in a society, where do you start? You attack the children,” he stated.
“If you get them to hate themselves, be questioned about who they are, what they are, what’s that going to do to the next generation and the next generation?” McGraw posited.
“And right now, we have the highest levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness among our young people.”