A response to the NARAL ad attacking John Roberts, from Progress for America (a PAC that supported the 2004 re-election of George W. Bush. See Ashley).

The ‘Talking Points’ memo from September 2005, during the aftermath of Katrina.

The National Public Radio show ‘This American Life’ took an audio recording of O’Reilly’s commentary to a shelter for the victims of Katrina, and recorded their reactions: After the flood.

An ad hominem embedded in an email from a viewer.

Here’s a choice example of an old yarn: prominent atheists have had problematic relationships with their fathers, therefore atheism is adolescent rebellion against God. This conclusion, of course, entails absolutely nothing about the truth of the proposition ‘God exists,’ but arguments of this kind are less about convincing people not already convinced as they are about scoring points for ‘your team.’

This example adds a new twist to that tradition, with “America” playing the role of the benevolent yet strict father figure and President Obama as the alienated teenager:

Impeach Barack Before His Death Spiral Takes Us All Down

Are the Sins of the Fatherless the Root of Obama’s Tyranny?

Does Obama’s anti-democratic ideology result from his dysfunctional childhood? An intriguing book, Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism, by Paul Vitz, argues this type background is a common precursor to the classic tyrant’s personality. This suggests Barack’s beef with America might result from his own deficient past.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26329 reproduced here: http://standupamericaus.com.net-at-hand.com/are-the-sins-of-the-fatherless-the-root-of-obamas-tyranny:36373

It could be classified in a number of ways: as a fallacy of irrelevance, ad hominem, hasty generalization, appeal to authority, etc.

It begins by reciting the old yarn, this time via a ‘Christianized psychologist’ name Paul Vitz:

I Effects of Losing a Father

For death of a young child’s father, effects of a fatherless childhood can devastate character development. Vitz claims the genesis of atheism and socialism are often driven by personal childhood tragedies.

Vitz describes how loss of faith in one’s earthly father, by death, absence, or from mistreatment, frequently leads to a loss of faith in God. This “defective father hypothesis” gives a compelling explanation for “intense atheism” of famous intellectuals and politicians—the groups he writes about. Fathers can fail a child in many ways: By weak and cowardly behavior, abuse, or absence through death or abandonment.

Prof Vitz also describes childhoods of noted religious persons, linking belief to a warm father figure. He does not claim atheism is psychologically determined, but challenges the notion religious faith is irrational, whereas atheism is rigorous.

Vitz claims an especially difficult window exists between ages 3-5, when a father’s loss via death is viewed as abandonment. Also, he claims a physically abusive father can cause a boy to rage against all authority. So a lack of a positive male role model can translate into an inability to imagine God as a warm Father, as described in Judaism and Christianity.

The article even comes with a numbered list of alienated intellectuals (with no citations or references):

II The Famous Fatherless

Vitz focuses upon two groups: intellectuals and politicians, as the decisions of both are inordinately influenced by their religious views.

A. Intellectuals Who Lost Fathers

A brief list of atheist intellectuals greatly influencing the modern age includes:

1. David Hume, famed anti-Christian philosopher, whose father died when he was 2.

2. Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher skeptic, whose father committed suicide when Art was 16.

3. Ludwig Feuerbach’s father abandoned family for another woman when Ludwig was 13.

4. Sigmund Freud’s father was a coward, sexual pervert, and religious hypocrite.

5. Friedrich Nietzsche’s father, a pastor, died when he was 5.

6. Jean Paul Sartre’s dad died before the boy was 2.

7. Albert Camus,’ the existentialist writer, lost his father before he was born.

8. Thomas Hobbes, atheist philosopher, had a hypocrite pastor dad who abandoned family.

9. Votaire, famous French anti-religious author, hated his father, even changing his family name.

10. Philosopher Bertrand “Why I am Not a Christian” Russell, lost both parents before age 5.

In addition, America’s most famous atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair tried to kill her father with an 8-inch butcher knife.

And a case study of Nietzsche:

B. Special Study: Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche Infamous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche popularized the claim “God is Dead.” Hugely influential, especially on Hitler, he was extremely close to his father, a Lutheran pastor, dying when Friedrich was five. Writes Vitz, “Nietzsche often spoke positively of his father and of his death as a great loss which he never forgot. But he also saw him as weak and sickly.” Vitz says he views “Nietzsche’s rejection of God and Christianity as a rejection of the weakness of his father.”

Nietzsche claimed Christianity lacked a “life force.” In a strange reversal, the sickly boy grew to reject “weakling Christianity” for a return to macho paganism. His philosophy idealized “superman” but denigrated women (was he homosexual?). Ironically, sexist Nietzsche went mad, forcing sister and mother to care for him, whom he bitterly described as “machines built for hell.” Dr. Vitz writes, “It is not surprising that for Nietzsche Christian morality was something for women.”

After including

C. Political Leaders With Daddy Problems

Stalin, Hitler and Mao as instances of the fatherless, the author turns to constructing a psychological profile of Obama out of:

III Obama’s Childhood

abandoned and abused, acutely feeling the loss of his father, Obama developed pathological narcissism, which somehow connects to his identifying with his father’s putative political views (Marxism).

Which, of course, makes perfect sense because:

IV Policies & Strategies

For brevity’s sake, suffice it that Obama is not merely a leftist, but suspected of socialism by over 50% of Americans. Farther left as probably any president in history, debating the details of whether he’s socialist, Marxist, statist,fascist or corporatist is probably not meaningful. But Barack’s hidden motivations for failed policies, while pouring our assets down the commode, honoring dead atheists, is certainly rich fodder for discourse, as it could destroy America

Notice that the author has not shown that Obama is a socialists, but merely is suspected of being a socialist! Honestly, I can’t figure out what this paragraph is doing for the article. Maybe someone in the commentary can.

The author then offers, not as a conclusion but as further evidence:

V Possible Obama Mental Problems

One professional head-shrinker lists possible Obama problems: Mental illness; Narcissism; Asperger’s Syndrome; Drug-abuse affects; After-affects of child abuse, writing “Obama is flat when passion is needed; he’s aggressive when savvy is required. What’s most worrisome is that Obama doesn’t even realize that his behavior is inappropriate.” But this could explain Obama’s strange reactions, such as laughing at GM’s bankruptcy, or playing golf during the Gulf oil spill. Again, Dr. Vaknin wrote, “If we look into the childhood of all narcissists, we can see that invariably they were abused. Pathological narcissism is a reaction to prolonged abuse and trauma in early childhood or early adolescence.” A list of Obama’s narcissistic behavior is found here. It’s not pretty.

There’s an implicit appeal to fear running through here as well. And of course, notice the unnamed ‘professional head-shrinker’ for an appeal to authority.

The article itself fails to make an actual argument. The final section, titled ‘What can be done? Impeachment” lays out what we might charitably call its “case”:

VI What Can Be Done? Impeachment!

Barack clearly fits the profile of young boys traumatized by loss of a father, turning to atheistic gods. It’s reported Obama no longer attends church. But don’t be shocked at old friends remembering his Marxist self-identity, and a two-decade attendance at a Marxist-fixated church under a racist crackpot “pastor” espousing socialist wealth-redistribution ideals. It fits the larger pattern.

All the elements of Barack Junior’s ideology mirror Obama Senior’s Marxist beliefs. Further, Vitz explains a fatherless son can reject all authority, even God, but still espouse his dead father’s leftist beliefs, perhaps in a vain attempt to please beyond the grave.

This publication has recently argued (here: article 1; article 2; article 3) the only logical escape from the Obama Death Spiral (ODS) is impeachment, and quick. Otherwise, America must watch captive as a leader, as unhinged as the deranged Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, lacking any method at all, continues to force suicidal decisions upon our once prosperous, virtuous and confident Republic.