Is Robert Given too much Credit?

[Horde Prime]

Look guys, Bob was already old when Chris was born. He was grandpa age not dad age. I don't know how many of you have kids but let me tell you it is a lot of work keeping up with them, trying to be a good example raising them, trying to provide what they need and what they want, trying to give them life experiences, trying to help educate them. Believe me it is a lot of work and can be exhausting. Grandparent age is the age when people should be able to relax and do the fun stuff with the grandkids and not have to worry so much about the work stuff. It's just hard to keep up with kids all the time. Bob certainly may have had his faults, but I think he genuinely cared for Chris and tried... just already being so goddamn old and ending up a father again... well it would be hard even if the child was normal but with a special needs kid and his age the deck was stacked pretty high against him from the start.

 

[Andrew Noel Schaefer]

I personally think that in his glory years, Robert Chandler was a pretty cool guy.

Shame we never saw them.

 

[CatParty]

he was a racist (possible klan member) who hoarded guns and possibly had a gay lover because he listened to jazz. which by the way is a goldmine of classic records that is slowly getting destroyed by the hoard.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

Ya know something, brother? Bob was a good parent when compared to Barb, but overall did not do the best for Chris because Bob feared that he would be labeled an outcast for having an abnormal son. If Chris had gotten proper treatment when young, and start training, saying his prayers and eating his vitamins, he could have turned out quite normal.

 

[Donald Duck]

Honestly I always thought comparing Borb and saying one is better than the other is like comparing two bowls of shit. One might stink less than the other, but at the end of day, they're still two bowls of shit.

 

[Horde Prime]

Ya know something, brother? Bob was a good parent when compared to Barb, but overall did not do the best for Chris because Bob feared that he would be labeled an outcast for having an abnormal son. If Chris had gotten proper treatment when young, and start training, saying his prayers and eating his vitamins, he could have turned out quite normal.

You know Hulk I've never really been a wrestling fan before, but you just might convert me.

 

[Marvin]

There's not anything new worth discussing about Bob vs Barb in this thread. Just go to the other Bob vs Barb thread. And even then, I don't think we have anything new to say. (Hell, even in other threads, we probably haven't had anything new to say about this subject for a long time.)

However, one thing I do want to say is that we really don't have sufficient evidence to establish that Bob was racist. All the common examples people bring up have a lot more reasonable explanations, especially considering everything else we know about him.

It's certainly possible, but without new evidence, it's really not justified to maintain specifically that Bob was racist. We just don't know that.

 

[Christ-Chan]

There's not anything new worth discussing about Bob vs Barb in this thread. Just go to the other Bob vs Barb thread. And even then, I don't think we have anything new to say. (Hell, even in other threads, we probably haven't had anything new to say about this subject for a long time.)

However, one thing I do want to say is that we really don't have sufficient evidence to establish that Bob was racist. All the common examples people bring up have a lot more reasonable explanations, especially considering everything else we know about him.

It's certainly possible, but without new evidence, it's really not justified to maintain specifically that Bob was racist. We just don't know that.

Well, one thing I want to ask you is regarding Chris' comments that he "doesn't have to love his father but he has to respect him": do you think the TV-world told him that or did he bring uo his feelings about Bob when talking to Barb, or even Bob himself?

 

[Henry Bemis]

Well, one thing I want to ask you is regarding Chris' comments that he "doesn't have to love his father but he has to respect him": do you think the TV-world told him that or did he bring uo his feelings about Bob when talking to Barb, or even Bob himself?

The world of the 1950s/60s sitcom made the father of the household a distant yet respected figure, someone who will come home from work and untie all the knots in which his little scamps got tangled, and all from the comfort of his easy chair. Chris's world wasn't a vintage sitcom by virtue of the fact that both his parents had jobs during his childhood, but that dynamic-father is distant and mother's on hand-had to have stuck with him in some way. When he came to formalize his abject hatred of the male sex, it probably only made that distance wider, not matter how often he said Bob wasn't a JERK.

 

[Marvin]

There's not anything new worth discussing about Bob vs Barb in this thread. Just go to the other Bob vs Barb thread. And even then, I don't think we have anything new to say. (Hell, even in other threads, we probably haven't had anything new to say about this subject for a long time.)

However, one thing I do want to say is that we really don't have sufficient evidence to establish that Bob was racist. All the common examples people bring up have a lot more reasonable explanations, especially considering everything else we know about him.

It's certainly possible, but without new evidence, it's really not justified to maintain specifically that Bob was racist. We just don't know that.

Well, one thing I want to ask you is regarding Chris' comments that he "doesn't have to love his father but he has to respect him": do you think the TV-world told him that or did he bring uo his feelings about Bob when talking to Barb, or even Bob himself?

That sounds like a TV cliche to me. I don't think he'd have that sort of conversation with Bob and I don't think he'd bring up the issue of loving his father to Barb. He'd probably just cry about Bob being a meanie to Barb. His whining to Barb probably wouldn't touch on the issue of love.

 

[Satoru182]

Well, one thing I want to ask you is regarding Chris' comments that he "doesn't have to love his father but he has to respect him": do you think the TV-world told him that or did he bring uo his feelings about Bob when talking to Barb, or even Bob himself?

To me Chris just prefered Barb and disliked Bob, because mommy just let him do as he wished while Bobobob tryed to push Chris to do things like tending the garden and being a person. Surely Bob was the only one that put Chris in motion, and OPL did not apreciate that.

**********
Bottom line, both were shitty parents *in their prime*, and Chris was an accident they werent prepare to handle on their *old age*, but Bob with all his faults tryed harder and pushed Chris than Barb that just coddled and pampered him.

 

[fridgesrants]

I have always had some sympathy for Bob. He tried to direct Chris in life but by the time Chris was suspended from Community college for a year he figured out Chris had no future. The only thing he did wrong really was not getting Chris to go to a therapist when he was younger to deal with his social problems and how to cope with Autism. Then again Bob was super old when Chris was born that he did not have the energy of a father in his 30s. Barb was a pretty bad enabler though and brought the worst out in Chris.

 

[ChurchOfGodBear]

The only thing he did wrong really was not getting Chris to go to a therapist when he was younger to deal with his social problems and how to cope with Autism.

That's true, but it's a little bit like saying "The only thing Joe Jackson did wrong was to treat his children like performing circus apes." or "The only thing Papa Dahmer did wrong was forget to teach his kid not to eat people." Bob's might have only made "one mistake" but that one mistake was enough to essentially damn Chris for life. There were numerous points during Chris's upbringing that Bob should have been able to realize that mainstreaming Chris, and not giving him the therapy he needed, was failing as a parenting strategy. At any point in his early years, Bob could have decided to give therapy a try, but never did. Not only did he make his "one mistake", he kept making it over and over, reinforcing the self-destructive ideas Chris had in his head. That's what gets to me... say what you will about Bob, he wasn't a dumb guy. He should have realized something wasn't working right long before he "gave up" on Chris.

To be fair, Barb has to share the blame for this.

 

[Anustart]

Yeah, giving up on your own child's future when you've only tried one method of helping them that failed repeatedly is pretty bad, especially when the parenting tactics they clung to were conveniently the path of least resistance -- don't take your child to a therapist, don't work a little harder to get them the accommodations they need as an autistic child, just put them in a regular school and let them run around humiliating themselves in public places and sexually harassing women and cover your ears when people suggest any alternatives that take more effort than that. Then, when your child's future is ruined because you taught them to be an entitled narcissist, just tell them that they are totally right and everyone else is stupid because you just want this problem to go away so you can eat your TV dinner and watch I Love Lucy in peace.

I didn't think people genuinely thought Bob was a good parent, though, so much as he had a memetic appeal to people because he was an old man who was funny and personable to trolls, did things of value during his life, and had a distant relationship with Chris. Barb, by contrast, is a fat (possibly now unfat), cranky old hoarder who has a creepy and nauseating relationship with Chris, which makes everything she does as a parent and a person seem even more reprehensible than it already is.

They both coddled Chris, just in different ways. As has been mentioned, Bob only seemed to really put his foot down when he himself could possibly face consequences for Chris's behavior.

 

[sachiko]

Humans like to simply narratives to be a battle between good and evil. For some people, Barb is evil and Bob is good simply because he wasn't as bad as her. Also, fathers are usually cut a lot more slack when it comes to parenting.

 

[Stuff and Things]

Humans like to simply narratives to be a battle between good and evil. For some people, Barb is evil and Bob is good simply because he wasn't as bad as her. Also, fathers are usually cut a lot more slack when it comes to parenting.

It's not that we see bob as "good" and barb as "evil", is just that bob wasn't as bad as barb, at least he shared some interesting stories about his past life, but still, we see them both as bad parets, i would compare both of them to a piece of turd, but due to the circumstances, i won't.

 

[sachiko]

Humans like to simply narratives to be a battle between good and evil. For some people, Barb is evil and Bob is good simply because he wasn't as bad as her. Also, fathers are usually cut a lot more slack when it comes to parenting.

It's not that we see bob as "good" and barb as "evil", is just that bob wasn't as bad as barb, at least he shared some interesting stories about his past life, but still, we see them both as bad parets, i would compare both of them to a piece of turd, but due to the circumstances, i won't.

Bob was just as toxic as Barb, just in his own way. He's just more likable.

 

[Stuff and Things]

Humans like to simply narratives to be a battle between good and evil. For some people, Barb is evil and Bob is good simply because he wasn't as bad as her. Also, fathers are usually cut a lot more slack when it comes to parenting.

It's not that we see bob as "good" and barb as "evil", is just that bob wasn't as bad as barb, at least he shared some interesting stories about his past life, but still, we see them both as bad parets, i would compare both of them to a piece of turd, but due to the circumstances, i won't.

Bob was just as toxic as Barb, just in his own way. He's just more likable.

That might be true, but as i said before, his father is dead now, and he lost his house due to a fire, if i am not going to help him in any way, the least i can do is give him a break and not talk trash about his life for now. I hope you understand what i am trying to tell you.

 

[Christory101]

I was just listening to Alec's "Matthew Noble Call" with the Bobster.

Bob seems really suspicious and unwilling to give "Matthew" even the slightest benefit of the doubt. Most people raising an autistic adult-child would be apolegetic and embarassed that their son trespassed on a store they were banned from ( not to mention worried about the consequences of said trespassing!) It seems as if by this point Bob had almost zero interest in telling Chris the way the world works and the consequences of not playing by the world's rules. It's like Bob did not ( and maybe never did) want to invest any significant amount of time trying to teach Chris right from wrong and how to even somewhat succeed.

 

[A-Stump]

Bob n Barb both activity encouraged his trespassing. They both had a self entitled view of the world atypical among white trash. Ever been to a restaurant where a person returns a steak that's been half eaten because they cooked it wrong? They seem a lot like that