As I was lying in bed this morning an, old memory surfaced. When I was in middle and high school, I was an extreme fan of Dr. Who. Whenever we would go out as a family, I would let everyone know that I needed to be back by whatever time in order to catch it. Growing up in NJ, we could tune in to multiple PBS stations from around the area, and as a result, I was able to watch Dr. Who on many different nights of the week, including both weekend days.
Now at this time, my dad would often take my brother and I hiking. We lived with my mom and stepdad, but our dad would get to see us on the weekends. He later told me that he had no particular interest or love of hiking, just that it was something cheap he could do with us.
Normally I would also insist on getting home in time to watch Dr. Who to my dad as well, and indeed, he sometimes enjoyed watching it with us at my grandma's apartment where he was staying. However, one time, I mentioned to him that we needed to be back in time to see the day's episode as we were about to depart, and it irritated him deeply for some reason. After that he turned the full weight of his anger and paranoia on my obsession with Dr. Who, periodically telling me how it was perverted, demonic and/or satanic. I couldn't put up with it and I actually stopped watching after that.
What a fascinating look into the inner workings of my dad's mind. I mean, he went from being positive and enthusiastic about the show to deeply antagonistic, all because dared to inconvenience him. It's too bad I had to get caught up in all that. It actually is a classic case of abuse, where one party abuses the other, psychologically in this case, in order to get their way. It resonates quite a bit with the depiction of abusers in, for example, this book: Why does he do that? Inside the minds of angry and controlling men. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about abusers.
