Sons of Patriarchy

My son fell under the influence of Wilson and others like him. There are no better terms than “cult” and “radicalization” to describe how it has changed him. While the facade of the “Covenant Family” is maintained, the underlying rot of warped versions of discipline, submission, servitude, and patriarchy persist to destroy the members of the family. My son is under constant pressure to measure up to Instagram versions of Brian Sauve, Joe Rigney, Joel Webbon, and others, while he spends a good deal of our discussions on how his mom and I “didn’t raise him properly” and how we “didn’t think generationally”. It is no coincidence this began with an introduction to the teachings of Doug Wilson. Thank you for this Podcast!

The topic of this podcast is great. I just wish they would edit out all the vocal pauses “umm.” So easy to remove.

…but it’s just not well put together. There is so much commentary from the host, and much of it summarizes the views of others and makes broad statements/connections/speculation without sources. The host doesn’t ask good questions and (worse) doesn’t seem trauma-informed at *all* when interviewing survivors, going so far as to chuckle in response when survivors are telling their stories (nervous laughter? Mocking the belief systems that caused the trauma? I don’t know, but it’s careless and jarring). I wish someone else would do a deep dive into Moscow and Wilson, because it needs to be exposed. I’ll keep listening to this one for now and hope a course correction is still possible here if the host sees reviews like mine.

This podcast is needed and important. I know all episodes are survivor approved, but I do sense some red flags on the way the survivor stories are handled. I wish that I could hear more care in the podcast given to survivors and that it felt less exploitative of their stories. The care may be there in the interviews unseen to the listener, but I would like to hear more verbiage given to us listeners to enter in the stories handling with care and a sense of holy awe, confidentiality, and sensitivity. There is a content warning given to us that the content may be triggering. It honors the listener. I want a content warning honoring the survivors.