Getting Down with Dr. Strangelove
RENOWNED COLLEGE SPEAKER TALKS TO STUDENTS ABOUT DATING
Staff Writer | Jvonwiller76@newpaltz.edu
The New Paltz Oracle
Volume 81 Issue XVI
Printed March 11, 2010
[All NP Oracle docs can be found at oracle.newpaltz.edu]
Upon walking into the Student Union on Tuesday, a sign that said “Live Group Sex Therapy Show” greeted you. The night was full of laughs as the motivational comedian, Daniel Packard, set the mood right with love and relationship advice.
At 8 p.m., Daniel Packard became your personal Love Doctor for two hours in the multi-purpose room.According to his Web site, http://www.danielpackard.com, Daniel Packard, 36, is the Dating Doctor from Vancouver’s The Beat 94.5FM, and National College Speaker of The Year who “penetrates truth to let the love flow.” He is confident in making other people feel confident to learn from their dating mistakes, in addition to understanding the mysteries behind men and women.
In a sweater vest, he joked, “I know you think I’m gay, but I like girls. I also like to cuddle.”
Like his usual shows, more women than men were in the audience. With questionnaire cards submitted by students, Packard tried to answer as many questions throughout the night, keeping a cohesive, interactive audience.
One girl in the front row asked why most men are jerks.
Packard said, “You’ll probably disagree with what I’m going to say. If you’re politically correct, you’ll hate me. I’m not here to be politically correct; I’m here to be factually correct. When he says he’s supposed to call, and he doesn’t, it triggers your insecurity. The nice guy and the horny guy are the same guy.”
A question that sent some of the young women and men arguing was “Why do guys judge a girl by the number of people she’s slept with?”
One girl, Jill, explained her point of view that it’s because men rumor about girls being ‘sluts’. She was quick to call Packard a “liar” before he even responded.
According to Packard, she was wrong, and the rumor ended in that room. “Girls are jealous of other girls that sleep around because they’re gaining this power that they can’t have. It’s a superficial power, but guys don’t care about girls being sluts. It’s girls that started the “Slut” rumor. They are emotionally strong, and like to avoid hurt but it’s impossible,” he said.
He insisted that everyone stop caring about control and what other people think about you.
“Boys make a mistake early, he said. “During hormones, I was insecure when I was 14, 15 and 16, but I thought ‘If I can get a girl to like me, I must be likeable!’ The assumption underneath is you’re not good enough as is. If a girl likes you, it doesn’t make you likeable.”
He has spent over 20 years of his life as a performer and six years talking about fears and insecurities.
“I appreciate his approach to the “truth,” though some may find it obnoxious, I think it was refreshing and humorous, once you get past the fact he tried to dissect the general population. It’s eye-opening for some, old news for others, but ultimately I believe it was a successful show,” said third-year journalism with concentration in public relations/sociology major, Nadia Guennouni.
“I learned that females don’t usually go for passive males,” said fourth-year Fox Ballard, a sociology major with a concentration in criminology and an Asian studies minor.
“They want more aggressive guys. That was one of the problems I had with females because I was so passive and put into the friends zone.”
Jenn Von Willer 