![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
As history teaches us, a lot of the more self-defeating and destructive things Elly manages to waste her time have as their source Elly sacrificing her time, energy and dignity because she's convinced herself of a three-part Thing That Is Not Actually So. First, she believes that the pointless waste of time is something that a nebulously defined group other people expect of her. Second, she believes that she must do so in order to reassure these phantoms that she can be taken seriously. Third, she must never ask herself if they actually care or if their opinion really matters worth a damn.
The reason that I do this is that Michael proves himself to be his mother's son by falling into the same damned trap. Deep down, he knows that his need to treat Liz like shit makes his life worse and makes him look like a weak baby screaming about having to share his toys. The reason that isn't the need not to be the bad guy that keeps him from admitting this to himself comes from the same damned stupid place that made him send Martha an insulting gross-out Valentine's like a muttonhead. Simply put, he needs to be one of The Guys more than he needs to be thought of as a worthy boyfriend or a likable and trustworthy son because he's too fucking dumb to understand that it could well be that The Guys are actually laughing at him behind his back for being a jackass who fucks his life up trying to prove himself. It might delight his 'friends' that he messes up his love-life being a moron or gets in shit he doesn't need bullying his sister but you can't tell someone that dumb and needy that. It'd be like trying to tell his mom that people mock her for acting bigger than she really is.
The reason that I do this is that Michael proves himself to be his mother's son by falling into the same damned trap. Deep down, he knows that his need to treat Liz like shit makes his life worse and makes him look like a weak baby screaming about having to share his toys. The reason that isn't the need not to be the bad guy that keeps him from admitting this to himself comes from the same damned stupid place that made him send Martha an insulting gross-out Valentine's like a muttonhead. Simply put, he needs to be one of The Guys more than he needs to be thought of as a worthy boyfriend or a likable and trustworthy son because he's too fucking dumb to understand that it could well be that The Guys are actually laughing at him behind his back for being a jackass who fucks his life up trying to prove himself. It might delight his 'friends' that he messes up his love-life being a moron or gets in shit he doesn't need bullying his sister but you can't tell someone that dumb and needy that. It'd be like trying to tell his mom that people mock her for acting bigger than she really is.
