Michael contains 95 percent recycled materials.

[dreadedcandiru2]

One thing we can all agree on is that Michael doesn't have an original thought in his head. It has been stated on many occasions that he's internalized John's chauvinistic attitudes because they made his life make sense to him. It was far easier for him to think that Elly's hormones were making her yell at him and dole out the punishment than to accept that he deserved it. Also, Liz "deliberately" used her "feminine wiles" to get him into "undeserved" grief. This is because he shares something with Elly: the urge to blame everyone else but himself for his troubles. People aren't angry at him because he's a sullen, destructive, selfish little jerk; they're out to destroy a misunderstood hero. The most entertaining thing about watching the unoriginal dum-dum is noting how a petty, immature misogynist with delusions of grandeur became a tool of feminine ambition. I think it's fairly obvious that Elly should share credit for writing Stone Season because, as fairest1 said, she was the one who convinced him that Sheilagh's primary virtue was that she put up with being a housewife. Things like independence of thought or common sense were to be avoided. That isn't the only way he became a puppet. fairest1 pointed this out also:

Let's see . . . name from his elementary school teacher, plot from his landlady and War Bride and the Heritage Minute commercial, character from his mother, action sequence from his sister's assult, birth scene from watching his daughter be born. . . how much of this came from him?

It seems obivous from that that he is little more than a conduit for female creativity. But since he's a chauvinsitic idiot, he won't recognize that and keep the money for himself.