John: The mute voice of reason.

In my last post, I promised I'd get aroung to discussing the other nitwit parent, Manchild John. His contribution to forming his children's personalities is much less than his wife's because he can't seem to open his mouth, even though he knows he should. I say this because most of the time whenever he appears, he seems to clearly identify a problem that Elly can't make herself see, as well as how best to deal with it. Why this inaction all his life, you may ask? Because we see things that the artist is not herself aware of. One of these is that this man has made it his life's work to watch over and sooth a woman mortified by the fact that time passes and, with it, the appropriate way of reacting to the world. After all, he started this strip mired in the same Darren and Samantha worldview as Elly but, unlike her, has slowly learned to budge a little towards the 21st century. Neither does he take as seriously the learned counsel of the esteemed Possum Lodge wannabe, Ted. Nor does he wrap up his identity in a building or material objects as much as Elly (or, for that matter Mike or Liz.) The model trains he adores are simply a harmless affectation. Changing customs and technologies simply do not threaten him the same way because come what may he'll still have a meaningful identity and purpose. Elly's obsession with continuity from past to future stems from her (read, Lynn's) archaic viewpoint that it's the only legitimate way for a woman to project her identity and values into the future. It's axiomatic for people of her time women with hobbies affirm the chain of life between generations whereas career women destroy it. This is why you see idiot smug women lining up behind their worthless arsewipe sons when they screw over their ex-wives on child custody. Dr. Patterson was brought up to believe that you can't take people where they aren't willing to go unless you absolutely HAVE to. This is why he doesn't say things that need saying, such as "Elly, I know you have fond memeories of our home, but it's simply a building and we've outgrown it" and ( This was SUPER-NECESSARY) "Michael, family is family so quit picking on your sister"

Addendum: 2007-02-28 When you take a CLOSER look at this goof, he comes off looking a lot worse than Elly; he seems more like his generation's take on the dreaded Pornstache. He's got the same passive-aggressive, blame-evading D-Grade Jim Jones 'I wanna have a hoooooooooome' vibe going on that Blandthony does. Instead of putting his kids in dog cages, he just fucks off and dicks around with his model trains.