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On not being especially sympathetic.
Feb. 14th, 2015 01:20 amThe fact that Mike does bring most of his troubles on himself by letting his issues do his thinking for him is, oddly enough, what made the Middle Years the golden age of the strip. This is because Lynn actively remembered something her mentor Schulz told her about the Round-Headed Kid and why we shouldn't feel all that bad about him. According to Sparky, Good Ol'Charlie Brown is a self-pitying, dithering moaner who brings most of his trouble on himself by punching way out of his weight class and trusting people he should know don't have his best interests at heart. You can feel bad that crap happens to him but you also know that his being a blockhead who never manages to clue in to the fact that he's a crappy pitcher and a worse manager.
Similarly, Lynn makes it quite clear that Michael stupidly blunders into one bad situation after another because he's sort of clueless, really self-absorbed and above all, convinced that there's this big conspiracy to make him miserable because bad people don't want to admit that he should never have to be unhappy ever because he's special and everyone else is dirt under his feet. As by way of example, I'll remind you of the thought processes that convinced him that yes, he should peel the carrots despite that making him some sort of housewife. A normal human being would be happy that he's trusted enough with that sort of responsibility to be allowed to help and do so gladly; self-defeating Michael does so to avoid a bullshit apocalypse because he's a negative jerk who thinks that everyone ever has a plan to make him miserable and taunt him for wanting to enjoy life because that's pretty much what he'd do to everyone in the world if he were in charge.
Similarly, Lynn makes it quite clear that Michael stupidly blunders into one bad situation after another because he's sort of clueless, really self-absorbed and above all, convinced that there's this big conspiracy to make him miserable because bad people don't want to admit that he should never have to be unhappy ever because he's special and everyone else is dirt under his feet. As by way of example, I'll remind you of the thought processes that convinced him that yes, he should peel the carrots despite that making him some sort of housewife. A normal human being would be happy that he's trusted enough with that sort of responsibility to be allowed to help and do so gladly; self-defeating Michael does so to avoid a bullshit apocalypse because he's a negative jerk who thinks that everyone ever has a plan to make him miserable and taunt him for wanting to enjoy life because that's pretty much what he'd do to everyone in the world if he were in charge.
