Matters of poorly understood consequences...

[dreadedcandiru2]

The really interesting thing about having to listen to Lizardbreath whine about how simply awful Thérèse has been to her over the years is that you know what the answer to the question "Everywhere the woman looks, she sees you there looking like you're putting the moves on her husband, she knows for a fact that he is still pining away for you and every time she turns around, she's told she's simply Anthony's first wife. How the Hell is she supposed to react?" is going to be. The answer is going to be an angry comment about how irrationally jealous the woman is and how Anthony is not lusting after her but is simply being polite. This is because just as Liz has never noticed that people are guiding her destiny for her to suit their own ends, she doesn't seem to understand what the consequences of her behaviour have to be.

I should think that most of why she calls the poor woman an ice queen who hates her for no reason that she can understand is that she also doesn't understand that people around her are going to react as if she does know what's going on around her and is an active agent in shaping her future. The reason that the Evil, Anthony-Tricking, Baby-Hating Career Woman is a monster is that she looks at Liz and doesn't see what's really there. As I've said of late, the idea that what looks like a heartless manipulator whining her way into getting her parents and family to steamrolling someone she doesn't like is actually a passive dolt who doesn't realize that people are arranging her life for her to make their own lives easier would fill her with fear for what used to be a rival and ended up being a figure of pity. Despite what the Pattersons might believe, Thérèse has more than enough decency to feel sorry for someone who's so otherworldly that she doesn't know what the effects of her actions will be.

She'd also probably realize that when other members of the Patterson family complain about people who are ruining their lives, they're talking about people who also don't understand that the Pattersons as a rule have a warped idea of cause and effect. As by way of example, Mike's old boss Craig is a bad guy because he expected Michael to realize that savaging someone for trying to get him to see that his job was to do a puff piece on her would come back to bite him in the arse. It's like how Mister Gluttson is Satan himself because he wanted Mike to understand what the consequence of allowing dead wood to accumulate would have to be. As for Mira, we all know about how she's a domineering monster who wants to win all the time and enslave the Pattersons with her family politics because she expects that Mike is going to realize that his idea of doing right by his wife and children is making their lives worse.

We also have to remember that April is a spoiled, picky-faced Martian princess because she's got the inconvenient habit of trying to remind her idiot family of the real consequences of their actions. From Liz not wanting to feel bad because she doesn't want to see that rewarding a thief looks like a selfish and self-gratifying way of giving a middle finger to everyone else to her parents not wanting to see that she isn't some monster who wants lazy Mike and his family to freeze and die because she objects to being treated like unwanted furniture, she's the target of a lot of whining because stupid people don't want to admit that the world doesn't work how they think it does.

Comments

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

What Elizabeth doesn't see is something anyone with a brain and some sense would have: Therese was chilly because Liz was Anthony's high school sweetheart and it was obvious to Therese Anthony still had feelings for her. No duh Therese felt prickly toward Liz and wanted her as far away from her husband as possible, especially when it was clear Anthony wasn't going to resist the temptation that was Liz. There is a difference between being polite and inviting trouble, something Liz was too much of a simp to grasp, which is why she bitched to her friends about Therese having a stick up her ass about Anthony being polite. Her friends either knew better than the point out the truth or were just as stupid as Liz.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

I should tend to think the former is the case. I mean, look what happens when April and Mike try to get her to see the truth: she throws a damned tantrum because she doesn't want to admit that Anthony didn't really ever let go. The really sad part is that part of her would probably like knowing that he wanted to have his cake and eat it too.

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

I remember a strip when Elizabeth acknowledges Anthony is still in love with her, so she's aware of the reality. She's refused (or isn't capable) of taking the next step, from knowledge to wisdom, and considering how, if it all, that knowledge should influence her actions and choices that could bring her in contact with Anthony and/or those who know him (especially the former). Relationships and love/crushes/unrequited feelings/torches/love triangles can be a real pain in the arse and I don't envy Liz the boondoggle she ended up in unknowingly (as a result of Anthony getting engaged to Therese while still carrying a torch for her) and the fine line she had to walk when she was home on break. That would've been pain in the ass enough, once she was aware he was engaged (something he should have made her aware of sooner than he did, IMHO), if she'd been on the ball enough to realize that it doesn't matter if you're just friends with a guy, you can't go on acting the same way with a guy once he's engaged unless you have his fiancee's express approval to do so--which Liz and Anthony definitely did not--and the difference between being polite and when he's pushing his luck/time to push him back to his fiancee.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

What bothers me most about it is her reaction: "Having to make an actual choice is so unfaaaaaaaaaaaair!! Therese is evil for making me do it!!"

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

To quote Jareth the Goblin King of Labyrinth, on the phrase "It's not fair!", "You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is". What's not fair about keeping your distance from a) an engaged man who b) is carrying a torch for you? What's not fair about doing that out of respect for his fiancee and to avoid/ensure there won't be any problems? Is it unfair to expect Liz to be adult enough to realize that her friendships with some men will not always be able to continue in the same way, at the same level, with the same intensity, that they always have? Absolutely not. What's unfair is continuing on a friendship with someone in a way that makes their intimate partner uncomfortable and upset, and it's unfair to the intimate partner. Unfair to them and selfish and immature of you and your friend.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Is it unfair to expect Liz to be adult enough to realize that her friendships with some men will not always be able to continue in the same way, at the same level, with the same intensity, that they always have?

To us, it does not. To Lynn and her fans, it most definitely does seem to be unfair. I believe that Lynn hinted at what drove Lizardbreath to want to sacrifice everything interesting about her and what fueled her "Obstructions are for killing" mindset in her "Please, PLEASE, PLEEEEAAASSSE love Anthony" letter when she said the following:

John and Elly invested in, buy their cars from and constantly connect with Gordon Mayes who owns a successful automotive complex with Anthony now as manager of the repairs and maintainance division. Both Elly and John regard Anthony highly and ultimately, this bodes well for Elizabeth's future with him. She respects her parents' opinions.

What this means to me is that Liz's thought processes are "But....if I can't marry Anthony, my parents will never approve of how I live my life and that would be just awful. That terrible, selfish woman wants me to never have my parents' love and that's not FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR!!"

Yes, I went there and brought back souvenirs. She is the immature little twit who ended up turning Mike into the voice of reason and decency when he called her a spoiled brat (http://catalog.fborfw.com/strips/03/fb081603.gif) throwing a damned tantrum because she wanted to humiliate Therese at her own wedding. Much like Peter Parker, Liz Patterson simply cannot understand adult relationships or function in an adult setting. I'm not even sure that she has life insurance. The idea that she can and should live a long, happy life with no guarantee of the approval of two people who only want what's best for themselves can't occur to her.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Wait, I missed something, apparently -- why the fuck is Anthony a manager? He's an accountant, has zero people skills, and whines when told to dress professionally.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

There's a good reason that someone who should be pumping gas is playing manager. Said good reason once told Liz that he didn't play with his train set, he operated it.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Hey, now. There's a valid reason he's not pumping gas -- he's horrible at it. I can accept Anthony as a competent accountant and the guy Gord got to do the computer stuff when he was just starting out, but not as a manager. He's more inclined to hide in a small office in the back, crunch numbers, and let Gord know whose payments are overdue.

To put it another way: I'm not sure if Anthony would WANT to be manager.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Not in the real world, he wouldn't. In the real world, he'd be a far happier man.......primarily because he managed to convince someone that just maybe, it would be acceptable for her to visit him instead of acting like it's 1950.