What chord Becky struck: the 'fairness' fallacy.

[dreadedcandiru2]

As you know, I pointed out that the Miracle Minority Friends that Elly and John prefer their children to associate with are there mostly to balance out the awful influence of the white children in the mix. The best example of this idiotic trend is Becky McGuire. The last strip to feature her can be safely said to summarize what it is that made her evil in John and Elly's eyes: she wanted to excel at what they assume to be the "expense" of those around her. As I have explained too many times beforehand, I get the same unpleasant feeling that the Pattersons want Becky to fail for the same reason that Elly wants Phil to "have it all"; in both cases, a malicious jerk wants someone who isn't bothering them to be miserable because said envious creepola thinks that by having a better time of life, said 'enemy' is trying to make a Patterson's life worse because s/he wants to bust Foob ass. The idea that Becky and Phil aren't trying to make life worse for the Pattersons is not one that appeals to the Foobs because it tends to make them look like jealous, vindictive slobs filled with envy and feelings of inadequacy.

This need to not see how much it enrages John and Elly that people with an actual work ethic get ahead when they don't is why we get the occasional indulgent whinge that assumes that since she's let Fame get in the way of Fun and Friendship, Becky's just a bird in a gilded cage but when you remember that most of why a Patterson feels bad is that she or he assumes that everyone but him or her is having a great time, it's a lot closer to the truth to assume that like April herself, they're simply jealous but don't want to admit it. The idea that it's their envy, their refusal to reach out, their hope that she'll crash and burn so that they can feel better about being lazy failures who won't try and couldn't match her even if they did is the obstacle to being friends with this girl is not one that they can contemplate with any sort of ease. If Elly started thinking something dangerous like that, she might have to consider the terrible, cruel, unfair fact that she didn't suddenly wake up with a dolt husband and children with abandonment issues. She might have to realize that she didn't actually want to finish her education because it was hard and marrying a nerdy, entitled pinhead who wanted a mommy surrogate was her way of doing what comes naturally and following the path of least resistance. Worse still, she might have to admit that her children, people who tell her to stop feeling sorry for herself and people who get things she wants because they're willing to put in the effort that she's too chicken-hearted to aren't all trying to bust her ass and that would be awful. Similarly, John has no real intention of facing the fact that he's a greedy, childish jerk who thinks that the world owes him a living. Better for both of them to fill April's head with fairy stories about how all effort is equal so people who want to be better are bad than to admit that they just can't cut it.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Wow. That first strip, April's other friends seem like total assholes who inherently hate those with talent. It's too bad April is too much of a doormat to shout down Lou-Grease or Nevah if they start acting self-righteous again.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Given that Eva knows that if Becky manages to get April to get over being a Good Socialist, she herself is going to be reduced to whamming a tambourine like an idiot, that's not much of a surprise. Does it matter that she SHOULD be whamming a tambourine because she IS an idiot? Nope. What matters is that she can get her thumb in the eye of her betters.

[josephusrex.livejournal.com]

Oh, my God, that strip. You seldom see one that provides such horrifying insight into Lynn's set of values.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Not only do we have Becky agree that she's been a bad little smurf for wanting to stand out, we get Eva Warzone displaying the crab-in-the-bucket mentality behind April's jealousy.

[josephusrex.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Eva Warzone is Lynn's alter ego, I suspect, just as much as Elly is.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that's the case. Both characters love the appeal to shame fallacy and both people hate the Beckys and Phils of the world because they 'cheated' by working hard instead of waiting to be handed things like they were 'supposed' to.