"The Complainer Is Always Wrong" - Anyone else glad this is mostly gone?
- Thread starter Klueril
- Start date
"The Complainer is Always Wrong" mentality usually ended up backfiring. Most people who watched Dungeons&Dragons LOVED Eric precisely because he reacted the way normal people would when stuck in a magical world where everything wants to kill you, there's no electricity or flush toilets, and you're forced to travel with annoying optimists who don't seem bothered by the lack of modern convinces and constant mortal peril. 
D.A Tyriel
New member
I always rooted for the complainer. The group was usually a bunch of blind sheep, while the complainer was the only smart, sensible person in the crowd.
Group: "Nothing will hurt us if we tread through the room full of knives!"
Complainer: "I don't think that's such a good idea..."
Group: "Nothing will hurt us if we tread through the room full of knives!"
Complainer: "I don't think that's such a good idea..."
Co-signed. I saw Eric as more of a realist than a complainer. If you were in their situation, you'd be more likely to act the way Eric did than you would to simply put on a happy face and go with the flow. Despite his role on the show as the spoiled comic relief, Eric was the only "real person" in the group.
iheartmairbear
New member
I remembr seeing a cartoon as a kid - can't remember which one it was, unfortunately - where the end-of-episode moral was pretty much "if a friend breaks the rules, don't tell the authorities", apparently because friendship is more important than law.
Threw me massively at the time (and my parents weren't pleased either), but nowadays the anti-authoritarian in me actually kind of approves.
Threw me massively at the time (and my parents weren't pleased either), but nowadays the anti-authoritarian in me actually kind of approves.
"I remembr seeing a cartoon as a kid - can't remember which one it was, unfortunately - where the end-of-episode moral was pretty much "if a friend breaks the rules, don't tell the authorities", apparently because friendship is more important than law."
That's the sort of false moral i hate seeing, probably these false morals are what makes me hate moral based shows in general and why i prefer shows like Phineas and Ferb or Looney Tunes with less obvious morals.
Well i usually root for the complainer if it's a complainer like Squidward from Spongebob, i.e the rational person amidst fools. When it's a complainer like Lisa Simpson however, always ruining everything with her extremist views on politics and the environment and all that stuff, i hate them. Lisa is so annoyingly pro-this and anti-that and half the time she has no more reason to stand up for these causes but her personality expressing itself.
Whereas a chap like Squidward's fine imo because what he stands up for is logic and sensibility.
Thus it depends heavily on individual characters. I haven't seen many 80s cartoons so i can't comment on the types of morals employed then, but today you see a lot of these false, or at any rate misinterpretable, morals on tv shows.
The biggest problem i see is the type of moral like i quoted where the law comes second to some social purpose of function, which is kind of stupid considering the laws purpose is to protect all things social and thus it's like saying it's ok to defend fellow classmates against the horrible teacher, which is illogical and the teacher looks after the class
That's the sort of false moral i hate seeing, probably these false morals are what makes me hate moral based shows in general and why i prefer shows like Phineas and Ferb or Looney Tunes with less obvious morals.
Well i usually root for the complainer if it's a complainer like Squidward from Spongebob, i.e the rational person amidst fools. When it's a complainer like Lisa Simpson however, always ruining everything with her extremist views on politics and the environment and all that stuff, i hate them. Lisa is so annoyingly pro-this and anti-that and half the time she has no more reason to stand up for these causes but her personality expressing itself.
Whereas a chap like Squidward's fine imo because what he stands up for is logic and sensibility.
Thus it depends heavily on individual characters. I haven't seen many 80s cartoons so i can't comment on the types of morals employed then, but today you see a lot of these false, or at any rate misinterpretable, morals on tv shows.
The biggest problem i see is the type of moral like i quoted where the law comes second to some social purpose of function, which is kind of stupid considering the laws purpose is to protect all things social and thus it's like saying it's ok to defend fellow classmates against the horrible teacher, which is illogical and the teacher looks after the class
A example of this subject, of pushing conformating to an inappropriate level. I remember an episodes of the DIC produced Care Bears, the care bears told a kid not to be sad and smile, because when you are sad it makes other people sad. So basicly they are telling kids to supress your negative feelings, and bottle it all up inside and smile and act happy even if you are not happy. Yeah that is healthy. Where was Grumpy Bear when you need him?
It is the exact opposite message of the Simpsons episode "Moaning Lisa", when Marge initial believe in faking happiness and supressing negative feelings, but after seeing how that effectives Lisa, changed her mind and actully appologised for telling Lisa to fake happiness. That episode was in the first season in 1990, a mere 5 years after the DIC Care Bears series orginally aired on tv.
It is the exact opposite message of the Simpsons episode "Moaning Lisa", when Marge initial believe in faking happiness and supressing negative feelings, but after seeing how that effectives Lisa, changed her mind and actully appologised for telling Lisa to fake happiness. That episode was in the first season in 1990, a mere 5 years after the DIC Care Bears series orginally aired on tv.