Why is everyone a dick to Charlie Brown?

[dirtyoldman]

Last year I got a Peanuts daily desk calender which each day is a peanut strip (think they were from 1972). Got the 2023 one and really, old chuck gets some abuse, and its not as if he's an arsehole or anything.
Current in the story arc in going through (original from 1973) they've organised a manger tribute dinner for him, but realise that he's a shit manager and have just left him there on his own.

Still, he does have the coolest dog ever.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

EVERYONE, they even all give his sorry ass a rock at Halloween instead of candy for trick or treating.

[Chiral]

Schulz projecting his depression/depression induced self-esteem issues on this poor round headed kid

[chrom]

Don't worry, his life will get better when he catches four touchdowns in a single game and marry the red headed girl. Then it'll get worse as he spends the rest of his life being miserable selling shoes to fat women.

[dav]

Because Charlie Brown is in Hell. Everyone around him is a mere construct designed to dash every hope and dream he has, grinding him down with utter misery, pausing only to give him the tiniest belief that things will get better, before destroying it completely. A situation that will repeat again and again, unchanging and constant, never allowing Charlie Brown anything but the false hope that his situation may get better, but it never well.

Charlie Brown is Sisyphus without the rock.

[BlackoutCreature]

Feb 14, 2023 15:11:32 GMT -5 dav said:

Because Charlie Brown is in Hell. Everyone around him is a mere construct designed to dash every hope and dream he has, grinding him down with utter misery, pausing only to give him the tiniest belief that things will get better, before destroying it completely. A situation that will repeat again and again, unchanging and constant, never allowing Charlie Brown anything but the false hope that his situation may get better, but it never well.

Charlie Brown is Sisyphus without the rock.

But Charlie Brown does have a rock.

[JIMBOB]

Because he’s from outta town.

[Johnny B. Decent]

Because Charles Schultz lived in a time where mental health therapy was looked down upon.

[HMARK Center]

Because of all the Charlie Browns in the world, he's the Charlie Browniest.

[Sephiroth]

Because everybody knows that Charlie Brown is a clown

[Dr. T is an alien]

As a kid with undiagnosed muscular dystrophy and social awkwardness as a youth, I can tell you that the answer to "why is everyone a dick to Charlie Brown?" is most likely that far too often we, as humans, equate punching down and making ourselves seem superior to someone else to actually being a better version of ourselves. Boys physically bullied me because I was a safe target (remember, I had muscular dystrophy but had not been officially diagnosed). The girls were worse because everyone thought it was funny to treat me like shit. Charlie Brown was VERY relatable to me.

Even the school staff were dicks to me, more often than not. One of my favorite examples was related to our graduation ceremony. Our graduating class had several staff members who were in charge of getting pictures of every senior (all 115 of us) for a "Trip down memory lane" presentation at our graduation. They spent the entire year taking pictures of every senior in the hallways, in classrooms, at school functions, during lunch, and the senior trip. They took individual pictures of *almost* everyone and took a bunch of group photos quite often that they specifically excluded me from (going so far as to shoo me away a couple of times when I thought I was to join the picture).

When the time came for our graduation ceremony, this 15-20 minute slideshow presentation set to music was presented. Every graduating senior was shown in this slideshow 5-20 times (of course, the popular kids were more featured). There was one picture of me. It wasn't one they had me pose for. It wasn't one where I was looking at the camera. It wasn't even sharp, as they clearly found a picture where I was in the distant background and blew it up just so they could add in a blurry picture of me slouching and looking like shit. Everyone else was sought out to get a small handful of pictures several times throughout the year. I got 1 shitty, out of focus picture that I almost did not recognize myself in.

Another favorite example about staff being shitty to me came years after I graduated. I did not experience it personally, but rather it is related to my youngest brother. None of my siblings had the same issues growing up as I did and we had a different mother, so unless you knew we were related you could be forgiven for not realizing that we were. My baby brother, who is a full 12 years younger than me, got suspended over cursing a teacher out. "Why did he do that?", you might ask. I still don't fully understand the context, but he overheard two teachers talking about a student they thought was pathetic and one of them said something to the effect of "Well, at least he isn't as pathetic as Dr. T. Remember how big of a loser he was?"

Again, I hadn't stepped foot in that school for a decade by that point. Who talks shit about a student from a decade ago whose only sin was that he got picked on by everyone?

Rolling back to the OP's question; people were dicks to Charlie Brown because they will almost always be dicks to those they think they can get away with treating in that manner.

[Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill]

It's because he's a blockhead.

[dirtyoldman]

Feb 14, 2023 17:04:36 GMT -5 Dr. T is an alien said:

As a kid with undiagnosed muscular dystrophy and social awkwardness as a youth, I can tell you that the answer to "why is everyone a dick to Charlie Brown?" is most likely that far too often we, as humans, equate punching down and making ourselves seem superior to someone else to actually being a better version of ourselves. Boys physically bullied me because I was a safe target (remember, I had muscular dystrophy but had not been officially diagnosed). The girls were worse because everyone thought it was funny to treat me like shit. Charlie Brown was VERY relatable to me.

Even the school staff were dicks to me, more often than not. One of my favorite examples was related to our graduation ceremony. Our graduating class had several staff members who were in charge of getting pictures of every senior (all 115 of us) for a "Trip down memory lane" presentation at our graduation. They spent the entire year taking pictures of every senior in the hallways, in classrooms, at school functions, during lunch, and the senior trip. They took individual pictures of *almost* everyone and took a bunch of group photos quite often that they specifically excluded me from (going so far as to shoo me away a couple of times when I thought I was to join the picture).

When the time came for our graduation ceremony, this 15-20 minute slideshow presentation set to music was presented. Every graduating senior was shown in this slideshow 5-20 times (of course, the popular kids were more featured). There was one picture of me. It wasn't one they had me pose for. It wasn't one where I was looking at the camera. It wasn't even sharp, as they clearly found a picture where I was in the distant background and blew it up just so they could add in a blurry picture of me slouching and looking like shit. Everyone else was sought out to get a small handful of pictures several times throughout the year. I got 1 shitty, out of focus picture that I almost did not recognize myself in.

Another favorite example about staff being shitty to me came years after I graduated. I did not experience it personally, but rather it is related to my youngest brother. None of my siblings had the same issues growing up as I did and we had a different mother, so unless you knew we were related you could be forgiven for not realizing that we were. My baby brother, who is a full 12 years younger than me, got suspended over cursing a teacher out. "Why did he do that?", you might ask. I still don't fully understand the context, but he overheard two teachers talking about a student they thought was pathetic and one of them said something to the effect of "Well, at least he isn't as pathetic as Dr. T. Remember how big of a loser he was?"

Again, I hadn't stepped foot in that school for a decade by that point. Who talks shit about a student from a decade ago whose only sin was that he got picked on by everyone?

Rolling back to the OP's question; people were dicks to Charlie Brown because they will almost always be dicks to those they think they can get away with treating in that manner.

f*** those c***s. I think you're cool

[Mozenrath]

I don't think everyone hates him, exactly. He's kind of a stick in the mud sometimes and does himself no favors there, but people do generally come around on him. If nothing else, Linus and Peppermint Patty tend to be on his side much more often than not. He just doesn't always want their support.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

Yeah well Charlie Brown got the last laugh years later when he changed his name to Saitama and became the world's strongest super hero.

[ERON]

He smokes in the auditorium, plays craps in the boy's gym, writes on the walls, goofs in the halls, throws spitballs, and calls the English teacher "Daddy-O."

[fw91]

Feb 14, 2023 19:21:21 GMT -5 ERON said:

He smokes in the auditorium, plays craps in the boy's gym, writes on the walls, goofs in the halls, throws spitballs, and calls the English teacher "Daddy-O."

He's gonna get caught. Just you wait and see.

[fg]

Feb 14, 2023 17:04:36 GMT -5 Dr. T is an alien said:

As a kid with undiagnosed muscular dystrophy and social awkwardness as a youth, I can tell you that the answer to "why is everyone a dick to Charlie Brown?" is most likely that far too often we, as humans, equate punching down and making ourselves seem superior to someone else to actually being a better version of ourselves. Boys physically bullied me because I was a safe target (remember, I had muscular dystrophy but had not been officially diagnosed). The girls were worse because everyone thought it was funny to treat me like shit. Charlie Brown was VERY relatable to me.

Even the school staff were dicks to me, more often than not. One of my favorite examples was related to our graduation ceremony. Our graduating class had several staff members who were in charge of getting pictures of every senior (all 115 of us) for a "Trip down memory lane" presentation at our graduation. They spent the entire year taking pictures of every senior in the hallways, in classrooms, at school functions, during lunch, and the senior trip. They took individual pictures of *almost* everyone and took a bunch of group photos quite often that they specifically excluded me from (going so far as to shoo me away a couple of times when I thought I was to join the picture).

When the time came for our graduation ceremony, this 15-20 minute slideshow presentation set to music was presented. Every graduating senior was shown in this slideshow 5-20 times (of course, the popular kids were more featured). There was one picture of me. It wasn't one they had me pose for. It wasn't one where I was looking at the camera. It wasn't even sharp, as they clearly found a picture where I was in the distant background and blew it up just so they could add in a blurry picture of me slouching and looking like shit. Everyone else was sought out to get a small handful of pictures several times throughout the year. I got 1 shitty, out of focus picture that I almost did not recognize myself in.

Another favorite example about staff being shitty to me came years after I graduated. I did not experience it personally, but rather it is related to my youngest brother. None of my siblings had the same issues growing up as I did and we had a different mother, so unless you knew we were related you could be forgiven for not realizing that we were. My baby brother, who is a full 12 years younger than me, got suspended over cursing a teacher out. "Why did he do that?", you might ask. I still don't fully understand the context, but he overheard two teachers talking about a student they thought was pathetic and one of them said something to the effect of "Well, at least he isn't as pathetic as Dr. T. Remember how big of a loser he was?"

Again, I hadn't stepped foot in that school for a decade by that point. Who talks shit about a student from a decade ago whose only sin was that he got picked on by everyone?

Rolling back to the OP's question; people were dicks to Charlie Brown because they will almost always be dicks to those they think they can get away with treating in that manner.

That is true.

Also, in the 2015 Peanuts Movie, Charlie finally gets a well deserved victory at the end where him and the Littke Red Haired Girl talk and she agrees to write to him while at camp.

Watch this video (I love how the kids look down when they are marching)

m.youtube.com/watch?v=4o-zBrjeC7Y

[Dr. T is an alien]

Feb 14, 2023 18:03:35 GMT -5 dirtyoldman said:

Feb 14, 2023 17:04:36 GMT -5 Dr. T is an alien said:

As a kid with undiagnosed muscular dystrophy and social awkwardness as a youth, I can tell you that the answer to "why is everyone a dick to Charlie Brown?" is most likely that far too often we, as humans, equate punching down and making ourselves seem superior to someone else to actually being a better version of ourselves. Boys physically bullied me because I was a safe target (remember, I had muscular dystrophy but had not been officially diagnosed). The girls were worse because everyone thought it was funny to treat me like shit. Charlie Brown was VERY relatable to me.

Even the school staff were dicks to me, more often than not. One of my favorite examples was related to our graduation ceremony. Our graduating class had several staff members who were in charge of getting pictures of every senior (all 115 of us) for a "Trip down memory lane" presentation at our graduation. They spent the entire year taking pictures of every senior in the hallways, in classrooms, at school functions, during lunch, and the senior trip. They took individual pictures of *almost* everyone and took a bunch of group photos quite often that they specifically excluded me from (going so far as to shoo me away a couple of times when I thought I was to join the picture).

When the time came for our graduation ceremony, this 15-20 minute slideshow presentation set to music was presented. Every graduating senior was shown in this slideshow 5-20 times (of course, the popular kids were more featured). There was one picture of me. It wasn't one they had me pose for. It wasn't one where I was looking at the camera. It wasn't even sharp, as they clearly found a picture where I was in the distant background and blew it up just so they could add in a blurry picture of me slouching and looking like shit. Everyone else was sought out to get a small handful of pictures several times throughout the year. I got 1 shitty, out of focus picture that I almost did not recognize myself in.

Another favorite example about staff being shitty to me came years after I graduated. I did not experience it personally, but rather it is related to my youngest brother. None of my siblings had the same issues growing up as I did and we had a different mother, so unless you knew we were related you could be forgiven for not realizing that we were. My baby brother, who is a full 12 years younger than me, got suspended over cursing a teacher out. "Why did he do that?", you might ask. I still don't fully understand the context, but he overheard two teachers talking about a student they thought was pathetic and one of them said something to the effect of "Well, at least he isn't as pathetic as Dr. T. Remember how big of a loser he was?"

Again, I hadn't stepped foot in that school for a decade by that point. Who talks shit about a student from a decade ago whose only sin was that he got picked on by everyone?

Rolling back to the OP's question; people were dicks to Charlie Brown because they will almost always be dicks to those they think they can get away with treating in that manner.

f*** those c***s. I think you're cool

Yeah, it’s fine. I normally don’t dwell on that shit. I moved on with my life. The only one that irks me was the attitude of some of the staff. Once I think about it, it pisses me off. How many other kids got shit on by them?

[Cranjis McBasketball]

He's the one who canceled Star Trek.