this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 132 points 7 months ago (2 children)

His mother is fucking abusive, that's why.

[–] [email protected] 135 points 7 months ago (2 children)

And his dad is a meth dealer

[–] [email protected] 39 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Nah that was just a dream, remember?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

And completely unhinged. One child joined the military to escape her. She tracked him down, charmed military personnel, and went to drag him home

That is TERRIFYING! And the family starts to dig themselves out of a hole when Hal can't have sex, but oh no! That means he's happy and she's DENIED! She seduces him until he caves. She'd rather have power than stability for her and her family

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There was an episode where Lois got orthotics for her shoes and became a whole new person, nicer, happier. Hal couldn't stand that she didn't need foot rubs anymore and sabotaged them, condemning her to a life of pain so his codependent ass could feel needed. That whole family was fucked up.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Cripes, doomed by foot fetish

[–] [email protected] 116 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

> live in a big house

> three teenage boys crammed into one small bedroom

Nah I think they were definitely struggling a bit.

[–] [email protected] 126 points 7 months ago (2 children)

There's a few episodes that actively showed gow much they struggle. Like one of their biggest vacations is going to a waterpark in a car that has the heater on full blast so it doesn't cook the engine. They only eat super cheap food and mystery meat. They lived in a camper because they could barely afford to get termites removed. Hal has no money to go to a dentist. As soon as hal lost his job they are cooked. They lived paycheck to absolute paycheck. They never pay all their bills. I would say they struggled a lot. They struggled more than al bundy.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 7 months ago

In the Flashback episode it is noted their house is smaller then their previous apartment. It also shows how they went from comfortable/upscale living to cheaper conditions with each additional child, specifically stating they had less money with each birth.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

I distinctly remember an episode where Lois was watering down their orange juice, and realising that it was becoming more water than juice. They were definitely poor, and decidedly trashy for their neighbourhood.

[–] [email protected] 91 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Anon is such a sperglord that they dont understand that all experiences are subjective. Also that its a prime time sitcom.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Also that its a prime time sitcom.

That just reminded me of the reoccurring joke "because you can't say handjobs at 7:00 on a Friday on ABC" from A Very Special Episode

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Also that its a prime time sitcom

you say that as if it were a good thing?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

The "Reece gets groomed by a predator" and "Deweys leukaemia diagnosis" story arcs werent appropriate for 7:00pm.

[–] [email protected] 75 points 7 months ago (2 children)

A lot of those shows have aged pretty badly in terms of what "struggling" looks like. The idea of a boring office job being some awful fate is also kinda dated.

At least shows like the Simpsons were self aware about this.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 7 months ago (2 children)

A boring office job is an awful fate, we should bring that perception back!

[–] [email protected] 43 points 7 months ago (4 children)

There's a fair few people who would straight up murder someone for a boring, stable office job.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 months ago (1 children)

After a few years in a boring job they'll be ready to kill again.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

Guy who’s “living the dream” here:

I wish death upon everyone.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago

Unfortunately, murder will often land you in prison, making your freshly earned office job not that stable.
Don't ask me how I know.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

Big difference between a low paying boring office job and a high paying one lol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There's a lot of starving children in Africa who would be ecstatic with a job that paid American minimum wage, that doesn't mean anything.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

In a lot of ways, we are those starving children.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

For you. I miss it, it was calm, the schedule was never a surprise and I never had to do 4 other people's jobs because half the building calls off every other day. There's far worse than office jobs, and it's called retail.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

The Bundys had a one income household, where dad was working minimum wage at a shoe store and he could feed and clothe his kids, have a big house, a car, and all the adventures they pulled. You couldn't even feed yourself on that income these days

[–] [email protected] 48 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Someone who’s life is really not that bad whining because they think it’s terrible? That sounds pretty common to me, especially for suburban teenagers

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'd complain too if i had to share my bedroom with two other boys.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

And even a bed

[–] [email protected] 42 points 7 months ago

The show treated his attitude as a huge flaw. I interpreted his character in earlier seasons as despite being a genius in many ways, he was still an immature child. He was often ungrateful for his parents' sacrifices and unempathetic to those around him, like a lot of kids his age. He even had trouble making friends because others found him difficult to be around. As annoying as he could be, I think it also made him a more realistic character and set him up for later character development.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 7 months ago

Life is unfair 🎶

[–] [email protected] 37 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

Few things for the family

  • Malcolm gets called out by EVERYONE of the main characters and major side characters at one point or another in the series for his crappy attitude... It's a running joke by the end of it...
  • This is one of those fox "see! the poor don't have to be poor, they just need gumption and having less kids" shows... (Bones is another ex.)
    • Malcolm's always whining and it causes him to lose out on many major opportunities (both relationship-wise and career-wise)
    • Hal says they have sex several times a day, even when they're camping with another family. Thus he's always tired and can't concentrate
    • In one episode, Lois and Hal have to stop having sex for a week because of some medical issues, the grass gets attention and turns green, hal gets a promotion, and they stop being so trashy. All in one week. Once the issue is gone and they can have sex, everything goes back the way it was, grass looks like shit, house is a wreck.
    • In one episode they show how each time they have a kid, the parents lives get progressively worse.
[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

One of the running themes on the show is basically "work sucks but there's nothing you can do about it".

There's an episode where Francis has to work at Lois' job to help with inventory and Craig is in charge and is being extra incompetent. You'd figure with all of the opposition Francis organizes at military school that he'd be able to easily handle Craig and start a union or something. Instead, when everyone else decides to just give up and go home after they lose the competition to get it done before another store in the area, Francis is fighting to get everyone to finish what they started.

I don't think any of the times when the show has a "character vs their employer" conflict works out in a way where the character wins. The closest I can think of is when Lois has a conflict with a manager that fired her wrongly, but even that one isn't resolved in a great way because his downfall comes from Lois telling him she has dirt on him but would never tell anyone about it and the rest of the staff overhears and does tell. So it's got a bit of "Lois is good because she keeps her boss' secrets" mixed in with the messaging.

It sucks because it's otherwise such a well made show. Every character on the show sucks for some reason, but it doesn't just let them get away with it. Unless it's an employer or cop, at which point the message pivots to "it sucks but there's nothing anyone can do about it other than bitch".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm not sure if this is supposed to support or counter my point.

It sounds like you're supporting it because it's brainwashing you to think, "meh. Work sucks. Just deal with it and don't try to improve it"

It reminded me of another point that in one episode when Hals company is trying to frame him for something the big wigs did.. you find out that he's never worked a friday in years. So him lacking commitment to try his hardest actually works in his favor. .... As well as the fact that he matters so little that nobody noticed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah it was meant to go along with your point as a "I noticed it had this similar propaganda".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I'll take it :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

I liked it:)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (6 children)

Wait really Bones did this? I thought I remember an episode where Bones says "you just need to work hard, my life was hard too but I didn't end up like that" and learned by the end that wasn't a fair judgment. Maybe I'm misremembering?

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 7 months ago (1 children)

genius IQ

Many studies show that having a higher intellect correlates with higher unhappiness. In many cases, the text of the show itself is explicitly about how Malcolm's intellect either makes him a target or itself causes problems.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Not OPs fault this dumbass language has 3 words with the same pronunciation and different spellings

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

I couldn't connect at all with those series because of this.

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