Saturday, September 5, 2009

Charlie Brown's Football

You know the scene from Peanuts where Lucy is always trying to get Charlie Brown to try to kick the football she's holding? The football she always yanks away at the last second? The football she always swears up and down to Poor Old Chuck that she is not going to yank away this time, that he just needs to believe her?

What does it say about Charlie Brown that he is able to be talked into believing that she will hold the football in place? Is he stupid? Gullible? Or just someone who thinks that kicking the football is worth the pain and humiliation? That feels strongly about giving someone else the benefit of the doubt, even when betrayed and hurt every time?

And how about Lucy? What sort of person would again and again convince someone to give them a second (and third ... and fourth ... and infinite) chance knowing the whole time they're going to just yank it away?

4 comments:

  1. it defies reason. in the psychological world, this would hold water only if lucy occasionally let charlie kick the ball. then it's called intermittent reinforcement. but to my knowledge, lucy never lets charlie kick the ball...so i have no idea what that says about either of them. charlie's obviously not very bright and lucy is obviously mean-spirited. :)

    jeannie
    Where Romance Meets Therapy

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  2. It means Charlie's a gullible idiot and Lucy's a manipulative biotch. lol!

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  3. It means that Charlie is a good and trusting person who wants to believe in the best of people whereas Lucy...well, see JJ.

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  4. Um, the football is symbolic of something else.
    Do I really have to explain male-female relationships?
    Actually, I'm working on a blog post right now on that very subject. It'll be up in a day or so.

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