Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for January 17, 2014
January 16, 2014
January 18, 2014
Transcript:
B.D.: MIT? You put MIT on your list? Sam: Why not? Alex went there. Dad, you guys have told me since I was a baby I could be anything I wanted to be! Now you're telling me I can't be an MIT student if I want? B.D.: We may have overdone the self-esteem thing. Boopsie: Not our fault. It used to be a best practice.
Sigh. I love Doonesbury but Garry Trudeau seems unable to write teenage characters without having them act abrasive at best and totally spiteful at worst. Jeff was a nice kid who turned into a massive jerk once he hit his teens and has stayed that way ever since, Alex become arrogant and somewhat ruthless, and now sweet, innocent Sam seems to have joined the dour, sneering teenage club. I realize teens have that reputation and go through that phase, but seriously, not ALL of them do. Not by a longshot. I just get tired of seeing the Doonesbury kids all follow this same trajectory, albeit in different intensities. (Alex may be off-putting sometimes, but Jeff is just an unrelenting jerk.)