Dr. John Patterson: 2009 Standards in Piggishness

With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we see Dr. John Patterson express an idea about women and their employment, i.e. that women are unreliable because of maternity leave, PMS, family issues, and personal stuff. The statement is startling for Dr. John Patterson because:

a. Dr. John Patterson employs exclusively women, and if he had this issue, you would think he would employ men instead, and

b. Unlike the male chauvinist pigs strips from the 1980s we have seen reprinted, this is a strip which originated in 2009, when Lynn Johnston should know better.

This is not the first time we have seen Dr. John Patterson express this sentiment in a new-run. Going back to October, 2008; we have 2 strips which talk about John’s loss of his hygienist Marie. This is the reprint. This is the new-run. Notice in the reprint, John laments the loss of his hygienist because it appears he greatly appreciated her work, and he tried to do what he could to encourage her to stay. In the new-run, John takes a shot at Marie for taking time off for maternity leave and for leaving due to her husband’s job change. In other words, John’s statement in the October, 2008 new-run is very similar to the one expressed in today’s new-run; but John’s statement in the October, 2008 reprint is not.

I had speculated that the reason Lynn Johnston did not update her male chauvinist pig strips being reprinted from the 1980s is because Lynn was labouring under the idea that men still regularly acted the way they used to 30 years ago. However, in comparing the reprint to the new-run talking about Marie, the hygienist, I am not so sure. The idea that Dr. John Patterson resents his female employees because of their family issues originates exclusively from 2009. Since this isn’t from the 1980s, the reasons Lynn put it in the new-runs are:

a. Another cheap shot at ex-husband, Dr. Rod Johnston, using his avatar Dr. John Patterson, or

b. Lynn Johnston taking a cheap shot at her own former female employees (some of whom took maternity leave), or

c. Lynn Johnston has not bothered to look at the old reprints to see exactly how John Patterson was a male chauvinist pig and instead has put whatever she thinks he used to do there, or

d. All of the above.

The most disappointing aspect of this strip is that it appears Lynn Johnston is still not over using this strip to flog her ex-husband. I really had hoped she was done with this, after she promised this past summer to bring the funny.

On a personal note: My wife is not about the business of flogging me. We leave today for a Carnival cruise to the West Caribbean courtesy of her employer, Homemade Gourmet. The kids will be taken care of by their grandparents, who have flown in to stay the week. See you all in a week.