170

Self-destruction
Posted on March 23, 2023 by David M Willis

170 thoughts on “Self-destruction”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    maybe that explains how a 9-year-old (in an old grampa’s body) got to be president ?

    1. Vukodlak

      Or the toddler that preceded him.

      1. CrazyJ

        On the surface I can guess which presidents you are referring to just based on the date and that people tend to talk about the most recent president, but without the time clues you would have to be more specific since those descriptions are applicable to the last four presidents, as well as Reagan.

        1. Jamie

          It’s not like we can narrow it down based on pronoun.

        2. Durandal_1707

          Not really, the “9 year old in an old grampa’s body” applies pretty uniquely to the 45th president. Biden is more “old grampa in an old grampa’s body”, sure, but I don’t see how any of that would apply to Obama, who presented a rather cool and calm demeanor, and who was pretty young when he started. George W, on the other hand, came across more as “dumbass college fratboy” than anything else.

        3. jflb96

          But Biden is the 45th President

        4. Ntrovert

          There have been 45 PEOPLE who have been President, but 46 Presidential TERMS. So it depends on how you count them up. The fashion in more recent history has been to count terms, so that Obama was 43 and 44. TRump was 45, Biden 46.

        5. Paradox

          There has been way more than 46 terms

        6. Vegetalss4

          The weird convention is to count consecutive terms as one “number of president”, but non-consecutive terms as being two numbers.

          Therefore Stephen Grover Cleveland, is somehow counted as both the 22th and 24th president, because someone else was president in-between.
          I guess someone wanted to be to be certain that the (n+1)th president was the president who was president after the (n)th president.

        7. a/snow/mous/e

          he divided into Stephen Cleveland and Grover Cleveland so he could be president twice, as two people! ezpz

        8. a/snow/mous/e

          (aka Steveland)

        9. thejeff

          I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone count that way before. Other than the non-consecutive one Vegetalss4 mentions. Which is how we get to 46 terms, but with GW Bush being 43, Obama being 44 and Trump 45.
          Never seen anyone count Obama and only Obama twice.

        10. Bryy

          *stares in Politics*

        11. elebenty

          Speaking of politics, tangentially.

          Seeing Rich Mullins trending on Twitter is surreal. This webcomic is the only time I’d seen him referenced.

    2. anon

      makes me wonder how a 9 year old would react to their 45 year old self or be disappointed/change their mind or so

      i’m sure there are ppl that enjoy ‘boring’ jobs, nothing wrong if you’re not passionate about your career but if you’re stable and have friends and hobbies outside of it, you can def still have a fun life

      1. anonymsly

        My nine year old self wanted to be a paleontologist. I am an accounts payable analyst. I know I love my work and find it way more satisfying than a job that involves a goodly amount of dirt, at least in 1989, but little me would probably be crushed.

        1. Francoinblanco

          Accounting have bad Press between children. They are villians stick in the mud, or no fun allowed guys in Cartoons so nobody want to be them. In contrary to paleontologist which is funny because paleontologist can have even more paperwork than accountant.

        2. vulcanodon

          I work in a business college, and have told students that Accounting is the One True Major in business. It’s all about keeping everyone honest and on the same page. The other majors all have to explain themselves constantly… To Accountants.

        3. khn0

          Well I live in a crooked country then, there accounting is mainly about avoiding taxes, lying to bankers and getting departments fired because outsourcing is cheaper.

      2. Wizard

        That’s when a Chronofax might come in handy. Correspond with yourself as a young child!

        1. Ana Chronistic

          thought you were gonna link to this for a minute haha

      3. Opus the Poet

        My 9yo me is pissed not to be a race car driver by now, but I didn’t have the genes for it, bad eyes and damned slow reflexes.

      4. Ana Chronistic

        the problem is 9yos all want the glamourous jobs (who wouldn’t?) and those are thin on the ground

        whereas the shit jobs are plentiful but no one aspires to THOSE

    3. Felian

      honestly, any real 9yo would be better suited than the 65+ dudes we get all the time.

  2. The Wellerman

    Awe. ?

    *plays “Hanezeve Caradhina” from Made in Abyss OST on hacked muzak*

  3. Karla Jean

    Wow, Ruth (almost) being a grown up! I’m proud of her!

    1. anon

      Why be a full grown up at all if you can’t light heartedly jab at your friends/acquaintances, coming from ruth it’s not as mean spirited as it could be lol

      1. Needfuldoer

        That’s half the fun!

  4. Golden Yak

    I mean, if the *reason* you wanted to be president was to do as much good as possible for people… just do that.

    1. anon

      i think she mentioned she actually volunteered before. maybe she can be some kinda life coach/inspirational speaker without the weight of politics

      Or maybe she’d end up being some kinda ‘advocate lawyer’ and actually be Raidah’s rival

      1. Hazel

        Dorothy and Sarah would make a legitimately great lawyer team.

      2. Jamie

        It’s not clear whether she volunteers because it’d look good on a college application or because she genuinely cares enough that she’d do it anyways.

        I’m not sure Dorothy knows. Which, no shade. The college application process is so insanely competitive that it can warp personalities into being perfect applicants.

    2. Keulen

      I’m not sure if Dorothy ever mentioned why she wanted to become president, but if it’s to help as many people as she can, there are many other (and I would say better) ways to do that.

  5. Just an Armadillo

    Another great example of ‘life lessons I’m still working very hard to learn!’ It’s just one after another this week!

  6. RassilonTDavros

    Ruth Lessick, the world’s greatest life advice coach.

    …even if most of her advice boils down to “at least you’re not as shitty a person as I am.”

    1. EAG46

      I’ve heard worse advice. Ruth’s doing her best to help Dorothy out, and as first attempts go, it’s not bad.

    2. Psi Baka Onna

      The “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” method, you could say.

  7. Stephen Bierce

    In my blog’s friends list today I saw Wil Wheaton’s post about saying much the same thing to a kid ten years ago.

  8. Vukodlak

    I think Ruth may have intentionally told Dorothy to steal Walky back.

    1. anon

      i imagine she wouldn’t tell walky if she did have lingering feelings after that last convo/advice

      unless they end up breaking up and ‘she swoops’ in super fast

    2. Nazmazh

      I mean, that’d sure be a heck of a way to introduce that element of her from the Walkyverse into the Dumbiverse.

  9. True Survivor

    “Hhmm… I’d like Walky back, but Lucy is in the way. Murder is bad… but Ruth said I could be a bit selfish…. It’s only a little murder.”

    1. Doctor_Who

      “And honestly, Lucy is Jennifer’s roommate, there’s at least a 70% percent chance she’s getting murdered by the end of the semester anyway.”

      1. Clif

        It’s Walky’s roommates that wind up dead.

        Poor Booster.

    2. Geneseepaws

      Sarah has a bat. “Lots of things you can hit with a bat.”

      1. elebenty

        +1

  10. Kyrik Michalowski

    Ruth giving out some solid advice? Awesome.
    Ruth making a last unnecessary comment? Less awesome.
    Overall score: 8 out of 10.

    1. anon

      it’s def fitting for ruth’s chara lol

    2. Aura

      I don’t think I’d trust it without that jab, that makes it feel a little more genuine.

  11. StClair

    is that regrets I hear, Ruth?

    1. newlland(Henryvolt)

      When does she not have regrets?

      1. anon

        Ruthgrets, if you will

      2. Jeff K!

        When she acts with integrity!

      3. Needfuldoer

        Regrets? She’s had a few.

        1. JBento

          But then again, too few to mention (to other people, can’t let the façade slip)

        2. Needfuldoer

          She did it her way.

  12. Nono

    The trick is that kids have the best ideas of future jobs.

    Ballerina cowboy. Professional otter wrangler. Parkour by day, laser tag champion by night.

    1. Dana

      A fighter pilot who has her own cartoon show and comes home every night to our children and makes Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

    2. anon

      i’m sure there was at least one astronaut around that made something of themselves

      Though i’m sure these days some kids are at least taught/have heard of multiple jobs before being asked that

      Or hopefully, saying they wanna be a janitor because their relatives are and it’s not looked down on.

      1. Opus the Poet

        One that I knew personally got a job as a Southwest pilot until he aged out (mandatory retirement at 60 per FAA).

    3. Jamie

      Jobs are such a weird thing to define your future based on.

      1. Daibhid C

        “What do you want to do when you grow up?”

        “Read.”

        “No, I mean what kind of job do you want?”

        “One that gives me enough money to buy books, and enough time to read.”

        (Actually, when I was a kid I wanted to be a librarian. It quickly became apparent I couldn’t be a librarian for never-give-a-monkey-the-key-to-the-banana-plantation reasons.)

        1. Hof1991

          You could be a librarian but we’re too busy to spend any time reading It did cure me of wanting to buy and own books. I have a vary small home library.

      2. thejeff

        Not really. I mean, you’re most likely going to spend a good part of your adult life doing some kind of job

      3. Skeptible

        Given that they take up somewhere around 40% of your waking life, it doesn’t seem that weird to me.

      4. anon

        well you do have to try to think seriously about it at one point depending on your goals but it might be more of a western thing, i did see a post from someone in europe saying that it wasn’t too common where they are/not a ‘first question’ kinda thing to instantly ask what ppl do for a living

    4. Wizard

      Or crocodile. Or cucumber.

  13. Yotomoe

    Lately I’ve been learning the positive aspects of being more selfish. Insomuch that I should prioritize myself and my own wants more. I’m not a dad or anything so it’s not like anyone’s depending on me. I should behave more out of self interest. Everyone else seems to 😛

    1. The Wellerman

      A wise strategy, earthling. Which reminds me, I gotta get my host body’s tubes tied.

    2. newlland(Henryvolt)

      Well yeah, if you have no dependents or spouses then you’re exactly the type of person who’s allowed to think of their self interest more.

      1. newlland(Henryvolt)

        Also not in a position where it’s your civic duty to govern people.

        1. Yotomoe

          I’d be pretty selfish in a government position. And my selfish desire is I want to mold the country to my own selfish view of what’s best for everyone. So y’know…UBI, Laws against discrimination, and affordable health care. You can say that stuff is selfless, but I want it too and also I don’t care about anyone else’s counterpoints to these things I want, so I’d argue I’m being SUPER selfish.

        2. newlland(Henryvolt)

          ….well when you put it that way.

    3. Jamie

      I generally go with what Danny says here: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/shirk/

    4. anon

      as long as you’re not hurting yourself/anyone else, nothing wrong with indulding. just try to watch ur health if it’s something like “eating a full dessert instead of a proper lunch” lol, but depends on how young you are you could bounce back

      1. Yotomoe

        Haha I think I’m exiting my “bounce back from eating like garbage days. I feel like shit after eating a Wendy’s burger.
        And I work at a Wendy’s!

        1. The Wellerman

          Try making your own burger. I’ll even give you my recipe for a nutritious curry turkey burger if you’re interested. 😉

        2. anonymsly

          Even if Yoto doesn’t want it just the words ‘turkey curry burger’ make me want that.

        3. The Wellerman

          Alright, my formula, for the patties I mix half a cup or so of chopped onions and a quarter pound of Tikka Malsala sauce into a pound of turkey meat, divided into six patties (each about as flat as a regular McDonald’s patty) with a little indented hole in the middle, cooled down in the freezer for a bit before cooking. I fry the buns in butter, caramelize some onions on medium head with a pinch of baking soda, and make an over-easy egg for good measure. Then on medium-high heat I cook the patty in butter and a pinch of baking soda (helps caramelize the surface), 3-4 minutes for each side (depending on how done you want it), and then Bun, egg, ketchup, mustard, patty, caramelized onion in that order, and I’m a happy alien! ??

        4. The Wellerman

          *quarter cup of Tikka Malsala sauce. Unless more suits you of course XD

        5. The Wellerman

          Oh almost forgot – a teaspoon or two of miso and a few green onions in the patty mix to really peak the flavor. ?

    5. Masumi

      Same, honestly. What’s the point in trying so hard to please people? I don’t even like people. Well, most of them.

    6. Mark

      Selfishness gets a bad rap because people overdo it. I think the thing is to be just the right amount of selfish.

      1. Wizard

        The mark of a good society is that it channels people’s selfish desires into the most productive and least harmful paths. Lots of people know that Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, but not nearly as many know that before that he wrote A Theory of Moral Sentiments.

      2. milu

        unless you’re allergic to selfish

        1. Bathymetheus

          I see what you did there!

  14. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Today’s post, I’m taking another guess at what songs certain characters would have on their Spotify play list, Roz edition ?: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbingofage/comments/11z829a/what_i_think_certain_characters_would_have_on/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

  15. HueSatLight

    Panel 1 was a preview panel. Once again, I didn’t even guess close.

  16. DailyBrad

    I want Dorothy to figure out what she wants, but maybe what I want more is for her to take her time and not force it.

    1. justin8448

      Dorothy has a lot to figure out all of a sudden.

    2. Blue

      As usual my fellow Dannys are correct

  17. Axel

    final panel is not particularly kind or helpful but it is my favourite

    1. Dot

      I think it’s something Dorothy needed to hear, and it’s basically right. “I want to be President” is not really a very mature or realistic goal, and it’s one whose parameters are actually fairly nebulous. “I want to get into politics” or “I want to serve in public office” would be much better goals for Dorothy, especially for her age.

      Ugh, I hate sharing a name with Dorothy, I feel like the Hulk

      1. Mark

        “I want to make things better for everyone, and I need power and authority to do that” is not so bad, though. So long as your notion of “better” aligns with everyone’s to some extent….

        1. Wizard

          If you need power to impose your vision of the good, there’s a strong chance your vision isn’t all that good. At a minimum, it’s clearly not a lot of other people’s idea of good. Trying to impose a top-down system of the greatest good tends to result in massive harm, at least if history is any guide.

        2. thejeff

          Any changes in society need power to implement. The language choice of “impose” does a lot of work there. If one wins elective office by campaigning on their vision and then proceeds to implement that vision once in office, that’s not inherently bad because it needed political power, is it? It could be – things can be bad despite being popular, but it’s not inherently so.

          History certainly shows some examples of powerful people claiming to do good and it going horribly wrong, but it’s certainly not the general rule for all political action.
          And there are very few examples of anything getting better for people in general without power being involved. Even popular movements that force changes use the power of numbers (and often have strong leaders) to do so. And those can go horribly wrong as well.

        3. milu

          the word “power” is also super baggage-y. conversations like these can be really frustrating without some semantics groundwork first

        4. Taffy

          Can I just say thanks for pointing this out? So many times, even on this site, I’ll see or be part of a conversation where “power” comes up as like this abstract concept, and there’s rarely mitigating language around it, so it comes across like people are equating any small disparity in “power” with the highest gaps. Like, we’ll talk about someone’s “power” over someone else with the same severity as an abusive situation, but it’s about something as low-stakes as who’s paying for lunch at the moment, and it just comes off as catastrophising to me, a lot of the time. I know, I know, not every conversation and off-hand remark needs a million qualifiers because they drag everything down and make it hard to follow a line, but we at least should start mentioning the levels and degrees of power when we talk about those things. Otherwise “Dorothy gave Joyce a can of Coke and now has the social power of incentive” (or whatever) sounds identical to “Dorothy stole Joyce’s keys and wallet and stranded her at a Circle K” (that’s a gas station, for those who don’t know).

        5. milu

          for sure. power can sometimes be used as shorthand for authority, (and tbf at some point in this thread someone did use the phrase “power and authority”) but in itself power is just a neutral fact of existence. to put it almost childishly, you can’t do a thing, unless you have the power to do it.

          i guess the point where this intersects with a lot of #discourse is that critiquing perceived misuses of power can easily get sterile if you don’t also agree on how power could be used well. but that’s a fundamentally political position, and it’s why some discussions are not even worth having outside of a shared political worldview. i think

        6. thejeff

          Though in this context where we’re talking about needing power to make broad social change (“make things better for everyone”) and Dorothy’s Presidential ambitions, we’re really using a pretty straightforward idea of power. Not iffy ideas of close hypothetical power imbalances between friends, but straightforward massive political or social power.
          Whether the obvious power of the Presidency or perhaps the power the leader of a social movement might have to push change without holding official positions.

        7. Jamie

          Power doesn’t have to be concentrated in a single person to enact social change, though.

        8. thejeff

          Doesn’t have to be, but even movements usually have leaders.

  18. Yotomoe

    My favorite manga of all time “Shiori Experience” had a part where the ghost of Jimmy Hendrix explains to the protagonist that it’s ok for a Rockstar to be selfish. And if Manga Ghost Jimmy Hendrix says so, then that’s a solid enough reason for me :D.

    1. newlland(Henryvolt)

      Still you recommended that to me, I also like how he literally kind of said ” I know it’s a big heel type move buuut.”

      1. newlland(Henryvolt)

        *Still glad.

      2. Yotomoe

        I’ll never not recommend that manga.

        1. Schpoonman

          It’s one of the greats.

    2. Derek

      I know liking art is subjective but I’m still surprised to learn that manga is anyone’s favourite anything since I found it very mediocre. Plus there was the “colouring black people with dark tones and then with contrasting white lips” issue, which a lot of mangas unfortunately fall into.

      1. Derek

        THREE people in this comments section like it?? I’m baffled…

      2. Wizard

        I’m going to invoke Sturgeon’s Law here: Sure, 90% of science fiction manga is crap, but 90% of everything is crap. Honestly, manga is such a huge and diverse category that it’s difficult to make broad judgments. Just like any other field, there are good works and bad. I’m sure there’s a manga out there somewhere you might enjoy, but I can totally understand if you don’t think it’s worth the effort to seek it out. Looking on the bright side, Japanese popular culture finally seems to have started getting a clue about racial caricatures. Based on my (admittedly limited) knowledge, they seem to be getting a lot less common, anyway.

        1. milu

          pretty sure Derek was talking about the specific manga referenced by Yotomoe (Shiori Experience). not manga in general.

        2. Yotomoe

          Oh, btw Milu, I added you on discord so if you’re still down to chat, I’m there 😛

        3. milu

          oh yeah! i’ve been busy. i’ve also continued drawing but yeah i’m getting in the weeds and could use your perspective. i’ll talk to you later gotta go protest the government now =P

        4. a/snow/mous/e

          oh, “that” is a pronoun there, not a conjunction… ugh, why must the English language be so fraught with ambiguities

        5. a/snow/mous/e

          spanish has the right idea, with the conjunction being “que” and the pronoun being “eso”; and if you combine the two types of “that”, you get cheese; so there’s that!

        6. Opus the Poet

          ? queso = cheese

        7. milu

          Hm i wonder if there’s been any attempts at quantifying ambiguity for different languages/dialects…

          You’d have to define ambiguity though, and decide how you measure it. Is it context-dependency? Is it rates of synonymy/homophony? Information density? Frequency of misunderstanding of a random sentence? There’s a lot of ways to study that.

          Maybe, say, inflexional languages are less prone to ambiguity? Does it also correlate to lexeme length (average number of “sounds” per “word”). does sensitivity to social context vary significantly between languages? I suspect that by most metrics, all languages fall within a fairly narrow band optimizing for both vocabulary size and communication efficiency.

          Ok well

        8. Mark

          See The Story of English by MacNeil, McCrum, and Cran. I like to say that English is the rubble left by centuries of various language groups battling for control of Britain (or parts thereof).

        9. milu

          *looking around*
          english is… rubble???

          i get what you’re trying to say here but besides the fact that being the product of a history of conflicts and conquests makes english not special at all, framing the most successful imperial language ever as somehow the victim of its history is just so weird to me.

        10. Derek

          Milu is correct

        11. milu

          you mean generally, right ?

        12. Derek

          oh Wizard, you’re sadly way off base here; I am positively a manga addict. It’s specifically the Shiori Experience I did not vibe with

      3. Yotomoe

        I love the story, I love the characters and I LOVE the way they portray music through visuals. The art in general is phenomenal to me. Plus I just LOVE stories about up and coming bands coming together and finding their sound.

        Also I’ll be honest I never found an issue with how they colored black people with prominent lips. They don’t really come off as “black face” to me since they actually have form and when you look at the color spreads the artist doesn’t make them bright red or anything. At the very least it doesn’t seem like it’s in bad faith or anything.

        1. Derek

          I gotta ask (but you don’t have to answer): were or are you a fan of Jimi Hendrix before reading it?
          Because honestly one of my biggest complaints about is how they use him as a rather generic Yoda-like teacher/guru figure. Jimi Hendrix was a real person and researching his actual personality and philosophy is incredibly easy these days. It seems disrespectful to him.

          I only read the first three chapters or something, but I really got the impression that the author knows nothing about Jimi himself except that he was a guitar legend. Does it get better later? Was I too harsh?

        2. Yotomoe

          I’ll be honest. I became a fan of Jimmy BECAUSE of this manga. I can’t say for sure if this fits his personality super well or not. It feels like it comes from a place of love though, like the manga realizes all sorts of features of Jimmy and makes them aspects of his character. I do know the interpretation of Kurt Cobain definitely feels off but again I’m not enough of a super fan to notice. I don’t mind Jimmy as a teacher because it’s a role he’s sorta forced into. And he’s just been restlessly wanting to play guitar for the last 50 years.

          More importantly, despite Jimmy being sorta the hook, a lion’s share of the manga is actually not about him. It’s moreso about Shiroi and the bad she creates. Jimmy is moreso the guy she turns to when she can’t figure out what to do. Sometimes I honestly forget he’s in it. I can’t guarantee you’ll like it because I don’t know enough about rock history to know how accurate it is. But I still think the parts with Shiori forming her band are absolutely worth checking out. And like I said the art is phenomenal.

      4. Joy

        I can get going for a lighter color—lots of Black people have lighter lip colors! But something more like a light grey would make more sense for a B&W manga I think!

  19. BBCC

    Ruth is kicking ass at being an RA here. <3 I love seeing it.

    1. anon

      “one good deed done, now to slack off the rest of the week” or so. or maybe she’ll focus on jason’s citizenship/visa again

  20. Raen

    Glad Ruth said it in the last panel. I don’t think any of our last few Presidents really set out to get there – one was a community organizer, one was a real estate tycoon, and the current one more-or-less stumbled there from his position under the aforementioned community organizer.

    1. Dana

      Joe Biden ran for President how many times? At least 3. I doubt it was something he set out for at the very beginning of his life, but by the time you’re the Veep you certainly have entertained solid ambitions for POTUS.

      1. vlademir1

        He ran in ’84, ’88, ’08 and ’20 IIRC.
        Generally just about no one gets into politics with an eye toward achieving POTUS. Regardless of where they fall politically, most politicians go for a local office because they see problems they wish to fix then fall up the ladder as they find aspects of those problems that are outside the scope of whatever office they have so far achieved. The problems generally come into it as thy have to add in other issues that don’t motivate them as much in a manner not dissimilar to feature creep, because having a moderately detailed stance on those issues is part of the requisites of the new office

        1. Ed Callahan

          Bill Clinton wanted to be president since he was a kid. The Bush’s expected to be Presidents because they were, well, Bushs. Obama’s ambition was to go as far as possible, so the Oval Office was the limit. Trump, of course, is god emperor of the universe, forever and ever, amen.
          Dear God, we have to get rid of that shit gibbon.

        2. Dot

          Bill Clinton is in fact a very good example of why you don’t want someone driven purely by ambition and desire for the office to have it.

        3. Wizard

          I’m not sure Trump even wanted to be President, he was just engaging in his usual self-promotion. But then once it looked like a real possibility, his ego (I’m pretty sure it’s so massive it has its own gravitational field.) wouldn’t let him back down. Likewise for all his lies about the ’20 election; by this point he might actually believe them, but I suspect he started out just trying to preemptively excuse his entirely predictable loss.

      2. Wizard

        And he finally got the job purely by being the right place at the right time. Given Trump’s frequently abysmal performance, all the Dems had to do was run someone less reviled than Hillary Clinton. (Hint: it’s never a good idea to nominate a candidate who does more to motivate the opposing base than your own.) They could have won with a potted plant, and basically did.

        1. Taffy

          You need to be nicer to potted plants.

        2. milu

          very few potted plants supported the Iraq invasion.

        3. Bathymetheus

          I’m impressed that you know that. I mean, lots of people talk to their plants, but not many listen to their responses.

    2. HueSatLight

      Big difference between having it on your horizon as a possibility, and being a 19 year old with the singular goal in life to become president. Also, we have had juvenile presidents. But most people with a singular goal to be president won’t become president, even among those who get close.

  21. Reltzik

    Panel 2: The moment that started Dorothy down the path to Batman’s rogue gallery.

  22. anon

    #treatyoself, as they say lol

    1. anonymsly

      Honestly, Dorothy could use EXACTLY that, I think. A set day and time-frame would appeal to her organization, and the encouragement of a friend group to self-care selfishness would relax and support her.

  23. cbwroses

    “Maybe LET yourself…be a little selfish. Maybe let yourself…use the Walking Stick from time to time.”

    1. cbwroses

      Huh. No one liked the “Walking Stick” euphemism.
      You win some, you lose some.

  24. Doopyboop

    Learning how to be selfish can be a very important skill. I’m turning 30 next week and I’d say it’s only been this year that I’ve been learning to be selfish. For so long I refused to buy myself things I enjoyed. I’d agonize over the money being a ‘waste’. Now, I actually treated myself to the movies the other day as a Birthday gift to myself.

    It’s also interesting too because both Ruth and Dorothy did their break ups seemingly in and for different reasons… but when you get right down to it, seems the both of them did self-sabotage themselves. Granted, I think Ruth did have merits for thinking her relationship with Jennifer was unhealthy (because it was) but the way she went about it wasn’t good.

    1. Blue

      I’m still learning that it’s okay to ask people for things, as long as you are prepared to take no for an answer.

  25. Imogen

    Here’s the thing: Dorothy *does* enjoy working toward the goal. I think the real question is, would she be happier working towards a different goal? That feels more and more in doubt these days.

  26. Ophidiophile

    Aw, Ruth. You were doing so well.
    As T.H. White wrote in “The Once And Future King”, selflessness is the 8th deadly sin.

  27. Amós Batista

    The today’s preview Willis has set September 22nd last year.

  28. Dot

    As always Ruth gives good advice but her self-loathing prevents her from applying it to herself.

    1. Blue

      It might be good in some circumstances but I think it was the wrong advice here. I think Dorothy needs to hear that it’s okay to admit you were wrong about what you wanted.

  29. Alan in DC

    Hey, you WANTED honest advice there, Dorothy.

    Welcome at last to the wakeup call that *is* freshman year.

  30. Sombrero

    Good for Dorothy’s femurs that Ruth won’t allow herself to be a little selfish.

  31. Hof1991

    In a plane, Dorothy would run around putting oxygen masks on other people until she passed out. It’s not selfish to put your own on first. It necessary and proper. If you don’t take care of yourself you’ll have nothing left to give others.

    1. Hof1991

      Raidah has nothing to give to others and doesn’t see any need to even make an effort. That’s selfish.

    2. Blue

      That would involve Dorothy admitting to herself that she even has needs, which would be failure.

  32. Adept

    Fair, about the 9 year old’s decision. “I’m going to be president”.

  33. Wendy

    Ruth spitting heartwarming truths.

  34. Mo

    alt text = book 13 title

  35. Alan in DC

    Has anyone created an Imgur (or otherwise) pic of what a 48-year-old *President* Dorothy would look like?
    Wrinkles, sprayed-helmet of a hairstyle, et al?
    That’s an image that would make my day.

    1. Needfuldoer

      She’d probably look a lot like her mom, but with glasses and her dad’s hair color.

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/04-is-a-song-forever/accounts/

      1. anon

        looking back on it dorothy’s mom looks young too/i’d believe it if she was also a student if i saw her in the background eating lunch or so

        1. Needfuldoer

          I think some of that is the art style. Hank is supposed to be in his sixties (about 20 years older than the Keeners probably are), but you only know that from his hairline.

          Sometimes the genetic dice roll just does that, too. People consistently think I’m a decade younger than I actually am. To quote Billiefer, “my blessing, my curse”.

  36. Pergola

    So now Ruth will convince Dorothy that passing up Yale is self-sabotage. This is Willis’ plan for easing Dorothy out of the comic.

  37. anon

    dorothy’s hoodie is nice too but i rly love that shade of green on ruth’s shirt lol

  38. Suet

    Either Dotty would have to dial it back and run for state senator or… *shudders* switch majors.

    1. The Wellerman

      I guess I actually agree on the altruism thing. True compassion means doing what’s best for everyone including yourself, not instead of.

  39. FlamestAndLight

    Oki, I wanna preface cause I’m not trying to convert anyone, it’s just my special interest.

    But In Judaism we have the concepts of “Yetzer HaTov” and “Yetzer HaRa”, usually translated as the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination respectively (I don’t like this translation and you’ll see why later in the post). But it’s said that we need both. Yetzer HaTov is what drives us to be selfless, and to act in an ethical manner. Yetzer HaRa is what drives us to be selfish, to *eat*, to maintain our bodies, to stay alive, and to seek pleasure. If we aren’t listening to that Yetzer HaTov at all then we literally don’t stay alive. But if we listen to it too much we hurt people. The trick is balance.

    Anyway, this strip just reminded me of those.

    1. Felian

      That is actually really cool.
      (I’m not religious but absolutely in favor of letting the parts that work for us inspire our lives)
      You need boundaries and you need to tell people NO sometimes, to keep yourself sane and stable enough to say YES other times!

  40. Yakumo

    “Even if you still have a nine-year-old’s idea of what t to be when you grow up” May not be the most spot on comment in the comic to date, but
    it’s easily in the top ten if not top five.

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