The Beaten Dog wants to Beat a Dog

[robot artist]

It was brought up on Fridays show that despite Fez's obviously sensitive nature, he is in fact a rather cruel person.

I've often puzzled over this aspect of Fez's personality. As a child he grew up being picked on, taunted, and ridiculed for being overweight (the whole Fatty Pneumonia thing, for example). So you'd think that he would have sympathy for anyone that has the same problem as an adult - yet time after time, year after year, his first comment is always an attack on someone's weight. And it doesn't even seem that he has time to give it any thought - it always just leaps right out of his mouth - the very first thing he thinks of.

Male or female, employee or listener, friend of the show or celebrity, you can be sure Fez will say something disparaging about their appearance if they're even slightly overweight. Blowhard, Hard Rock Johnny, even the interns - no one is spared his insults regarding their weight. So I wonder - is this now a Pavlovian response on his part? That because his self-esteem was shot down in his formative years, he instinctively reacts in the same fashion; rather than taking away from that experience an empathy for other peoples feelings? That the same things that made him feel so bad must surely hurt others?

When I was a young child, my mother married my stepfather - an evil alcoholic who regularly beat and terrorized her, and me, and my siblings. From his treatment of my family, I learned how to treat people; and more importantly, how not to treat them.

I guess like the abused child who grows up to be a child abuser, Fez has no choice in the matter. He remains that beaten, abused dog in a corner, baring his fangs, snarling and snapping first. Maybe because that's how he was judged, he now judges others the same way.

Poor Fez - my heart goes out to him.

[drjoek]

You sound like you're fat

[Edwin]

Fez...that big meanie.

[bigfatfuck]

Say it ain't so Fez!

[Foster]

from what you said it sounds like physical abuse brings empathy
while mental abuse brings cruelty

[robot artist]

You sound like you're fat

I figured someone would jump to that assumption - no, never been a problem for me. Just that Ronnie pointed it out after Fez insulted Hicks weight on Friday.

My brother had a disfiguring birthmark on his face - of course, as children, we all made fun of him. And so did I, untill I was old enough to know better. But so did my stepfather - and I saw first hand how this cruelty crushed my brother's spirits. Thankfully, as an adult, he had surgery to correct it, and came away from the entire experience a kinder, better person.

Just got me thinkin about Fez's behavior, that's all.

[torker]

My brother had a disfiguring birthmark on his face - of course, as children, we all made fun of him. And so did I, untill I was old enough to know better. But so did my stepfather - and I saw first hand how this cruelty crushed my brother's spirits.
http://andrewswihart.net/pictures/psychiatry-couch-250.gif

[Mullenax]

I think that Fez is as critical of other people as he is of himself.
He has all those fears about people noticing flaws in him because he notices them in other people, apparently constantly, in every social situation (blinking too much?).

I may be way off, but I think he's projecting things he doesn't like about himself onto others*
rather than lashing out because he used to get picked on.

*just a guess based on three years of steady listening. I can't pretend I know him.

[MacVittie]

I think the way Fez acts explains a lot of his insecurities. He probably thinks that the types of things has says about other people, other people are saying/thinking about him. Ron has said it many times before: it's a type of selfishness. Fez has the illusion that other people care as much about him as he does about himself, and in turn think as little of him as he does of himself. At least that's what I gather from listening to the show.

[Mullenax]

Oh my god...

I think you complete me.

[MacVittie]

who me?

[CofyCrakCocaine]

Kinda reminds me of how Pitzy (remember him?) used to be overly protective of his girlfriend to the point where he'd wait outside the bathroom for her to come out because he didn't trust her around any guys. Naturally, he himself was the one who "uncontrollably" flirts with others- and so he makes the assumption that those around him have his vices and acts against that in the form of not letting others be like him. Or so Ronnie says.

I have alcoholics and drug addicts in the family (like anybody's) so I have a template of what not to do/how far I can go with that stuff.

Fezzie's case, I think he just hits people where he knows it hurts- namely the kind of things people said that he internalized as a kid.

[Houston]

There are some good points to make here.
One: Fat jokes are funny.
Two: Some fella named Chuckwagon gets Banned for making fat jokes about a fat chick.
Three: Fat jokes are really funny.
Four: Lighten up Frances.
Five: If your fat, you deserve to be picked on. Fatty.
Six: If your fat, you can make fat jokes.
Seven: It's true, Friday IS fat.


Don't worry Chuck, I got your back.

[jennysmurf]

There are some good points to make here.
One: Fat jokes are funny.
Two: Some fella named Chuckwagon gets Banned for making fat jokes about a fat chick.
Three: Fat jokes are really funny.
Four: Lighten up Frances.
Five: If your fat, you deserve to be picked on. Fatty.
Six: If your fat, you can make fat jokes.
Seven: It's true, Friday IS fat.


Don't worry Chuck, I got your back.

Hmmmmm....no sir, I don't like you. Fat jokes are usually only funny to people who aren't fat. Fat people make them either to be ironic, or as a defense mechanism to take the attention off of themselves, as in "at least I'm not as fat as she is!" Trust me, I know whereof I speak. :glurps:

[donnie_darko]

fez is just like his mother, and it's weighing on his mind.

if he had a real therapist he'd probably realize that.

poor fucker, i've always wondered if ron even mentions the issues more than the way he hints at them on the show. Calling it the ron and fez show is a joke at this point, fez really should trade checks with dave at this point.

ron "oh" fez show is more like it.

[GreatAmericanZero]

whats more interesting is how Fez can say such cruel things and still come off as one of so loveable. Who doesn't love Fezzie?

[Mullenax]

who me?

Yeah, I like the way you think.

[GreatAmericanZero]

Thin people are so scared...of fat people

[Dirtybird12]

Fuck you and this stupid thread. Hang on..let me try to express my anger a little better.

I guess everyone has the right to over analyze stuff on the show. But if anyone is going to try to UNMASK Fez...it should be Ron and not some listener or message board poster who is only familiar with "on-air" Fez.
Fez obviously hit a nerve with you madam ..causing you to start this thread and allowing the other neurotic sheep to pile on..

IMO, I think that when every single aspect of the show gets broken down ,disected, and critiqued - it loses something. It pushes the show a little bit further away from what Ron and Fez have worked so hard over they years to accomplish. A different kind of show. Where all (including staff) were welcomed and encouraged to take part in by being themselves...without being judged. No matter how fat, lazy, drunk, high, paranoid, crazy, talented, normal, funny or unfunny they may be.
Cant people just sit back & listen to the show and enjoy the ride without turning into "Super Freud"?
Who really cares WHAT makes Fez - Fez? or WHY he makes fun of slobs. Maybe a better question is why YOU care so much about what makes another human being other than yourself tick. Why would YOU or ANYONE else want Fez to be anything other than himself?
To please or entertain YOU?? Puh-leassssse.


after everything Fez has given and done for the show over the years??..you should be ashamed of yourself. :thumbdown: go drink a dirt.

[Yosammity]

It's a defense mechanism called "identification with the aggressor".