Why do Americans hate Lisa Simpson

My avatars tend to have that effect on people.

I'd have an easier time accepting "she's eight" if it weren't for the matter of the writers giving up Ping Pong Naïveté as part of her character years ago.

EDIT: Essentially, to me, she became The Wesley a long time ago when the writers sandblasted her of all humility.

edited 3rd May '10 3:40:38 PM by Korgmeister

Basically, she doesn't learn "Your stance is not necessarily the right one, you have to be respectful of all positions", rather than "Yes, they're idiots and they're wrong, but be kind to them".

Sometimes the latter is genuinely a more useful lesson than the former. Better to tolerate people who are clearly wrong about some things than to respect their positions on the possibility that they're right.

edited 5th May '10 9:37:50 AM by Desertopa

[[Cynicism I don't think most people look this far. They just see that she's smart and they hate smart people, and it's annoying for them that she isn't shot down and humiliated at every opportunity.]]

Otherwise, they'd hate Brian, too. He voices his opinions often too, but Brian is just mature, not necessarily smart.

We don't hate Brian, we hate who he's become the mouthpiece of. When he's not reading off the latest Author Tract, Brian is still occasionally a fun character.

And I like Lisa. She goes off on a lecture too often, but she's never as malicious as Family Guy can be about the issues.

edited 7th May '10 6:04:30 PM by TParadox

^ This

I actually like Lisa, if only because she's annoying. I've always seen her a bit tragically, having to put up with an entire town of idiots.

I liked Lisa in the movie, where her obnoxious activism was both important (because she was right) but undermined by her own self-righteousness.

^ well said. let us celebrate by adding chocolate to milk

This is why I'll never forgive Paul Mac Cartney for making the writers make her a vegetarian, because after that it was all downhill. I miss the days when she was just the smarter of the two siblings, but was still a kid.

He's David Bowie Paul McCartney, he can do anything!

edited 10th May '10 6:56:32 AM by Kerrah

I've always been completely neutral about her.

edited 16th May '10 2:55:23 PM by KillaKamikaze27

I've been watching a bunch of season 5-9 episodes recently, in particular season 6 she really pops as a great character. Her nerdiness is more an endearing flaw, like when the teachers strike and she freaks the fuck out. In Lisa's Rival and Bart of Darkness she is so wonderfully human and relatable.

wait what? the anti-americanism in the original post was kind of crazy. yes there is some anti-intellectualism in the country but we are talking of one of the most populous countries in the world... there's all kinds of groups.

as far as lisa, i dont HATE her, but she does get annoying pretty easily and it has nothing to do with her being intelligent. she's just plain ol' annoying sometimes. mostly its because the lisa-centric episodes tend to be kind of boring and annoying. that's really all it is.

The only show where her type of character works is Daria. The thing is, Daria doesn't get self-righteously indignant, Plus, it doesn't help that everyone is doing absolutely fine without her help. Their stupidity works for them. She's not in a Crapsack World where her character is justified.

I don't hate Lisa Simpson but I just find her character to be unbelievable.

She is a eight year old girl, who is buddhist and a vegetarian. She also is an activist!

But she is eight years old...should her character act like a little girl? I mean she did in early season and was still able to keep her intelligence.

Lisa would be a beliveable character if she 1)had some character flaws 2)was older than Bart (atleast a teen) 3) have other character traits that don't come off as "self-righteous". Like enjoy cooking or some competive sport.

That's how it came off to me, although it was more a result of the whole "respecting others' opinions" feeling tacked on considering both Apu and Lisa were still pretty arrogant about their vegetarian positions, only seeming to say they should respect others' opinions out of obligation rather than the respect being organic. Of course, one can't expect a person to internalize an aesop immediately, but her attitude in later episodes show to me that she has really learned nothing.

She is a eight year old girl, who is buddhist and a vegetarian. She also is an activist!

But she is eight years old...should her character act like a little girl? I mean she did in early season and was still able to keep her intelligence.

edited 12th Jul '10 7:05:11 PM by asiacatdogblue

I think Lisa gets annoying because she's basically Soapbox Sadie played straight the vast majority of the time. Even in episodes where she suffers ridiculously terrible fates, she's almost never wrong. (the one where she babysat an apparently suicidal Bart and got blamed for everything was a bit of a Wall Banger... though I guess kinda softened because the townsfolk also acknowledged that she's still the most responsible person in town. And that no one can blame her for trying to kill Bart)

Not sure if that's more or less annoying than Brian, because while he's also portrayed as a liberal and activist, he's also pointed out as a hypocrite, a jerk, lazy, mooching and preachy. Aren't we all?

Lisa got in trouble in the babysitting episode, not because Bart got hurt, but because she tried to hide it. Things would have gone much better if she'd just called Dr. Hibbert right away like she originally planned to.

I like Lisa, generally. Her episodes are not the best, but quite a few are still fun. Especially episodes where she is teamed up with one of the simspon guys to bond with. Yah, the episode where she is preaching are annoying, but overall, I don't mind her.

Marge actually annoys me more. If I had to pick a least favorite Simpsons character it would be her. Because her role is essentially "straight man to homer's latest zany scheme" thus about 75% of her contribution to the show is her whining. Some of her episodes are kinda good (The classic where she becomes a cop) but most of them are rather lame. She's nagging, she's boring and she is bland. Seriously, besides all of her character can be summed up as "stay-at-home mom' and "house wife".

Talking about Family Guy, Lois kind of annoys me the same way. Though at least she gets funny on her own once in a while (and she has her moments where she will go over the top in a similar manner Peter will), but like Marge, most of her time is spent being the straight face to Peter's Antics, and whining about him.

edited 7th Aug '10 4:25:34 AM by Ghilz

I liked Lisa in the earlier seasons where she still acted (slightly) like a little child and was clever and not so much snarky, but then in the later seasons her (over-the-top) behavior and her moralising 'everyone is wrong except me' and her oppressive urge for environmentalism/buddhism can come across as annoying for people who watch the show for entertainment... The last thing they want is a long rant for 3 minutes...

It might just be that the Simpsons has gone on so long that just about everything's been played out. There's really nowhere for the show to go without shaking up the status quo, and then we'd just get Cerebus Syndrome.

I always thought Lisa's smartness and what else have you, WAS the joke...

Hate is a strong word, but yeah I started to find her annoying as time went on. The few episodes when Lisa is in the wrong by showing her to be petty or arrogant are far better than the Lisa becomes morally outraged about whatever controversial subject is the flavor of the month and the rest is stupid and evil for not shutting up and listening to her. Its specially bad when I actually agree with her and becomes a Don't Shoot The Message to me.

As to the OP questioning why we Americans don't like her.......duh duh we stoopid duhhhh/Sarcasm

Why do people hate her? I always liked her. She does have her "little girl" moments. ( Ie: Gushing about and owning Malibu Stacy's, complaining about not getting earings...)