There was a Simpsons episode where a guy came to town to preach about the power of positive thinking, and when Bart made a sarcastic comment, he held him up as the perfect example of the inner child, with fully defined ego boundaries etc. And so everyone started acting like Bart, skateboarding and spitting off bridges and so on.
There was a conversation between Bart and Lisa in that episode where they were talking about how Bart would have expected to feel pleased but he actually felt miserable, and Lisa said it was because he'd lost his identity. With everyone acting like him he had nothing to kick against.
So...are there any works of fiction which cover this question? Of someone wishing everyone would do things their way, and feeling miserable when they do? |
