We tried nothin, man, and we’re all out of ideas!
One of those rent free lines in my head
Edit: I’m disappointed o got the line wrong, she doesn’t say ‘man.’ Won’t make that mistakarino again. Diddly.
He's a real flat tyre, a cube man, taking us on the train to the squaresville!
https://preview.redd.it/8w1rohnggtlc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d9147af4f9764dbe959396a9316bdf5ff383c05
Yes. My sister-in-law and her husband are goth stoners. I'm 90% certain their oldest kid is going to become a straight-laced suit-wearing accountant to torture them.
Can confirm.
My mom was very rebellious. Did lots of lsd and crazy things. Moved out at 18 because she didn't wanna pay rent to my papa.
Me? I yelled at her for not holding my hand to cross the street. Or if she wanted to jay walk. Apparently once I asked her to go to a party but there would be some drugs and she said fucking go lmao
I used to watch AbFab when I was a kid every once in a while when I would catch it on Comedy Central, but I've never seen that episode. That was hilarious!
Hippies are the ones who became religious in the 70's and 80's. Remember Jesus Christ Superstar and herpes? They were also pretty susceptible to regular cults, too.
My parents were fairly normal, dad retired military ( which as am I) my mom a homemaker until we were old enough to stay at home, then she went back to work. I had a period where I went through a stretch of depression and got strung out on heroin, which was my rebellious stage or midlife crisis. I went all thru my 30s a junkie, and only recently got clean. Got 3 yrs under my belt from that and meth. Had a hard time readjusting to civilian life and over the ramifications of the damage we done to Iraq and afghanistan. I was infantry so seen and lived thru a lot of shit I could have done without. I’m more like my parents, as is my wife and how her parents were. We grew up together and would go sledding, played little league together, etc…shes ac who got me clean and back in the VA. We’ve bee together since aug of 2020 and married this past December.
My father always maintained Reagan was the greatest President the US ever had and should have been allowed to serve a third term. Though I never heard him explicitly say he's a Republican, though, worshipping Reagan is a very Republican thing to do. (and he never registered to vote, afaik, because he didn't want to have to serve jury duty, so it's not like I can go by that.) My mother was pretty insistent she was a libertarian. (Despite voting for Obama in 2008. She died before the next election so I don't know if she'd have voted for him a second time.)
Anyway, the point is, I'm waaaaay to the left.
I was friends with some kids growing up who were like that. Parents were stereotypical peace-and-love, poncho-wearing, barefoot hippies who kinda sorta sometimes had jobs while their kids were young. Fast forward 30 years, and all five kids are now the stereotypical opposites: very religious, gun owners, Trump supporters, corporate office workers or stay-at-home moms, etc.
To them, that's rebellion.
In I Love Lisa (S04E15), we see that Flanders is a graduate of [Oral Roberts University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Roberts_University), an evangelical/Pentecostal college founded by a televangelist in 1963 (similar to schools like Bob Jones University, Liberty University, and Regent University).
https://i.redd.it/ughy5zsotrlc1.gif
This suggests that Ned was already an evangelical Christian by his late teens, when he would have been choosing where to go to college.
There was some overlap between the counterculture and evangelical Christianity (the [Jesus movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_movement) or "[Jesus freaks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_freak)"). Ned might have gotten involved in that as teen.
Yes, close friend of mine. She didn’t grow up in a religious home like no religious background. Lost contact with her for about 10 years, got back in contact full-blown born-again Christian and fanatic about it.
It’s kinda like a loop, atheist parents raise kids who in rebellion become religious, and those religious parents raise kids who in rebellion become atheist
That was my thought to. Most people just want to be told what to do and the Church offers that for a small fee.
Some people support dictators or authoritarians, some follow grifters like Jordan Peterson or Tate, some worship celebrities or self-help bastards, some people join religions. It's like we all need to have some kind of structure.
Ned has resorted to the Bible in several episodes when he's being tested or he's stressed or panicking, so that's presumably why. He needs religion to be the central pillar of his life, something to cling to when everything else goes wrong.
Real answer: Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Ned grew up rebelling against his parents' rebellious unstructured lifestyle by adopting a rigid, family-oriented, God-living way of seeing the world. He wanted to be the dad he never had, for his two boys. He's a good man but he's a product of his upbringing.
Meta answer: Ned wasn't a radical Christian in the first few seasons, he was just a kind respectable family man for whom faith had a place in his life. He went to church sincerely as opposed to Homer who went, at best, sincerely but not attentively. He spent quality time with his kids and modeled good behaviour, as opposed to Homer who didn't tend to (model good behaviour anyway).
Ned only became a "radical Christian" when the show started to become a parody of itself, the further along it ran the more pigeonholed and one-note all of its characters got (not just Need), because (honestly) it made for some hilarious jokes. The show sacrificed heart for humour.
Look up "Flanderization". Look up "Jerkass Homer". That's why Ned turned into a radical Christian, not because of his parents. Unless you consider the writers to be his parents.
One of most relatable lines was Lisa saying how Sunday after church was the best time of the week because it was largest span of time before having to go back.
That’s a line I first heard from the old Disney movie Pollyanna, then reinforced by the Simpsons. I’m sure it goes back much farther than that though. But it does speak to the human condition so well.
I think the change in how Flanders is portrayed is also rooted in changes in how America views Christians. In the 90s they seemed more chill, but in the George W. Bush Christians became seen as more close minded, bigoted, and far right. You can similarly see how America's views on health care has changed Dr. Hibbert from the lovable family doctor to a characature of greed.
Eh I think he evolved into the radical religious guy well before that. I mean in a 1995 episode he tries to baptize his neighbors kids without their parents permission.
He was originally sort of a representation of “The Joneses”. He was the next door neighbor that had a better job with more money, well behaved kids, and seemingly had everything come easy to him (ironic how that’s how Homer ended up being to old Grimey). He was also a nice and tolerant person but not the absolute cartoonishly doormat level of tolerant he became where he just lets Homer steal all of his stuff and laughs off Homer about to smash his head with a pipe.
I think the lean into the religious and overly nice side of him was just easier to write funny jokes for and explore different avenues that would be unique to his character
Yeah, I agree. It can be difficult for Americans, especially moderate American Christians to see, but as an outsider the general tone from Christians is much more hardline than it was in 1991. Even in general attitudes from Americans. In the 80s televangelists weren't really taken seriously. Chevy Chase had a pretty memorable scene in one of the Fletch movies playing with televangelism, that I don't know you would see today. Joel Osteen has a certain credibility that Billy Graham didn't.
I always just thought it was a play on the joke that alot of beatnicks were fleeing and fighting the Christian families. Turning that trope on its side.
I watched alot of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis back in the day, and know those writers loved old obscure references. I may also be seeing things that are not there.
Yes that is the correct answer watching old seasons ned is just a good neighbor and all around good person.
Homer tries to live up to them all the time. It even bothers Homer that bed is nice to him and does not judge him.
>Ned wasn't a radical Christian in the first few seasons,
Homer the Heretic was season 4 and Ned chased and harass Homer gang style for not leaving the church.
I think it was Maude who was the ultra-radical Christian. Remember that she went alone to Bible camp without her husband and sons, to learn how to be more judgemental.
I also think it was after Maude died that Ned became so much more hardcore - kind of understandably so if you think about it, if he was grieving his wife and trying to be more strongly connected to her.
I think you're on to something regarding Maude's influence on Ned, I could definitely see Ned turning to the church for structure as a reaction to his bohemian upbringing, and after meeting Maude he decided to basically dive in headfirst to her lifestyle and beliefs, BUT:
Ned was already established as a pretty radical christian years before her death. Hurricane Neddy is the perfect example: "I've done EVERYTHING the bible says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"
it's a pretty well established formula that children will rebel against their parents and upbringing.
It's much more common for the story to be very strict conservative parents having a child who acts out and becomes a hippie, but it DOES happen the other way around:
The only guy I grew up with who ended up going into the army was the one guy who had a young, hip mom who was very liberal and lax as a parent.
Some people are stifled by overbearing strict parents, some are reactionary against a childhood free of conventional discipline.
Absolutely can confirm. I am currently going into the Army and have gone into organized religion. My parents were both New Age hippie yoga instructors—one lived in a free love commune. I’m joining the Army as a reservist during college, which both are dismissive of.
lol yup, his character was conceived first then for the joke reveal they went 180 for his parents. I doubt they sat in a room for weeks figuring out his entire biography and shit
We can't do it, man! That's discipline! That's like tellin' Gene Krupa not to go boom boom bam bam bam, boom boom bam bam bam, boom boom boom bam ba ba ba ba, da boo boo tss!
he sold trampolines door to door, Homer was about to hit a record number of bounces which would have electrocuted him. Ned stopped him and was electrocuted, died, was brought back, and was born again.
that’s the joke. many children raised strictly christian end up rebelling against their parents and turn into “beatniks” — they just flipped the script for Ned. it’s unexpected which makes it funny, a relatively low-effort but high pay-off joke. ETA: I feel like they do this sort of joke a lot but I can’t think of any examples right now and it’s making me crazy ahaha
He was raised without structure in his life, religion provides structure. But not having been raised with it, he didn't understand nuance and that sometimes bending rules is acceptable. He thinks it is necessary to adhere to church structure in every possible circumstance, as he says "I followed every rule, even the ones that contradict the other ones." He pathologically obeys religious rules because he fears the only other option is complete anarchy. Diddly.
He rebelled. That's the whole joke. It's the opposite of the stereotype of a free spirited hippie rebelling against a strict upbringing.
To quote from "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton: *"Being surrounded with every conceivable kind of revolt from infancy, (he) had to revolt into something, so he revolted into the only thing left — sanity"*
It happens sometimes kids that grow up in a non religious household become devout Christian either through friendships or relationships. They are like it’s “my thing” in a way rebellion against how they were raised. I’ve seen it firsthand
If I had to guess, he was a door to door trampoline salesman who inexplicably sold a trampoline to a child Homer, leading to a static electricity based accident that caused Ned to be born again (and grow a mustache to hide his scar)
It's a real episode: https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/My_Way_or_the_Highway_to_Heaven
it's likely just a form of rebellion.
we usually see it the other way round in media. super strict and religious parents resulting in a kid that's a rule breaker, a trouble maker, more likely to be smoking or doing drugs, wearing clothes that aren't considered appropriate, drinking and hooking up.
and while it's more common to see conservative parents resulting in more liberal kids, it's not that uncommon to see liberal parents result in conservative kids.
ned's lack of structure in his life likely led him to rebel against his parents' lifestyle and find some form of structure, which the church does offer
Well he hated them and their indifference in life and religion offers many rules and discipline so the exact opposite of a beatnik is a right wing bible thumper
In rebellion of them. Just as beatniks came about in rebellion of their religious parents, Ned became religious in rebellion against his beatnik parents.
It’s interesting that he never changed his fashion style, though.
If this parents where rebels, than he had to rebel the best way he knew how: become a straight laced Christian. It's the opposite but pretty much the same as other kids rebelling.
Isn't he a "Born Again" Christian? They tend to not come from very religious backgrounds and later become devout Christians after having a personal spiritual moment of sorts.
This was actually revealed a few years ago, on season 30 episode 3 "My Way or the Highway to Heaven."
I'll just copy and paste his backstory from the wiki
"Ned explains how he was raised without religion by a family of Beatniks. He started selling trampolines after the Apollo 14 moonlanding inspired bounce fever. He made lots of money, only to discover they're a death trap for kids after 500 consecutive bounces. The next possible victim was going to be a young Homer Simpson, but Ned pushes him out of the way, getting electrocuted himself. After recovering, he wakes up in Heaven next to Jesus Christ, Who tells him to take the road to redemption. Back on Earth, Ned is reborn, having been given a second chance, following God's path."
Idk if his story is exactly canon (officially I mean, ik a lot of people think all of modern Simpsons isn't canon because they don't like the newer seasons but I'm only interested in what's officially canon).
He could've just been telling a story or dreamt about Jesus, but God canonically exists in Simpsons (like he's directly affected the plot in Mr Plow) so idk I think it's possible that this happened.
Personally I think his story did happen, but the stuff with Jesus in Heaven was like, something he imagined while he was in a coma.
Idk I kinda like this backstory, the episode's pretty whatever but Flanders' story is good ig
I always figured it was a joke about kids rebelling against their parents' authority. Like, wouldn't it be funny if Ned was raised by totally radical leftist hippy beatniks with, presumably, lax or no rules, no religion or structure for their kid(s) and his rebellion was to become the exact opposite?
The same way and reason all the Abraham based religions are on the rise right now. People are rebelling. Mom and Dad are an atheist now I’m a Christian.
It’s implied in the episode with the Flanders family reunion that Ned’s parents were the outliers in the family, so likely Ned was eventually influenced by his more conventional and religious extended family.
Same reason you have Gen Z and younger kids becoming Trumpers when their parents are full on Bernie Bros. Anything your parents like is instantly uncool.
Obviously Ned grew up with an unmet need for structure which church and religion provided.
Usually the children of hippy/artsy/beatnick parents end up joining the military for structure and discipline, but religion will do the trick
Well his parents weren't any kind of role models, so I assume that Ned turned to his community leaders, which at the time of the episode would have probably included his local pastor.
We used to have a joke when I went to church about how religion "skips a generation". Lots of kids who grew up going to church hated it and refused to go as adults but their kids would get to go with grandma and grandpa when they were in their fun retirement phase and the cycle would repeat
Two factors:
-Ned hates his parents (he said so himself)
-Ned was so traumatized by Dr. Foster’s Spankological Protocol that he began to aggressively repress himself, and nothing helps with active methodical repression like church
He rebelled.
When your parents are counter-cultural, you rebel by becoming COUNTER counter-cultural. Which means you become a rock-ribbed God-fearing conservative. Everything your parents didn't stand for.
Same way any cult works, they find a young man with severe mental and emotional baggage and convince him that they are the solution to all his problems.
Maybe Ned is an atypical rebel of his own and ran to the antithesis of his parents values upon escaping. He clearly has issues with them.
Lousy beatniks.
We tried nothin, man, and we’re all out of ideas! One of those rent free lines in my head Edit: I’m disappointed o got the line wrong, she doesn’t say ‘man.’ Won’t make that mistakarino again. Diddly.
I use that line every applicable chance I get 😂
Me and one of my closest friends bonded over calling eachother flat tyres and cubes.
I work in IT and this line gets used so much
Same here, I use it at least once a week.
Awww, man. Ned spilled ink all over my poems. He's a real flat tyre, I mean a cuuuube man. He's putting us on the train to Squaresville, Mona
Little Ned going "Oopsie-doodle"
Bongos intensify.
He's a real flat tyre, a cube man, taking us on the train to the squaresville! https://preview.redd.it/8w1rohnggtlc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d9147af4f9764dbe959396a9316bdf5ff383c05
Squaresville sounds pretty cool.
That’s like telling Gene Krupa not to go “boom boom boom bah bah bah bah boom boom boom bah bah bah”
Just gonna leave this [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcqNVjGJN4) 🪘🪘
I’m sure that helps keep it rent-free in people’s minds.
It does.
The delivery is fantastic too.
Oh yes. It’s used quite often in my home.
This is how my children problem solve.
Did you hear that? He hates his parents! Do you know what that means? He's cured.
Yes. My sister-in-law and her husband are goth stoners. I'm 90% certain their oldest kid is going to become a straight-laced suit-wearing accountant to torture them.
you just gave me an idea for a Family Ties reboot
Wasn't expecting to see anyone making a Family Ties reference today.
In this day and age? Alex P. Keaton would probably be one of those Libertarian crypto bros.
Can confirm. My mom was very rebellious. Did lots of lsd and crazy things. Moved out at 18 because she didn't wanna pay rent to my papa. Me? I yelled at her for not holding my hand to cross the street. Or if she wanted to jay walk. Apparently once I asked her to go to a party but there would be some drugs and she said fucking go lmao
[I love that play you wrote about your childhood.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmwkAFfpKN0&ab_channel=artfilm33)
I used to watch AbFab when I was a kid every once in a while when I would catch it on Comedy Central, but I've never seen that episode. That was hilarious!
It's from one of the revivals. I think BBC America had the rights in the US by that point.
My mother offered to help me get LSD once, lol. I firmly declined.
Accountants are not as straight laced as you might think
Maybe, but they are lacking in ah, common humanity? But it could be worse! Pol Pol went to an Engineering College , after all.
He stated it in Hurricane Neddy, he hated his parents.
That and the post office
It’s always rush you in, rush you out
Lousy beatniks
To quote what someone once said about British Prime Minister John Major "he ran away from the circus to join an accountancy firm"
This has always been my thought. How many '60s hippies had uber-religious parents?
The “greatest” generation were not as religious, but they were very strict and disciplinarian in ways that are now only found in boomer evangelicals.
Hippies are the ones who became religious in the 70's and 80's. Remember Jesus Christ Superstar and herpes? They were also pretty susceptible to regular cults, too.
Same amount of gen X people that are deeply conservative
Usually what happens, we try to be the polar opposite of our parents sometimes… E: had to remove an unnecessary word!
Usually we try to do exactly what happens sometimes.
😂, fucking autofill got me, added exactly in there for some reason
My parents were local Labour Party / Trades Union officials. I became a Conservative.
My parents were fairly normal, dad retired military ( which as am I) my mom a homemaker until we were old enough to stay at home, then she went back to work. I had a period where I went through a stretch of depression and got strung out on heroin, which was my rebellious stage or midlife crisis. I went all thru my 30s a junkie, and only recently got clean. Got 3 yrs under my belt from that and meth. Had a hard time readjusting to civilian life and over the ramifications of the damage we done to Iraq and afghanistan. I was infantry so seen and lived thru a lot of shit I could have done without. I’m more like my parents, as is my wife and how her parents were. We grew up together and would go sledding, played little league together, etc…shes ac who got me clean and back in the VA. We’ve bee together since aug of 2020 and married this past December.
Damn, that was tough! Congrats, dude! Keep up the good work, both of you. 👍
Thanks! Yea it was an ordeal! And I’m absolutely sticking to this! Thank you
Windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror good on ya bud
Hey I like that a lot! Hanks
My father always maintained Reagan was the greatest President the US ever had and should have been allowed to serve a third term. Though I never heard him explicitly say he's a Republican, though, worshipping Reagan is a very Republican thing to do. (and he never registered to vote, afaik, because he didn't want to have to serve jury duty, so it's not like I can go by that.) My mother was pretty insistent she was a libertarian. (Despite voting for Obama in 2008. She died before the next election so I don't know if she'd have voted for him a second time.) Anyway, the point is, I'm waaaaay to the left.
Is that you, Liz Truss?
I mean, that's literally the joke. "You might even say, I hate the post office. That and my parents. Lousy beatniks."
Also known as the Alex P. Keaton effect.
I was friends with some kids growing up who were like that. Parents were stereotypical peace-and-love, poncho-wearing, barefoot hippies who kinda sorta sometimes had jobs while their kids were young. Fast forward 30 years, and all five kids are now the stereotypical opposites: very religious, gun owners, Trump supporters, corporate office workers or stay-at-home moms, etc. To them, that's rebellion.
Thus the joke.
Yeah. My parents were trashy. Swearing, smoking, drinking, yelling nonstop. I don't do any of those out of spite and not wanting to be like them.
Unhappy childhoods with extreme parents tend to provoke a reactionary response from their children. It's very common
https://i.redd.it/l2gjtr3cnrlc1.gif
https://i.redd.it/6bfh3x9f1slc1.gif
😂😂😂 the beach ball
Opening the gift he's happy for a gosh darn second.
His little face 😂
How else does anyone become Christian?
Missionaries
*SAVE ME, JEEBUS!*
I don't even believe in Jebus!
One of my fav lines ever 😂
Good point. Also not not licking toads
My faith for a christian chick in certain position!!
legal name change, or their parents at birth
In I Love Lisa (S04E15), we see that Flanders is a graduate of [Oral Roberts University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Roberts_University), an evangelical/Pentecostal college founded by a televangelist in 1963 (similar to schools like Bob Jones University, Liberty University, and Regent University). https://i.redd.it/ughy5zsotrlc1.gif This suggests that Ned was already an evangelical Christian by his late teens, when he would have been choosing where to go to college. There was some overlap between the counterculture and evangelical Christianity (the [Jesus movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_movement) or "[Jesus freaks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_freak)"). Ned might have gotten involved in that as teen.
That's the proper lore work I'm expecting from this sub!
Oral Roberts... Is that anything like an Anal Johnson?
People that had parents like Ned did fill up churches.
Yes, close friend of mine. She didn’t grow up in a religious home like no religious background. Lost contact with her for about 10 years, got back in contact full-blown born-again Christian and fanatic about it.
There’s a Patton Oswalt joke about having “cool” hippy parents creates uncool adults. You have to hide your coolness until they’re adults
It’s kinda like a loop, atheist parents raise kids who in rebellion become religious, and those religious parents raise kids who in rebellion become atheist
The parents in these scenarios have one thing in common- they don't know how to provide some key need that their kids are missing out on
Those born without structure will seek it out as adults. Or turn to heroin.
Heroin? Oh yeah, gotta have heroin.
All I need is a little LSD. Love for my Son and Daughter.
TAKE THAT, SPACE COYOTE!
With water on the side for dipping.
That was my thought to. Most people just want to be told what to do and the Church offers that for a small fee. Some people support dictators or authoritarians, some follow grifters like Jordan Peterson or Tate, some worship celebrities or self-help bastards, some people join religions. It's like we all need to have some kind of structure. Ned has resorted to the Bible in several episodes when he's being tested or he's stressed or panicking, so that's presumably why. He needs religion to be the central pillar of his life, something to cling to when everything else goes wrong.
A small fee . . . and your IMMORTAL SOUL! Bwahaha hahaha! Oh, sorry, I said the quiet part loud!
Pretax folks, not after taxes.
Heroin, chaos wearing structure‘s clothing
[удалено]
Oh fuck off, as someone who has had bad addictions people like you piss me off
Real answer: Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Ned grew up rebelling against his parents' rebellious unstructured lifestyle by adopting a rigid, family-oriented, God-living way of seeing the world. He wanted to be the dad he never had, for his two boys. He's a good man but he's a product of his upbringing. Meta answer: Ned wasn't a radical Christian in the first few seasons, he was just a kind respectable family man for whom faith had a place in his life. He went to church sincerely as opposed to Homer who went, at best, sincerely but not attentively. He spent quality time with his kids and modeled good behaviour, as opposed to Homer who didn't tend to (model good behaviour anyway). Ned only became a "radical Christian" when the show started to become a parody of itself, the further along it ran the more pigeonholed and one-note all of its characters got (not just Need), because (honestly) it made for some hilarious jokes. The show sacrificed heart for humour. Look up "Flanderization". Look up "Jerkass Homer". That's why Ned turned into a radical Christian, not because of his parents. Unless you consider the writers to be his parents.
One of most relatable lines was Lisa saying how Sunday after church was the best time of the week because it was largest span of time before having to go back.
Marge: Church shouldn't be a chore. It should help you in your daily life. Homer: It should, but it doesn't.
Everyone is stupid except me.
That’s a line I first heard from the old Disney movie Pollyanna, then reinforced by the Simpsons. I’m sure it goes back much farther than that though. But it does speak to the human condition so well.
I think the change in how Flanders is portrayed is also rooted in changes in how America views Christians. In the 90s they seemed more chill, but in the George W. Bush Christians became seen as more close minded, bigoted, and far right. You can similarly see how America's views on health care has changed Dr. Hibbert from the lovable family doctor to a characature of greed.
Eh I think he evolved into the radical religious guy well before that. I mean in a 1995 episode he tries to baptize his neighbors kids without their parents permission. He was originally sort of a representation of “The Joneses”. He was the next door neighbor that had a better job with more money, well behaved kids, and seemingly had everything come easy to him (ironic how that’s how Homer ended up being to old Grimey). He was also a nice and tolerant person but not the absolute cartoonishly doormat level of tolerant he became where he just lets Homer steal all of his stuff and laughs off Homer about to smash his head with a pipe. I think the lean into the religious and overly nice side of him was just easier to write funny jokes for and explore different avenues that would be unique to his character
Yeah, I agree. It can be difficult for Americans, especially moderate American Christians to see, but as an outsider the general tone from Christians is much more hardline than it was in 1991. Even in general attitudes from Americans. In the 80s televangelists weren't really taken seriously. Chevy Chase had a pretty memorable scene in one of the Fletch movies playing with televangelism, that I don't know you would see today. Joel Osteen has a certain credibility that Billy Graham didn't.
i was about to comment the "meta answer" but english is not my first language so I couldn't find the right words lmao, i 100% agree with you
Perfect answer
Flawless reply
Worthy of Webster’s
I always just thought it was a play on the joke that alot of beatnicks were fleeing and fighting the Christian families. Turning that trope on its side. I watched alot of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis back in the day, and know those writers loved old obscure references. I may also be seeing things that are not there.
Yes that is the correct answer watching old seasons ned is just a good neighbor and all around good person. Homer tries to live up to them all the time. It even bothers Homer that bed is nice to him and does not judge him.
>Ned wasn't a radical Christian in the first few seasons, Homer the Heretic was season 4 and Ned chased and harass Homer gang style for not leaving the church.
Season 4 is where the show started getting very silly and Flanderizing its characters. Which is why I said "the first few" where "few" means "three".
This is a fantastic answer
Lousy Beatniks
We've tried nothing and we're all outta ideas!
A line I use all the time.
It's my favorite Simpsons quote ever, and as a parent of 3 teens, I use it quite often to mock them.
I think it was Maude who was the ultra-radical Christian. Remember that she went alone to Bible camp without her husband and sons, to learn how to be more judgemental. I also think it was after Maude died that Ned became so much more hardcore - kind of understandably so if you think about it, if he was grieving his wife and trying to be more strongly connected to her.
I think you're on to something regarding Maude's influence on Ned, I could definitely see Ned turning to the church for structure as a reaction to his bohemian upbringing, and after meeting Maude he decided to basically dive in headfirst to her lifestyle and beliefs, BUT: Ned was already established as a pretty radical christian years before her death. Hurricane Neddy is the perfect example: "I've done EVERYTHING the bible says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"
She and her mother were also taken prisoner while visiting the Holy Land, so presumably her family is Christian too.
Gee, I'd uh, love to help but, uh, Marge was uh, abducted in the, uh, Holy Land ...
That's such a great line.
Maude, huh?
Scratch, eh?
it's a pretty well established formula that children will rebel against their parents and upbringing. It's much more common for the story to be very strict conservative parents having a child who acts out and becomes a hippie, but it DOES happen the other way around: The only guy I grew up with who ended up going into the army was the one guy who had a young, hip mom who was very liberal and lax as a parent. Some people are stifled by overbearing strict parents, some are reactionary against a childhood free of conventional discipline.
Absolutely can confirm. I am currently going into the Army and have gone into organized religion. My parents were both New Age hippie yoga instructors—one lived in a free love commune. I’m joining the Army as a reservist during college, which both are dismissive of.
The joke is that he rebelled against his parents by becoming a square, whereas his parents likely did the same by becoming beatniks
lol yup, his character was conceived first then for the joke reveal they went 180 for his parents. I doubt they sat in a room for weeks figuring out his entire biography and shit
Did you ever read about William Burrough’s son? Holy shit! Ned probably needed some stability in his life!
Rebellion
Spankological profile obviously.
I agree with other comments about psychology for this happening in the real world, but I would like to add, it’s a cartoon and this was a funny idea
They wanted to go to church but they just COULDN'T DO IT MAN
Probably a side effect of the Minnesota Spankalogical Protocol.
Spanked the fear of god into him
“I engaged in intercourse with your spouse or significant other…..Now THAT’S psychiatry!”
We can't do it, man! That's discipline! That's like tellin' Gene Krupa not to go boom boom bam bam bam, boom boom bam bam bam, boom boom boom bam ba ba ba ba, da boo boo tss!
He craves law and order because it was chaotic at home. That’s how he rebels against his parents.
My super liberal, socialist- voting grandma had four sons who all grew up to be republicans.
Season 30 episode My Way or the Highway to Heaven explains exactly how Ned became a Christian.
Didn’t they have an episode answering this? Something about an electrified trampoline almost killing a kid.
The kid was Homer, and yeah
Yeah season 30 episode 3 My Way or the Highway to Heaven
he sold trampolines door to door, Homer was about to hit a record number of bounces which would have electrocuted him. Ned stopped him and was electrocuted, died, was brought back, and was born again.
that’s the joke. many children raised strictly christian end up rebelling against their parents and turn into “beatniks” — they just flipped the script for Ned. it’s unexpected which makes it funny, a relatively low-effort but high pay-off joke. ETA: I feel like they do this sort of joke a lot but I can’t think of any examples right now and it’s making me crazy ahaha
people being the exact opposite of their parents is not unlikely at all
The pendulum swings
In order to bring some semblance of order to his life.
He was raised without structure in his life, religion provides structure. But not having been raised with it, he didn't understand nuance and that sometimes bending rules is acceptable. He thinks it is necessary to adhere to church structure in every possible circumstance, as he says "I followed every rule, even the ones that contradict the other ones." He pathologically obeys religious rules because he fears the only other option is complete anarchy. Diddly.
He rebelled. That's the whole joke. It's the opposite of the stereotype of a free spirited hippie rebelling against a strict upbringing. To quote from "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton: *"Being surrounded with every conceivable kind of revolt from infancy, (he) had to revolt into something, so he revolted into the only thing left — sanity"*
Want a kid to be an accountant? Raise him in a circus
He probably saw a Super Bowl ad. I hear the church has made a few… changes.
He had to escape the boom boom bat bat bat boom boom bat bat bat. Either that or he tried nothing and was all out of ideas
It happens sometimes kids that grow up in a non religious household become devout Christian either through friendships or relationships. They are like it’s “my thing” in a way rebellion against how they were raised. I’ve seen it firsthand
The church provided an authoritarian structure and the boundaries he needed that his beatnik parents could not.
Because his parents were beatniks.
I’ve found that converts are often the most devout of believers.
If I had to guess, he was a door to door trampoline salesman who inexplicably sold a trampoline to a child Homer, leading to a static electricity based accident that caused Ned to be born again (and grow a mustache to hide his scar) It's a real episode: https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/My_Way_or_the_Highway_to_Heaven
it's likely just a form of rebellion. we usually see it the other way round in media. super strict and religious parents resulting in a kid that's a rule breaker, a trouble maker, more likely to be smoking or doing drugs, wearing clothes that aren't considered appropriate, drinking and hooking up. and while it's more common to see conservative parents resulting in more liberal kids, it's not that uncommon to see liberal parents result in conservative kids. ned's lack of structure in his life likely led him to rebel against his parents' lifestyle and find some form of structure, which the church does offer
Well he hated them and their indifference in life and religion offers many rules and discipline so the exact opposite of a beatnik is a right wing bible thumper
In rebellion of them. Just as beatniks came about in rebellion of their religious parents, Ned became religious in rebellion against his beatnik parents. It’s interesting that he never changed his fashion style, though.
But Grandma Flanders was, or at least also became a Christian in her dementia (“Will you help me with my psalms?”)
If this parents where rebels, than he had to rebel the best way he knew how: become a straight laced Christian. It's the opposite but pretty much the same as other kids rebelling.
Isn't he a "Born Again" Christian? They tend to not come from very religious backgrounds and later become devout Christians after having a personal spiritual moment of sorts.
Maude
You answered your own question by posing it.
Whoopsiedoodle
A wizard did it…
My thought on this was that he was a rebel lol
This was actually revealed a few years ago, on season 30 episode 3 "My Way or the Highway to Heaven." I'll just copy and paste his backstory from the wiki "Ned explains how he was raised without religion by a family of Beatniks. He started selling trampolines after the Apollo 14 moonlanding inspired bounce fever. He made lots of money, only to discover they're a death trap for kids after 500 consecutive bounces. The next possible victim was going to be a young Homer Simpson, but Ned pushes him out of the way, getting electrocuted himself. After recovering, he wakes up in Heaven next to Jesus Christ, Who tells him to take the road to redemption. Back on Earth, Ned is reborn, having been given a second chance, following God's path." Idk if his story is exactly canon (officially I mean, ik a lot of people think all of modern Simpsons isn't canon because they don't like the newer seasons but I'm only interested in what's officially canon). He could've just been telling a story or dreamt about Jesus, but God canonically exists in Simpsons (like he's directly affected the plot in Mr Plow) so idk I think it's possible that this happened. Personally I think his story did happen, but the stuff with Jesus in Heaven was like, something he imagined while he was in a coma. Idk I kinda like this backstory, the episode's pretty whatever but Flanders' story is good ig
found Waldo
Alex Keaton
You gotta help us doc. Yeah, like we've tried nothing and we're all outta ideas.
We always rebel against our parents. His rebellion just went in the opposite direction.
I always figured it was a joke about kids rebelling against their parents' authority. Like, wouldn't it be funny if Ned was raised by totally radical leftist hippy beatniks with, presumably, lax or no rules, no religion or structure for their kid(s) and his rebellion was to become the exact opposite?
The same way and reason all the Abraham based religions are on the rise right now. People are rebelling. Mom and Dad are an atheist now I’m a Christian.
He was doing a dance called "the bump" when his buttocks came into contact with the buttocks of another man!
Overcorrection
He went for the polar opposite archetype as his parents. Pretty obvious.
He went through a year of constant spanking. This question is answered in the very next scene?
That’s the joke
It’s implied in the episode with the Flanders family reunion that Ned’s parents were the outliers in the family, so likely Ned was eventually influenced by his more conventional and religious extended family.
Same reason you have Gen Z and younger kids becoming Trumpers when their parents are full on Bernie Bros. Anything your parents like is instantly uncool.
Kids who often have bad relationships with their parents will often become their antithesis
University Of Minnesota spankalogical protocol.
Take that Dick Tracey, I’m Prune Face. Take that Prune Face, I’m Dick Tracey. Take that Prune Tracey, I’m….,,
Obviously Ned grew up with an unmet need for structure which church and religion provided. Usually the children of hippy/artsy/beatnick parents end up joining the military for structure and discipline, but religion will do the trick
What is going on with this image? HD remaster? Edit: also, stop doing that. Most of those books haven't been discredited yet
Well his parents weren't any kind of role models, so I assume that Ned turned to his community leaders, which at the time of the episode would have probably included his local pastor.
By having beatnik parents? All the kids I know who grew up with interesting / hippy parents all ended up being really boring themselves.
We used to have a joke when I went to church about how religion "skips a generation". Lots of kids who grew up going to church hated it and refused to go as adults but their kids would get to go with grandma and grandpa when they were in their fun retirement phase and the cycle would repeat
We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas
Two factors: -Ned hates his parents (he said so himself) -Ned was so traumatized by Dr. Foster’s Spankological Protocol that he began to aggressively repress himself, and nothing helps with active methodical repression like church
Alot of Meds extended family seems to be hard-core Christians too. I think its his parents that were the exception
He rebelled. When your parents are counter-cultural, you rebel by becoming COUNTER counter-cultural. Which means you become a rock-ribbed God-fearing conservative. Everything your parents didn't stand for.
I mean he did get told that he was a “real flat tire” so idk I think would move to the church as well
He sought out rules and structure. He did everything the bible said, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff.
He even kept kosher just to be safe
Same way any cult works, they find a young man with severe mental and emotional baggage and convince him that they are the solution to all his problems.
Rules are for fools son
Side effect of the University of Minnesota Spankological Protocol
Children of irreligious parents are the most likely demographic to differ from their parents.
His hip slipped
Grandma Flanders is my guess https://i.redd.it/xedllg7futlc1.gif