Why do some people hate Sheldon?
I am a newbie to the Big Bag Theory Fandom after watching all the seasons last week. I love this show as well as all the characters. However, Sheldon holds a special place in my heart coz I can relate to him on a level I can with no other character.
I started searching and reading articles about him and realized that most people find him selfish, annoying, irritating, a-hole or Jerk. Reading all those articles, I am shocked at how they are able to jump to such conclusions.
Thankfully Some of you guys on this forum gave me hope. However, I am totally frustrated by those articles and need to vent it out somewhere. Here I go.
People judge him just based on his actions without considering his intentions.
As far as I know, there are very few instances where he was mean just to hurt others. Most of the time he doesn't even realize it. In his view, he is just stating a fact. When he says that Howard is less smart or Geology is Kardashian of Science, he truly thinks so. His intention is never to hurt Howard or anyone.
When you are an outcast and everyone leaves you alone, one usually think that either there is something wrong with them or that they are better. Eventually, this causes a superiority complex in them. I think we can all easily see how and why he thinks he is better than others.
He is a guy who values intelligence most. Hence, he is willing to be a pet of a super-intelligent alien. So naturally he thinks people that are less intelligent then him to be less than him. This is not excusable but he doesn't realize it hurts others coz he wouldn't be hurt himself if a super-intelligent alien actually treats him like that.
He is usually accused of being mean to Howard. What they fail to realize is that Howard deserves that. He replaced slides from Sheldon's lecture with pictures of nude fat women bending over. For a physicist, imagine how humiliating it would be. Anyone would not only be mean but also cruel if someone played such a prank on them. Sheldon never creates problems for Howard intentionally. He is just unintentionally mean to Howard. What Howard did is way worse. Not to mention that Sheldon gave 25% of his income from the profits of their patent to Howard's Kid. He helped Howard in case of Mars rover. Yes, he did got Howard again in trouble but anyone can see that he didn't do it intentionally. He didn't even realize until he revealed it. Howard also has done some good things for Sheldon like he took Sheldon to NASA.
Howard had Sheldon dress up as a french maid (I am not sure this is the right term) in public just cause he can. On which planet is this less mean than what Sheldon does?
Penny uses his tooth-brush to clean the sink. That is not only mean that is disgusting. The trio manipulated the Data for his research making him look like a joke.
He lent money to penny and never asked for it, gave Raj job with him when he was about to be deported, Saved Leonard, Raj and Howard from the explosion, saved Leonard from his gf who was a spy and a lot more examples.
Yes, the number of times he was sweet and nice are far lesser than the number of times he was mean to others. But we should also consider how important those events were. Giving a quarter of your profits or taking an explosive container, driving penny to Hospital despite not knowing how to drive aren't small.
When he is mean, they are only with words, rarely he is harmful. But when he is nice, he outshines everyone.
He is loyal to the core. He actually wants to live with Leonard forever without realizing that he is an interference in Lenny's relationship. When Lenny Broke up for the first time, he actually tried his best to maintain his friendship with Penny without risking his relation with Leonard.
Infact, he is really too innocent (or childlike or whatever term you prefer) to realize that he hurts others when he says mean things. He is the guy who feels ashamed and low because he has collected all his items from childhood. If anyone has any doubt how innocent (or dumb) he is when it comes to such things, they can watch episodes where penny used trains to manipulate him into advising her about her career (even a 12 year old can figure that out) or when Girls extracted the contents of the letter from Howard's dad.
He is the guy who doesn't even know the meaning of "Friends with benefits" or "How do you get a 12 year old excited"
Like Bernadette says, when Sheldon is mean to others, he doesn't realize it. But when he realizes it, he tries his best to amend. Like he tried when Leonard's name wasn't published along with his name on a research paper.
I am not saying that he isn't annoying and a pleasure always. If we just see clips or only those moments, we would find him to be a jerk but on a bigger picture, I think he is a very good human who is un-intentionally mean.
No doubt there are time when he is actually annoying. I particularly hated his behavior of trying to take the credit of the app, all 4 of them were trying to make and a few others.
He is annoying and jerk but as he doesn't do it intentionally I don't think he deserves all the hate he gets. Nor do any other character from the series. They all have their own positive and negative traits. Sheldon is just an extreme in both but doesn't get to show his positive side as much as negative side.
However, with the latest episodes and him embracing his human side and feelings, I think he will be understood and loved more. We should judge based on Intentions as well as actions.
Some of you (if anyone actually reads it) might think I have nothing else to do going by the length of the post. I do have. I have exams in 2 days and can't focus at all coz I am obsessed with this show. Watched it two times in less than a week.
Thank you for letting me vent out my feelings here. Have a good day everyone.
