Coming back to it, I think I'm well aware of what bothers me the most about some of the posts I often see about Jack. I'm not saying you have to like him, and I myself often say I think he's an asshole at times, but I also understand why he's that way and dissecting him is what makes him interesting.
Jack Shephard was raised in a household with a distant, self-absorbed, angry father who refused to take responsibility for anything, so much so that it's what makes Sawyer realize that Christian was Jack's father. Christian was consistently abusive to Jack, to the point that I fully believe that Christian groomed him to be his punching bag, and when Jack got older he became a threat which is why he constantly told Jack he did not have "what it takes". Again, Sawyer takes note of this when he uses the kicked dog analogy for Jack. Then, when Jack has marital problems with Sarah (who herself was cold to Jack despite going into a marriage knowing what his work-life balance would be) and he's going behind his back talking to her, instead of reassurance, he tells him to "let it go". Of course, it gets worse when we learn that Christian had at least one affair.
Jack certainly acts like a total douche at times, but I do ask that you take a moment to consider when he acts cruel and why. When it's with Kate, he makes it abundantly clear it's because she's not telling the whole truth, which, consider Christian's patterns of abuse. When it's about his leadership on the island, it's because everyone expects him to be a leader when he never really wanted that responsibility - and once he does accept it he's constantly questioned over his decisions. Even then, Jack is generally kind toward the other people on the island.
I have noticed that a lot of people who rail on Jack seem to be big fans of Sawyer. I am also a big fan of Sawyer, but acting like he's hunky dory and Jack is the devil incarnate is a little twisted. Sawyer sexually harassed Kate, point blank. He played into and used everyone's fears over Shannon dying of asthma to force Kate to kiss him. He exposes himself to her, constantly makes sexual remarks to her when she's upset, and is generally pretty sleezy. Not to mention, the guy is racist and sexist and pretty much everything under the sun to the others - there's a damn good reason he becomes the pariah so quickly. He tries constantly to take what little they have (including medicine and guns) in order to gain bartering chips. I understand he does these things as a form of self harm and punishment, but he spends half of the series like this, and I find praising his improvements while railing on Jack's progress questionable.
I'm not saying you cannot hate Jack, find him uninteresting, whatever... but I think some of the takes I have seen on this site are straight up dishonest. It's been frustrating me to no end to see these posts acting like Jack was the devil incarnate and everyone who likes his character are terrible people (because yes, calling someone an incel is calling them a terrible person). I just ask that some of you take a second look as to why you forgive Sawyer so quickly, but aren't willing to do the same for a man (I wholeheartedly believe has Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder) who was subject to emotional abuse throughout his life.
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