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Auchter's Art: Don't overthink it

John Auchter
/
For Michigan Radio

Spoiler Alert: If you have never seen the television series, The Good Place, consider reading no further. It's best to watch it from the very beginning, and the reveal I'm about to, well, reveal is so much better experienced as intended.

So there are four main characters, modern-day human beings who have died and think they have gone to the good place (heaven). They haven't. It's a massively arranged hoax to torture them in a unique way (not exactly the bad place but a satellite operation). For three of the characters, it's pretty clear why they are not in the good place — they were objectively terrible people on earth. For the fourth one, Chidi, it's not so obvious.

Chidi was a professor of ethics. He is kind and earnest and giving. But it's his striving for perfect morality that is his undoing. He overthinks every choice to the point of incapacitation and ultimately drives away loved ones and fails his friends. He is not at all evil. Just super, super annoying.

I'm trying not to be a Chidi with college football. I recognize that there is LOTS wrong with it, particularly the big D1 version. And, yes, recent developments have accelerated it toward awfulness. But, God help me, I still occasionally enjoy watching a game.

John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.

Since 1995 John has created Michigan-based editorial cartoons for the Grand Rapids Business Journal, the Grand Rapids Press, and MLive Newspapers. His cartoons are currently featured at MichiganPublic.org and are syndicated to newspapers through the Michigan Press Association. John is an active member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. You can view an archive of his editorial work and other cartoons at Auchtoon.com.
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