"Sorry Homer, but I'm a coward now... like all recovering alcoholics"
What did The Simpsons mean by this? That getting over an addiction that ruins your life is somehow emasculating, feminine and enfeeble, and that trying to improve yourself is a joke that should be laugh at?
yes you coward
Maybe its just another shitty joke.
The joke is how blunt and brutal such a statement is regardless of actual truth.
The joke is literally that it's mean spirited
Maybe it means the alcohol gave him false bravery?
I don't think that all recovering addicts or alcoholics are cowards. However, people who openly identify as 'recovering addicts' or 'recovering alcoholics' very often are (these phrases originate in Alcoholics Anonymous, which for all its strengths, is definitely not a life philosophy for people who are courageous.)
What episode?
It was a fucking joke you coward
it was to help establish a situation where homer would want to quit the one job he's had where, in his own words he isn't "Lazy, stupid, or corrupt" and maintain status quo.
>quitting something that you're addicted to is cowardly
That's the joke, it's absurdist, contrarian, mean and doesn't make any sense. It's a 'wait what' moment, in addition to the facts others have mentioned such as 'calling for strength'.
It's like when Lisa lists off all the different branches of religion she could change to, but Methodism is just too far. Or when Homer gets the cursed Krusty doll disclaimer, and the seller starts going into minor curses and complete non issues.
You know as opposed to IMPENDING DEATH.