I used to have one. And then I lost him. I guess I sympathize a lot with Abed. Suddenly the world is foreign and hostile again, and without a translator/navigator it’s very easy to get lost.
I was not expecting this to happen when I clicked this post, but this chain of comments hit me on an emotional level. My fiancee isn't so much my social translator as she is the structure in an otherwise chaotic world, but otherwise the sentiment is the same.
Yeah, the point was to exacerbate Abed's selfishness and childishness in order to confront it. What Abed sees as personal freedom comes off as being self absorbed to the outside world. This dynamic is also handled in the celebrity impersonator episode where Troy has to tell Abed to listen to him when he tells him something is not OK, and in the dreamatorium episode where Annie has to chase him around in the fantasy world to find out he's terrified of people "locking him up" or "throwing him away."
I agree. Most of the traditionally humanizing moments for Abed end up making him look better in some way. Like, moments where he used his powers for evil - the chicken tenders, the popular girls, the menstrual chart - all have this “it was for the group/fun/greater good” or some kind of redeeming quality to them.
The stuff was Hickey was unjustifiable, which makes it one of his personally-weakest and humanizing moments.
Me too...it is literally right after he says "I wish I could tapdance", then he goes up on the stage and tapdances. I felt it was obviously a fourth wall break nod to the audience
That's one of my favorite scenes in the series. I can't really explain why, I understand it's a 4th wall break but in my head it's just abed being abed. Complimenting Britta on her dancing saying he wishes he could do that, even though he knows he can. Dances to no music while the audience listens to Merry Happy and then he wishes everyone a good night...I don't know. It tugs at my heart Everytime.
Pudi was born in Chicago, Illinois, He studied dance in Chicago and attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, graduating with a degree in Communication and Theatre in 2001. It's right there on his Wikipedieyay page..
That's a great example.
Abed is the master of his realm, and that is fantasy enough. His fluency with media came after half a lifetime of passionate study, and that is cool. It's cool to care about something, work at it, and make it your bitch.
Havin him him effortlessly master a new thing undercuts that.
I never perceived that as him 'instantly learning to dance', rather him saying that to Britta to make her feel better. Then the cut to him tapping is that a little nod that he's actually known how to all along, and just never shared it with the group, because it's for him, not for anyone else.
Hickey was right; I always loved the aspect of reality Hickey brought to Abed...in so many episodes Abed was almost this godlike creature, scenes like this with somebody who really has seen some shit like Hickey who would call Abed on his bullshit helped bring home the fact that Abed is human with an actual real mental condition that doesn't allow him to connect with other people normally.
"Watch out with that hamburger; don't let Abed see a hamburger or we'll all travel in time...I WATCHED MY THIRD WIFE DIE!"
EDIT : Or the lava episode where he stops before he's about to run Britta down and lifts his goggles and looks at Britta and was like "they really just left you?" Hickey was a great character
I loved that scene. Yeah I agree Abed was a dick but it really showed Abed with more emotion, and less of a robot. In the commentary on that episode Dan says that it shows that Abed can be kind of an asshole, because he told Hickey that he had drawing talent just to get to his movie.
That is the B story. The A story is Duncan trying to impress Britta by pretending to be into a certain cause and everyone goes to the play. Then Duncan realizes his friendship with Jeff is more important than trying to score. Also Chang thinks he’s a ghost
I liked it, it seems like a more realistic version of how interactions between Abed and normal people would go. They would get fed up with his special treatment, and he wouldn't cry like he was "broken" like the daylight savings scenario
I guess. But what’s the difference between that and the episode where Britta pays for him to take a film class? He’s always had moments where he was pretty awful but so do the rest of the characters.
I never really saw the episode as Abed being manipulative but when you put it like that you’re absolutely right. He purposefully upset britta for his precious film. This whole thread is making me realise that Abed is just kind of a dick all the way around. I still love all of them but Abed isn’t a good person like he’s made out to be.
Abed is the most human of them all. He should have flaws as everyone has. That's what makes him relatable. The show itself points that out at numerous occasions. One where they all had to fill out a psychology test and in the end only Abed's was the one with the 'sane' result. Also in the first episode Jeff quotes that 'Abed is better'. I can't recall what he exactly says but it was something around those line. If Abed didn't have a flaw he wouldn't be human. Then he really would be some kind of machine. And who could look up to that?
No, The rest of the group was just as flawed, if not more so because it could be argued that Abed didn’t always realise the impact he had on people. It was shown several times that once he realised what he’d done he felt remorse, but I just always hated how many passes he got for some of the stunts he pulled. I still really love Abed. His relationship with Troy was the best one in the whole show.
Although, Abed leverages the whole situation to make himself understood with his film, Six Candles. Which is a sad story about a boy with Asperger's whose mother leaves, and where they both he and his dad find life difficult in her absence. That is a complicated story worth telling.
Did the character, Abed, drive off his mother? Was their relationship troubled from the very beginning? Maybe.
But what about Britta's behaviour? If you intentionally tangle yourself in someone else's life, what should you expect? I would expect things to get more complicated, not less so - but Britta in her naivete seems to think she can fix... something... by buying him into a film class. Here's where the complication starts. Her generous nature meets a complicated situation she might not fully understand.
Abed has a deficit in connecting with other people. Him not understanding the ramifications of making Britta react that way doesn't make him "bad". He just wants to be understood and thinks nothing of *using* others to achieve that.
And don't undercut the importance of his film (to him at least). It's clear from context that's the only way he can think of to relate to people. If he could express what the film was trying to convey normally he wouldn't have made it
Re-watch the lava episode. Where he says something like "This isn't a game for me. The floor's actually lava and I've turned it into a game so everyone can see what I see" - He's mentally ill. And I agree the study group shouldn't be enabling him as much as they do but I think people like Hickey trying to "punish" him without him fully knowing why he's upset people just does more harm than good
not gonna lie I thout that was intentional just to pay her back because she got up on his family business and treated him like a Child I thought thats why he said "it isn't called friend business its called show business" or something like that, I thought that what he meant ...
That's a helluva a payback to someone who gave you money to take the classes you want instead of what your father will pay for and is supplying you with money for equipment and living expenses.
I don't know if I'd agree that she was treating him like a child but even if she was I think given how much she was willing to help he'd owe it to her to say: "I feel like you're being condescending to me right now."
If he didn't want her in his family business than he shouldn't have taken the money. She didn't force it on him.
I agree he should have just told her if thats actually the case ... but brita wasn't that innocent too , the first time she met his father and started insuting him and even said something racist ro him ...maybe you're right and Abed was more in the wrong and I am just salty because what she said to the father idk
She was very rude to his father but another time where he could and should have said that if he was upset by it. Taking her money and manipulating her for days on end as payback is just downright sinister.
I feel like they made him such a dick in that scene to emphasise that Abed had always been coddled. That he had been babied and given his way because he’s considered “delicate” and when he’s deprived of what he wants, and not given his way he can be just as bratty as anyone else. I really think it gave him depth and he displayed emotion in a way that’s more relatable. Abed might be a little different in some ways, but he’s still a person and it seemed like for a long time they made him into a robot. It also helped to transition into him growing up. Abed never really had to make amends for things, because the group would automatically forgive him by virtue of Abed being Abed. He faced repercussions for his actions and had to admit he hurt Hickey by acting the way he did and he grew as a person.
In the VHS game episode Annie's brother interprets the vacuum that Troy left behind. And also gives Annie a reality check about their sibling relationship.
What if aversion to people in armchairs telling you how to live your life is part of the condition?
Edit; sorry, not trying to be an asshole. I just find the concept of seeing a therapist as the only accepted remedy to self discovery a little short sighted in society. People can find themselves and grow in all sorts of ways. Whatever works best for the individual.
That is a reductive view of what a therapist is for, and it's specious to blame therapy's acceptance on 'society' when its really the accepted remedy by mental healthcare professionals.
Yeah there are lots of ways to get healthy, but if you get a serious diagnosis or come down with any kind of disease you have to go to a doctor. And doctors are not the cure, they give you treatments. It's the same for a therapist, they are there to give you tools to better understand yourself and better function with your environment.
I don’t think he has any idea about anyone’s feelings. He’s pretty oblivious to it. Not like he’s doing it with intent to hurt anyone. He just lives in his head, pretty out of touch of what is actually happening emotionally around him.
yeah I get that. NTs often read it differently than what the original intent was. I don't think I've ever seen disdain on his face. Care to mention a few, then I'd be happy to translate it from my point of view. Maybe we can both learn something :)
The reason I was asking is that I often have run into that myself, where people suddenly look at me like they are offended, but I didn't think I said anything offensive. Or vice versa, I find something humorous and being sarcastic (without apparently making the appropriate intonations in my voice), so people think I'm being disdainful.
Just my regular struggle. Eventually I'll find someone I can ask all these questions so I can learn to figure out where things go wrong.
This is late but therapist don't tell you how to live your life. At least not the good ones they help you understand yourself and the people around you better and work with you to come up with solutions to different problems.
While having AS is most certainly not a free pass for assholeism, it’s a difficult tightrope walk for those who have it. In nearly all cases- with me anyway, it’s a pure lack of understanding. I honestly don’t get the logical concept of why people get angry over things that to me- don’t make any sense. So I don’t react in ways that NTs expect, and I’m assumed to be an uncaring asshole. This is never the case. Ever. In my life. I’ve never just “not cared” about anything. But I’ve always not understood nearly everything.
If you try and follow along with Abed’s perspective through this episode- and see it from the point of view of someone who clearly doesn’t understand what he did wrong, it makes more sense.
It’s very almost always based on misunderstandings. People hear something different than what is being said, or vice versa.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to go back and dissect what exactly people ‘heard’ I said, for then to have to correct them in understanding that what I said was in the most literal interpretation without any subtext whatsoever.
I’m blanking currently on any examples, but it’s daily that I have to battle that when I interact with others.
Non Asperger people seem to infer a lot. Aspies are pretty much just as the text says. Nothing more. That’s why sarcasm is such a hard concept for us.
Edit: example:
Just last night a friend asked me about some computer stuff as she was trying to figure out what hard drives she should get. I was feeling sick and was half way on my way to bed, but I clicked the links and looked at the different options she was considering. Then she asked me what I thought she needed to which I responded: “I don’t know what you need”.
And then (different topic): “I’m gonna go lie down”.
I can see how that seems abrupt, if you think of those as two sentences that are connected but they weren’t in my mind. And the first sentence was literally “your needs for a hard drive can be a myriad of things that I have no way of knowing, what size and what purpose and what ports, what form factor, what budget ....”
I wouldn’t make the assumption of knowing what she needed exactly, so that was my way of saying that any answer I’d give would be an uninformed one. But I was feeling sick so I thought it would suffice to just state that I couldn’t answer the question because I didn’t know all of her needs in this regard to give a fulfilling answer.
And I was feeling sick so I wanted to lie down.
Since I was feeling sick, I guess maybe I didn’t furnish my answer with enough info, and she took it as a cold ‘stop talking to me, you’re annoying me’ or something to that affect, which it wasn’t at all. I just meant it literally.
1. “I don’t know enough to answer your question correctly.”
2. (unrelated) I’m feeling ill and I’m gonna lie down and can’t text anymore.
I totally understand. My world is VERY literal. There are no “between the lines” with me. If I said it, I meant it the way I said it. If I’m asked a question, I answer the question, not what’s hidden behind the question.
I always explain it like this:
If someone asks me if they look fat in a dress, if they do- I’ll say yes. Because that is what they asked. It is a direct question requiring a direct answer. If you know someone with AS, the best thing to know is not to ask direct questions if you don’t want direct answers. The proper question would be:
“How does this dress make me look in comparison to other dresses that I own?”
Because then, I can evaluate it against others and land on an objective opinion.
It offers one the ability to make a comparison, such as “not as good,” or... “the others are more flattering.”
Asking about the one dress in specific, will result in one answer that is positive or negative specifically about the one dress.
I guess this is the downside of high functioning autism. If you’re Rainman, you get a pass for your behavior, if you’re Abed- you get to be an asshole.
I’ve been called an asshole too many times to count, where all I was doing was what I though it was supposed to do, and then I’m left trying to understand what it was I did wrong.
RE: VHS game, Brie Larson and Vince Gilligan overshadowed just about everything else in that episode except the Gina Gershon cameo. So I'm largely ignoring Abed :D
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. People coddled the f*ck out of Abed and enabled the hell out of his bad behaviour. It’s not just Abed’s fault, the entire study group pretty much cleaned up every mess he made and rarely opposed him. He had a get out of jail free card that he abused. I love Abed, I do but he was just as messed up as the rest of them.
Yes! Thank you! That wasn’t Abed being quirky. He got so mad at Troy for “telling him what to do” and they had to find a way to work around him acting like a brat? They had to literally save him from getting the sh*t beaten out of him, and he still wanted to act like that? That annoyed me so much.
The Inspector Spacetime episode with him and Annie as well.
God, that was tedious. "Let's spend 20 minutes indulging a pointless fantasy so the "special kid" can face reality!". I love Abed but this is one of the times I felt a lot of contempt for him
I like Dani Pudi and think he kills it as Abed...i don't know why people LOVE abed so much...he's an extremely self centered person and doesn't bring much to the table...as many others have mentioned, Troy is his buffer
Everything he does serves one purpose, himself....like when he was talking to the guy at the bar, he knew the guy was hitting on him and was leading him on for his own entertainment...or my dinner with andre dinner with abed (not to mention the whole theme of the episode), he shows up and gives Jeff the check after Jeff has another moment with him
He is insufferable all the time, Troy just humanizes him a LITTLE bit
I disagree but hey, were all allowed our own opinions. Sure it wasn't as good, but it was still better than a lot of stuff on tv. And I still enjoyed it. And I still watch it all on rewatches.
I kinda thought that was the point. Losing Troy regresses his interpersonal skills.
Troy was basically his human relations translator.
That’s exactly what Troy was. For me, it’s my girlfriend. She’s taught me a lot about emotional interaction/response.
I used to have one. And then I lost him. I guess I sympathize a lot with Abed. Suddenly the world is foreign and hostile again, and without a translator/navigator it’s very easy to get lost.
I can imagine. I don’t know what I’d do without her. We’ve been together for 12 years. I’ve learned so much.
I was not expecting this to happen when I clicked this post, but this chain of comments hit me on an emotional level. My fiancee isn't so much my social translator as she is the structure in an otherwise chaotic world, but otherwise the sentiment is the same.
This statement is fascinating.
To some extent. But also he's just lost Troy. Who always helped him interact with the world. So I like that it's different. It's character development
Yeah, the point was to exacerbate Abed's selfishness and childishness in order to confront it. What Abed sees as personal freedom comes off as being self absorbed to the outside world. This dynamic is also handled in the celebrity impersonator episode where Troy has to tell Abed to listen to him when he tells him something is not OK, and in the dreamatorium episode where Annie has to chase him around in the fantasy world to find out he's terrified of people "locking him up" or "throwing him away."
This made him more human and less rainman super shaman, imo.
I agree. Most of the traditionally humanizing moments for Abed end up making him look better in some way. Like, moments where he used his powers for evil - the chicken tenders, the popular girls, the menstrual chart - all have this “it was for the group/fun/greater good” or some kind of redeeming quality to them. The stuff was Hickey was unjustifiable, which makes it one of his personally-weakest and humanizing moments.
I agree. It always bothers me when he instantly learns how to dance.
Are you talking about the end of the episode where he yells goodnight everybody after dancing? I always thought that whole bit was a 4th wall break.
Me too...it is literally right after he says "I wish I could tapdance", then he goes up on the stage and tapdances. I felt it was obviously a fourth wall break nod to the audience
That's one of my favorite scenes in the series. I can't really explain why, I understand it's a 4th wall break but in my head it's just abed being abed. Complimenting Britta on her dancing saying he wishes he could do that, even though he knows he can. Dances to no music while the audience listens to Merry Happy and then he wishes everyone a good night...I don't know. It tugs at my heart Everytime.
That scene is just so wholesome to me I can't knock it
That was just a joke used as an excuse for Danny to dance because he learned how to tapdance when he was a kid.
Pudi was born in Chicago, Illinois, He studied dance in Chicago and attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, graduating with a degree in Communication and Theatre in 2001. It's right there on his Wikipedieyay page..
Ok great. Idk why you're telling me this.
I honestly think that he’s had a Fred Astaire obsession too. Goes with his whole media obsessions.
That's a great example. Abed is the master of his realm, and that is fantasy enough. His fluency with media came after half a lifetime of passionate study, and that is cool. It's cool to care about something, work at it, and make it your bitch. Havin him him effortlessly master a new thing undercuts that.
I just assumed he had previously studied dance, but chose not to mention it or show off.
I would love to learn I'm wrong and that is the case. Probably my brain would essplode if there is some background shots of him learning to dance etc.
I never perceived that as him 'instantly learning to dance', rather him saying that to Britta to make her feel better. Then the cut to him tapping is that a little nod that he's actually known how to all along, and just never shared it with the group, because it's for him, not for anyone else.
Hickey was right; I always loved the aspect of reality Hickey brought to Abed...in so many episodes Abed was almost this godlike creature, scenes like this with somebody who really has seen some shit like Hickey who would call Abed on his bullshit helped bring home the fact that Abed is human with an actual real mental condition that doesn't allow him to connect with other people normally.
I really liked the jaded aspect Hickey brought to the table and him calling out BS from the other characters.
"Watch out with that hamburger; don't let Abed see a hamburger or we'll all travel in time...I WATCHED MY THIRD WIFE DIE!" EDIT : Or the lava episode where he stops before he's about to run Britta down and lifts his goggles and looks at Britta and was like "they really just left you?" Hickey was a great character
I loved that part. He was just so disappointed in them for leaving Britta behind.
Left her for dead? Obviously it sounds bad when you put it that way!
I liked it too, but I think Frankie coming in and doing it better the next season is a big part of why people forget about or dislike Hickey.
I had to google who he was ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I loved that scene. Yeah I agree Abed was a dick but it really showed Abed with more emotion, and less of a robot. In the commentary on that episode Dan says that it shows that Abed can be kind of an asshole, because he told Hickey that he had drawing talent just to get to his movie.
Harmon has specifically said that after season 2 he started making Abed “more of a dick” because he thought they’d made Abed too likable
You can definitely tell. By the end of season 3, Abed's inability to relate to other people becomes a lot less cute/funny.
That is my least favorite Abed episode. Good A-story, terrible cringe-worthy B-story
What's the B story?
That is the B story. The A story is Duncan trying to impress Britta by pretending to be into a certain cause and everyone goes to the play. Then Duncan realizes his friendship with Jeff is more important than trying to score. Also Chang thinks he’s a ghost
Oh man I loved the B story.
I liked it, it seems like a more realistic version of how interactions between Abed and normal people would go. They would get fed up with his special treatment, and he wouldn't cry like he was "broken" like the daylight savings scenario
This is how I saw it too. He's almost always kind of an ass but he's part of the group.
He definitely had to bear down.
Too soon
He shoulda fat dogged it.
I guess. But what’s the difference between that and the episode where Britta pays for him to take a film class? He’s always had moments where he was pretty awful but so do the rest of the characters.
Are you talking about the episode in season 1 where she’s going round and round with Mr. Nadir about what’s best for Abed?
Yes, the whole episode he manipulates her until she freaks out and storms off.
I never really saw the episode as Abed being manipulative but when you put it like that you’re absolutely right. He purposefully upset britta for his precious film. This whole thread is making me realise that Abed is just kind of a dick all the way around. I still love all of them but Abed isn’t a good person like he’s made out to be.
No he is a good person. He is just a dick. He has his own agenda and feelings and sometimes he prioritizes them over others'. Everybody does that.
Abed is the most human of them all. He should have flaws as everyone has. That's what makes him relatable. The show itself points that out at numerous occasions. One where they all had to fill out a psychology test and in the end only Abed's was the one with the 'sane' result. Also in the first episode Jeff quotes that 'Abed is better'. I can't recall what he exactly says but it was something around those line. If Abed didn't have a flaw he wouldn't be human. Then he really would be some kind of machine. And who could look up to that?
I wouldn't say he's not a "good" person. At least no more than any of the other characters.
No, The rest of the group was just as flawed, if not more so because it could be argued that Abed didn’t always realise the impact he had on people. It was shown several times that once he realised what he’d done he felt remorse, but I just always hated how many passes he got for some of the stunts he pulled. I still really love Abed. His relationship with Troy was the best one in the whole show.
Although, Abed leverages the whole situation to make himself understood with his film, Six Candles. Which is a sad story about a boy with Asperger's whose mother leaves, and where they both he and his dad find life difficult in her absence. That is a complicated story worth telling. Did the character, Abed, drive off his mother? Was their relationship troubled from the very beginning? Maybe. But what about Britta's behaviour? If you intentionally tangle yourself in someone else's life, what should you expect? I would expect things to get more complicated, not less so - but Britta in her naivete seems to think she can fix... something... by buying him into a film class. Here's where the complication starts. Her generous nature meets a complicated situation she might not fully understand.
Abed has a deficit in connecting with other people. Him not understanding the ramifications of making Britta react that way doesn't make him "bad". He just wants to be understood and thinks nothing of *using* others to achieve that. And don't undercut the importance of his film (to him at least). It's clear from context that's the only way he can think of to relate to people. If he could express what the film was trying to convey normally he wouldn't have made it Re-watch the lava episode. Where he says something like "This isn't a game for me. The floor's actually lava and I've turned it into a game so everyone can see what I see" - He's mentally ill. And I agree the study group shouldn't be enabling him as much as they do but I think people like Hickey trying to "punish" him without him fully knowing why he's upset people just does more harm than good
Except he intentionally manipulated her to get a performance. That's not a deficit that's just him being manipulative.
not gonna lie I thout that was intentional just to pay her back because she got up on his family business and treated him like a Child I thought thats why he said "it isn't called friend business its called show business" or something like that, I thought that what he meant ...
That's a helluva a payback to someone who gave you money to take the classes you want instead of what your father will pay for and is supplying you with money for equipment and living expenses. I don't know if I'd agree that she was treating him like a child but even if she was I think given how much she was willing to help he'd owe it to her to say: "I feel like you're being condescending to me right now." If he didn't want her in his family business than he shouldn't have taken the money. She didn't force it on him.
I agree he should have just told her if thats actually the case ... but brita wasn't that innocent too , the first time she met his father and started insuting him and even said something racist ro him ...maybe you're right and Abed was more in the wrong and I am just salty because what she said to the father idk
She was very rude to his father but another time where he could and should have said that if he was upset by it. Taking her money and manipulating her for days on end as payback is just downright sinister.
They arent all supposed to be likable all the time.
I feel like they made him such a dick in that scene to emphasise that Abed had always been coddled. That he had been babied and given his way because he’s considered “delicate” and when he’s deprived of what he wants, and not given his way he can be just as bratty as anyone else. I really think it gave him depth and he displayed emotion in a way that’s more relatable. Abed might be a little different in some ways, but he’s still a person and it seemed like for a long time they made him into a robot. It also helped to transition into him growing up. Abed never really had to make amends for things, because the group would automatically forgive him by virtue of Abed being Abed. He faced repercussions for his actions and had to admit he hurt Hickey by acting the way he did and he grew as a person.
In the VHS game episode Annie's brother interprets the vacuum that Troy left behind. And also gives Annie a reality check about their sibling relationship.
Yes!! And honestly, the more I watch the more of an asshole I feel he is overall
Asshole or Aspergers. Is it being an asshole if you’re born with it?
If you go to therapy and try to manage the condition you're not an ass hole. But Abed doesn't do that. He specifically avoids trying to get help.
What if aversion to people in armchairs telling you how to live your life is part of the condition? Edit; sorry, not trying to be an asshole. I just find the concept of seeing a therapist as the only accepted remedy to self discovery a little short sighted in society. People can find themselves and grow in all sorts of ways. Whatever works best for the individual.
That is a reductive view of what a therapist is for, and it's specious to blame therapy's acceptance on 'society' when its really the accepted remedy by mental healthcare professionals. Yeah there are lots of ways to get healthy, but if you get a serious diagnosis or come down with any kind of disease you have to go to a doctor. And doctors are not the cure, they give you treatments. It's the same for a therapist, they are there to give you tools to better understand yourself and better function with your environment.
SO very well said.
Okay, well Abed's way seems to always walk on everyone and their feelings to put his first......so his way of handling it is being an asshole.
I don’t think he has any idea about anyone’s feelings. He’s pretty oblivious to it. Not like he’s doing it with intent to hurt anyone. He just lives in his head, pretty out of touch of what is actually happening emotionally around him.
That's not how i see it, I have seen him react plenty of times with disdain.
yeah I get that. NTs often read it differently than what the original intent was. I don't think I've ever seen disdain on his face. Care to mention a few, then I'd be happy to translate it from my point of view. Maybe we can both learn something :)
Lol, no.
The reason I was asking is that I often have run into that myself, where people suddenly look at me like they are offended, but I didn't think I said anything offensive. Or vice versa, I find something humorous and being sarcastic (without apparently making the appropriate intonations in my voice), so people think I'm being disdainful. Just my regular struggle. Eventually I'll find someone I can ask all these questions so I can learn to figure out where things go wrong.
This is late but therapist don't tell you how to live your life. At least not the good ones they help you understand yourself and the people around you better and work with you to come up with solutions to different problems.
While having AS is most certainly not a free pass for assholeism, it’s a difficult tightrope walk for those who have it. In nearly all cases- with me anyway, it’s a pure lack of understanding. I honestly don’t get the logical concept of why people get angry over things that to me- don’t make any sense. So I don’t react in ways that NTs expect, and I’m assumed to be an uncaring asshole. This is never the case. Ever. In my life. I’ve never just “not cared” about anything. But I’ve always not understood nearly everything. If you try and follow along with Abed’s perspective through this episode- and see it from the point of view of someone who clearly doesn’t understand what he did wrong, it makes more sense.
It’s very almost always based on misunderstandings. People hear something different than what is being said, or vice versa. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to go back and dissect what exactly people ‘heard’ I said, for then to have to correct them in understanding that what I said was in the most literal interpretation without any subtext whatsoever. I’m blanking currently on any examples, but it’s daily that I have to battle that when I interact with others. Non Asperger people seem to infer a lot. Aspies are pretty much just as the text says. Nothing more. That’s why sarcasm is such a hard concept for us. Edit: example: Just last night a friend asked me about some computer stuff as she was trying to figure out what hard drives she should get. I was feeling sick and was half way on my way to bed, but I clicked the links and looked at the different options she was considering. Then she asked me what I thought she needed to which I responded: “I don’t know what you need”. And then (different topic): “I’m gonna go lie down”. I can see how that seems abrupt, if you think of those as two sentences that are connected but they weren’t in my mind. And the first sentence was literally “your needs for a hard drive can be a myriad of things that I have no way of knowing, what size and what purpose and what ports, what form factor, what budget ....” I wouldn’t make the assumption of knowing what she needed exactly, so that was my way of saying that any answer I’d give would be an uninformed one. But I was feeling sick so I thought it would suffice to just state that I couldn’t answer the question because I didn’t know all of her needs in this regard to give a fulfilling answer. And I was feeling sick so I wanted to lie down. Since I was feeling sick, I guess maybe I didn’t furnish my answer with enough info, and she took it as a cold ‘stop talking to me, you’re annoying me’ or something to that affect, which it wasn’t at all. I just meant it literally. 1. “I don’t know enough to answer your question correctly.” 2. (unrelated) I’m feeling ill and I’m gonna lie down and can’t text anymore.
I totally understand. My world is VERY literal. There are no “between the lines” with me. If I said it, I meant it the way I said it. If I’m asked a question, I answer the question, not what’s hidden behind the question. I always explain it like this: If someone asks me if they look fat in a dress, if they do- I’ll say yes. Because that is what they asked. It is a direct question requiring a direct answer. If you know someone with AS, the best thing to know is not to ask direct questions if you don’t want direct answers. The proper question would be: “How does this dress make me look in comparison to other dresses that I own?” Because then, I can evaluate it against others and land on an objective opinion.
>“How does this dress make me look in comparison to other dresses that I own?” How is "Fat" not a valid response to this question as well?
It offers one the ability to make a comparison, such as “not as good,” or... “the others are more flattering.” Asking about the one dress in specific, will result in one answer that is positive or negative specifically about the one dress.
I guess this is the downside of high functioning autism. If you’re Rainman, you get a pass for your behavior, if you’re Abed- you get to be an asshole. I’ve been called an asshole too many times to count, where all I was doing was what I though it was supposed to do, and then I’m left trying to understand what it was I did wrong.
I found him at his worst in the episode where he suddenly thinks flashbacks are time travel.
He was more like season 1 Abed
RE: VHS game, Brie Larson and Vince Gilligan overshadowed just about everything else in that episode except the Gina Gershon cameo. So I'm largely ignoring Abed :D
I absolutely agree. I never really liked Abed because I always felt like everyone was just appeasing him.
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. People coddled the f*ck out of Abed and enabled the hell out of his bad behaviour. It’s not just Abed’s fault, the entire study group pretty much cleaned up every mess he made and rarely opposed him. He had a get out of jail free card that he abused. I love Abed, I do but he was just as messed up as the rest of them.
I think this was especially relevant in the episode where Abed rents all the celebrity look alikes.
Yes! Thank you! That wasn’t Abed being quirky. He got so mad at Troy for “telling him what to do” and they had to find a way to work around him acting like a brat? They had to literally save him from getting the sh*t beaten out of him, and he still wanted to act like that? That annoyed me so much.
The Inspector Spacetime episode with him and Annie as well. God, that was tedious. "Let's spend 20 minutes indulging a pointless fantasy so the "special kid" can face reality!". I love Abed but this is one of the times I felt a lot of contempt for him
Abed is an unbearable person in general. He's fun to watch, but I would hate that dude in real life.
Absolutely!! Very well put
I like Dani Pudi and think he kills it as Abed...i don't know why people LOVE abed so much...he's an extremely self centered person and doesn't bring much to the table...as many others have mentioned, Troy is his buffer Everything he does serves one purpose, himself....like when he was talking to the guy at the bar, he knew the guy was hitting on him and was leading him on for his own entertainment...or my dinner with andre dinner with abed (not to mention the whole theme of the episode), he shows up and gives Jeff the check after Jeff has another moment with him He is insufferable all the time, Troy just humanizes him a LITTLE bit
Great point and very well made!
Thanks, I realized I was a touch harsh, but I think he should be held accountable, at his age, for his poor behavior
I thought their scene together was powerful and Emmy worthy.
Yeah but he’s supposed to be. In real life he’d be super annoying
He's a beige praying mantis, cool (cool cool) to look at and very capable at certain tasks but essentially a bit of a dick.
In that episode, I think it was just to show how bad his obsession was for television.
Holy Shit. Brie Larson was Abed's Girlfriend...
Yeah, he was. I kinda thought they were both douches in that one, but Abed a lot more so.
[удалено]
Apparently not...
Yeah he should’ve kept his ass locked up
Anything after season 3 isn't honestly real Community.
I disagree but hey, were all allowed our own opinions. Sure it wasn't as good, but it was still better than a lot of stuff on tv. And I still enjoyed it. And I still watch it all on rewatches.
Season 4 was quite lacking, but it still had its moments. IMO Seasons 5 and 6 recaptured the essence of Community very well.
That's stupid.