South Park gets Aspergers wrong

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I don't see what was offensive about that at all. Every misconception about asperger's they used in the episode also involved some character showing stupidity, pointing out that the misconceptions are in fact misconceptions. Also, in a way, it kind of suggested that people with aspergers see things more clearly, and the rest are stupid or have to get drunk all the time to enjoy the sh***y things they enjoy. That episode made me laugh my f*****g ass off. It wasn't insulting or offensive at all. It was pure comedy gold, as is to be expected from Matt and Trey. I also really loved how each and every time "morpheus" referred to the "bad guys" as something different, then Stan questioned it, and he just went "aliens, robots, whatever, f**k you!"

South Park is the best damn show ever made, hands down. I think one important thing it portrays but it doesn't make incredibly obvious is that you can't take yourself or most things too seriously. You have to learn to laugh at yourself and see both sides of things, and stuff like that.

I thought that was pretty funny too, but I didn't get it entirely. I'm guessing that was the Matrix part? I've never seen that movie so I know I'm missing something.

They did get it all wrong but it's South Park. It wasn't what I expected but I think my own fanfiction is better.

But I found it funny because of how they portrayed it. I think they were making fun of ignorance about it and the vaccines causing AS and Stan being diagnosed with it when all he was was depressed. Making fun of AS being misdiagnosed. I thought Cartman was going to be diagnosed with it but it was Stan instead.

Okay, let's all get on the same page here. Our official line is that the episode didn't accurately portray aspergers, but it was just a goof and we've got a sense of humor. What's most vital is that the public at large doesn't realize that the background scenario was in fact accurate, and this is all a colossal cover to allow us to organize against the evil overlords that have taken over our planet. So remember, we do not speak of space aliens or ducky presidents, just twitchiness and tasty hamburgers.

Yeah they got it wrong, but then again it wasn't the main focus of the story. They only dropped the name to make the same lame ass burgers joke we've all heard millions of times. The story seemed to be more about Cartman and his "secret flavor gas machine" (which i'm guessing is a joke matt and trey have been wanting to make for years), so im not that particularly offended. The only thing I wish was that it was more like the tourettes episode. That got it pretty much right, portraying the people that actually have tourettes and cartman as an insufferable prick. Alas...

No, they did that in the last episode("you're getting old") during a movie preview thing... It's basically poking fun at the fact that a lot of times they use the same actors with the same damn character types doing the same damn things, but in some slightly different setting. At least that's how I took it. And I can totally see where they're coming from with that. A lot of movies seem to follow a similar format like that, so whether it's aliens, robots, vampires or whatever, it doesn't really matter. The only point of using the matrix was to make the whole drinking-alcohol-to-see-differently thing f*****g hilarious. I don't know if I'm explaining this right, and if you don't get it, I'm sorry. The episode made perfect sense to me, and I totally get it, but I'm not very good at explaining things sometimes. Either way, this was pure comedic genius.

i thought it was going to portray cartman as pretending to have aspergers or actually having it which would have been really lame.

it wasn't though, i thought it was pretty dang funny. when cartmen put a bunch of burgers in his underwear and then went to the nurse ><

haha and stans dad in the moving van was pretty funny, plus his stupid grin ><

kind of how i feel a lot of the time that i have to be intoxicated in order to be around other people...it's not right nor a good thing to do but have felt that way for quite some time.

also i dont think it's is aspergers but i can definately relate to hearing everything as s**t.....i mean the music today is s**t...the way people dress is s**t....the way people talk about minute meaningless details is s**t....the tv today is s**t....the news today is s**t....politics today is s**t....massive celebrity media craze is s**t....parties are s**t...and i could go on but i am tired of this s**t.

I just watched it - although it was hard work!

Seemed like they ripped off 'The Matrix' - with Asperger's 'shown' as the Human perception closest to Reality.

Some of the scenes were less than accurate portrayals of people with Aspergers - and there was some of the usual poetic license akin to that meted out in relation to tourette's syndrome.
- Some might find it offensive - I thought those scenes were just predictably pathetic and unimaginative (pop culture?)

Not sure how that episode would advance the causes of the Autism community, other than perhaps causing a few curious folk to Google Aspergers to find out what Asperger's REALLY is?

Stans' dad.... Did he seem interesting to anyone? Him and his tween music....Anyone else here like things like that?

liveandletdie...How do you know it isn't your AS?

Or maybe you don't have AS and you just see the crap in this world and thats all it is.

agree....i don't know ><

getting diagnosed friday...so i'll atleast know if i am on the spectrum or not.

Last edited by liveandletdie on 06 Oct 2011, 1:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Everyone in the media gets Asperger's wrong. It's a cliche on TV, but still I thought the episode was hilarious, and not offensive, since I'm used to hearing people say it's a "disease caused by vaccines" and all that. I was actually a bit disappointed that the majority of it was about the burgers.

I related more to Stan's depression. Everything is like s**t to me, too.

This is the only part that I can relate to.

I'm still trying to figure out why the hell Stan told his friend "f*ck you" and "I love you" over and over again. Was that supposed to be asperger's? Depression? Stan being drunk off his ass?

So then, let's pretend we are all writers on South Park...

(Are you there yet? Do you see yourself sitting in the writer's room with Matt and Trey? They are paying us to tell them stories about our childhood so they can turn them into an episode!)

So... What are they missing that you wanted to see and hear? How would you write about AS differently?


Me? I'd start with this question:

"How should we make this so that it will actually give kids on the spectrum not only something to LAUGH at, but also give them some information that will HELP them (rather than just ending it by saying, essentially "you will need to become an alcoholic in order to survive in this world made mostly of doo-doo)?"

Because a lot of us older aspie's DID grow up to get addicted (to alcohol, sex, prescription and/or illegal drugs, video games, etc..) all because we thought we were abso-fuckin-lutely crazy for being the only ones who FELT how sh***y things were, and needed a way to ESCAPE.

Being a kid with AS in a school full of NT kids and teachers who thought we were "weird" or "disruptive" or "ret*d" made us feel like we were literally gonna PUKE! And our muscles tightened and SQUEEEEZED like we had just had our tongues shoved in a power outlet. It felt WRONG. Every single second of it. And yet, it didn't stop.

When I RAN home when the bell rang, do you know what I did? Not homework! Pbbffffttt... I could finish that simple stuff in the 3 minutes I waited to eat my bowl of Golden Grahams in the morning (any longer and it would have gotten too soggy). No, I watched TV. From 3pm until I was literally DRAGGED into my room to go to sleep (or carried semi-willingly when I'd fall asleep on the couch). Why was I watching? Because I wanted to forget about all the miserable stuff and laugh? Yeah. But mainly, I was hoping I'd find ANSWERS!

Answers to why I KNEW that all of the groanups in my life (parents, uncles, grandmothers, teachers at school, sunday school teachers at church) were miserable, and LYING to my face when they told me that they were "fine" (well, of course I couldn't look them in the eye! The eyes are the window to the soul, and I could SEE their soul crying and begging for help as it was dying in their wrinkly old bodies! There's not something wrong with me, there's something wrong with YOU! ADMIT IT! I KNOW I'M RIGHT! I CAN FEEEEEL YOUR SOUL CLAWING AT ME TO ESCAPE, BEGGING ME FOR HELP! But I don't know how to help... Help me learn how I can help!).

Answers to why I had to go to a sh***y public school with sh***y teachers who wouldn't let me learn about "why people do the things they do" (had I known to specifically ask for books on psychology and neurology and anthropology and philosophy at the time, I surely would have read them all), and --instead-- made me sing songs about dead white people that called "heroes" and "founding fathers," who owned slaves (huh?!) and killed people so they could take their land ( "Hey! Wait... That's not nice. Why did they do that? Huh? I'm the only one who thinks that's mean? What? Stop Interrupting the class? But it's all I can think about. I can't make my brain stop wondering about it?!?! But you teach us that we should be nice, but you're telling us that these are people we should call "heroes?!" Whaaaaaat?! Whyyyyyyyyyy? Nooo... I don't want to go to the principal's office again! I swear, I'll be quiet. Just let me draw pictures to get my frustrations out! Uggghhh... Why not?! But I don't want to pay attention to the poo-poo pouring out of your mouth!! !!")

Answers to why the church my mom made me go to said that everyone who doesn't think the exact same way about god and the bible will burn in hell for ever and ever and ever ("Hey! That seems mean. So he's going to kill my hindu friend, Sandip just cuz his parents were born in India? This god guy sounds like a real bully... But that's what bullies do! They beat people up who don't do exactly what they want them to do! He's a jerk and a bully... Huh?! Why would I go to hell for knowing how to read a dictionary and knowing a bully when I see one? Spanking?! With a paddle?! Aaaaahh!! Why is my brain too smart?!?! Why is your brain so dumb?!?! Why do I have to get beaten just because you are getting offended because I'm making valid points?!?")

South Park is right in that there is a particular AS trait to notice just how sh***y a lot of reality is (I am currently in grad school studying developmental cognitive neuroscience to see if I can understand why). But I think that they are absolutely WRONG if the only answer they have is start drinking in 4th grade (or insert _"go to the psychiatrist and get pills to make this neurotypical world tolerable_" if you want).

I hope that they continue this story arc. I hope they have a better solution than social skills instructors and improving our "theory of mind." But even if they don't, I'm actually already in the middle of making my own cartoon about having Aspergers ( DGSWM DOT ORG...wanna help me make it?). Because I think kids deserve to watch something better than all the...

***FAAAAAAAAAAAAART

I couldn't make out whether they were trying to say that Asperger's doesn't exist, or that it's an "illness", or that people with AS like to fart bubbles and don't know the difference between "hello" and "goodbye"... or that it's just depression with a fancy name... or if what they were doing was trying to make fun of the misconceptions there are about Asperger's. I found it really confusing. I was also surprised that they were making a Matrix parody, when that's been done to death.

Stan being drunk I'd say