The Onion - Autistic Reporter Michael Falk

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I just discovered this character on the parody news network The Onion. What do you guys think? Is this offensive to people on the spectrum? Personally, I can't manage to find it offensive since it is (a) so funny, and (b) so uncannily accurate, although obviously exaggerated for comic effect. It's not just some lazy representation; they did their research. He stims when he gets excited, he moves quickly and erratically, he finds it difficult when people don't say what they mean, and he does not understand human customs that seem illogical, such as caring about retrieving a dead body even though you know that the person is dead.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tInDH2FeXaM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D04wb7P_v-4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx5WJjXmuQI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpxxXYt4XGQ[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi9hHDooAX4[/youtube]

I hadn't seen all of them, but I don't find it offensive. Sometimes making people laugh is the best way to spread awareness. People are more likely to remember something that made them feel good and laughing makes people feel good.

Posted these earlier and the actor really has AS, its an exaggerated version of himself, why it comes off as accurate.

If the actor himself is autistic I think that takes a lot of the potential offensiveness out of it.
I felt like in the first one autism was the punchline which I'm not a huge fan of simply because I know I would be uncomfortable if I was watching with an NT person and they were laughing.
I liked that last one though because they were using an autistic character to point out absurdity instead of the character himself being the joke.

It's kind of a one time joke to me, after that it gets repetitive.

I agree, the first one is definitely the worst of the lot. The joke in the first one seems to be "autistic people don't care about people", which is a bit mean-spirited and not really true. The second one also makes the character into the punchline, but in a less mean-spirited way. The third, fourth and fifth involve the humour being derived from his unique worldview coming into contact with a confusing reality. The "missing hikers" one is my favourite (fourth one), although you can't get it in good quality on Youtube.



Ah, that explains (a) why the acting is so good, and (b) why The Onion felt that they were "allowed" to make a character like this.

is there a real autistic reporter there parabling

Offensive? No.

Often uncomfortably realistic? Yes.

Usually pretty damn funny? Yes.

lol at number 3- I've often thought that arguments against jailing criminals because they have AS missed to point...

What Jory said

It all depends on whether you have a functioning sense of humour. Most jokes are at someone's expense.
This is a lousy example but I couldn't think of a better one: are there many French people who find the baguette carrying, stripy-shirted, frog-leg-and-snail-eating stereotype very offensive? There must be some, but I doubt there are particularly many.
Having said that, I'm not in the best mood with France at the moment, after having discovered that its abusive psychologists are living in the dark-ages. That was a bit of a tangent, but I can't stop thinking about it.

Oh, I've never liked the French. I have a prejudice against the French.

Having a functioning sense of humor is part of it but jokes like that can be really un-funny when some people really think the things they are portraying are true and some people use those ideas/stereotypes to hurt the people the joke is at the expense of.

If this is how neurotypicals view autistics then we are screwed.

Sadly I think this is what 90% of NTs see us. I dont find it offensive though because sometimes we got to make fun of ourselves. I make my sister laugh by immitating Rain man and Im autistic. I make fun of myself from time to time. No self hate involved just comedy.

While we're on the subject of humorous takes on autism, here's a bit from the Ricky Gervais Show:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHF4W378SeA[/youtube]