5-4-12 Unheard of TV reference

[DudeMyDadOwnsADealership]

Based on this strip, I wonder about the possibility of Ronnie having Asperger's. I'm not making any assumptions; I just wonder because of his difficulty with reading/relating to people. Anyway, this strip is really interesting.

A very high (at least 80%) possibility, and that he got by in high school by distancing himself from his peers while relying on academic prowess to get ahead, at that.

Disagree. He's not bending anyone's ear about things that are interesting to him, and he conversationally doesn't appear to have any of the symptoms (Jerky syntax, inappropriate levels, etc.)

No, he's just decided that the single best way to survive is with the armor on.

Not exactly something people with Asperger's never do. I learned to monologue at the thin air, so I'm able to get it out of my system without making friends and family into sock puppets as early as my preteen years, but I'm only selectively self-effacing at best. Ronnie is clearly extremely reserved, self-effacing, an introvert (which, in the type of social situations Ronnie is used to finding himself, might as well be a severe social disorder, or at least that what it feels like from my end of things,) and very self-conscious about his lack of natural group-think instincts, which is basically what Asperger's Syndrome is, if the cause is cognitive.

I never said the possibility of Asperger's Syndrome being the root source of his need to shut everyone out, and silently tell himself he's shit, was high. I said the possibility of him having Asperger's Syndrome in general was high.

...we've seen two comics with him, and you're able to diagnose that he's got a disorder, and then say the probability of him having aspergers is at 80%? That's reading a little too far into things based on what is very likely just an artistic choice.

And that's inappropriate for this very context how? It's not like they'll kill a puppy if I'm wrong. Think of the percentage thingie as creative license, as I don't have statistics gathering chips discretely set in the brains of T. and his contributers.
If he turns out not to have either undiagnosed or diagnosed Asperger's, you're free to call me on it, if you want.

[Lia S]

To be fair he wasn't wrong to call her out.

What, he's wrong? He's supposed to just pass along some message as an "in-joke" because she can't be bothered to use Facebook, IM, Twitter, Tumblr or whatever's meant to be trrrrrendy?

Maybe she actually is using twitter.

[svenman]

To be fair he wasn't wrong to call her out.

What, he's wrong? He's supposed to just pass along some message as an "in-joke" because she can't be bothered to use Facebook, IM, Twitter, Tumblr or whatever's meant to be trrrrrendy?

Maybe she actually is using twitter.

While we haven't yet established what Ronnie identifies as, he (?) doesn't strike me as the type to identify as avian.

[sgtrock]

To be fair he wasn't wrong to call her out.

What, he's wrong? He's supposed to just pass along some message as an "in-joke" because she can't be bothered to use Facebook, IM, Twitter, Tumblr or whatever's meant to be trrrrrendy?

Maybe she actually is using twitter.

Possibly, although we must remember that RFC 1149 was updated by RFC 2549 to take advantage of QoS services. Heck, since we know Lisa is always looking to drive the Next Big Thing, it's distinctly possible that she's relying on RFC 6214. (Which would help explain her currently very small audience.)

Never try to out geek a network geek on his home turf!

[Otaking]

If college doesn't work out for Ronnie he can use the skills he acquires there to go to work for SA Telkom or Telelcom Italia Sparkle, or Tata Communications.

[Artemisia]

Personally, I think he should get a job with the DMV.

[EagleEye]

I know, right? Listen, I've read T's explanations before, where he's maintained that he wants to avoid the "jolly fat guy/girl" stereotype. I get it. But the thing is, if you invert the stereotype too many times, it picks up some unfortunate implications of its own, yanno?

You know who I would've like to have seen more of in P&A? This girl. Weezy. Noticeably overweight, not fashion-conscious...but friendly, pleasant and a bit bashful/modest in an endearing way. I'd have hung out with her if she'd gone to my high school.

And yes, I know about Tim in Fans and Sophia in Cool Cat Studio. Fine, but as Freemage pointed out, they're in different webcomics from the P&A/QUILTBAG setup. In that, we've seen that while not all unpleasant characters are fat, all (recurring) fat people are unpleasant. No, I don't think T should go and create a pleasant, heavy-set character just so there can be a pleasant, heavy-set character. That would be tokenism. But let's hope, at least, that Ronnie undergoes some character development such that he becomes more likeable.

I don't know. Tharqa was truly a terrible person, and the villain in Popsicle War (I am having a terrible time remembering her name, which is ridiculous, and I would go look it up but I'm about to leave for a friend's wedding) was extremely unpleasant too, but I think we're all judging Ronnie a little too quickly. He's unpleasant in a different way, in that he is unpleasant to interact with because he seems to have issues from high school that make him defensive. That's not the same thing as being evil/manipulative/cruel, and I think it's a bit early to assume he's another "unpleasant overweight character".

[EagleEye]

By the way, no one seems to have written about this yet, but am I the only one who thinks Ronnie is incorrect about some of his interpretations in the top panels? I don't mean incorrect like he can't tell if it's genuine or not, I mean just flat-out wrong in his analysis. In the first panel he analyzes Jade's first statement as an unidentifiable tone, with possibly an unheard of TV/Internet reference. Some readers have suggested that this shows why she would get along with Lisa, with the memes and all. But what if it isn't a reference to anything? What if she was just saying something like "whoa, come back, I didn't mean it like that!", and he just interprets something like that as a reference of some sort because it cannot possibly be that someone is apologizing to him, or that they did not mean something as a personal insult?

And Jade's second speech bubble is an unspecific expectation of either an apology or an escalation. I don't think either of those is correct. I feel like her expectation, if anything, would be of forgiveness, because she didn't mean to insult him and was apologizing for it.

That's how I read it, anyway.

[Alice Macher]

In the first panel he analyzes Jade's first statement as an unidentifiable tone, with possibly an unheard of TV/Internet reference. Some readers have suggested that this shows why she would get along with Lisa, with the memes and all. But what if it isn't a reference to anything? What if she was just saying something like "whoa, come back, I didn't mean it like that!", and he just interprets something like that as a reference of some sort because it cannot possibly be that someone is apologizing to him, or that they did not mean something as a personal insult?

It's possible. But we've already seen Jade resembles Lisa in being unapologetically enthusiastic, loud and attention-seeking ("Jaaade! I'm bisexual and I like the ladieeees!") and unapologetically quirky (she gets right into the spirit of that personality quiz: "I'm a microfortnight. I think it's 'cause my dad's British"). So although her referencing pop culture memes left and right, like Lisa, doesn't necessarily follow, I think it's likely that she'd toss some of that into her conversation. Heck, even "mainstream" (non-geek, non-freak) people in real life have always made at least occasional references to popular culture ("Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn," "Dy-no-mite!", "Where's the beef?"). Someone like Jade, who's definitely not "mainstream," would probably do so rather more often. However, it's possible Ronnie wouldn't get the sort of references Jade would make, for whatever reason. (Maybe he doesn't play on the Internet much, for example. Not everyone does. Maybe he hates television. Maybe he reads Byron instead. Who knows.)

And Jade's second speech bubble is an unspecific expectation of either an apology or an escalation. I don't think either of those is correct. I feel like her expectation, if anything, would be of forgiveness, because she didn't mean to insult him and was apologizing for it.

This, I agree with. Her stance and expression definitely read along the lines of "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel excluded, or stupid. We cool?" He's reading her 100% wrong, there.

[NobodySpecial]

By the way, no one seems to have written about this yet, but am I the only one who thinks Ronnie is incorrect about some of his interpretations in the top panels? I don't mean incorrect like he can't tell if it's genuine or not, I mean just flat-out wrong in his analysis.

Oh, I'm certain he's wrong about at least part of it. That's the narcissism/paranoia talking. Of course the setup is a joke on him, everything is a joke on him. And of course everything makes him feel bad, because it's designed to make him feel bad. Like I said, toxic.

[Ameyal]

I get it now. Ronnie is a time displaced Hank Hill.

[Trefle]

I also suspect the truth of his cognitive process; at the very least, the sincerity of the speakers.

[Gholateg]

By the way, no one seems to have written about this yet, but am I the only one who thinks Ronnie is incorrect about some of his interpretations in the top panels? I don't mean incorrect like he can't tell if it's genuine or not, I mean just flat-out wrong in his analysis. In the first panel he analyzes Jade's first statement as an unidentifiable tone, with possibly an unheard of TV/Internet reference. Some readers have suggested that this shows why she would get along with Lisa, with the memes and all. But what if it isn't a reference to anything? What if she was just saying something like "whoa, come back, I didn't mean it like that!", and he just interprets something like that as a reference of some sort because it cannot possibly be that someone is apologizing to him, or that they did not mean something as a personal insult?

And Jade's second speech bubble is an unspecific expectation of either an apology or an escalation. I don't think either of those is correct. I feel like her expectation, if anything, would be of forgiveness, because she didn't mean to insult him and was apologizing for it.

That's how I read it, anyway.

IMO, To Ronnie's point of view, she's expecting him to apologize for his reaction to her request, and if he doesn't, she's ready to escalate the conversation until he does apologize.
Ronnie's easier to read then I like him to be. He probably doesn't even understand that someone could *be* sorry for hurting his feelings. It's the norm for him. "Oh, a pretty girl treats me like a servant, that's not new. If I lip off she'll just browbeat me or guilt me into doing it anyway..."
The idea that she truly feels badly for his misinterpretation doesn't even register.

He's not shut down totality though, you can see he's not sure if they *mean* what they say. He's not taking it as a fact (yet) that everyone is out to get him. He's not sure if their being flippant, or if they honestly remember him. He sees people who aren't put off by his dour armor, but he's unsure if that means they would want friendship, of if they're just that uninterested in interacting with him. He's got a really poor self image, but he's unsure if others see him in such a bad light.

He's reading as someone who is unsure about any kind of social scene, possibly home schooled until middle or high school and thrust headlong into the Festering Pit of Teenager. He trusted that people weren't out to get him, and had that hope twisted so badly, probably numerous times by different people, that he's afraid to trust again, because if he does trust again, and gets hurt again, there's little chance of coming back from that.

[Valerie]

He's reading as someone who is unsure about any kind of social scene, possibly home schooled until middle or high school and thrust headlong into the Festering Pit of Teenager. He trusted that people weren't out to get him, and had that hope twisted so badly, probably numerous times by different people, that he's afraid to trust again, because if he does trust again, and gets hurt again, there's little chance of coming back from that.

I just wanted to add that, while his being home schooled is certainly an option that would explain his behavior, it's just as likely that he's been in regular schools his whole life and developed a few problems in the same way, just over a longer period of time.

I've mentioned a few times around the forum before (because I am nothing if not an open book that just refuses to close) that I had a hard time in my first school. I went to a Catholic school from kindergarten to 8th grade. I was the poor kid, so it was typical for me to get picked on, made fun of, and alienated. I eventually stopped trying to interact with the other kids altogether and always questioned their motives when they did talk to me. This was entirely justified, because these were the same kids that had always given me problems before.

Then I moved to a poor town's public school (there was only one school), so I was on much more even footing with everyone. There were people who didn't have the internet at home, so I was even a step above some of them! (That is a horrible way of thinking, and I'll have you know I never tried to use my comparative "less poor" status against anyone, but it was an interesting observation.) But, by this point, I was already sure that I was worthless and gross and should be embarrassed by my mere existence.

So, my first or second day there, I find a note from a supposed secret admirer, wanting me to meet him after third period. I was convinced that it was a joke. I was not attractive. I was not pretty. I was not funny or smart or talented. I was just some boring, broke, gross, quiet girl. So I didn't meet him. Because I was not going to let myself get walked on at this school.

Turns out he was serious. It still took me a while to wrap my head around that. I apologized to him, of course.

But Ronnie doesn't have to be home schooled or Catholic schooled or whatever-schooled. Whatever he was and is, he's just similar to a lot of us in that he was unable to trust people, and it's not a stretch to say that it was probably because of abuse/neglect/bullying/alienation of some sort. Sadly, it looks like enough of us here can relate to that. Over-all, I think he's going to be a decently sympathetic character simply for that.

[TidalWave]

I like the the goth girl from the fourth panel. Too bad Ronnie doesn't look like he feels the same.