Aziz Ansari Doesn't Pick Up On "Non-Verbal Cues" and Gets Treated Like A Rapist

[Thumpalumpacus]

That strikes me as a distinction without a difference. Inattentiveness leads to cluelessness, don't you agree? I mean, you have to be attentive to pick up clues.

It's the fact it has a difference that precisely makes it a distinction.

Inattentiveness doesn't lead to cluelessness. The fact you are not paying attention to something doesn't mean you don't understand it. You can have all the clues but fail to get them because you don't bother to pay attention.

How can you have the clues if you've failed to get them? Silly.

My point is that it seems to me that he was more incapable of understanding the clues (hence how he was clueless) rather than being unwilling to spot them.

"Clueless" isn't a synonym for "Careless", you know. It's actually a synonym for "stupid". And the definition of clueless is not "Not bothering to be attentitive enough to pick up clues", the definition of clueless is: having no knowledge, understanding, or ability.

And an example is: "you're clueless about how to deal with the world". And in that statement it's meant that the person is lacking in knowledge..... rather than willpower.

Of the definition you've given (and I haven't googled it, I'm assuming you're quoting accurately), I will draw your attention to the word "understanding" ... because it's pretty hard to understand anything if you are inattentive to the details of that something.

Anyway, my point was that the guy seems more useless at understanding the clues and hints rather than merely failing to pay attention to them.

TL;DR: He's looking but not seeing.

Perhaps. Or perhaps he paid no attention. Or perhaps he knew full well what was going on but tried instead to impose his will upon the matter.

Perhaps he should have simply thought about how his actions might be affecting her -- especially after she verbally expressed discomfort -- and done as advised and chilled out.