Lyric discussion by bloomington 

Cover art for Abused lyrics by Elliott Smith

The lines

Other people see some evil intention But the closer you get The more you get confused how Why does everyone know Been abused now Didn't want it to show

have always felt more to me like everyone else's response is to call his abuser evil, but because Elliott knows him he finds it harder to see it as such a black and white issue. Maybe his abuser was abused, too, or something like that - it wouldn't excuse it, but it makes it harder to hate him.