I'm removing my Dilbert cartoons from my office/cubicle at work.

[NotHardUp1]

I've worked in manufacturing and aerospace since 1986. For almost the entirety of that time, I have posted Dilberts, shared them, emailed them, and celebrated their take on the insipid folly of management, large corporations, incompetent workers, malicious compliance, and the inane realities of everyday work.

Sadly, I no longer feel any joy in the series or want to read it.

Contrary to believing in cancel culture or protesting the author's racist outburst, I just don't want to personally affiliate with any message of segregation or hate. It is one thing to address subcultures within America and the patterns of poverty, crime, prejudice, bigotry, or any social ills therein, but it's really quite another to ever espouse to avoid any members of society based on race. For example, I have no malice for any grocer who abandons a ghetto because its losses are ridiculous to pilfering, theft, or even robbery, aside from any riot threat. That's an economic decision, based on risk, not race.

Before Scott Adams blew up, I had found him on YouTube last year and tried to watch him, but immediately stopped when he bragged about silencing those who left comments on his podcasts that were not in agreement. Dissent is not a basis for censorship. Once I saw that, I lost a lot of respect for the man.

I felt similarly when, decades ago, Whoopi Goldberg satirized our national anthem as a comedy routine, inserting obscenities in it throughout. I'm not blindling patriotic, but I found it objectionable. It doesn't mean I do not listen to Goldberg's political opinions on The View, but I don't follow her acting, as I don't like the degradation of the values the flag embodies, period.

As much as art is separate from the artist who creates it, at some point, I do think all of us walk away. If an artist goes out of his or her way to become identified with political causes that dominate the medium, then the art can and does fall behind the politics.

I have no way of knowing if Adams has always harbored his animus, or if it's something that has evolved, as many men do become more reactionary with age, but in the end, I don't care. He is what he is now, and I'm not a fan.

Scott Adams’s racist comments were spurred by a badly worded poll

The firm has turned to polling the right-wing culture war for clicks

www.economist.com

Scott Adams’ Undoing: A Time Line Of The ‘Dilbert’ Cartoonist’s Fall From Grace

Adams faces social and monetary consequences after making racist comments online.

www.forbes.com

Elon Musk defends racist tirade by Dilbert creator Scott Adams

Twitter's CEO accused US media of racism after multiple newspapers dropped the popular cartoon.

www.bbc.com

 

[FPNY]

Who could blame you? It reminds me of Roseanne Barr, when she first came out as a racist I said it must be some mistake, who would say things like that, then she did it again. If they keep doubling down they must mean it. Why put your name on that?

 

[NotHardUp1]

And to be clear, I don't think social sins are unforgiveable or that individuals are irredeemable, but now, change will have to be proven. None of that business with Jimmy Swaggart tears, please.

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

Who could blame you? It reminds me of Roseanne Barr, when she first came out as a racist I said it must be some mistake, who would say things like that, then she did it again. If they keep doubling down they must mean it. Why put your name on that?

Roseanne Barr appears -- has appeared for years now -- to be seriously mentally ill, to the point where I just wave off what she says, because I'm not at all certain she really understands what she's saying and I am certain that her brain is not interpreting the world clearly.

 

[cityboy-stl]

I dropped Dilbert in 2016 when Scott Adams supported Trump. I was totally shocked. Who would have thought the author of Dilbert, the great advocate against corporate stupidity, was a racist fascist? I felt betrayed then, and worse now. Fuck him.

 

[cabinfever]

Roseanne Barr appears -- has appeared for years now -- to be seriously mentally ill, to the point where I just wave off what she says, because I'm not at all certain she really understands what she's saying and I am certain that her brain is not interpreting the world clearly.

I couldn't stand her way before she supported trump

When I heard her support trump I think I understood finally why I didn't like her.

I seriously disliked her vibe

 

[NotHardUp1]

I never liked nor watched Barr from her inception. She celebrated the vulgar. She tried, and thankfully failed, to elevate the vulgar.

And she stole material. I know one joke she took directly from one of Erma Bombeck's routines.

 

[rareboy]

I always suspected that Catbert was a KKK member.

There are a lot of people who are removing the strips that were amusingly relevant to their workplace right now...I somehow learned of the author's ugly side a number of years ago, but figured he had the sense to not say his quiet part out loud.

But he is in a way one of the poster children for the Trump era where suddenly it isn't just saying it loud, it is grabbing a megaphone and feeling bold enough to yell it out loud.

Adams has soiled his own reputation and career with this and his work, which has moments of pure brilliance, will always now be tainted by the corollary that will be part of his biography.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Isn't it shocking when you find out that someone who's work or art that you enjoy turns out to be someone who may actually dislike you if you ever had the chance to meet?

 

[NotHardUp1]

I long ago accepted that reality. I'm not sure I get along with most artists. And that's OK. But when they turn out to be sociopaths, I'm not sure I can accept that.

We all know that Van Gogh was an obnoxious so-and-so, even if he did kill himself. But, he lived long ago and far away. It's easier to separate his art from his personality.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I always suspected that Catbert was a KKK member.

There are a lot of people who are removing the strips that were amusingly relevant to their workplace right now...I somehow learned of the author's ugly side a number of years ago, but figured he had the sense to not say his quiet part out loud.

But he is in a way one of the poster children for the Trump era where suddenly it isn't just saying it loud, it is grabbing a megaphone and feeling bold enough to yell it out loud.

Adams has soiled his own reputation and career with this and his work, which has moments of pure brilliance, will always now be tainted by the corollary that will be part of his biography.

I read some articles on it today. The poll he was criticizing was indeed a bad questionnaire, but that doesn't excuse or justify his rant. You can see him progressing toward this over time as he embraced more and more deranged paranoia.

When you back up to the 2016 election, and I didn't follow celebs or their endorsements back then, or ever, he praised Trump for his talent in persuasion. What utter shit. Trump hasn't convinced anyone of anything. All he's done was pick up the wave and ride it. That, and give greedy and retrenched people a figurehead to voice their condemnation of just law and fair taxation.

I threw away all my clippings today at work, and have more here to dispose of.

Let his name be damned.

 

[gsdx]

Trump hasn't convinced anyone of anything.

Minor correction. He's convinced a whole lot of people that their money would be better off in his pockets.

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

We all know that Van Gogh was an obnoxious so-and-so, even if he did kill himself.

True, but he wasn't malevolent. He was just so crazy that he was a truly monumental pain in the ass.

I don't think Scott Adams is as malevolent as, say, Donald Trump, let alone Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov, or the Myanmar junta (to name a few).
But I think he started out as only slightly malevolent, if that, and has moved ever more in the direction of malevolence over the years -- and he probably doesn't fully realize it.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Oh, I don't think Adams is a monster. He's bigoted. His cartoon strip didn't foster racism to any malice. The most I can see is that is didn't include black characters. But, his comments make him a pariah.

As for Van Gogh, accounts are that he was really quite a difficult man to be around, including his uber-religious early years as an adult. He really seemed like a hot mess, less being very hot.

 

[nycguydowntown]

Scary time- no one discusses ideas anymore and learn- we just shut out & destroy and stay in our bubble where we feel better then everyone

 

[rareboy]

That is exactly what is going on right now. A discussion. A wake-up call about the ugliness of feeling entitled to broadcast racism because you have a public platform. And the reaction by people who no longer see or can enjoy the work of Adams in the same way.

Quite similar to how many people now look at JK Rowling's Harry Potter books as false and cynical, given her use of her platform to promote exclusionary policies that actually hurt others.

People like Kanye, Adams, Rowling, Musk, Roseanne, Trump et al always seem to play the victim when they find out that even with their fame and wealth, they actually aren't the only ones who can express an opinion without consequences. And that no one is obliged to buy what they are selling.

They are still perfectly able to express their opinions. Which is different than a discussion of ideas.

 

[gsdx]

Quite similar to how many people now look at JK Rowling's Harry Potter books as false and cynical, given her use of her platform to promote exclusionary policies that actually hurt others.

It didn't help when the producers of the movies pulled such stunts as turning Lavender Brown from black to white when Ron Weasley ate a box of love potion chocolates and fell in love with her.

 

[rareboy]

Add to the list Roald Dahl for his anti-semitism.

We won't buy any of his books for our great nephews because of his bigotry. The family may have tried to apologize 30 years after his death in 2020, but his works are forever tainted for me.

You just don't get to come back unstained...are you listening Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh?

 

[NotHardUp1]

Scary time- no one discusses ideas anymore and learn- we just shut out & destroy and stay in our bubble where we feel better then everyone

I'm very much in favor of discussing ideas, and have been actively doing so on JUB for more than 16 years. I stopped posting in CE&P due to aggressive modding that involved filtering and changing members' posts.

Last year, I watched part of one of Adams' podcasts on YouTube, and had no notion of his erratic posts about the 2016 and 2020 elections. What immediately put me off him was his quick censoring of any opposition. Unless you posted in the livestream flattering or complimentary statements, he blocked those disagreeing with him, and they were not harassing him, merely disagreeing.

For a man who makes his living lampooning and satirizing, he appeared incredibly brittle.

He characterized black people as members of a hate group. He championed segregation. If that is discussing the question of "is it ok to be white," then the nation has answered in the negative to Adams' view.

I am not in agreement that people are living in bubbles. They are self-segregating to societies of like-minded views, but they are by no means insulated against hearing the rest of the nation.