I feel weird about this. Like it's his second death or something.
He used to be someone who was just giving welcome comic relief to office workers, and came off as reflected and humble.
Then he got a stroke and ...opinions. How related they were I don't know, and how latent his cruel opinions were I honestly don't know.
Whether he always was utterly evil but it just didn't surface, or he just broke someway, it felt like a person died back then. I still miss who I thought he was.
I feel the same way, but had no idea he'd had a stroke around the time of the big change. If true that makes it a bit easier to separate the man from his art for me.
Didn't something similar happen with the US politician John Fetterman? I recall he was a darling of the Democratic party, then post-stroke turned radically 'right'.
There are so many family caretakers that have a similar unfortunate dichotomy in their minds. Like everyone else is mourning at the funeral, but they saw that person “die” a decade ago, leaving behind a husk of hate, forgetfulness, or missing energy.
In 2023 Scott Adams drew criticism for comments made on his podcast Real Coffee With Scott Adams. He said, among other things “the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people.” He also noted that “If nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with white people,” then they should be called a “hate group.” His remarks were widely seen as racist, and many newspapers dropped his cartoon Dilbert.
He was flirting with holocaust denial decades ago, was a Trump supporter from the beginning, became more and more of a generic unhinged conspiracy theorist following that, and yes as you noted was a pretty blatant racist. Sprinkle some misogyny in there for good measure as well.
Behind the Bastards has some good episodes about him
Nah, he has a long history since 2012 of being quite conservative and posting dumb takes on Twitter, then in 2016 he stopped pretending he was a libertarian and went full MAGA. Only gotten worse since.
I don't celebrate his death, because I feel like he is pretty insignificant compared to the real government and social media monsters (Meta, Google, etc) currently shaping the world into a worse place. But I won't miss him one bit.
Well, it's not really meant to be impressive. If you read that list and you're like "he seems fine to me", then let's just agree we have very different opinions.
Holding people accountable for shitty things they publicly do, declare, and promote is not "messed up." Being publicly shitty will result in people knowing you're shitty, and I find that good.
Damn, this is the first time I'm hearing about this guy being a piece of shit. Would love to hear people chime in with the shit he's pulled for others like me to see.
He previously questioned the death toll of the Holocaust, said he had lost multiple jobs for being white and falsely claimed that people who didn't get vaccinated against COVID-19 "clearly are the winners" of the pandemic (he acknowledged getting vaccinated in Monday's video). Dozens of newspapers dropped the strip in 2022 after Adams introduced its first Black character and veered into anti-woke plotlines.
I don't know if I'm more shocked that Adams didn't have a black character before 2022 or that newspapers were still carrying an overt racist's strip in 2022.
Wow I didn't realize how much I missed the hobbydrama subreddit, one of the goat communities.
Also yeah, that's very accurate but also it's worthwhile to understand he was also incredibly cringe in an old school atheism subreddit way. Fully convinced he was the smartest person in the world and everyone who disagreed with him was because they're stupid. He was basically 4chan the person
A lot of Adams' conservative activities were summarized in the Variety article, which is why I chose to post a link to it, as opposed to other articles.
I liked Dilbert for a while in the 90s and early 2000s. Scott Adams was first a weird guy in an autistic sort of way and then transitioned to a fucking crazy Trump-loving moron. The world is a slightly better place now.
Hopefully this is a prelude to some more significant deaths.
He could have built upon his early success and become an agent of change in the corporate world. Instead, he turned into another fascist troll and destroyed all of the goodwill he had previously had.
Prostate ductal adenocarcinoma. A particular bad cancer. Absolutely terrible for anyone who gets it. Hate how he went, but but don't mind that he's gone. Hell, being dead is likely a better situation than the one he was in with the cancer, just an absolutely terrible way to go.
For what it’s worth, the parts of it that resonated with you were probably just lifted from office stories that he encouraged readers to send in. The dude himself was a lifelong grifter (you can listen to the Behind the Bastards episode about him for more info).
He had some I'm the past and now he's just 60 and a drinker and a smoker and seems to be trying to live how he wants cause screw it.
He doesnt seem the type to want to live forever so I'm just appreciating him now.
It really is such a shame. I genuinely liked his IT/office humor and even had Dilbert & Dogbert plushies decorating my own cubicle. Now they're at the bottom of a storage crate; I can't bring myself to either look at them or trash them.
It was an influential and popular comic back in the day when it broke out.
Scott Adams tarnished his legacy when he went off the deep end into conservatism, and it remains to be seen whether the comic will become even more dated than it already is, but it did capture something relevant to a lot of people back then.
For someone who saw many of the problems in office life, he chose to laugh at them and those who suffer with them. He could've at least shut his mouth and let us all believe he was laughing with us and not at us.
77 Comments
Bougie_Birdie@piefed.blahaj.zone · 109 pts · 215d
Rest in piss, racist trash
I used to like Dilbert
Deestan@lemmy.world · 97 pts · 215d
I feel weird about this. Like it's his second death or something.
He used to be someone who was just giving welcome comic relief to office workers, and came off as reflected and humble.
Then he got a stroke and ...opinions. How related they were I don't know, and how latent his cruel opinions were I honestly don't know.
Whether he always was utterly evil but it just didn't surface, or he just broke someway, it felt like a person died back then. I still miss who I thought he was.
And now he is dead again.
Arghblarg@lemmy.ca · 59 pts · 214d
I feel the same way, but had no idea he'd had a stroke around the time of the big change. If true that makes it a bit easier to separate the man from his art for me.
Didn't something similar happen with the US politician John Fetterman? I recall he was a darling of the Democratic party, then post-stroke turned radically 'right'.
iThinkDifferentThanU@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 214d
Bonesince1997@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 214d
Where does it all come from?
iThinkDifferentThanU@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 214d
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 214d
Yep, that's fetterman.
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 214d
He was always a racist.
Katana314@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 214d
There are so many family caretakers that have a similar unfortunate dichotomy in their minds. Like everyone else is mourning at the funeral, but they saw that person “die” a decade ago, leaving behind a husk of hate, forgetfulness, or missing energy.
Skullgrid@lemmy.world · 72 pts · 215d
It's such a great shame that he died
after ruining his legacy
ClownStatue@piefed.social · 17 pts · 215d
Agreed. Not a fan of what he became, but Dilbert was great.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 214d
WAS. Hadn't been for a long time.
ClownStatue@piefed.social · 7 pts · 214d
Fair. Admittedly, I haven't read it in a long time.
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 214d
Based on accounts I've read, he was always racist and an anti-intellectual. He just got more bold. He was a very early Trump supporter.
goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org · 4 pts · 215d
Idk that seems perfect for them
mvilain@fedia.io · 58 pts · 215d
"I never wished a man dead, but I read some obituaries with great pleasure." -- Clarence Darrow
https://spiritualcleansing.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/I-did-not-attend-his-funeral-but-I-sent-a-nice-letter-saying-I-approved-of-it..jpg
Red_October@piefed.world · 40 pts · 215d
Good riddance. Guy was a piece of shit and I'm glad he's gone.
irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 40 pts · 214d
He died for me long ago.
crandlecan@mander.xyz · 30 pts · 215d
🥰
Fredselfish@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 215d
What's up with that emoji?
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 53 pts · 215d
It's the warm and fuzzy feeling you get when a piece of shit is no longer polluting the world.
crandlecan@mander.xyz · 6 pts · 215d
:)
Fredselfish@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d
Can give more information, wasn't clear on his personal politics.
nagaram@startrek.website · 6 pts · 214d
Lots of good examples in this thread already.
The normal spread of -ists you'd expect from a MAGA supporter.
presoak@lazysoci.al · 27 pts · 215d
In 2023 Scott Adams drew criticism for comments made on his podcast Real Coffee With Scott Adams. He said, among other things “the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people.” He also noted that “If nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with white people,” then they should be called a “hate group.” His remarks were widely seen as racist, and many newspapers dropped his cartoon Dilbert.
Is this the thing that has everybody in a huff?
btsax@reddthat.com · 36 pts · 214d
He was flirting with holocaust denial decades ago, was a Trump supporter from the beginning, became more and more of a generic unhinged conspiracy theorist following that, and yes as you noted was a pretty blatant racist. Sprinkle some misogyny in there for good measure as well.
Behind the Bastards has some good episodes about him
pulsewidth@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 214d
Nah, he has a long history since 2012 of being quite conservative and posting dumb takes on Twitter, then in 2016 he stopped pretending he was a libertarian and went full MAGA. Only gotten worse since.
I don't celebrate his death, because I feel like he is pretty insignificant compared to the real government and social media monsters (Meta, Google, etc) currently shaping the world into a worse place. But I won't miss him one bit.
Some context and examples : https://cartoonwiki.toonsmag.org/wiki/Scott_Adams#Views
leftascenter@jlai.lu · 4 pts · 214d
Thanks for the link
presoak@lazysoci.al · -7 pts · 214d
I am unimpressed. Seriously, nothing I see in your list is too heinous.
Also, creating a list of a person's "crimes" like this. It's messed up. It's like something out of the Chinese cultural revolution.
pulsewidth@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 214d
Well, it's not really meant to be impressive. If you read that list and you're like "he seems fine to me", then let's just agree we have very different opinions.
rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 214d
Holding people accountable for shitty things they publicly do, declare, and promote is not "messed up." Being publicly shitty will result in people knowing you're shitty, and I find that good.
vga@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 214d
That's one of the least deranged things he has uttered. His usual routine included unfettered metastasizing of everything Trump was saying.
JackDark@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 215d
Damn, this is the first time I'm hearing about this guy being a piece of shit. Would love to hear people chime in with the shit he's pulled for others like me to see.
Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 59 pts · 215d
Here's a scratch off the top:
Flax_vert@feddit.uk · 19 pts · 215d
Me: "Everyone's hating on him. Lemmy is so sensitive, it's probably over nothing"
Finds this comment
ohhh, ohhhhhhhh
DomeGuy@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 214d
I don't know if I'm more shocked that Adams didn't have a black character before 2022 or that newspapers were still carrying an overt racist's strip in 2022.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 214d
wait, i thought the elbonians were black.
CandleTiger@programming.dev · 8 pts · 214d
I always saw them as some kind of Eastern European caricature
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d
it's been so long i really don't remember. we're both right maybe
Drusas@fedia.io · 3 pts · 214d
They're white. Sort of Russian caricatures, I think.
hallettj@leminal.space · 29 pts · 215d
There's a pretty thorough write-up here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/150bkal/comic_strips_so_i_think_it_makes_no_sense/
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 215d
Wow I didn't realize how much I missed the hobbydrama subreddit, one of the goat communities.
Also yeah, that's very accurate but also it's worthwhile to understand he was also incredibly cringe in an old school atheism subreddit way. Fully convinced he was the smartest person in the world and everyone who disagreed with him was because they're stupid. He was basically 4chan the person
JackDark@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 215d
Thanks. That was... a lot.
zabadoh@ani.social · 17 pts · 215d
A lot of Adams' conservative activities were summarized in the Variety article, which is why I chose to post a link to it, as opposed to other articles.
MisterNeon@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 214d
Here is the first episode of Behind the Bastards covering the guy: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ZlIuEIgLRNxfJWxiv4asn
Davel23@fedia.io · 7 pts · 215d
There's an episode of the Behind the Bastards podcast devoted to him. Covers it pretty well.
redlemace@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 214d
Me too.
But it Expains the 20+ down votes I got. Reading more comments, they are well deserved
vga@sopuli.xyz · 22 pts · 214d
I liked Dilbert for a while in the 90s and early 2000s. Scott Adams was first a weird guy in an autistic sort of way and then transitioned to a fucking crazy Trump-loving moron. The world is a slightly better place now.
Hopefully this is a prelude to some more significant deaths.
TomMasz@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 214d
He could have built upon his early success and become an agent of change in the corporate world. Instead, he turned into another fascist troll and destroyed all of the goodwill he had previously had.
edgemaster72@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 214d
Fuck cancer, but it gets a pass for this one
evidences@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 214d
Between Scott Adams and Rush Limbaugh cancer has two solid wins.
PhoenixDog@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 214d
Now we just need cholesterol to do it's thing.
presoak@lazysoci.al · 14 pts · 215d
This thread hates with great enthusiasm.
IHeartBadCode@fedia.io · 13 pts · 215d
Prostate ductal adenocarcinoma. A particular bad cancer. Absolutely terrible for anyone who gets it. Hate how he went, but but don't mind that he's gone. Hell, being dead is likely a better situation than the one he was in with the cancer, just an absolutely terrible way to go.
palordrolap@fedia.io · 13 pts · 215d
Well shoot. I was holding out for a change of heart from him because I really resonated with his comics back in the day.
Unfortunately, it seems he only ever had sympathy for those whose misfortunes he shared and never came around on that.
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone · 14 pts · 215d
For what it’s worth, the parts of it that resonated with you were probably just lifted from office stories that he encouraged readers to send in. The dude himself was a lifelong grifter (you can listen to the Behind the Bastards episode about him for more info).
Krauerking@lemy.lol · 13 pts · 215d
Stephen Pastis I feel has so well captured the melancholy of life that when he passes, while it won't be big news, I will care deeply.
Anyways, what a fun obituary. Really nice news.
zabadoh@ani.social · 5 pts · 215d
Is Pastis having health problems?
Krauerking@lemy.lol · 9 pts · 215d
He had some I'm the past and now he's just 60 and a drinker and a smoker and seems to be trying to live how he wants cause screw it.
He doesnt seem the type to want to live forever so I'm just appreciating him now.
VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 214d
Yeah, that seems pretty accurate.
BilboBargains@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 214d
Rest in piss
merde@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 214d
maybe, people should have different names for different periods of their lives and we should treat them as different people.
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org · 2 pts · 214d
Is this a transgender reference?
merde@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 214d
no
Deceptichum@quokk.au · 10 pts · 214d
QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 214d
And no one of value was lost
buddascrayon@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 214d
Good riddance
Mynameisallen@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 215d
🎉🎉🎉
GenXLiberal@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 214d
To paraphrase Max Plank:
Society progresses one funeral at a time
PhoenixDog@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 214d
We are richer for having lost him.
Cyberflunk@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 215d
OldChicoAle@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 214d
Nice!
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 214d
Shame he won’t live to see a world without ethnics, women, gays, etc etc…
PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 215d
Good riddance to bad trash.
QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 214d
presoak@lazysoci.al · -7 pts · 215d
He was an artist of power and insight. He will be missed.
redlemace@lemmy.world · -17 pts · 215d
a sad day not just for comics, but for many IT tech's as well .... he drew a fine picture (pun intended) of our lives with management.
Edit: okay I got it. I did not know anything else than him writing dilbert. But clearly he wasn't a nice/good guy.
crandlecan@mander.xyz · 44 pts · 215d
I'm not going to ignore the utter piece of shit he became
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 215d
It really is such a shame. I genuinely liked his IT/office humor and even had Dilbert & Dogbert plushies decorating my own cubicle. Now they're at the bottom of a storage crate; I can't bring myself to either look at them or trash them.
crandlecan@mander.xyz · 6 pts · 215d
Yeah I remember the same disappointed feeling
zabadoh@ani.social · 34 pts · 215d
It was an influential and popular comic back in the day when it broke out.
Scott Adams tarnished his legacy when he went off the deep end into conservatism, and it remains to be seen whether the comic will become even more dated than it already is, but it did capture something relevant to a lot of people back then.
MotoAsh@piefed.social · 26 pts · 215d
For someone who saw many of the problems in office life, he chose to laugh at them and those who suffer with them. He could've at least shut his mouth and let us all believe he was laughing with us and not at us.
but he didn't.