# Dilbert dropped from 70 papers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [September 25, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183 "2022-09-25T02:59:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/1 "2022-09-25T02:59:06Z")
[https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/dilbert-comic-stripped-from-nearly-80-newspapers/?amp=1](https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/dilbert-comic-stripped-from-nearly-80-newspapers/?amp=1) Dilbert has been dropped by Lee Enterprises newspapers. They describe it as a business decision and have also dropped other strips. I have given up on Dilbert. Scott Adams started out making a funny strip about tech office life. Now he is either recycling old ideas or writing right-wing attacks on liberal social issues. He should have retired when he was at the top of his game. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/2 "2022-09-25T03:06:26Z")
It wasn’t just _Dilbert._ Lee slashed the comics sections of all their newspapers’ print editions to as low as a half-page of black and white strips. They also dropped strips that are currently running in favor of “classics” like Peanuts and For Better or For Worse. Online subscribers get more strips, but they look like they all come from one syndication service. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/3 "2022-09-25T03:40:11Z")
Newspapers are in a death spiral: they keep cutting costs and offering their subscribers less and less, and they keep having fewer and fewer subscribers. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/4 "2022-09-25T03:43:29Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Dilbert has been dropped by Lee Enterprises newspapers. They describe it as a business decision and have also dropped other strips. > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > It wasn’t just _Dilbert._ Lee slashed the comics sections of all their newspapers’ print editions to as low as a half-page of black and white strips. Neither of these stopped the author from insinuating he was being canceled due to a particular comic, however. > ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/5 "2022-09-25T03:58:53Z")
I stopped reading him when he came out as a Trump supporter and admirer. Suddenly, he just didn’t seem funny to me anymore. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/6 "2022-09-25T10:44:48Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Newspapers are in a death spiral: they keep cutting costs and offering their subscribers less and less, and they keep having fewer and fewer subscribers. When I read the thread title, my first thought was “ **70** Papers? There are that many left?” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/7 "2022-09-25T15:39:29Z")
What’s “ESG”? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/8 "2022-09-25T15:41:53Z")
[Environmental, Social, and Governance](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/environmental-social-and-governance-esg-criteria.asp). I had to look it up, too. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/9 "2022-09-25T15:42:03Z")
Environmental, Social, and Governance That is, making decisions on things in a way other than the best way of making money. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/10 "2022-09-25T15:47:34Z")
Now if my local paper would only get rid of the unfunny right-wing rant that is Mallard Fillmore. God, Bruce Tinsley is such a tool … The paper consistently gets complaints about the strip, but the conservative voices yell about “being silenced” and “the liberal media,” so they cave and keep running it. They pretend they’re offering “balance” by putting it on the editorial page instead of the comics page, but by “balance” they mean they put 40-year-old Doonesbury strips next to it. They still have Dilbert on the comics page. I still read it, though it’s hardly ever funny and pretty blatant in its right-wing-nutjob-ness a lot of the time. Adams is even more of a giant tool than Tinsley, but I don’t see Dilbert as quite as consistently, angrily stupid as Mallard Fillmore is. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/11 "2022-09-25T16:12:13Z")
You can find lots of comic strips at Gocomics: > **[Popular Comics - GoComics](https://www.gocomics.com/comics/popular)** > > View the most popular comics on GoComics.com. The world's largest comic strip site for online classic > strips like Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Non Sequitur, Get Fuzzy, Luann, Pearl Before Swine, 9 Chickweed > ... I was surprised at the decades old comics listed as “updated today” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/12 "2022-09-25T16:18:20Z")
From that link from Investopedia found by @Crafter_Man : > ESG investing is sometimes referred to as [sustainable](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sustainability.asp) investing, responsible investing, [impact investing](https://www.investopedia.com/investing-for-sustainability-impact-5210477), or [socially responsible investing (SRI)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sri.asp). To assess a company based on ESG criteria, investors look at a broad range of behaviors and policies. IOW, what fellows like Scott Addams insultingly refer as “Woke Capitalism” just the usual coming from guys that besides hating corporations that take the environment into account, he and others hate also the companies that bother to make an effort in being inclusive. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/13 "2022-09-25T16:33:20Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > I was surprised at the decades old comics listed as “updated today” Indeed; that’s “the syndicator/creator has provided this strip for today,” rather than “this is a new strip for today.” In most cases, it’s a matter of the creator having died (e.g., _Peanuts_), retired from the strip (e.g.,_Calvin and Hobbes_, _For Better or for Worse_, _Get Fuzzy_), and/or now only doing new strips for Sundays (_Doonesbury_, _Foxtrot_). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/14 "2022-09-25T16:33:21Z")
Cancelling 24 comics at once was obviously a way to target _Dilbert_? Really? If so, then why did Lee also cancel _Red and Rover_, which seems to be a strip about left-wing commie dogs? And this report from the heartland: > **[Missoulian editorial: Comics and the woke mob](https://missoulian.com/opinion/editorial/missoulian-editorial-comics-and-the-woke-mob/article_9389f7ba-5dd7-570a-89bf-0cdbe255c9c7.html)** > > We expected a major rearrangement of the daily newspaper comics and puzzles would trigger lots of dismay and anger. And yet: > The larger, more fascinating issue here is the kneejerk outrage. We haven’t seen any evidence of Leftist woke mobs chasing Adams down the street, cleverly disguised in Antifa hoodies, demanding he publish a strip series praising “The 1619 Project.” > > Locally, we haven’t even seen a subscriber object to “Dilbert’s disappearance. “Zits” — yes. “Tundra” — BIG yes. “Dilbert” — crickets. Canceling “Cryptoquote” certainly awakened some Missoulian readers, but that’s about as close to a woke mob as this corporate-ordered capitalist bean-counting exercise has got. > > Trying to incite social victimhood over a fake atrocity is malicious. Falling for it is stupid. Scott Adams is a dillhole. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/15 "2022-09-25T17:00:32Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Neither of these stopped the author from insinuating he was being canceled due to a particular comic, however. Last year Adams took to Twitter to claim that the TV cartoon “Dilbert” was cancelled because he was white. His reasoning was that the network, UPN, had decided to dump shows about and by white people in favour of show about and by black people. I looked into it. Of the eight scripted shows UPN debuted the season after “Dilbert” was cancelled, seven had mostly white casts. He blocked me for pointing this out. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/16 "2022-09-25T17:22:56Z")
The TV Dilbert also sucked. It was nothing like the strip. They tried to make it like Peanuts for the corporate world. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/17 "2022-09-25T17:36:31Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > Environmental, Social, and Governance > > That is, making decisions on things in a way other than the best way of making money. Except, if your customers put priority on environmental, social and governance issues, and spend their money accordingly, responding to those issue may be the best way of making money. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/18 "2022-09-25T21:01:21Z")
Dilbert was a brilliant comic strip for its first ten years. There are only so many jokes you can make about office humour and engineers, though. History will judge many comics better - Calvin and Hobbes, Herman, The Far Side, Doonesbury, you could go on for quite a while. I am unaware of any strip currently published in the papers worth a lot of my time. Are there good political cartoonists left (New Yorker and The Economist have their moments)? We live in touchy times, where people lack perspective or pretend to be outraged by tchotchkes. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/19 "2022-09-25T22:36:16Z")
My local paper, for which I still take the dead-tree edition, is a Lee Enterprise, ahem, enterprise. “Dilbert” took a nosedive when he stopped wearing that distinctive tie. People are complaining in droves, mostly because they changed the crossword puzzle to something that was much more difficult and complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183/20 "2022-09-26T03:16:27Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Are there good political cartoonists left (New Yorker and The Economist have their moments)? You’re in Canada, right? (Or is that my failing memory?) Do you get a different edition of _The Economist_? Because my American edition doesn’t have a political cartoonist or any other kind. Technically, _The New Yorker_ has never had a political cartoonist either. As for length, no comic strip in history has been great past its glory days. Trudeau had the gift of society handing him satiric moments by the truckload yet he’s done nothing of worth since he stopped his dailies. _Peanuts_ lasted 50 years and I defy anybody to come up with one memorable idea or character Schulz invented in the last several decades. Nobody mining the same territory has a chance of longevity. Berke Breathed knew this and stopped _Bloom County_ and then embarrassed himself over and over. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dilbert-dropped-from-70-papers/972183.md?page=2)