# Today's Dilbert is bugging me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787 "2007-04-19T15:07:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/21 "2007-04-19T16:44:38Z")
The “doughnut” gag is alluding to a Simpsons ep. IINM. But these strips, trying to be clever but just coming across as tired, is why I dropped _Dilbert_ from my comics queue at the Houston Chron several months ago. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/22 "2007-04-19T16:46:26Z")
I wonder if it’ll be a segue into a strip about Asok’s mysterious psychic powers… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/23 "2007-04-19T16:54:49Z")
Okay, as I suspected; over-sensitivity on my part. I did find it kind of funny that Wally sold the rest of his soul for a doughnut, and called it a great day. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/24 "2007-04-19T17:17:53Z")
It may seem shocking to **featherlou** , but some employers in real life (if you call this living;)) routinely mess with employees’ souls. The usual ploy is, “If you wanna work here, you have to join my church.” Jewish Cadets at the US Air Force Academy were told by instructors not only that they were surely going to Hell, but they’d never get anywhere in the AF if they didn’t get saved. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/25 "2007-04-19T18:20:14Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Does this bug anyone else, or do I just have my sensitivity meter set on “Way Too High” today? [/QUOTE] Way too high. Catbert is just going around making nonsense up to toy with people. Because he can. And because people in the strip (and I guess outside as well) are pretty gullible. It’s like Dogbert and his “Out out demons of stupidity” magic. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/26 "2007-04-19T18:53:35Z")
All I know is, the next cat I see with a bubble wand is getting his a$$ kicked around the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/27 "2007-04-19T19:48:52Z")
[QUOTE=Dan Norder] Way too high. Catbert is just going around making nonsense up to toy with people. Because he can. And because people in the strip (and I guess outside as well) are pretty gullible. It’s like Dogbert and his “Out out demons of stupidity” magic. [/QUOTE] Dammit! Not working is turning my brain to mush! (That’s quite the visual, **Knead**.) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/28 "2007-04-19T20:11:23Z")
This is what happens when cartoonists feel they have to have one theme per week, whether it’s good for six strips or not. They run their premise into the ground. Loss of soul is a common enough complaint in cubicle farms: “I’ve given body and soul to this corporation and what have I gotten in return?”; “I can feel this job sucking the soul out of me”, and so forth. So Catbert takes this literally and trolls for souls. OK, that’s fair. And it was _mildly_ funny when Wally sold his soul for a doughnut. Considering the quality of Dilbert since 1993, “mildly funny” = “surprisingly good”. But today’s strip runs the premise so far into the ground that it comes out the other side of the Earth. “Cauterizing a head” to prevent a soul from escaping? That isn’t funny, it’s just stupid. The whole point of “buying somebody’s soul” or “stealing somebody’s soul” is to get control of it after the person dies, not to trap it in their body. But the week isn’t over yet, so we’ll see two more strips on the same topic. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/29 "2007-04-19T20:22:02Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] Loss of soul is a common enough complaint in cubicle farms: “I’ve given body and soul to this corporation and what have I gotten in return?”; “I can feel this job sucking the soul out of me”, and so forth. [/QUOTE] _St. Peter, don’t you call me 'cause I can’t go I owe my soul to the company store_ -Merle Travis (Published by Merle’s Girls Music, Inc./Unichappel BMI) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/30 "2007-04-19T20:34:53Z")
Actually, I’ve always been a little squicked by that sort of thing too. Not sure if I believe the idea of an immortal soul, but the concept of having it (and eternal awareness) confined in a spot or a dead body on Earth has always been something that REALLY bugged me. Ever since I read the end of ‘The Raven.’ It may just be the price of indulging an overactive imagination though. I try not to think about such things, but that doesn’t always work. So count that as you will. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/31 "2007-04-19T20:47:24Z")
[QUOTE=Dan Norder] Catbert is just going around making nonsense up to toy with people. Because he can. And because people in the strip (and I guess outside as well) are pretty gullible. [/QUOTE] I mean, it’s not like he can actually do something to Asok so that not even death will release him, but will instead turn him into an undead abomination that will continue to labor for the company. Not that he wouldn’t if he could… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/32 "2007-04-19T22:17:43Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] (That’s quite the visual, **Knead**.) [/QUOTE] Wait’ll you see the cat! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/33 "2007-04-20T00:45:30Z")
Catbert and Garfield should have an unfunnying contest. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/34 "2007-04-20T00:45:52Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk] Actually, I’ve always been a little squicked by that sort of thing too. Not sure if I believe the idea of an immortal soul, but the concept of having it (and eternal awareness) confined in a spot or a dead body on Earth has always been something that REALLY bugged me. Ever since I read the end of ‘The Raven.’ It may just be the price of indulging an overactive imagination though. I try not to think about such things, but that doesn’t always work. [/QUOTE] The concept of the soul being confined _anywhere_ is nonsensical, as the soul by definition transcends all time and space (and the words we attempt to use to define it too). ---
**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:** [April 20, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/35 "2007-04-20T00:59:50Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] The concept of the soul being confined _anywhere_ is nonsensical, as the soul by definition transcends all time and space (and the words we attempt to use to define it too). [/QUOTE] By whose definition? There are thousands of current religions, maybe millions overall in history. There are thousands or millions of “official” definitions of the “soul” and in reality each individual believer probably has a distinct notion of what a “soul” is whether that’s the “official” belief or not. Whatever your belief is extends to nobody and nothing outside your own body. There’s no possible statement of what a “soul” must be or how it must behave. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/36 "2007-04-20T01:21:30Z")
In any case… yeah, Adams should have stopped with Wally and the doughnut (among other reasons because the punchline fits the established Wally character). This one was just:\* “Huh?”\* ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787/37 "2007-04-20T02:25:49Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] [Thursday, April 19.](http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20070419.html) I found myself a little shocked by this cartoon. Yes, I know, it’s only a cartoon, Asok’s soul isn’t really trapped in his body, but I just found this cartoon - unsettling. It’s one thing for your employer to make this life a living hell, but the idea of your employer messing with your eternal soul? Too far. Does this bug anyone else, or do I just have my sensitivity meter set on “Way Too High” today? [/QUOTE] “Way too high” does not quite describe it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-dilbert-is-bugging-me/400787.md?page=1)