# Well dang. If you didn't think Scott Adams was a piece of shit before, just look at him now! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 24, 2023, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277 "2023-02-24T06:16:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/221 "2023-02-27T22:16:14Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Maybe he can call his new show/forum “I HAVE BEEN SILENCED” heres the latest spewing [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/dilbert-cartoonist-says-he-got-canceled-even-though-everyone-agreed-with-his-racist-tirade/ar-AA17ZgET?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=e6d0fa559bec4076f7f0d87900ca8a55&ei=73](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/dilbert-cartoonist-says-he-got-canceled-even-though-everyone-agreed-with-his-racist-tirade/ar-AA17ZgET?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=e6d0fa559bec4076f7f0d87900ca8a55&ei=73) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/222 "2023-02-27T22:18:26Z")
Thanks. And thanks to him for explaining that “it’s okay to be white” is a white supremacists catch phrase. Because i was confused both that it was in a poll, and also that a lot of people disapproved of the statement. But now that i understand the context of the statement, i disapprove of it, too. Even though i am white and I’m okay with my being white. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/223 "2023-02-27T22:19:46Z")
Also, add me to the ranks of those who says, “yes, this is an example of ‘cancel culture’, and it’s a good example that shows why it’s sometimes right to ‘cancel’ someone.” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/224 "2023-02-27T22:32:22Z")
> **[Why The Seattle Times is dropping ‘Dilbert’](https://www.seattletimes.com/inside-the-times/why-the-seattle-times-is-dropping-dilbert/)** > > Instead of inviting others to share the nation’s promises, "Dilbert" creator Scott Adams angrily defends the status quo that privileges his own in-group.   ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/225 "2023-02-27T22:38:42Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > > > I have clearly and succinctly explained the difference between a right and a privilege. > > You have given definitions based on origins (that don’t correspond to the more standard usage “natural rights”), but you have said nothing whatsoever about the _functional_ difference between what you want to call a “privilege” and a “right”. Would you be good enough to explain exactly what you yourself, as an individual, mean when _you_ use the word “privilege?” ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/226 "2023-02-27T22:47:35Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Dropped by Andrews/McMeel, so that’s pretty much it unless another distributor want to pick him up. Which they probably will, but A/M is the big dog. Coming soon – Truth Social: exclusive home to Dilbert! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/227 "2023-02-27T23:44:29Z")
[![](https://i.redd.it/n9gybelsjska1.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/n9gybelsjska1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/228 "2023-02-27T23:46:49Z")
Wut?? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/229 "2023-02-28T00:05:02Z")
It can be difficult to find meaning in the ravings of a madman. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/230 "2023-02-28T00:09:52Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Wut?? Indeed. I don’t know about the other two, but his cartooning career is ending because of _his_ racism, not some other white guy’s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/231 "2023-02-28T00:10:33Z")
Damn, I’m too slow to the punch. What a maroon. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/232 "2023-02-28T00:22:58Z")
My guess is that Adams is trying to claim that he was ousted from his jobs at Crocker and Pacific Bell due to some kind of “diversity initiative” or similar situation where, in the interpretations common among these “grievance conservatives”, they take it for granted that “being a straight white man is a liability”, etc., etc., etc. Unsurprisingly, that [wasn’t how Adams was describing the situation at the time.](https://www.inc.com/magazine/19960701/1721.html) > [@](#): > > _Inc.:_ What was the ultimate event, the milestone, that led you to leave your day job as an engineer at Pacific Bell? > > **Adams:** The milestone was when my boss asked me to leave. It could have been more exciting. > > _Inc.:_ How did you manage to stay there as long as you did while you had a whole other career on the side? Did you have to keep some aspects of the Dilbert business a secret? > > **Adams:** Not at all. I did Dilbert and worked at Pacific Bell from 1989 to 1995. During that time I had about a dozen different bosses. They all knew about Dilbert. It wasn’t the kind of thing I could hide. I think most of them liked it on some level. For most of those years, I needed the Pacific Bell income, but – toward the end – it was clear where my future lay. In my final year my primary career was cartoonist, both financially and mentally, and my day job was just a source of material, social release, and extra cash. My days at Pacific Bell were numbered, but I didn’t know what the last number would be. > > _Inc.:_ So did Dilbert have anything to do with your being asked to leave? > > **Adams:** Not that I know of. I’d told all of my bosses I would resign if they ever felt my costs exceeded my benefits. One of the benefits, of course, was the positive PR. I get interviewed often. Anyway, in the spring of 1995 I got a new boss, and I reiterated my offer to resign if asked. A few weeks later he asked. The reason given was budget constraints. I’m pretty sure it was a local management decision, not one from the top. > [@Atamasama](#): > > It can be difficult to find meaning in the ravings of a madman. Meh, I think you might be too generous in your interpretation there. I would not be at all surprised if Adams is consciously trying to market himself as the hot new public figure among “grievance conservatives”. To do so, he has to walk back his direct insults toward Black people and reframe the subject of his complaints as liberal “reverse racism”. The “respectable” (and more lucrative) wing of “grievance conservatism” is uncomfortable with really explicit anti-Black racism; it needs to be filtered through denunciations of “political correctness”/“wokeism”. See, it’s not that they despise Black people themselves, oh dear no. It’s just that they’re outraged, and feel personally attacked, by any suggestions from (white or non-white) liberals that maybe there are still significant problems with anti-Black racism in American society and maybe we really ought to do something about it. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/233 "2023-02-28T00:31:31Z")
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Scott is preparing to run for office. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/234 "2023-02-28T00:40:54Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Indeed. I don’t know about the other two, but his cartooning career is ending because of _his_ racism, not some other white guy’s. Yes. He’s rather… dim I think. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/235 "2023-02-28T00:49:38Z")
So…he lost 3 careers to white racists and no black person has ever discriminated against him…but says white people should avoid blacks and that white racism is OK? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/236 "2023-02-28T01:04:33Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > You don’t have to be an alt-right asshole to be concerned about the free exchange of ideas in modern society, and whether “cancel culture” is ever a valid complaint about our society does not rest on whether actions are technically legal or illegal in the U.S. I disagree. I see all the time how people say “they won’t let you say that.” But there is no “they”. There’s no group or individual that censors free speech. What we’re seeing is public opinion. Scott Adams is a racist who publicly said racist things. He exercised his free speech in doing so. Then people all over the country heard what Adams said and were offended by it. Because most people, black and white, are offended by racism. So they decided to stop supporting Adams’ work. And they were exercising their free speech by doing so. Nobody has been censored. Adams had and still has his free speech. He’s just whining about other people having free speech. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/237 "2023-02-28T01:13:36Z")
I didn’t claim that anything that happened to Adams was wrong. I was responding to someone posting an xkcd comic reiterating the spurious claim that if the government is not involved, it’s not a free speech issue. There is a debate about the _social norms_ of free speech that is much broader than just First Amendment rights. Is the canceling of Adams correct? Of course, this is not even a marginal case, he’s a deranged racist. But this rests on forming a consensus around what free speech norms are good in our society, it’s not sufficient to just say that anything a private entity does is just fine because it’s not illegal. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences, and those consequences are implemented by the community - individuals, groups, and private entities like newspapers or advertisers. The question of what those consequences should be is a debate about freedom of speech in our society. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/238 "2023-02-28T02:09:32Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/239 "2023-02-28T02:19:53Z")
Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dilbert with a mouth before. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277/240 "2023-02-28T02:22:00Z")
At least Ben Garrison can draw hands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-dang-if-you-didnt-think-scott-adams-was-a-piece-of-shit-before-just-look-at-him-now/980277.md?page=13)