# 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:** 16
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 9:44pm 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/980277/301 "2023-03-05T21:44:42Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Garrison is like [The Onion’s Kelly](https://www.theonion.com/opinion/cartoons), but real. Holy shit. Whenever I see a comic by either of them, I have to check the byline to tell if I’m reading a parody or not. ---
**Author:** ![nicky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f0a364/32.png) [@nicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicky)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 7:37am 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/980277/302 "2023-03-06T07:37:44Z")
No kelly is more moderate ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 1:28pm 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/980277/303 "2023-03-06T13:28:54Z")
Loony as Garrison is, he can’t hold a candle to the late [David Dees](http://hive.blog/art/@frot/atributetodaviddees-fp9xr9eg3c). _"David Dees believes in all the conspiracies. No, seriously. [All of them.](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Crank_magnetism) His cartoons have featured every possible conspiracy theory, and in every possible combination. You want a picture of [Obama](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Obama) [wearing a crown of thorns](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Antichrist) and smiling weirdly as he emerges from an egg labeled “[Fascist World Government](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/One_world_government)” perched atop a pile of [gold coins](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gold_standard_(economics)), while a herd of [sheep](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Sheeple) in the background hold up signs reading “O Baaa Ma!”? How about [Satan](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Satan) holding a flaming [Earth](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Earth) near a tree with the face from the [Shroud of Turin](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Shroud_of_Turin) at a [Bohemian Grove](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove) meeting attended by [Bill Clinton](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton), [George W. Bush](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/George_W._Bush), [Vladimir Putin](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin), and [Bigfoot](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Bigfoot)?[[3]](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/David_Dees#cite_note-3) A mother with robot legs and a gas mask offering a pie (from which double-helixes float upwards) to her son (the top of whose head has been replaced with an apple labeled “[GMO](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food)”) and daughter (whose head is a potato for some reason), with [chemtrails](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Chemtrails) visible through a large window? The [Rothschilds](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Rothschild_family), Rockefellers, and [Freemasons](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Freemason) using [HAARP](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/HAARP) to create a fake [water](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Water) shortage in [California](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/California) as part of [Agenda 21](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Agenda_21)?_" Let us also not forget the art of Jack Chick, part of the ultra-right cartoonist conspiracy pantheon. ---
**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:** [March 6, 2023, 1:48pm 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/980277/304 "2023-03-06T13:48:46Z")
Now, now, the legendary Jack Chick had a special place in the hearts of the Dope… and I must grant, that he was focused with consistent messaging within and across different works, and at least he included characters with arcs (though same arc every time, _“I’ve NEVER heard of this Jesus in my whole life in the USA, tell me! I want to be saved!”_) , other than just stand-ins for whoever is the threat in the strip (plus, come on, Fang! the shoulder-devils! HAWHAWHAW Satan! Lightbulb God! he could have _banked_ on the merch!) Gotta admit all that stuff up there causes in me even more respect for the team who created the Book of the SubGenius over 40 years ago, who did an extensive _deliberate_ parody work using literal old-school cut-and-paste from tabloids and cult handouts. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:11pm 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/980277/305 "2023-03-06T14:11:55Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Adams thinks so extremely highly of himself, that he believes he can act boorishly racist then handwave it away by reciting classic, right-wing, self-victimizing incantations like: You’re all the real racists. You just don’t understand what I’m really saying. He does believe he’s smart, and he is racist, but (as I read it) he is mainly animated by: - a racial persecution complex (a smart guy like me would be more successful if not for affirmative action) - a belief that all except him are complete morons who are easily duped and trapped by a rhetorical chess master such as himself He hates people who disagree with him, and he hates people who agree with him. He’s not really on one side, he just sees himself as the master of the game. I feel like his racist utterances are more instrumental to getting people to fight like bugs in a jar than motivated by any actual racist goal. The racism is just grist for the mill, and he chooses it because he’s fluent in it. (Don’t mistake me here, he’s absolutely 100% racist, I just think that other faults are more in play here). He just thinks he’s the master of the trolling game, and nothing gets him pissed off like getting bitten on the ass by it (which happens not infrequently, because he’s not really that good). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 3:49pm 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/980277/306 "2023-03-06T15:49:03Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > He does believe he’s smart, I got the sense Adams was a very strong Dunning-Kruger poster boy a long, long time before Trumpism took him over. Adams is famous for taking the stance that if something is beyond his understanding, it means no one understands it or is lying about it. He is extraordinarily resistant to admitting he might have areas of ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 3:55pm 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/980277/307 "2023-03-06T15:55:32Z")
I just can’t see it as 4D chess personally. I mean, that seems to be the popular view on the right-wing forums I sometimes frequent. His comments are so out there, that I haven’t heard any of them try to defend them (well, some try to say he didn’t mean _all_ black people, only the hateful ones). So, a popular line is that he’s up to something. That he’s a smart guy, knew his comments would stir the hive, and so obviously has a plan. But…nah. He has a long history of saying stupid racist stuff at this point, there was no plan before, and I am not seeing one now. These comments were not just racist, but also showed him to be an idiot for not being aware of “It’s okay to be white” and taking the poll at face value. At the end of the day, people can have intellectual blind spots. They can have a day job doing valuable X-ray crystallography work, then by night be writing about young earth creationism. And Scott can be very insightful in terms of the office environment (and, by all accounts, his recent comics have been among his best work) and bigoted moron when it comes to how he views the human race. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 5:07pm 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/980277/308 "2023-03-06T17:07:30Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I just can’t see it as 4D chess personally. I’m not saying he isn’t sincerely racist, or suggesting that he has some hidden master strategy. He is definitely a racist and thinks he has a top-notch 4D chess game to insulate himself from criticism. He thinks he’s winning; doesn’t realize that he’s the only one playing. Bit of a nuanced take, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 5:13pm 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/980277/309 "2023-03-06T17:13:51Z")
Mostly, it sounds like a pathological need for attention. Good or bad, doesn’t matter as long as people are talking about Scott Adams. Look at me, look at me, pay attention to me has been the downfall of a lot of well-known jerks on social media and comments to mainstream media players. ---
**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:** [March 6, 2023, 5:15pm 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/980277/310 "2023-03-06T17:15:30Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > a racial persecution complex (a smart guy like me would be more successful if not for affirmative action) The guy had a multimillion-dollar media franchise before he blew it up; how much “more successful” would he need to be? ---
**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:** [March 6, 2023, 5:21pm 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/980277/311 "2023-03-06T17:21:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > how much “more successful” would he need to be? He’d have a popular, long-running animated TV series, and people would be buying his Dilberitos in large numbers. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 5:25pm 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/980277/312 "2023-03-06T17:25:02Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The guy had a multimillion-dollar media franchise before he blew it up; how much “more successful” would he need to be? idk man. I had the same question. Huge media franchise, army of simps, and he’s still grieving about being thrown of the engineering promotion track at PacBell in the 80’s? The boy ain’t right. Of course the obvious point that doesn’t really bear mentioning; racists and reactionaries are never really satisfied until they can speak without pushback. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 5:44pm 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/980277/313 "2023-03-06T17:44:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Adams is famous for taking the stance that if something is beyond his understanding, it means no one understands it or is lying about it. He is extraordinarily resistant to admitting he might have areas of ignorance. Which is exceedingly weird, because I’m pretty sure he was the guy back in the 90s pushing the idea that pretty much everyone in our society is “functionally stupid” when it comes to most topics. This had two prongs: 1. The level of education needed to understand a topic just keeps getting higher as time passes, and it’s a _different_ education for every topic. A person with a degree in physics, say, might be a brilliant physicist, but they’re functionally stupid when they are asked to talk about biology. 2. The personal level of intelligence. Once you admit that someone else is significantly smarter than you, you pretty much just have to take them at their word if they’re saying something you don’t understand - because you are probably just functionally stupid enough compared to them that your lack of understanding is because of you, not them. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 5:51pm 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/980277/314 "2023-03-06T17:51:21Z")
Maybe I missed it. Has Adams made the common mistake of thinking that a private company (or individuals) punishing his speech is a violation of his freedom of speech? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 6:00pm 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/980277/315 "2023-03-06T18:00:43Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > James Nicoll refers to it as the “Brain Eater”. It affects SF/F writers as they get older. Yeah, Adams has gone full Dave Sim over the years. I have the _Build A Better Life By Stealing Office Supplies_ book and there’s a lot of insightful points in it, but that was published in 2000. The last several years of the strip, from what I’ve bothered to see of it, has been devoted to tepid “hur hur liberals are stupid” jibes. It’s probably just as well that it ends. ---
**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:** [March 6, 2023, 9:27pm 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/980277/316 "2023-03-06T21:27:13Z")
Almost the opposite in a weird way. He is actually acknowledging that he **did** exercise his free speech, but he’s making himself out to be a martyr in the process. > **[The Death of Dilbert and False Claims of White Victimhood](https://time.com/6259311/dilbert-racism-scott-adams/)** > > Scott Adams' views are ridiculous. They are also racist and pervasive > Last week, Adams told his YouTube viewers that his conclusions – Black Americans are a hate group whom he would not “help” – were entirely logical ideas reached after his read of a poll conducted earlier this month. Then, three days ago, Adams appeared as a guest of Bryan Sharpe, a Black man, who serves as the host of _Sharpe Conversations With Hotep_ _Jesus, a_ YouTube show, to expound on this topic. He has repeatedly urged people to take a look at this conversation to understand the _context_ of his remarks. Doing so does not help his case. > > Adams begins by explaining that he’s realized he enjoys attention and describes himself as “an energy monster,” who does nothing for “clout” – meaning online influence, followers, and standing. He says he made none of his comments for financial gain – if anything, there would be losses because he’s spoken so freely. Instead, he says with a healthy dose of gaslighting, he is providing a service to those too afraid or otherwise unable to speak about the same things. > > “I discovered that the price of free speech is really high and there are only a few people willing to pay it,” Adams says. “So I decided to pay it. So that I could extend the conversation to something that everybody needs to hear.” I included all three paragraphs above, not only because it puts Adams’ remarks in context, but it also reinforces the suggestion made by others that Adams is the kind of person who is always starved for attention. He is admittedly that person. But no, from what I can tell, Adams himself hasn’t claimed (yet) that his free speech rights have been violated. Instead, he is making himself to be some kind of hero for exercising his free speech and suffering for everyone’s sins or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 11:32pm 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/980277/317 "2023-03-06T23:32:12Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Which is exceedingly weird, because I’m pretty sure he was the guy back in the 90s pushing the idea that pretty much everyone in our society is “functionally stupid” when it comes to most topics. Another “or so it goes for everyone else” example. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 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/980277/318 "2023-03-07T00:49:31Z")
I still think there are definitely shades of claiming that his right to free speech has been violated in that commentary. By his saying I “the price of free speech is really high and there are only a few people willing to pay it” The subtext is that the consequences shouldn’t be so high, that in a just world the everyone would be free to speak the truth the way he did without consequences, but that due to the liberal censors most people are afraid to. However, he is going to be a martyr to the cause and accept the unjust consequences for his actions, the same way a dissident might speak out against a dictatorship despite the fact that he knows doing so will inevitably lead to his unjust imprisonment. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2023, 12:52am 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/980277/319 "2023-03-07T00:52:24Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > By his saying I “the price of free speech is really high and there are only a few people willing to pay it” The subtext is that the consequences shouldn’t be so high, that in a just world the everyone would be free to speak the truth the way he did without consequences, but that due to the liberal censors most people are afraid to. Sure, he’s being oblique and passive-aggressive about it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 2:57am 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/980277/320 "2023-03-07T02:57:37Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > However, he is going to be a martyr to the cause and accept the unjust consequences for his actions, the same way a dissident might speak out against a dictatorship despite the fact that he knows doing so will inevitably lead to his unjust imprisonment. This. Such a brave freedom fighter he is. Not! Whiny f\*\*\*ing child is more like it. [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=15) [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=17)