# What's up with Dilbert Creator Scott Adams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 27, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849 "2016-10-27T14:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CultOfReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@CultOfReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CultOfReason)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/1 "2016-10-27T14:59:48Z")
I present four options for the rather bizarre stuff coming from Scott Adams during this election cycle: 1. Scott Adams has climbed aboard the Fox, Breibart, Alex Jones crazy train and become a full-fledged Right Wing Conspiracy Nut. 2. Scott Adams is bored and is trolling his readers and his critics in an effort to become relevant again. 3. Scott Adams, being the master persuader that he claims to be, actually supports Hillary, but is using some high-level, n-dimensional reverse psychology on us. 4. Scott Adams, trained hypnotist (or so he claims), has accidentally hypnotized himself while practicing in front of a mirror, and can’t snap himself out of it. Recent blog posts from Scott Adams: A Lesson in Cognitive Dissonance - a case for cognitive dissonance in his critics, but not in him or his supporters. Watch the Persuasion Battle - Continuation of diatribe on how Clinton supporters are all bullies and out to discredit him. The Bully Party - Diatribe on how Clinton supporters are all bullies and how all of Scott’s critics are paid or volunteer shills for Hillary. How to Legally Vote More than Once - instructions on how to suppress votes from Democrats. The Crook Versus the Monster - Diatribe on how Trump isn’t really a Monster (Propaganda cooked up by Clinton camp) but Clinton really is a crook. In this post, Adams makes two inconceivably horrendous statements: ``` 1. "If Trump gets elected, and he does anything that looks even slightly Hitler-ish in office, I will join the resistance movement and help kill him." 2. (Dog whistle alert) "Democrats generally use guns to commit crimes. Republican use guns for sport and for self-defense." Hmmm, I wonder who he's really referring to? ``` ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/2 "2016-10-27T15:01:51Z")
[Also a thread here, in Cafe Society, so I don’t know if one forum’s discussion of the topic will be different from the other.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=804814) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/3 "2016-10-27T15:02:55Z")
> [@CultOfReason](#): > > 1. Scott Adams has climbed aboard the Fox, Breibart, Alex Jones crazy train and become a full-fledged Right Wing Conspiracy Nut. Adams wonderful contributions to the dumpster fire aspects of this election are discussed in multiple threads, but Adams has been posting from the Right Wing Conspiracy Nut-corner long before this Election, so option 1 is obviously correct. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/4 "2016-10-27T16:26:36Z")
As far as I can see Adams became convinced fairly early on during the primaries that Trump was using some kind of Neuro Linguistic Programming tricks to beat his opponents, and so he’s convinced that Trump has to win the general using the same techniques and he’s too committed to back down now, so he’s going full retard. Of course NLP is all pseudo science woo anyway, but Adams seems to be a true believer. ---
**Author:** ![CultOfReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@CultOfReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CultOfReason)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/5 "2016-10-27T16:41:36Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > …, so he’s going full retard. Everybody knows you never do a full retard. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/6 "2016-10-27T16:54:39Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Of course NLP is all pseudo science woo anyway, but Adams seems to be a true believer. While he’s a good cartoonist, Adams has long been a believer in various nutty forms of woo. He’s often “just asking questions” about whether the Holocaust occurred, whether evolution is true, and the oppression of men. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/7 "2016-10-27T18:17:04Z")
I’ve read his blog enough to get to know how he thinks. What many people don’t realize is that he doesn’t actually believe everything he says. A word of advice to everybody in this thread–when you read his stuff, keep the example of Jonathan Swift in the back of your mind. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/8 "2016-10-27T18:32:19Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I’ve read his blog enough to get to know how he thinks. > > What many people don’t realize is that he doesn’t actually believe everything he says. A word of advice to everybody in this thread–when you read his stuff, keep the example of Jonathan Swift in the back of your mind. And he never tells us what he believes until after it’s disproven so he can say that he didn’t mean that particular thing. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/9 "2016-10-27T18:33:26Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I’ve read his blog enough to get to know how he thinks. > > What many people don’t realize is that he doesn’t actually believe everything he says. A word of advice to everybody in this thread–when you read his stuff, keep the example of Jonathan Swift in the back of your mind. I have been following his blog since about August last year only because his claims about Trump winning seemed ridiculous at the time. I think that people that believe he has any interest in either Trump or Clinton winning simply haven’t read what he says. I believe a clue to where he is coming from is here, back in 2013, [I Hope My Father Dies Soon](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/102964994651/i-hope-my-father-dies-soon). > [@](#): > > If you’re a politician who has ever voted against doctor-assisted suicide, or you would vote against it in the future, I hate your fucking guts and I would like you to die a long, horrible death. I would be happy to kill you personally and watch you bleed out. I won’t do that, because I fear the consequences. But I’d enjoy it, because you motherfuckers are responsible for torturing my father. Now it’s personal… **Note to my government** : I’ll keep paying my taxes and doing whatever I need to do to stay out of jail, but don’t ask me for anything else. We’re done now. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/10 "2016-10-27T18:40:34Z")
[http://blog.dilbert.com/post/152226715516/how-to-legally-vote-more-than-once](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/152226715516/how-to-legally-vote-more-than-once) This is a sneakily clever post about political persuasion, isn’t it? Especially since he doesn’t oversell it and says it could work perhaps 10% of the time . I began reading that post very skeptically but by the end I was quite persuaded that his technique could work especially on the right target. Stuff like that convinces me that Adams remains quite lucid so I am deeply puzzled by his other election posts on Trump. Does he really believe that stuff or is it some kind of elaborate joke? ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/11 "2016-10-27T18:42:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > And he never tells us what he believes until after it’s disproven so he can say that he didn’t mean that particular thing. “Oh, I was just being sarcastic.” ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/12 "2016-10-27T18:45:04Z")
> [@CultOfReason](#): > > Everybody knows you never do a full retard. Kellyanne should remind Trump of that. The teleprompter in his head is a random word generator with a limited vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/13 "2016-10-27T18:46:58Z")
He seems to be the latest in a long line of outrageous commentators who are pleased when they’re taken seriously, but demur to the effect of “Oh, I’m just an entertainer” when caught out on nonsense. Limbaugh has made a career out of this fan-dance. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/14 "2016-10-27T19:08:57Z")
I said it in the other thread and I repeat it here: he’s a closeted Republican, fully committed to the cause but (he believes, probably rightly) that coming out of the closet with that stance would hurt his business. [And it seems it actually is true](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151301555066/the-week-i-became-a-target): > [@Scott Adams' blog](#): > > P.S. The one and only speaking gig I had on my calendar for the coming year cancelled yesterday because they decided to “go in a different direction.” I estimate my opportunity cost from speaking events alone to be around $1 million. That’s based on how the rate of offers went from several per month (for decades) to zero this year. Blogging about Trump is expensive. So, every 4 years at least, he tries to coyly “persuade” his readers to vote for the Republican candidate. He has done that at [the very least since 2008](http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/12/next-on-mount-r.html), where he actually thought that George W. Bush was a president worth of being on Mount Rushmore. > [@Scott Adams' blog](#): > > As regular readers know, I sometimes like to make arguments for positions I don’t hold, just to test my viewpoint. Today I will argue that President George W. Bush will be regarded by historians as among the best presidents ever, and might get a place on Mt. Rushmore. > > Reiterating: This is not my view. You can see that he uses pretty much the same rhetorical tools he keeps using today to argue on behalf of a Republican figure 1. I don’t actually believe what I’m saying but 2. See all these arguments in favor of what I don’t actually believe As far as I can tell, he’s never actually used those rhetorical twists in favor of anyone on the Democratic side (not that I have really looked that far for them). At the very least, he is absolutely AGAINST Hillary Clinton. Which you can see[in this post](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151737656851/the-era-of-women): > [@Scott Adams' blog](#): > > Anyway, getting to the point of this post, if Clinton wins, it will be because women voted for her in landslide proportions while men (on average) preferred Trump. And that means two things of historic importance. > > 1. We will elect the first woman to be President of the United States. That’s good for everyone. > > and… > > 1. Everything that goes wrong with the country from this point forward is women’s fault. > > I feel some relief about that. The next four years are likely to be some of the worst in our country’s history. The Republican establishment will make sure of that because a failed America is in their best interest in the short run. Four years from now they want to offer their chosen savior (Paul Ryan). Trump would have a good chance of bullying the Republican establishment as he has done so far. Clinton, not so much. She’ll be buried in scandals, both real and imagined. > > Men had a good run. We invented almost everything, and that’s cool. But we also started all of the wars and committed most of the crimes. It’s a mixed record to be sure. Now it’s time for something different, apparently. > > Hillary Clinton is all yours, ladies. She and her alleged rapist husband are your brand now. Wear them well. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/15 "2016-10-27T19:14:35Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > [http://blog.dilbert.com/post/152226715516/how-to-legally-vote-more-than-once](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/152226715516/how-to-legally-vote-more-than-once) > > This is a sneakily clever post about political persuasion, isn’t it? Especially since he doesn’t oversell it and says it could work perhaps 10% of the time . I began reading that post very skeptically but by the end I was quite persuaded that his technique could work especially on the right target. > > Stuff like that convinces me that Adams remains quite lucid so I am deeply puzzled by his other election posts on Trump. Does he really believe that stuff or is it some kind of elaborate joke? It would be. Of course, step one is: > [@Scott Adams' Blog](#): > > 1. Set the stage by cleverly hiding the fact that you are a Trump supporter. Say some good things to your intended targets about Clinton’s plucky attitude, her place in history, and the breadth of her experience. Once people believe you are on the “right” side, they will find you more persuasive later. The problem with this is that if you start with this advice right now, you are starting far too late for it to work. Even the supposed “master persuader”(aka Scott Adams) has dropped the ball in this respect. Which would actually be ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/16 "2016-10-27T19:20:24Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > I said it in the other thread and I repeat it here: he’s a closeted Republican, fully committed to the cause but (he believes, probably rightly) that coming out of the closet with that stance would hurt his business. [And it seems it actually is true](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151301555066/the-week-i-became-a-target): > > So, every 4 years at least, he tries to coyly “persuade” his readers to vote for the Republican candidate. He has done that at [the very least since 2008](http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/12/next-on-mount-r.html), where he actually thought that George W. Bush was a president worth of being on Mount Rushmore. > > You can see that he uses pretty much the same rhetorical tools he keeps using today to argue on behalf of a Republican figure > > 1. I don’t actually believe what I’m saying > but > 2. See all these arguments in favor of what I don’t actually believe … Yeah, he’s not ‘playing three-dimensional chess’ any more than Trump is. The promos for GOP candidates come from his heart, or more properly from the fear center of his brain: Adams is genuinely and sincerely freaked out by people whose skin is darker than his own and by people whose genes are X-ier than his own. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/17 "2016-10-27T19:32:30Z")
I don’t think that being Republican has hurt Adams’ business. I think that being crazy has hurt his business. Admittedly, it’s hard to tell the difference lately. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/18 "2016-10-27T19:35:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t think that being Republican has hurt Adams’ business. I think that being crazy has hurt his business. Is there any data available on how his book sales have been doing? ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/19 "2016-10-27T19:45:05Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > Is there any data available on how his book sales have been doing? The reason I said his posts have cost him business is not related to his books but rather to his speaking gigs. He says that his booked gigs have dropped from something like once a month to none for next year, costing him about a million. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849/20 "2016-10-27T19:50:22Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yeah, he’s not ‘playing three-dimensional chess’ any more than Trump is. The promos for GOP candidates come from his heart, or more properly from the fear center of his brain: Adams is genuinely and sincerely freaked out by people whose skin is darker than his own and by people whose genes are X-ier than his own. I can see the argument that he’s freaked by women’s rising political power (witness the blog post I quoted). But I haven’t actually seen any racist ones. Do you have a particular example for that? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert-creator-scott-adams/769849.md?page=2)