Cancelling Dilbert

Do you hate “cancel culture”? So do I. I hate giving up on things because their creators have become so hideous and despicable that I can’t enjoy them anymore.

I remember when the first Dilbert strips came out in the late 80s and early 90s when I worked at AST. This was when they were passed around by email, printed, and posted in the break room. They were hilarious. That was because Scott Adams understood us. He spoke our language. He knew what it was like to work for clueless bosses. He voiced our frustration. It was so much a part of tech culture that I mentioned it in Offline.

It has been heartbreaking to watch him tumble down the rabbit hole from nerdy crank, to libertarian, to Trump supporter, and now an all-out racist. It has been frightening too, because I’ve seen too many others go down the same path. You get sucked into the propaganda, learn how to twist language to justify your bigotries, cut yourself off from anyone who can give you a different perspective, until you turn into the worst of people. It can happen to anyone, including someone who is as smart as Scott Adams.

And that’s how you wind up with a “National Day of Hate.” That is what neo-Nazis and white supremacists are calling for on Saturday, February 25 to spread anti-Semitic literature and promote violence against Jewish people. The worst part is no one is speaking out about this.