What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert? • Hacker News Board

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#341

Post by AinderS » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 6:56 PM UTC

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #127

AinderS wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do anything if you control the definitions: Ethno-nationalists want to progress into a world where conflict is avoided by clear borders between naturally antagonistic groups, while globalists want to revert to a time before clear nations and borders, to plunge the world into perpetual ethnic conflict, such as what happened in India and Africa after colonialists drew borders without regard for which groups liv…

This sleight of hand would work, if only it weren't for the constantly backward-looking statements on the part of the "progressors" in your examples. The definitions are not the only thing that matter: how those who propose particular social transformation (or lack thereof) talk about those changes (particularly w.r.t. history or an imagined future) is just as important.

I see. So for example, India's government revoking Kashmir's independence and imposing demographic change on it [1] is progressive, and resisting it is conservative. Likewise, unifying China is progressive, while ethno-religious resistance by the Uyghur's is conservative. The Republicans efforts to advance from a country of immigrants, to a country of natives, is progressive, while Democrats wishing the US remains a country of immigrants is conservative.

But these are just a handful of counter-examples, sorry, exceptions, sorry, sleight-of-hand. Add more epicycles to your theory of how your ideological opponents are just irrationally evil and want to bring back all the worst parts of the past, and all these exceptions will be explained away, and we shall see that the Earth stands still.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#342

Post by tpoacher » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 6:57 PM UTC

What the hell is up with random people trying to character assassinate Scott Adams all the time? With complete falsehoods too. It's bizzare!

I listen to his podcast every now and then. The guy's funny, and has a knack for disassembling news into their dark patterns and pointing out absurdity. Definitely not the same guy portrayed in this article.

> [Dramatic pause] And inevitably, this will be what leads to the downfall of Dilbert.

Geez. Drama much? I can almost see the author patting herself on the back when she wrote that sentence. What a waste of a life.

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#343

Post by ryandrake » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:01 PM UTC

gadders wrote: post #234

bediger4000 wrote: post #3

The easy answer to the title question is that Scott Adams gained enough wealth that he lost touch. That seems to be a common experience of commercially successful artists. The author never explores this explanation.

If people with Fuck you money don't start saying "Fuck you!" then what's the point?

I always thought “fuck you” money specifically meant the ability to say F-U to a job or boss you don’t like. It’s not some general license to be unpleasant or anti-social because you don’t have to care anymore.

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#344

Post by cholantesh » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:08 PM UTC

fluoridation wrote: post #293

dahart wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it real news? Why are you certain of this person’s story and motivation? What makes you sure it started a trend? Where are the other reports?

It's unclear to me what kind of answer you expect. It seems like you're being skeptical of the concept of news itself, except that which one has personally verified.

They're being skeptical of a report that is built on a single account of anonymous hearsay.

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#345

Post by throwaway4aday » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:18 PM UTC

a_shovel wrote: post #228

jrockway wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've taken unconscious bias training. I thought it was very good. I remember catching myself in some meeting talking over a quiet woman who had probably been wanting to talk for quite a while. My brain remembered the training, I shut up, and let her participate in the meeting as an equal. Without the training, I would probably be silently making people miserable. Now I don't do that, as much. You use the word "pseudo…

"Unconscious bias" is a really strange thing to call pseudoscience. What would it even mean for unconscious bias to be pseudoscience? That believing oneself to be unbiased is absolute proof of being unbiased?

What would it even mean for a human to be completely unbiased? We're big bags of heuristics with a thin skin of pseudo-rationality on top. We can remind ourselves to check our reasoning and maybe we'll make a habit of it but we can't unpick a lifetime of happenstance learning mixed with eons of evolved neural circuitry. We'd be better off just reminding everyone to try to be kind, have empathy and make a point of using good manners.

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#346

Post by dang » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:20 PM UTC

mmmpop wrote: post #265

a_shovel wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the description of the second comic shown in the article: > ... Dave threatens to report PHB (Pointy-Haired Boss) to the company’s HR department should he misgender the new engineer. It is then implied that Dave has switched preferred pronouns with the intent of catching cohorts in a trap rather than out of any true reflection of self. There are at least a couple of things wrong with this, in my view. Do you int…

Quoted post unavailable.

Personal attacks will get you banned here. No more of this, please.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: your account also looks pretty close to using HN primarily for ideological battle. That's another thing we ban accounts for, so please don't do this - see https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme... for past explanations.

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#347

Post by kelseyfrog » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:21 PM UTC

horsawlarway wrote: post #333

kelseyfrog wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the strips shown in the article it's easy to see who he's punching at. If it was up at corporate HR policy, we would see Catbert. Instead we see Dilbert's peers. Dilbert works by personifying roles. It doesn't do much in the way of role subtext.

I disagree - it's very clearly trying to mock the policies that allow this kind of behavior. Those policies aren't coming from the peers.

Dilbert's very clear on its role personification. That's what makes the comic work.

It's how Dilbert is every engineer, PHB is every clueless boss, and Wally is every elder peer, Asok is every junior peer. That's what makes the comic relatable. It also, as the article points out, what provides constraints to these characters as well.

If it was mocking HR policy, then it would be signified with Catbert. It's not. It's very simple.

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#348

Post by dang » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:24 PM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #208

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was considerate of you to do that, on the other hand adults also need to learn to be assertive to succeed in social aspects of work. If you were cutting her off or not paying attention to a raised hand, sure try to change that. But otherwise you are not doing her any favors for her long term career growth, where she will have to participate in meetings with confident, knowledgeable and busy people focused on work…

“Other people in the world are inconsiderate assholes, therefore I should be an inconsiderate asshole to help my coworkers prepare for the inevitable. And if they can’t handle it, too bad.” By the same token do you cheat at every game with your children to teach them the cold truth about society?

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#349

Post by dang » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:29 PM UTC

romwell wrote: post #108

nmilo wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who the hell said that was the real problem in academia, as if it was the only problem there? Are we not allowed to talk about a problem if some greater problem also exists?

> Are we not allowed to talk about a problem if some greater problem also exists? Being facetious, are we? Talking about petty nuisances related to trying to solve the greater problem while not even mentioning what the greater problem is usually an indicator that you don't see the greater problem as a problem . The greater problems being racism and transphobia in the context of this discussion.

Would you please stop taking HN threads further into flamewar? We've had to ask you this several times before, and even in a thread where many commenters are disregarding the site guidelines, your posts are standing out as aggressive. Please make your substantive points without that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: What the Hell Is Up with Dilbert?

#350

Post by dang » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 7:30 PM UTC

Tr3nton wrote: post #76

jacquesm wrote: post #38

He's gone off the deep end. I've seen the same happen with some friends and wrote about it, it's a sad thing when formerly intelligent human beings start losing it and fail to recover only to sink further and further into their own version of reality.

Quoted post unavailable.

We've banned this account for using HN primarily for political and ideological battle. That's not allowed here, regardless of what you're battling for or against. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html