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Scott Adams has died

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Re: Scott Adams has died

#461

Post by TheBigSalad »

pohl wrote: post #363
jchallis wrote: post #188

Scott Adams died today. I want to acknowledge something complicated. He always felt culturally like family to me. His peaks—the biting humor about corporate absurdity, the writing on systems thinking and compounding habits, the clarity about the gap between what organizations say and what they do—unquestionably made me healthier, happier, and wealthier. If you worked in tech in the 90s and 2000s, Dilbert was a shared…

Interesting that you literally chose him as family (albeit parasocially) when he's not actually family, and then somehow justify it by saying that one cannot choose their family. Pick a lane.

I think he means that it was like family in the sense that he was there. You didn't choose him, Dilbert was just everywhere. And back in the day everyone loved Scott Adams, but then thing started to go bad over time and we all realized what was happening. It's similar to what a lot of families face - you love someone when you're younger but realize how messed up things are later. Or the person changes in negative ways. I don't see this as justifying anything.

Re: Scott Adams has died

#462

Post by standardUser »

spankalee wrote: post #290

I don't get "avoiding the ugliness" when someone dies. We need to acknowledge the ugliness and try to do better. Acting like "oh, he was trolling", or "it was just a small amount of hating Black people and women" is exactly how you get Steven Miller in the fucking White House. We need to make it shameful to be bigoted again, and that means calling out the bigotry even in death.

Personally, I despise an outspoken bigot like Scott Adams more when they die, not less, because now their window for growth and repentance has closed. The grotesqueness they harbored becomes permanently tied to their legacy.

Re: Scott Adams has died

#463

Post by gs17 »

rsynnott wrote: post #249
mrweasel wrote: post #182

I loved Dilbert, having worked for more than one Dilbert-like company the humor frequently resonated with me. How or why Scott Adams went completely of the rails is perhaps something we'll sadly never understand. Was this opinions he'd always had, but suppressed, did he somehow become radicalized or was it perhaps medically induced, e.g. a stroke or something. It was incredibly sad to see him throw away his life's wo…

I read one of his books once, written in the 90s or so. It included the idea that affirmations could literally change reality ("law of attraction"), and an _alternative theory of gravity_. At the time, I thought that these were probably attempts at jokes that didn't land very well, but... Once you believe one thing which is totally outside the pale, it is often very easy to start believing others.

> and an _alternative theory of gravity_

For people who haven't read The Dilbert Future: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/32627/has-anyone...

It's a weird book and not in a great way. He presents a bunch of very strange "theories" in a way where he kind of says "haha just a silly lil thought... unless it's true", which I remember seeing in some of his early Trump stuff too.

Re: Scott Adams has died

#464

Post by nobodywillobsrv »

spankalee wrote: post #290

I don't get "avoiding the ugliness" when someone dies. We need to acknowledge the ugliness and try to do better. Acting like "oh, he was trolling", or "it was just a small amount of hating Black people and women" is exactly how you get Steven Miller in the fucking White House. We need to make it shameful to be bigoted again, and that means calling out the bigotry even in death.

What exactly was the bad stuff? He was insensitive about empirical reality or he was literally wrong about something in the sense of being very confident about something despite having little data? Or something else? I only remember the cartons really but was aware some people seemed to be irked about him recently.

Re: Scott Adams has died

#465

Post by tibbydudeza »

I loved his work and still do but he put himself front and center over his work and some of his fans like me realized he was actually a vile person.

The best cartoonist is invisible like Banksy and the guy who did the Cow cartoons and Calvin & Hobbes.

Re: Scott Adams has died

#466

Post by optionalsquid »

RajT88 wrote: post #393
spankalee wrote: post #290

I don't get "avoiding the ugliness" when someone dies. We need to acknowledge the ugliness and try to do better. Acting like "oh, he was trolling", or "it was just a small amount of hating Black people and women" is exactly how you get Steven Miller in the fucking White House. We need to make it shameful to be bigoted again, and that means calling out the bigotry even in death.

The thinking is that not "speaking ill of the dead" is not just respect, but doing anything else is pointless. You will not change them, and everyone present already made up their mind on their behavior.

The best we can do for the dead is remember them as they were, good and bad, not demonize them nor write hagiographies for them

Re: Scott Adams has died

#467

Post by LargeWu »

wrqvrwvq wrote: post #449
blackgirldev wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Adams claimed Black Americans were a hate group and that white people should "get the hell away".

As to ICE deporting criminal aliens, that's not what they're doing. They're kidnapping people off the street and out of their homes and cars, with no warrants. They're literally doing "Papers, please" style stops of anybody they even suspect could be an immigrant, including Native Americans. Just a few days ago in Minneapolis they abducted four homeless men who are members of the Oglala Nation. This all sounds pretty Gestapo like to me.

Re: Scott Adams has died

#468

Post by nunobrito »

Jtsummers wrote: post #324
nunobrito wrote: post #172

Why is this post being shadowbanned? This topic has over 200 points, +180 replies and was published one hour ago. Admins: don't play around and be fair. Scott deserves respect and proper condolences.

> Why is this post being shadowbanned? If it were shadowbanned we wouldn't be able to comment on it. People have flagged it, it triggered the flamewar detector, or both. That's why it got downranked. If you think the topic of his death has been "shadowbanned" (for some non-standard definition of shadowbanned), check the front page. There's another discussion there about it.

Shadowban is not the same as a traditional ban. It is a selective ban.

This topic is not on the front page for me, yet it was on the front page for you.

That is shadowban.

Re: Scott Adams has died

#469

Post by pjbk »

bentcorner wrote: post #312
dstroot wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will probably be downvoted for posting something that “doesn’t add value” but I have to say that is a beautiful post about a difficult topic. I could never put into words my feelings as well as you just did. I loved his art. I did not love the man.

Love the art, not the artist. I loved reading the Belgariad as a young teen and was shocked upon learning more about the author as an adult.

Yet he did a lot of good leaving his money to academia and medical research.

I think the Egyptians had it right. Ultimately your heart will be weighted against the feather of Ma'at, and it is up to the goddess to decide. We mere mortals don't know the true intentions and circumstances of other people and their lives to judge, nor to throw the first stone.

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