Now, Scott Adams books are only good for holding up my bookshelf.

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.

Is hatred now a legitimate political opinion? Have people’s mere existence become a topic of debate? When did hate become so acceptable? And calling out someone else’s hatred subject to criticism and condemnation? If Ye, J. K. Rowling, and Scott Adams want the freedom to be assholes, don’t I have the freedom to condemn them for it and refuse to support their work?

I’m tired. I’m tired of the hatred and ugliness in society today. More than that, I’m tired that so many people accept it. But this won’t stop me from speaking out about it.

Calling out Scott Adams and Dilbert isn’t just cancelling someone for saying a bad thing. It’s to stop others from falling down the same rabbit hole. It’s to remind people that hatred is something we don’t tolerate, denying someone’s humanity is unacceptable, and racism is un-American. I used to be a big Dilbert fan. But I’m giving it up to take a stand against racism and hatred.