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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 20, 2023

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Looks like Dilbert is being pulled from newspapers following controversial remarks by its creator, Scott Adams https://www.foxnews.com/us/laid-off-newspapers-drop-office-cartoon-dilbert-over-creators-racial-remarks

Multiple newspapers have pulled the popular office comedy comic strip "Dilbert" after its creator Scott Adams made racist comments in his podcast, and then doubled down on them.

"If nearly half of all Blacks are not okay with White people – according to this poll, not to me – that’s a hate group," Adams said during his "Coffee with Scott Adams" vlog, referring to a Rasmussen poll published this week. "That’s a hate group, and I don’t want anything to do with them."

"And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I can give to White people is to get the hell away from Black people," he continued, adding, "There is no fixing this … you just have to escape," which he said was why he moved to his current neighborhood that has "a very low Black population."

I don't think this is quite that big of deal personally. He has FU money and his brand/career at punditry keeps growing. I think his bigger risk would is being de-platformed from Youtube/Twitter. He don't need Dilbert anymore but he does need his Youtube and Twitter accounts.

Scott Adams seems to have updated quite strongly on a 1000 person poll, which included black people, over the nuance of who agreed with an apparent well known(?) racist dog whistle.

He decides from here that black people hate white people and that white people must get away from them. Then he hurls some fairly ready to go insults about black people in general that I guess he was just saving for this?

He seems as... crazed ... as usual here, but I do agree he's being taken out of context. He obviously feels betrayed because he thought of himself as a fierce advocate for black people (??) but learning that all black people might still have problems with all white people completely flipped him.

I'm trying to think of a more fair headline. Maybe: Dilbert creator decides black people are hate group after reading one small poll about a racist dog whistle, cautions white people to "get the fuck away" from black people.

He seems as... crazed ... as usual here, but I do agree he's being taken out of context.

Is he crazed? I think he might be a bit set off because he is upset about learning about the huge black bigotry problem that the less...influential set of online intellectuals have known about for decades. He also seems to just be vocalizing what people do anyways: move away from black people because they are violent and will make your life suck. From a post I read elsewhere, apparently he is taking a victory lap on that latter point now. His new claim is people are pretending to be angry because they agree with him. I personally have no insight into the inner workings of a white progressive that seeks out "good schools" for his/her children, but he is either correct, or simply underestimating the level of doublethink most people can hold.

huge black bigotry problem

This poll does not demonstrate that at all, because the slogan in question has become so loaded among people aware of the controversy.

I mean, you might say that, but its a pre-existing known issue. If this is the tripwire that opened his eyes, it is that.