@Trumpbert@zirk.us avatar Trumpbert , to random

Also by Freeman Ng: BRIDGE ACROSS THE SKY, an Angel Island novel. https://www.AngelIslandNovel.com

New strips every Sunday. Reposts of strips from my first-term collection, TRUMPBERT: OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE (https://www.Trumpbert.com) most weekdays.

@h4ckernews@mastodon.social avatar h4ckernews Bot , to random
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@DuncanMSussex@mas.to avatar DuncanMSussex , to random

It's not a popular view but I did quite enjoy Dilbert, at least the 90s stuff.

2020s racist Dilbert? Probably less so. And in sense Scott Adams' radicalisation killed himself as much as his work (prostate cancer is very treatable if you see real doctors).

He strikes me as a cautionary tale but I've no idea what his path to radicalisation was. ~2006 he was pretty self-superior but generally normal enough, by ~2016 he seemed unhinged. No idea what the transitional was.

@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar ridetheory , to random

My Story

In the 1990s, I worked as an office temp. I logged a lot of hours in a lot of different offices, and I had an instant and accurate way to sense how dysfunctional and toxic a workplace was as soon as I walked in.

I took note of how many comics were pinned up, and where.

If I saw one or two comics scattered around, I knew people had their gripes and complaints about their co-workers, but it was nothing too serious.

1/9

ridetheory OP ,
@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar

If virtually every cubicle had more than one comic pinned up, I knew everyone working there disliked each other. The atmosphere probably wasn’t going to be too terrible for me as a temp, but I wouldn’t want to work there permanently.

2/9

ridetheory OP ,
@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar

Whenever I saw a disproportionate number of comics in one cubicle, I knew to avoid that person. They were clearly the asshole in the office, and they were usually on a hair trigger. I once saw a cubicle that was practically wallpapered with Dilbert comics, including several where he had labeled the characters with co-workers’ names, and then pinned them on the OUTSIDE of his cube. Yikes! Steer clear of that dude!

3/9

ridetheory OP ,
@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar

If there was even one comic pinned up to a communal bulletin board, watch out! The hatred went from workers up AND management down.

God forbid someone had used the photocopier to enlarge it; that meant they wanted everyone to see how much they hated everyone.

In this last situation, I would usually call my agency at the end of the day and ask if they had any other assignments.

If I saw Dilbert plush toys, I’d just tell my agency I couldn’t continue the assignment.

4/9

ridetheory OP ,
@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar

The gauge never failed me. The more Dilbert comic strips I saw, the nastier the place was.

I worked at a one place where was banned. Specifically, just Dilbert. Sounds extreme, but the bosses knew exactly what was peddling, and they didn’t want any.

That office ran smoothly and was among the nicest.

5/9

ridetheory OP ,
@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar

So was my canary in the coal mine. I can’t think of another comic strip that functioned like this. Cathy was drawn almost exactly as badly as Dilbert, but the only thing I learned from seeing that strip in an office was the person pinning it up had body image issues. Peanuts meant the person had self-esteem problems. (Or, contrarywise, they identified with Snoopy.)

6/9

ridetheory OP ,
@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar

So I guess the moral here is: was a thin-skinned, egotistical monster who wrote and badly drew a hateful comic strip called , and all his “humor” punched down, and he used sock puppet accounts to brag about his own genius, and was a racist, and he thought Donald Trump was great...

7/9

ridetheory OP ,
@ridetheory@mastodon.social avatar

Further reading: “The trouble with : how corporate culture gets the last laugh”
by Norman Solomon
https://archive.org/details/troublewithdilbe00solo_0/mode/2up

9/9

@h4ckernews@mastodon.social avatar h4ckernews Bot , to random
@trending@mastodon.bot avatar trending Bot , to random

is now trending across Mastodon

is now trending across Mastodon

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@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar aral , to random

From the bottom of my heart: Fuck Israel, fuck every single Zionist out there, and fuck anyone who is complicit in this genocide.

May you live the rest of your days in fear for what you are putting the Palestinian people through, you sorry genocidal excuses for human beings.

duckz ,
@duckz@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@CosmickTrigger @wiekkie70 @aral wokist BS, when they run out of arguments they accuse you of being a Nazi, a pedo, a rapist or something. At some point it was enough to shut you up and get you "cancelled". We lost because of that, they had step down because of that, and countless people like you found themselves defending from baseless, off-topic and most of all false accusations giving the woke troll the upper hand. It looks like that trick is not working anymore!

@meow@fediblock.lol avatar meow , to random
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