"He writes funny office comics and that's about it."
If that would have been it, he would not have been canceled. (After publishing a racist rant, so also not really a qualification to predict global human social behavior).
He reacted to the Rasmussen poll which said that 53% of black people in the US disagree with the statement "it's ok to be white", and suggested it would be wise to "stay the hell away" and "there's no fixing this"
He said to "stay the hell away" from ALL black people. No matter how they individually think, which qualifies as racism, if it is to be taken literally. Now he uses satire as well, but this seems to be his genuine opinion. (a comic the next days had the lines: "How is honesty working out for you? - to which Dilbert replies "Shut up")
And for context, the statement "it's ok to be white" is political charged, as it originally comes from white racist, so it is up for debate, how much this changed the poll.
With human natural language, context always matters. Common humans are not trained in boolean logic and don't try to make mathematical correct sentences like we nerds do (clearly we do not succed with that always, either).
So if someone associates a phrase as an slogan of an enemy group, he or she will not agree to that phrase.
But this point aside, for sure there are many black racists. Who hate white people, because some white people enslaved their ancestors.
But saying now ALL black people are to be avoided because SOME black people are racist, is equal to disagreeing to "it is ok to be black". The very thing he criticized black people for.
But honestly, it is all BS to, focusing so much on the color of peoples skin in the first place.
Don't be patronising. Black people are not stupid - I should know because my wife is one.
If a black person says they disagree with the statement "it's OK to be white", you can believe they know what they're saying. And it's no surprise, because you have this problem in America - there are so many voices in echo chambers stoking racial grievance today... well I'm relieved that the number isn't even higher.
So what is the solution to this?
Scott Adams says there isn't one. Maybe he's right. How do you deescalate this? And if tensions continue to escalate, then what choice do people have other than to peacefully move apart?
I did not say black people are stupid. I said common people are not strict users of boolean logic in their language.
You can see that also with "black lifes matter". If you would poll for that, then very likely quite some people would answer no, not because they are racist, but because they think "all lifes matter".
"How do you deescalate this?"
To me the solution would simply be not caring about skin color anymore. Not making such flamewar polls. Not encode it in laws, regulations, quotas, ... because all this is cementing the importance of skin color, instead of moving beyound it.
"And if tensions continue to escalate, then what choice do people have other than to peacefully move apart? "
You can just move towards people, who also don't care about skincolor.
It is not a binary decision. Ask people in between, what they think of it.
Anyway, if black and white racists seperate and stay by themself, then this is fine by me.
For that he was cancelled? I don't get it. The Dilbert site is still up.
It sounds like there is room for nuance, but one side of the issue has no room for nuance. I'll try to find his original essay to see what I can make of it. For what it's worth, I've never heard of the Rasmussen poll.
Well, he is obviously not in jail and his site is private, so still up, but all the major magazines and newspapers don't show his cartoons anymore.
And it was originally a youtube video, not an essay, but I don't have the link at hand anymore. (But there were plenty of articles about it with the video linked)
If that would have been it, he would not have been canceled. (After publishing a racist rant, so also not really a qualification to predict global human social behavior).