Asshole Scott Adams (Dilbert) scapegoating unions for outsourcing

[Zomby Woof]

Talk about a tired old right-wing myth. With union membership at historic lows, and outsourcing happening with mostly non-unionized companies, it is rather transparent where his sympathies lie. Of course, anyone who has paid attention over the years knows that Adams has always been a pro-corporate court jester rather than a populist defender of put-upon workers. The formula is as simple as his 'artwork': poke fun at corporate foibles to reassure the poor cube serfs that they are not alone, but in not in such a way that would suggest meaningful or subtle criticism. It works as a kind of cartoon pablum that defends the status quo, while pretending to mock it.

Today's strip:

[YOY]

1. So it's the UNIONS doing all the outsourcing.

Sure Scott...whatever.

[joeybee12]

2. I read it as he's saying the COMPANIES have outsourced to get around

the unions.

[Fleshdancer]

3. that's how I read it too...

and that the whole place went to sh*t due to the outsourcing.

[HuckleB]

4. That's how I read it, too.

[PassingFair]

That's because companies have little choice but to outsource, if evil unions INSIST on living wages.

:sarcasm:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

7. that IS what he is saying...

talk about blowing the interpretation...geez

sP

[PatGund]

8. Same here

I see it as the companies outsourced to get around the unions. Nothing anti-union in it.

BTW, Scott Adams used to be a member of CWA when he was employed by Pacific Bell.

[mitchum]

10. Was that where he was working with all of the coworkers he referred to as "losers"...

in the introduction to his collected scribblings and scrawlings?

He is the DLC of labor empathy.

[mitchum]

5. I agree with you that he has always been a tool with his...

"corporate exploitation is natural, so let's just have a laugh about our inevitable plight"
Fuck him with a rusty harp.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. I don't read that strip like that. The 'angel' says heaven and hell were outsourced

BECAUSE the demons and angels unionized. Not that the unionized demons and angels did the outsourcing.

[Raineyb]

9. I think you're misreading the comic.

I think he's saying that the souls have been outsourced BECAUSE the angels and demons unionized as in the company's way of getting round the unions and their demands.

[Sinistrous]

11. That is how I read it this morning.

[Zomby Woof]

13. Exactly

For those who think I misinterpreted: I understand that he is saying that companies are outsourcing to get around unions, but that still scapegoats the unions. He is saying in a roundabout way, that they wouldn't have had to outsource if not for those damn unions. This is what I meant when I said he doesn't actually criticize the status quo - he apologizes for it while pretending to be one of us.

As for him being in the CWA - that doesn't mean anything. I knew plenty of engineers at Boeing in Seattle who weren't fond of their union, even though it secured some decent contracts for them. They were libertarian types. One can bite the hand that feeds it.

[mitchum]

21. "he apologizes for it while pretending to be one of us"...exactly!

THAT has always been that snarling lapdog's game. Unfortunately, many can not see that (witness this thread)

[Zomby Woof]

23. Par for the dismal course on DU

The only stupid thing I am guilty of is thinking I would get some intelligent discourse on Scott Adams in the first place. Apparently, his schtick IS effective. VERY effective.

[Robbie88]

18. Yeah, I think you're right....

Although I've always been entertained by the old rightist idea that if only the unions were to disappear from the American landscape that most outsourcing would come to a screeching halt, as if then we would somehow be on a level playing field with those workers in under-developed and developing countries who are paid such criminally low wages.

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. He's got one of the best comic strips around.

[Rebubula]

14. Do you read Dilbert very often???

I am guessing not.

Anyway...this is a comic strip....

Lighten up, Francis

[rocktivity]

15. I think he means "Heaven and Hell have been outsourcing souls

to us (in Helven) IN RETALIATION for the demons and angels unionizing."

:shrug:
rocktivity

[FormerDittoHead]

16. If you want comics that you might not get, read The New Yorker.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Facepalm.

[Jack Rabbit]

19. I haven't followed Dilbert in a while, but . . .

One should be cautious about reading a story line at face value when it involves the idiot yes man manager.

Looking at the strip in the OP, one should at least wait for the punch line before making a judgment.

[sailor65]

20. Most of the other responders have said it already

but you totally misread it.

Perhaps a simpler comic would help?

[Zomby Woof]

22. Nope

I think mitchum and I (and seemingly, PassingFair) are the only ones in this thread who GET Scott Adams. He has taken plenty of pro-corporate, anti-union swipes in his strip before. If you all understood his M.O., you wouldn't all be jumping down my ass. He has got you fooled just like I outlined in my OP. "He draws funny things and makes me laugh!" Talk about a 'literacy fail', lol. None of you get context, do you?

Yeah, it's just a comic, but it's also a well-regarded piece of propaganda. The LA Times puts it in its Business section for a reason. Do you think if the strip was REALLY anti-business it would run in there? Many newspapers do run it in their Business sections precisely because he is their jester.

But what the fuck. Beats the shit out of another Palin or teabagger thread.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Since the basic premise of Dilbert is "management always behave like assholes"

it seems strange to start interpreting a strip as saying "management are making sensible decisions" or "someone else has forced management into doing this".

[scorpiogirl]

25. He lives in a very wealthy town

and is currently building some humongous house. None of this affects him personally.