Scott Adams "Dilbert" reflects the reality of the technology company - there really aren't many black people. This is true. He gets most of his ideas from people in companies like the one he depicts. I've worked in technology for (oh, God) forty years and I don't need a calculator to count the black people I've worked with.
Story: when I moved from Florida to Virginia, I was teamed with a guy who grew up in St Louis. He was always well-dressed, well-spoken, polite, and completely up on the part of the product that he specialized in. Our skill-sets overlapped, although I was much senior to him in the company, and he took everything I provided him in the way of knowledge and experience. I took a vacation; when I came back he reported on what happened while I was gone and had done everything I would have done in those situations. "Wow, I can go on vacation and here's somebody who completely has my back." That's when he told me he was leaving the company.
My colleague was black. Longest time I spent working directly with a black person. We had more in common than not, up to and including coming from a large family with a hard-working father and a religious mother who did not have any stupid babies. And I miss him. He was GREAT!
He's said that the aggressive attacks on perceived racism is actually why his comic is almost entirely white people. All of his characters have some sort of massive flaw as a way to enable comedy.
When he added the first minority character, Asok the Indian intern, he gave him the softest flaw he could think of: Being inexperienced. He was even depicted as being brilliant and well-adjusted, just too willing to trust his co-workers.
Predictably, the race baiters bit his head off for it.
Like the job I had in the shipping yard where another young worker was given the task of fetching "the pipe stretcher". Apparently this was done regularly, where everybody in the plant knew the joke, and around and around he went.
I was never tasked with this. I suspect it was because my dad was Production Supervisor. But this guy's dad was the Plant Engineer. I finally decided that my dad was liked better than his dad...
Hell, even minor characters like Loud Howard, The Boss's Boss, Techno-Bill or Phil, Prince of Insufficient light would all be obviously considered offensive. The only character who doesn't have a glaring personality flaw is Ted the Generic Guy, and he exists primarily to be fired or hurt.
Scott Adams "Dilbert" reflects the reality of the technology company - there really aren't many black people. This is true. He gets most of his ideas from people in companies like the one he depicts. I've worked in technology for (oh, God) forty years and I don't need a calculator to count the black people I've worked with.
Story: when I moved from Florida to Virginia, I was teamed with a guy who grew up in St Louis. He was always well-dressed, well-spoken, polite, and completely up on the part of the product that he specialized in. Our skill-sets overlapped, although I was much senior to him in the company, and he took everything I provided him in the way of knowledge and experience. I took a vacation; when I came back he reported on what happened while I was gone and had done everything I would have done in those situations. "Wow, I can go on vacation and here's somebody who completely has my back." That's when he told me he was leaving the company.
My colleague was black. Longest time I spent working directly with a black person. We had more in common than not, up to and including coming from a large family with a hard-working father and a religious mother who did not have any stupid babies. And I miss him. He was GREAT!
He's said that the aggressive attacks on perceived racism is actually why his comic is almost entirely white people. All of his characters have some sort of massive flaw as a way to enable comedy.
When he added the first minority character, Asok the Indian intern, he gave him the softest flaw he could think of: Being inexperienced. He was even depicted as being brilliant and well-adjusted, just too willing to trust his co-workers.
Predictably, the race baiters bit his head off for it.
Like the job I had in the shipping yard where another young worker was given the task of fetching "the pipe stretcher". Apparently this was done regularly, where everybody in the plant knew the joke, and around and around he went.
I was never tasked with this. I suspect it was because my dad was Production Supervisor. But this guy's dad was the Plant Engineer. I finally decided that my dad was liked better than his dad...
Bobby b
Get the breastplate stretcher!
How epic would it be if Bobby-b bot was on .win?
(in Robert Baratheon's booming voice)
"GO GET ME THE BREASTPLATE STRETCHER!!"
Makes me think of "carried out on his shield"...
Dilbert: socially inept, constantly taken advantage of
Alice: prone to fits of rage
Wally: professionally lazy
Asok: naive and poor
Carol: low-key psychopath
Pointy Haired Boss: Unscrupulous moron undeserving of his status
Dogbert: conniving exploiter
Catbert: sadist
Yeah, it's hard to imagine who you could make black without pissing people off. Galbrush Effect in force.
Hell, even minor characters like Loud Howard, The Boss's Boss, Techno-Bill or Phil, Prince of Insufficient light would all be obviously considered offensive. The only character who doesn't have a glaring personality flaw is Ted the Generic Guy, and he exists primarily to be fired or hurt.