Having helped introduce the “Dilbert” comic strip to Hawaii readers in the 1990s, I took no pleasure in seeing its creator, Scott Adams, self-immolate in a racist tirade that caused the Honolulu Star- Advertiser and many other newspapers to discontinue the strip.
But its important to understand why Adams had to face the consequences of his hurtful and repugnant statements — and why he has no case in dubiously trying to cast his censure as a violation of his free-speech rights.
In his podcast, Adams dismissed Black people in their totality as “a hate group” from whom whites should “just get the hell away.”
This bigoted stereotyping is far across the line of what’s acceptable for a responsible media figure — even with the know-no-boundaries political discourse that has poisoned our public square in recent years. There are not two valid sides to this story.
If Adams didn’t understand the fate that would befall him once those ugly words came out of his mouth, he’s even more of a fool than the words themselves suggest.
If you want to criticize something specific about specific people, that’s one thing; but you don’t make an unfounded broadside attack against an entire race of people and expect respectable publishers to carry your work.
His free-speech defense is nonsense; he can say what he wants, but newspapers, cartoon syndicates and book publishers have no obligation to give him a platform, amplify his racism or otherwise do business with him.
In these times of resurgent racial prejudice, he has his supporters, of course. The comments sections of news stories about the matter are filled with aggrieved culture warriors throwing around tired buzzwords like “cancel,” “wokeness” and “political correctness.”
The galling thing behind the grievance of Adams and those taking his side is that it seems to be grounded in a nonsensical belief that Black people are waging some kind of hateful war against whites.
It’s the quintessence of Orwellian doublespeak.
White people are a significant majority in this country and hold most of the political and economic power in states red and blue.
Black people are a put-upon minority, near the bottom of most social and economic measures, for centuries subject to subjugation, exploitation and brutal repression that continue in some forms to this day.
And they’d have us believe it’s Black people who have made war against white people? That the Black community originated racial hatred? That they should just get over it and accept their place as Adams suggested?
For those who have been blessed with the most to cast themselves as victims of those who have little is the ultimate weakness.
Trying to argue with twisted conspiratorial thinking is a waste of mental bandwidth.
Let’s just say this: We can give in to our worst instincts, deny history and judge others by something so superficial as the color of their skin — or we can finally begin to live up to our nation’s founding principle that we are all created equal.
Which makes us the greater country?
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
