Re: Dilbert revisited
From: James Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] coming back to the gigantic and crucial theoretical debate that held pen-l by the throat recently (until comrade Sawicki pointed out the correct path to us all), I bought a copy of THE DILBERT FUTURE: THRIVING ON STUPIDITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY (50 per cent off at BookStar). . . . BTW, the book isn't as funny as the other one I read, THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE. It's not funny at all. I think Adams has been mass-producing humor in order to exploit his 15 minutes of fame. This is his third book in about a year and a half. And one can't mass-produce humor. I think his daily strip has also gone down hill. Obviously anybody is going to have good days and bad. You can't judge Marx, for example, by his disappointing "Favorite Schnitzel Recipies." Another axiom is that people often run out of ideas, so I wouldn't be surprized if Adams couldn't keep up his current pace. I still like the strip, and haven't bothered to read the books. See in you Chicago. Max == Max B. Sawicky Economic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] Suite 1200 202-775-8810 (voice) 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-0819 (fax) Washington, DC 20036 Opinions here do not necessarily represent the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute. ===
Re: Dilbert
Just to fend off any possible misunderstanding from Sid Sniad's reply to Robin Hahnel: Introductory subscriptions to Dollars Sense are $18.95 for one year (6 issues; $28 in US currency for air mail to Canada). Renewals are $22.95. We welcome (encourage, solicit, couldn't do without, and deeply appreciate) donations over and above the subscription price from our beloved readers. Check out the DS web site at http://www.igc.org/dollars The Dilbert critique is by Nathan Solomon. As proof positive that collective process does not mean groupthink or brainwashing, I'm in the DS collective AND I get a big kick out of Dilbert. I've read stuff by and about Scott Adams (although I haven't read the Solomon book) and I agree he is libertarian and individualistic. But Dilbert is so on the mark in pinpointing the idiocy of the corporate culture. Laughter and resistance are not contradictory. Humor won't start a movement by itself, but laughter is based on shared understanding and can be an element of communication and solidarity. --Laurie Laurie Dougherty [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sid Shniad wrote: That's kind of expensive for a sub to DS, isn't it, Robin? ;-) There is a small book that gives a left critique of Dilbert and Adams. I have looked through it but do not remember the author. I know that Dollars and Sense gives it away to people who donate, I think, more than $60 to DS.
Re: Dilbert
Sid Shniad wrote: I heard the author of Dilbert interviewed on national CBC radio a while back. The guy's a reactionary individualist whose perspective is a kind of with it cynicism about anything social (i.e. unions, politics, etc.) I think that too many people embrace his stuff without reading between the (fairly prominent) lines. Sid Shniad From: valis [EMAIL PROTECTED] === Norman Solomon, reachable at [EMAIL PROTECTED], is a writer dedicated to alerting us about the perverse relationship between politics and public language, a realm now almost wholly taken up by the covert combat of spin doctors. . . . I like Solomon's work and haven't read his book, but from your post it sounds like much ado about nothing. I follow Dilbert religiously and never got the impression that it was in great part supposed to be about corporate downsizing. Dilbert is funny because it's about the idiocy of bureaucratic culture in general and the natural follies people who happen to be in a corporate/technical environment. Note that most Dilbert strips could be about workers in a public agency, a non-profit, or, for that matter, a progressive think tank. What a colossal waste of time to get diverted by this. Next we'll have, 'why television cop shows aren't revolutionary art.' Oh wait. We already did that. MBS === Max B. SawickyEconomic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200 202-775-0819 (fax)Washington, DC 20036 http://tap.epn.org/sawicky Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute other than this writer. === There is a small book that gives a left critique of Dilbert and Adams. I have looked through it but do not remember the author. I know that Dollars and Sense gives it away to people who donate, I think, more than $60 to DS.
Re: Dilbert
It's never a waste of time to discuss the foibles of mass-culture, because that's where the politics of transnational capital get fought out. Heiner Mueller, the great German playwright, once wrote that "Der Text weist mehr als der Autor", or, "The author's text knows more than the author him/herself." Dilbert is about the discontents of the informatic workplace, and is actually more revealing about the true costs and stresses and strains of the Silicon Valley lifestyle -- its essential idiocy, its cruelty, racism and sexism, and the terrible competitive grind of the 24-hour workdays put in by the cyberwizards chasing stock options to the next galaxy -- than many an allegedly Leftwing sociology textbook. The comic strip knows more than the cartoonist. -- Dennis
Re: Dilbert
That's kind of expensive for a sub to DS, isn't it, Robin? ;-) There is a small book that gives a left critique of Dilbert and Adams. I have looked through it but do not remember the author. I know that Dollars and Sense gives it away to people who donate, I think, more than $60 to DS.
Re: Dilbert
In my view, Dilbert is the embodiment of cynicism. His message is that action to modify one's situation is inherently doomed to failure because people are all idiots. Perhaps Dilbert is the quintessential post modern cartoon. Sid Shniad At 08:15 PM 12/9/97 -0500, Doug Henwood wrote: in a socially harmless way. The author's politics are a perfect fit for the way the cartoon is consumed. Don't rebel, don't unionize - laugh at the stupid boss! But Doug, laughing and rebelling or unionizing do not have to be mutually exclusive. I w ould go even further by saying that laughter might be a good antidote for burnout and cynicism that often results from taking the struggle to seriously. Regards, wojtek sokolowski institute for policy studies johns hopkins university baltimore, md 21218 [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (410) 516-4056 fax: (410) 516-8233
Re: Dilbert
At 08:15 PM 12/9/97 -0500, Doug Henwood wrote: in a socially harmless way. The author's politics are a perfect fit for the way the cartoon is consumed. Don't rebel, don't unionize - laugh at the stupid boss! But Doug, laughing and rebelling or unionizing do not have to be mutually exclusive. I w ould go even further by saying that laughter might be a good antidote for burnout and cynicism that often results from taking the struggle to seriously. Regards, wojtek sokolowski institute for policy studies johns hopkins university baltimore, md 21218 [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (410) 516-4056 fax: (410) 516-8233
re: dilbert
1. Max's magisterial deconstruction of Dilbert ignored a crucial character:
Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light, armed with a large spoon. The world
waits for Max's analysis.
2. Libertarians like Scott Adams often have very good senses of humor --
like their cousins the anarchists, but unlike true conservatives. On the
latter, can you imagine one of those kinder-küche-kirche konservatives
(e.g., Jerry Falwell) intentionally evoking a laugh? or a Stalinist doing
so? ("Comrade Beria, that was a rib-tickler!" (stormy applause.))
3. There are a lot of cases of labor revolt -- including in the Russian
Revolution -- in which relatively skilled workers justified their revolt by
saying that they could do the job better than their bosses.
in pen-l solidarity,
Jim Devine
Jim Devine
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html
Academic version of a Bette Midler song: "you are the hot air beneath my wings."
Re: Dilbert
Dilbert is a perfect way for cubicle-bound office drones to blow off steam in a socially harmless way. The author's politics are a perfect fit for the way the cartoon is consumed. Don't rebel, don't unionize - laugh at the stupid boss! Doug
Re: Dilbert
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 20:15:46 -0500 Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] To:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Dilbert Dilbert is a perfect way for cubicle-bound office drones to blow off steam in a socially harmless way. The author's politics are a perfect fit for the way the cartoon is consumed. Don't rebel, don't unionize - laugh at the stupid boss! I said this was a waste of time, and here I am wasting more time. My brain goes into low- power consumption mode after 8 pm. Laughter can be prelude to rebellion. I hypothesize that desperation and gloom less often are. I would bet that an office of 'Dilbert' readers are more likely to unionize than an office of 'zippy the pinhead' fans. The hierarchical structure of Dilbert bears some review. The boss is a perfect idiot, but he's the least of the power structure. At the top of the food chain is Dogbert and his 'special body of armed men,' Bob the Dinasaur. Dogbert is able to con and/or intimidate everyone and is a reasonable model of the fundamental illegitimacy of the social order and the market. He routinely sells products utterly lacking in utility. Bob the D of course is pure physical force, amoral and relentless; his specialty is wedgies, which he is even capable of delivering over the phone lines. Then there is Catbert, "evil director of human resources." who offers nothing in the way of workplace productivity and devotes himself to tormenting workers for the pure pleasure of it, emphasizing the alienation of the w.c. at the point of production and the amorality of capitalism. Finally there is Ratbert, a complete sucker, the apotheosis of the helpless victim of corporate culture. Then there are the gallant workers. There is the female engineer with the big hair, a worthy representative of assertive feminism. There is Wally, who resists and survives by reveling in his unpro-ductivity. And finally there is Dilbert himself, who routinely ridicules his boss to his face without the latter's knowledge and still manages to get his job done. He is clearly more qualified to run the company than the boss himself, though it is not clear he could best the diabolical genius Dogbert in quasi-competitive markets. Which points up the need for radical solutions to the likes of Dogbert and his goon Bob. Some reactionaries have produced great art, and some draw pretty good comic strips. Next week we can tackle an advanced subject like the dialectics of Dirty Harry. MBS == Max B. Sawicky Economic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] Suite 1200 202-775-8810 (voice) 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-0819 (fax) Washington, DC 20036 Opinions here do not necessarily represent the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute. ===
