Posted on 11/26/2013 10:58:47 PM PST by Morgana
The Dilbert cartoon brilliantly satirizes our dysfunctional work environments in which bosses are stupid and workers are demoralized or just plain nuts. The strip is one of my favorites. Imagine my dismay to learn that Scott Adams, Dilbert’s creator, says he literally “hates my [f-word] guts” and that he wishes me “to die a long and horrible death.”
Not only that, Adams wants 49% of my fellow citizens to die horrible deaths. Ditto members of the American Medical Association, disability rights activists from Not Dead Yet, and Ted Kennedy’s widow, Victoria. Also Ralph Nader, Bill Clinton, Pope Francis. Oh, and add in my wife, the San Francisco Chronicle political columnist, Debra J. Saunders.
Considering his words, he must be happy that my last hospice patient, Robert Salamenca, died slowly of ALS. He must revel in the slow death of John Paul II, who went into a long period of pronounced decline before expiring.
Adams doesn’t know me, nor I presume, any of the other people I mentioned. But he hates us. Why? We are on record (or, in the case of the 49%, have been polled by Pew) as opposing doctor-assisted suicide, and that means nothing is too bad or painful to befall us.
You see his father was extremely ill, and Adams wanted to kill him–but can’t under the law. So, he hates us or “torturing” his father. From his blog, “I Hope My Father Dies Soon:”
Let me say this next part as clearly as I can. If you’re a politician who has ever voted against doctor-assisted suicide, or you would vote against it in the future, I hate your [f-word] guts and I would like you to die a long, horrible death. I would be happy to kill you personally and watch you bleed out. I won’t do that, because I fear the consequences. But I’d enjoy it, because you mother[f-word] are responsible for torturing my father…
I’m okay with any citizen who opposes doctor-assisted suicide on moral or practical grounds. But if you have acted on that thought, such as basing a vote on it, I would like you to die a slow, horrible death too. You and the government are accomplices in the torturing of my father, and there’s a good chance you’ll someday be accomplices in torturing me to death too.
Imagine, if a pro-life public figure ever said he hoped pro-choice politicians and activists died an agonizing death. Or one opposed to same sex marriage said something similar about marriage equality proponents…
Adams slips in a matter, which I have noticed in much advocacy for euthanasia and assisted suicide, that rarely gets much attention:
I know that many of my fellow citizens have legitimate concerns about doctor-assisted suicide. One can certainly imagine greedy heirs speeding up the demise of grandma to get the inheritance. That would be a strong argument if doctor-assisted suicide wasn’t already working elsewhere with little problems, or if good things in general (such as hospitals and the police) never came with their own risks.
In other words, Adams wants what he wants for his father, and doesn’t care who else gets hurt. By the way, there is no indication from Adams’ piece that his father, who has since died, asked to be made dead.
And anyone who has read my work over the last twenty years knows that euthanasia and assisted suicide laws are hardly “working elsewhere with little problems.” Adams either doesn’t care about the horrors that have been abundantly documented, or he is utterly ignorant but feels free to hate those with whom he disagrees anyway. Take your pick.
Adams concludes with this reaffirmation of his view:
I’m okay with any citizen who opposes doctor-assisted suicide on moral or practical grounds. But if you have acted on that thought, such as basing a vote on it, I would like you to die a slow, horrible death too. You and the government are accomplices in the torturing of my father, and there’s a good chance you’ll someday be accomplices in torturing me to death too.
My wife interviewed Adams for a piece she wrote about his diatribe. He kept his word, telling her he hoped she died painfully. So too, Victoria Kennedy, as both women are “part of the bad buys.” Apparently, Adams believes that everything would be okay in the world if people who disagree with him would just die!
One final thought: Adams’ grief is no excuse for such vile and quasi-threatening advocacy. I have seen parents of murdered children with more grace than that. Our character expresses itself in times of extremis. Good grief.
I bought a book written my him years ago assuming it would be humerus, it wasn’t. This man has a bitter core that is bent hard to the left.
He is capable of being sarcastic but his hate for the right is real.
That being said, this insufferable bastard may live to eat his words. Karma has a funny way of running rough-shod over one's dogma. His posting, seen without the understanding of his pain and suffering is that of the typical liberal who never realized that "Logan's Run" was science fiction.
I treated people at the end of life early in my career. Usually the choice is to give enough meds to treat pain effectively and shorted life, or under treat pain so they can live hours longer?
My personal decision was not to make the choice myself, I would explain the situation to the patient if they were competent or with the family otherwise. Usually the choice was made to aggressively treat pain.
I was diagnosed with cancer last year, God has blessed me with good health since then but I know it could still recur. If I am in that situation and have my family with me, I would choose the pain medication, the reason being is I saw what a prolonged agonizing death does to the family members. I want my kids to remember my passing as a peaceful event.
I don’t think this is euthanasia, end of life is a discrete event, like child birth, you can choose to do it “natural” if you want but it is not morally wrong to treat the pain if the risk and benefits are known and an informed decision is made.
No more “Dilbert” for me. I’ll stick with “Day By Day”.
Yes!
It is quite clear he is serious.
What Scott unwittingly exposes is HIS discomfort with his father’s suffering.
It is HIS OWN DISCOMFORT HE SEEKS TO TERMINATE.
Did his father ever express a desire to stop treatment?
Yes, I have watched loved ones, who were terminally ill, suffer at the end.
(notably, cancer and ALS)
It is a great opportunity for prayer and faith.
(and, yes, I have personally survived cancer)
This is not one of Dilbert’s funnier efforts.
I tried reading the Dilbert cartoon many times. It is not funny at all. Now I see why!
No, we agree. These are different scenarios (the “politely forgetting” is something we may do with people we know and love, because we know their “body of work” to a degree) but...we can try to do the online version of “politely forgetting” when we can.
However, that said, once I saw his Scott Adams’s past body of work, the cat is out of the bag for me, and I can’t put it back in.
Dilbert is hilarious; Garfield is funny until your 7th birthday.
Here’s the thing:
Remember Mike Dukakis lost the debate (and possibly the presidential election) when he was asked whether he would want the death penalty if Kitty were raped and murdered? And he gave that cold, technocratic, “no?”
The answer (for someone opposed to the death penalty) should have been “of course so. But we are a civilized nation, a nation of laws, and we don’t subscribe to allowing the most inflamed passion and grief dictate our policies.”
I can empathize with Adams being hurt and angry that his father went through so much pain. And I can very easily accept that one doesn’t literally intend the logical consequences of words spoken in such anger. But the laws which must be changed are those which limit palliative care so badly, not those that protect life. We should correct people like Adams, not scorn or hate them.
***Al Capp or Mort Walker getting involved in politics or social issues, do you?***
WHAT! Al Capp was one of the best satirists on the US politics, better than POGO!
Mort Walker rarely went political, but he did do a couple of anti-gun Beetle Baily cartoons.
Ahhhhh.....the liberal conundrum. All those people that need their help, but not enough resources. They always come to the same end game. “There needs to be fewer people!”
“Dilbert is hilarious; Garfield is funny until your 7th birthday.”
Dilbert is just lame in my opinion and Garfield hits close to home for all cat lovers.
“I can empathize with Adams being hurt and angry that his father went through so much pain.”
Can’t we all? However making a cartoon about this wishing his father dead? How morbid is that? What kind of message does that send? I would never in a million years joke about wanting my father to die! Newspapers have discontinued cartoons for less than this. I know “Doonsebury” has been put on the bench a few times. If ever was a reason to stop publishing “Dilbert” this is one hell of a good reason!
what, you mean like pain?
Most of us view dystopian fiction as a warning.
Many leftists seem to view it as an instruction manual.
I thought it was a blog entry, not a cartoon.
And especially for car design.
I recommend the “In The Sticks” comic by Nathan Cooper. It is the only non-Fabian-Frankfurt School-progressive one left.
i mean like whatever is stressful enough for a person to take the wall down and show their true colors. For some it’s personal pain, physical, emotional, mental, and it may also include pain they feel because others important to them are in pain, die, etc.
Remember Darwin’s young daughter’s death was the pivotal event that swung him away from God. Lots of people can’t handle that they or their loved ones may/will suffer in this life and they can’t understand how God could allow it.
Granted people in the public eye have to for their own sanity as well as crafting an image, have more than one wall, but this guy took them all down and showed us what kind of person he really is. When it’s done on the internet they have an illusion it’s more private, quiet, and personal.
“I want my kids to remember my passing as a peaceful event.”
We were so blessed to have that with my mom, and hope that you can have that with your children. Some day in the distant future! On a Thursday night she was sitting up, enough strength to knit a row, and talking, including memories from the 1920’s that were like yesterday. And then Someone flipped the switch. That Sunday morning she died. But what brought peace to her (and us) was her faith in God.
Yes, everyone’s end-of-life is different. I was talking about a general rubric about morphine use.
You sound like a dutiful and loving son or daughter and your mother like a real trooper. I am sorry for your loss. It seems that you are at peace with all of it. I hope so.
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