this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

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Want to wade into the snowy surf of the abyss? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid.

Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned so many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)

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[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 15 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (8 children)

It has happened. Post your wildest Scott Adams take here to pay respects to one of the dumbest posters of all time.

I'll start with this gem

[–] mirrorwitch@awful.systems 5 points 10 hours ago

sorry Scott you just lacked the experience to appreciate the nuances, sissy hypno enjoyers will continue to take their brainwashing organic and artisanally crafted by skilled dommes

[–] sailor_sega_saturn@awful.systems 6 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Today at work I got to read a bunch of posts from people discussing how sad they were that notable holocaust denier Scott Adams died.

Only they didn't mention that part for some reason.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070222235609/http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/sunday_blogging.html

[–] BigMuffN69@awful.systems 14 points 18 hours ago
[–] BigMuffN69@awful.systems 11 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

If trump gets back in office, Scott will be dead within the year.

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 8 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I knew there was somethin' not right about that boy when his books in the '90s started doing woo takes about quantum mechanics and the power of self-affirmation. Oprah/Chopra shit: the Cosmos has a purpose and that purpose is to make me rich.

Then came the blogosphere.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/06/17/the-saga-of-scott-adams-scrotum/

[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 3 points 6 hours ago

woo takes about quantum mechanics and the power of self-affirmation

In retrospect it's pretty obvious this was central to his character: he couldn't accept he got hella lucky with dilbert happening to hit pop culture square in the zeitgeist, so he had to adjust his worldview into him being a master wizard that can bend reality to his will, and also everyone else is really stupid for not doing so too, except, it turned out, Trump.

From what I gather there's also a lot of the rationalist high intelligence is being able to manipulate others bordering on mind control ethos in his fiction writing,

[–] istewart@awful.systems 17 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

This one is just eternally ???!!!

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 6 points 17 hours ago

Okay this takes the cake wtf

[–] corbin@awful.systems 6 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

There was a Dilbert TV show. Because it wasn't written wholly by Adams, it was funny and engaging, with character development, a critical eye at business management, and it treated minorities like Alice and Asok with a modicum of dignity. While it might have been good compared to the original comic strip, it wasn't good TV or even good animation. There wasn't even a plot until the second season. It originally ran on UPN; when they dropped it, Adams accused UPN of pandering to African-Americans. (I watched it as reruns on Adult Swim.) I want to point out the episodes written by Adams alone:

  1. An MLM hypnotizes people into following a cult led by Wally
  2. Dilbert and a security guard play prince-and-the-pauper

That's it! He usually wasn't allowed to write alone. I'm not sure if we'll ever have an easier man to psychoanalyze. He was very interested in the power differential between laborers and managers because he always wanted more power. He put his hypnokink out in the open. He told us that he was Dilbert but he was actually the PHB.

Bonus sneer: Click on Asok's name; Adams put this character through literal multiple hells for some reason. I wonder how he felt about the real-world friend who inspired Asok.

Edit: This was supposed to be posted one level higher. I'm not good at Lemmy.

[–] BigMuffN69@awful.systems 6 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Man I remember an ep of this from when i was little like a fever dream

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 2 points 5 hours ago

as a youth I'd acquired this at some point and I recall some fondness about some of the things, largely in the novelty sense (in that they worked "with" the desktop, had the "boss key", etc) - and I suspect that in turn was largely because it was my first run-in with all of those things

later on (skipping ahead, like, ~22y or something), the more I learned about the guy, the harder I never wanted to be in a room as him

may he rest in ever-refreshed piss

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 5 points 21 hours ago

ok if I saw “every male encounter is implied violence” tweeted from an anonymous account I’d see it as some based feminist thing that would send me into a spiral while trying to unpack it. Luckily it’s just weird brainrot from adams here

[–] sansruse@awful.systems 10 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (6 children)

it's not exactly a take, but i want to shout out the dilberito, one of the dumbest products ever created

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Adams#Other

the Dilberito was a vegetarian microwave burrito that came in flavors of Mexican, Indian, Barbecue, and Garlic & Herb. It was sold through some health food stores. Adams's inspiration for the product was that "diet is the number one cause of health-related problems in the world. I figured I could put a dent in that problem and make some money at the same time." He aimed to create a healthy food product that also had mass appeal, a concept he called "the blue jeans of food".

[–] Rackhir@mastodon.pnpde.social 3 points 6 hours ago

@sansruse @V0ldek You left out the best part! 😂

Adams himself noted, "[t]he mineral fortification was hard to disguise, and because of the veggie and legume content, three bites of the Dilberito made you fart so hard your intestines formed a tail."[63] The New York Times noted the burrito "could have been designed only by a food technologist or by someone who eats lunch without much thought to taste".[64]

[–] TheDonsieLass@mas.to 2 points 5 hours ago

@sansruse My jaw genuinely dropped

[–] fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de 2 points 5 hours ago

@sansruse @V0ldek honestly, in the list of dumb products, this is mid-tier. surely at least the juicero is dumber? literally a device that you can replace with your own hands.

i mean, obviously the dilberito is daft. but it's a high bar.

[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 9 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

Not gonna lie, reading through the wiki article and thinking back to some of the Elbonia jokes makes it pretty clear that he always sucked as a person, which is a disappointing realization. I had hoped that he had just gone off the deep end during COVID like so many others, but the bullshit was always there, just less obvious when situated amongst all the bullshit of corporate office life he was mocking.

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 6 points 15 hours ago

I read his comics in middle school, and in hindsight even a lot of his older comics seems crueler and uglier. Like Alice's anger isn't a legitimate response to the bullshit work environment she has but just haha angry woman funny.

Also, the Dilbert Future had some bizarre stuff at the end, like Deepak Chopra manifestation quantum woo, so it makes sense in hindsight he went down the alt-right manosphere pipeline.

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 5 points 17 hours ago

I had hoped that he had just gone off the deep end during COVID like so many others

If COVID made you a bad person -- it didn't, you were always bad and just needed a gentle push.

Like unless something really traumatic happened -- a family member died, you were a frontline worker and broke from stress -- then no, I'm sorry, a financially secure white guy going apeshit from COVID is not a turn, it's just a mask-off moment

[–] istewart@awful.systems 7 points 19 hours ago

It's the exact same syndrome as Yarvin. The guy in the middle- to low-end of the corporate hierarchy -- who, crucially, still believes in a rigid hierarchy! has just failed to advance in this one because reasons! -- but got a lucky enough break to go full-time as an edgy, cynical outsider "truth-teller."

Both of these guys had at some point realized, and to some degree accepted, that they were never going to manage a leadership position in a large organization. And probably also accepted that they were misanthropic enough that they didn't really want that anyway. I've been reading through JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and these types of dude might best be described by the guiding philosophy of the cowboy villain Hol Horse: "Why be #1 when you can be #2?"

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The New York Times noted the burrito "could have been designed only by a food technologist or by someone who eats lunch without much thought to taste".

Jesus christ that's a murder

[–] madengineering@mastodon.cloud 3 points 17 hours ago

@V0ldek @sansruse I've eaten a dilburrito and... that's accurate. Then again, I am the type of weirdo who would seriously try nutripaste.

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 23 hours ago

Rest in Piss to the OG bad takes Scotty A