1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Dilbert cartoonist on terrorism

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Woofer, Jun 11, 2003.

  1. Woofer

    Woofer Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2000
    Messages:
    3,995
    Likes Received:
    1
    Excerpted from:

    Dilbert Newsletter 48.0

    "A Little Ray of Bitter Sunshine"



    To: Dogbert's New Ruling Class (DNRC)
    From: Scott Adams (scottadams@aol.com)
    Date: June 2003


    DNRC Status
    -----------

    There are 695,000 members of DNRC. Each of you is capable of
    altering the course of sporting events via a process called
    rooting. All others on earth are the so-called Induhviduals who
    will someday be our domestic servants when Dogbert conquers the
    world.


    Dumb Rich People
    ----------------

    I recently read an article by an economist who said that poverty
    causes people to become terrorists. He used big words and was very
    convincing.

    Then I watched TV coverage of a high school hazing ritual in an
    upscale suburban neighborhood. Dozens of well-to-do Induhviduals
    paid for the privilege of sitting in a field and having mud, paint,
    garbage, eggs, pig guts, and excrement shoved up their nostrils
    while being beaten with blunt objects.

    I'm not an economist, but my theory is that you can convince a
    certain percentage of Induhviduals to do any dangerous thing,
    whether they happen to be poor or not. So let's stop picking on
    poor people. If peer pressure can convince 20% of rich kids to
    start smoking cigarettes -- and it does -- it isn't much of a leap
    to convince them to grow scraggly beards and drive exploding cars.
    It's mostly a difference in timing.

    Osama inherited half a billion dollars. So I rule out poverty as a
    cause of terror. I blame rich Induhviduals, and peer pressure.

    Peer pressure is the most powerful force on the planet, and we need
    to use it to our advantage. For example, I recommend that the
    Western media and politicians stop using the menacing-yet-cool
    phrase "Al-Qaeda" and start referring to the group as the
    "frickin' Induhviduals."

    Like the proverbial dog chasing a car, the Induhviduals haven't
    considered what would happen if they caught one. For example,
    let's say they (the Induhviduals, not the dogs) accomplish their
    stated goal of destroying the economies of the Western world. Is
    that really a good plan for people who live in a desert and import
    most of their food?

    Just for the record, if I'm down to my last potato, I'm not sharing
    it with a guy who wants to kill me so he can get a better supply
    of virgins in paradise. That lesson is a little thing I call
    Economics 101, infidel style.

    For the Induhviduals, it must look as if Americans are really dumb
    to have the most awesome arsenal in the history of the world and
    still be unable to stop terror attacks. They don't realize that the
    way Americans look at it is that, so far, we're "really mad," but
    not yet "REALLY, REALLY mad." Oh, there's a difference. Americans
    understand that somewhere between "inconvenient air travel" and
    "complete breakdown of Western civilization," the "REALLY, REALLY
    mad" part kicks in. I won't give away what happens then, but
    remember you first heard the phrase "New Iowa" in the Dilbert
    Newsletter.

    And let's stop calling the terrorist supporters "fundamentalists,"
    because that sounds like it could be a good thing. I recommend a
    more descriptive label, such as "slow learners," to keep things in
    perspective. Then let's airdrop science and economics textbooks on
    their terrorist training camps with condescending notes, such as,
    "Maybe this will help. Call us if you have questions."

    This would be a small step, in the sense that reading books about
    economics is only slightly better than suicide. But you have to
    start somewhere.

    That's my plan. If you have a better one, be sure to include it in
    your next newsletter.
     
  2. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    35,057
    Likes Received:
    15,232
    For some reason, I expected Scott Adams to be a little more to the left then he really is (apparently).
     
  3. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 1999
    Messages:
    129,287
    Likes Received:
    39,844
    But he is right on the money.

    DD
     
  4. mc mark

    mc mark Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 1999
    Messages:
    26,195
    Likes Received:
    471
    he he...

    he said money....

    get it?

    :D
     
  5. Woofer

    Woofer Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2000
    Messages:
    3,995
    Likes Received:
    1
    I really don't see a left or right wing slant to what he wrote.
     
  6. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    35,057
    Likes Received:
    15,232
    Woofer, may be I was being too sensitive. Some things that stuck out to me (and you be the judge):

    1. His quick dismissal of poverty as a possible motivation for terrorism.

    2. His belittlement of terrorists' motivation as merely a response to peer pressure.

    3. That the terrorists should be motivated by simple economic realities.

    4. His suggestion that a religious motivation for terrorism is nothing more than wanting a lot of ***** in heaven.

    5. His assumption that the terrorists don't really understand how bad-ass (by which I mean totally sweet!) the US military is. Also, that they are too stupid to have any understanding about basic economics or science.

    6. That he'd suggest an imperial conquest of middle-eastern countries.

    7. His implication that fundamentalist muslims are bad in every way. Plus, his equating fundamentalist muslims with terrorists.

    It's just Dilbert, which hardly warrants a presence in the D&D forum, and I'd hate to actually start a serious discussion on a joke newsletter (which was mildly amusing anyway). I was just a bit surprised to read it and see so much Trader_Jorge in Scott Adams.
     

Share This Page