With Friends Like "Dilbert"...
Norman Solomon
From: Norman Solomon <medi...@igc.apc.org>
WITH FRIENDS LIKE "DILBERT," DO WE NEED FOES?
By Norman Solomon
Nobody can doubt that "Dilbert" is a smash hit. Dubbed
America's "fastest-growing comic strip," it now appears in most
daily newspapers. "Dilbert" books are best sellers. Other
spinoffs fill store shelves. And a pilot for a network TV series
is in production.
"Dilbert" has become a genuine national phenomenon -- a
beloved icon of defiant satire and empathy for downtrodden office
workers. There's just one problem: "Dilbert" is a fraud.
It turns out that the man behind the cartoon has little
solidarity for the multitudes of "Dilbert" fans. His support for
those who toil in corporate cubicles is more superficial than
real.
Dilbert's cartoonist -- a 39-year-old named Scott Adams --
doesn't object to downsizing. In fact, after years of working for
a big phone company, Adams is in favor of firing a lot of
employees to boost profits.
Last summer, a Newsweek cover story on "Dilbert" included
this cryptic sentence: "Surprisingly, Scott Adams himself thinks
that downsizing does make the workplace more efficient -- fewer
workers means less time to waste on idiotic pursuits like vision
statements, meetings and reorganizations."
Recently, I asked Adams for clarification.
"I'm not sure how to make that clearer," he replied. "When
there are lots of people, they tend to spend all their time doing
things that interfere with other people, e.g., setting standards,
creating processes, writing vision statements, reorganizing."
He added: "In contrast, small companies don't even consider
such things because they don't have the luxury to do anything but
important things. I personally experienced a huge decrease in
bureaucracy at Pacific Bell that seemed mostly related to the
downsizing. It's obviously not an absolute statement, but it's
certainly true for many of the white-collar groups in previously
bloated companies."
That's it -- the complete and unedited explanation from
Scott Adams, hero of long-suffering office workers.
Now we know. Pink slips are good because they allow people
who don't get them to experience "a huge decrease in
bureaucracy."
Key to deciphering "Dilbert" is a simple but obscured
reality: The comic strip is an attack on middle management. Adams
avoids taking aim at the highest rungs of corporate ladders --
where CEOs and owners carry on ... unseen, unscathed and
unquestioned.
Meanwhile, publicists for "The Dilbert Principle" claim that
Adams is "ripping aside the flimsy corporate curtain." Media
coverage often echoes such hype.
Last July, a front-page spread in USA Today declared that
Scott Adams "has tapped a deep vein of disenchantment with the
workplace." But it's worth pondering that many in top management
view Adams as a tacit ally.
Dilbert is a "cult hero to millions of American workers" at
the same time that "CEOs hang him on the wall," Business Week has
noted. The magazine reported: "Executives say Dilbert provides an
escape valve."
Perhaps the most astute critique has come from cartoonist
Tom Tomorrow. A few months ago, the talkative penguin in his
"This Modern World" comic delivered a lecture to Dilbert and
sidekick Dogbert: "You poke constant fun at stupid corporate
behavior -- but never examine the underlying reasons for that
behavior."
The penguin went on: "I'm beginning to think you're
providing a valuable service ITAL>for<ITAL all those idiotic
bosses you parody -- by giving their employees a safety valve
that's just edgy enough to ring true, without inspiring anyone to
actually question the fundamental assumptions of corporate
America."
Ironically, "Dilbert" is confined by the mental cubicle that
belongs to its creator. The main characters never stop acting out
the equivalent of corporate gallows humor. After bouncing off the
walls for so long, their bruises have festered into chronic self-
loathing.
"Dilbert" marketers are promoting it as "the comic strip for
anyone surrounded by idiots" -- a concept that Adams has eagerly
pushed.
But if, as Adams never tires of asserting, "we're all
idiots," then we can't really expect much from ourselves or each
other. Like old battery acid, the spillover of contempt becomes
corrosive.
In his introduction to "The Dilbert Principle," Adams tells
readers: "I don't underestimate your intelligence. I mean, how
could I?"
Maybe we've overestimated "Dilbert."
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The above article is this week's "Media Beat" syndicated column
by Norman Solomon. If you like what you read, please contact the
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