Editing (Not Canceling) Dilbert’s Author

Do I have the right to get rid of trash in my house? Hey, I’m not in Florida!

Jack Herlocker
3 min readMar 3, 2023

I used to love the Doonesbury comic strip, decades ago. I would read it every day in the paper. I bought the books with the early collections (still have them in a box in the basement, probably). And then gradually I stopped reading the comics, because Trudeau stopped being funny or interesting enough to make it worthwhile. Haven’t seen a Doonesbury in years. Is it still published? <checks Google> It is. Don’t care.

I used to love the Dilbert comic strip, in its early days. I had the daily desk calendar on my Christmas list every year in the 2010s; it was a fixture on my desk, and I would save the best ones to post in my work cubicle. I bought some of Scott Adams’ books (some people are writers, some people are cartoonists, it turns out). Somebody gave me a Dilbert foam doll as a work desk mascot. And then I gradually stopped reading the comics, because Adams stopped being funny enough (or even interesting enough) to make it worthwhile.

When I saw Adams had turned into a Trump fanboi, I was disappointed, but not shocked. Adams liked to express odd beliefs in his books (such as: if you really want something to happen, write it down and affirm it each day fifteen times, and eventually it will happen — say what, Scott?) so sliding into Trumpism wasn’t too terribly out of character. Whatever.

Then the sh*t hit the fan with Adams live-streaming invective against Black people.

Maybe it was being blown out of proportion? <checks Google and YouTube> Wow. No.

Okay, well, we’re looking for things to get rid of in the house, and we have a couple places in town that recycle old books (they grind them up for pulp) and another place that does any kind of plastic, including foam (they use it for construction material). Sounds like I have some contributions to the pile.¹

Our plastic recycling bin. They even take styrofoam! Or foam Dilberts. (all photos by author)
Dilbert books in the recycle center bin along with other outdated items like a 1970s “Encyclopedia of WWII” (contribution of mine) and “1984 Gun Digest Hunting Manual” (not mine); second photo shows their eventual fate after the discarded books are shredded into something useful.

Maybe Scott Adams will write, “I, Scott Adams, will be a better human being” fifteen mornings in a row and it will really happen? We’ll see. Not betting on it.

I used to like xkcd comics. Still do. I enjoy his books, too. Keep doing you, Randall Munroe!

¹And if you are thinking, “Wait! That won’t hurt Adams in any way!” then oh wow, I never thought of that. 🙄 I’m not trying to hurt Adams, I just want his stuff out of my home. I haven’t looked at it in years, I have no intention of doing so, and I need to donate or throw out/recycle a bunch of stuff before my wife and I transition to a retirement community. Adams’ actions merely caused me to put his stuff in the recycle category.

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Jack Herlocker

Husband & retiree. Developer, tech writer, & IT geek. I fill what’s empty, empty what’s full, and scratch where it itches. Occasionally do weird & goofy things.