The Trouble with Dilbert: How Corporate Culture Gets the Last Laugh

I can't believe that it's 1999 and there are some still slandering people they disagree with by calling them "communists" and "Marxists". Why? Because they dared to criticize someone's greed. These people, not Norman Solomon, are the people who need to lighten up. Yes, Dilbert is funny. Yes, Dilbert is "just a cartoon" but to ignore the value systems behind a cartoon or any element of pop culture is to ignore the media machine that teaches people values today, moreso then their education or high culture. More people today read Dilbert than they read Shakespeare or their high school history texts, I'm sure. For that reason alone we need to pay attention to what Dilbert is teaching us. You can think Dilbert is funny and still realize that it's not the rebellious anti-establishment agitprop that it pretends to be. You can think Dilbert is funny and still realize that it not only does not address problems, it is part of the problem.

It is more than just a cheap irony that most of the low-star reviews below could be resituated as jacket blurbs *for* Solomon's book: they admirably demonstrate how pervasive is the ether of lunkheaded, drone-like passivity in the face of a reality tediously dominated by the interests of corporate capital--an ether with which capitalism floods the atmosphere and which cultural organs like Dilbert encourage us to mistake for oxygen. Solomon's book isn't the most profound critique you'll ever read, but it's *right* about an incredibly popular, noxious cultural phenomenon, isn't the least bit jargony or academic, and if it wakes up a few of the "it's-only-a-cartoon" zombies--notice how that argument is only trotted out when the social effects of a cultural text are alleged to be *negative*?--it will have done more than enough positive work.

One can often tell much about a book from the opinions of its detractors. For instance, the most common arguments in the negative reviews of this book so far have been, "But downsizing really IS a good thing" and, "If you disagree with me, you're a Communist." A close runner-up is, "For cryin' out loud, it's just a cartoon; it's not like Dilbert's being hyped as `a cartoon hero of the workplace' or `ripping aside the flimsy corporate curtain' or anything like that." Honorable mention goes to "But Dilbert has shown top managers doing stupid things, too," breathtakingly missing Solomon's point that we the workers are not suffering because top management is stupid (or because we are), but because top management is actively screwing us over - and Adams is helping them get away with it by telling us, "You can't do anything about it; just lie back and enjoy, er, laugh at it." A must-read.

If anybody who works for a corporation isn't aware of how many tools management uses to drown, quell, co-opt, and neutralize critical thinking within its ranks, he/she needs this book! I, too, spent several years smiling at Dilbert posts in my office. When I heard Norman Solomon interviewed on NPR, I immediately bought his book. He presents a very serious critique, sometimes in a humorous way, of Adams' work. Rabid Dilbert fans will no doubt disagree; I have observed that many people are so anesthetized in their work situations that they prefer not to encounter any alternate view whatsoever. After reading this book, my abilities to see Adams' disdain for people and to see my own previous failure to notice the destructive energy in his work have been awakened. Thank you, Mr. Soloman. David Sligar

I'm a computer programmer and have often been refered to Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoons and books by others of my kind. The first few cartoons I saw were clever and to the point; some were even funny. But as I read more & more of them they began to make me uneasy. Norman Solomon's excellent analysis makes it clear why a reader might feel that way. His book clearly documents how this type of "humor" actually works to the advantage of large corporations by diffusing the perfectly justified anger of the people who work for them. It is a thorough, fair, and reasonable book that raises important issues we should all consider. I now have much to think about within my cubicle walls. Buy this book!