r/AskReddit • u/DrCompenomics • 12h ago

Who’s the best real-life example of “you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” and what happened?

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u/The_Canadian 5h ago

Yeah, it kinda sucks. I still love Dilbert, especially as someone who works for an engineering firm. Over time, I noticed the tone of the strips started to change. I'd say around 2016 and after, they because more mean-spirited and attempted to just shoehorn in current social commentary for the sake of a punchline. The original Dilbert content is still funny and relevant today.

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u/fishsupreme 4h ago

I think it also doesn't help that by 2016, Scott Adams probably hadn't worked in an office for more than a decade. He grew increasingly separated from what he aimed to satirize since he went from "office tech worker" to "world-famous cartoonist."

So instead he talked about what he knew... which is apparently just right-wing talking points.

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u/Plorkyeran 4h ago

Two decades. His last office job was in the 90s. He got most of the ideas for the strip from people writing to him about all the Dilbert-esque experiences they had at work, but eventually he became too disconnected for that to work.

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u/The_Canadian 4h ago

Yep. There's also the fact that eventually you run out of source material. Leveraging current social topics is an easy solution to that problem.

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u/Ok-Craft4844 22m ago

In the Seinfeld era, observational comics started to talk about airline food when they lost touch, today the discover people using pronouns. Adams, Chapelle, ... it's sooo exhausting.

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u/BillieVerr 3h ago

The shift was wild to me. His old comics satirized snake oil salesmen, evil management, and income inequality. Then one day he’s glazing Trump and tweeting about how billionaires are better than regular people.

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u/The_Canadian 3h ago

Yeah. OG Dilbert didn't care about "liberals", "woke", or anything like that. Suddenly, that kind of stuff became the main jokes.

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u/donitdotis 1h ago

that's because trump was funny.

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u/Aperture_Kubi 4h ago

I'd say around 2016 and after,

Was that also around the time when they swapped the ties for lanyard badges in the comic?

I also remember one comic saying "Asok the Indian intern is now gay" to make a political statement about it.

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u/The_Canadian 4h ago

It might have been. I haven't really looked.