Insanity Wrap: The Correct Take on Scott Adams

Is Scott Adams racist? For the famous “Dilbert” humorist, it might be something worse — and better. That’s the big crazy on today’s Insanity Wrap — an entire week’s worth of nuttiness wrapped up in one easy-to-swallow medicated news capsule.

Plus:

Nike offers to #FundMorePolice.
Stephen Colbert’s most epic self-own ever.
The coolest dog in the world.

Before we get to today’s big story, here’s a short video to make you lose whatever little faith you might still have in humanity.

This Is Not a Sane World, Exhibit #1,000,006

This Seattle business which has been around for 116 years is being forced to close up shop and move out of Seattle because the nearby homeless encampments have made it impossible to operate any longer.

Welcome to Seattle. pic.twitter.com/A587UKtbN9

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 22, 2023

Decline is a choice and Seattle keeps choosing it, again and again.

Sad.

Is Scott Adams Racist?

“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams went on a racist rant over the weekend that got his comic strip canceled from newspapers, calendars, coffee mugs — everything. He threw his career away by calling black people a “hate group.”

Except that’s not what happened.

Before jumping on the “OMG Scott Adams is a RAYCISS!” bandwagon, I did something far more radical than anything he said. I watched the video. I read takes from both sides. I looked to see what Adams had to say about it, and about the reactions (both positive and negative) that he received.

So I can tell you with confidence: Scott Adams is no racist. But for the creator of “Dilbert,” it might be something worse: Adams’s monologue wasn’t funny or even particularly provoking — even though all the usual suspects indeed behaved as though they’d been provoked.

By his own admission, Adams was using “hyperbole” to make his point. There are just two problems with that. The first is that his targets weren’t clear. Was he going after Rasmussen for releasing a “poll” with only 160 respondents? Was he mocking white flight? Was he satirizing the notion that blacks can’t be racist? The whole thing was just too scattershot to be effective. The second problem is that if Adams was trying to be funny, he wasn’t nearly arch enough for the humor to come through.

Ronald Reagan believed that if you’re explaining, you’re losing. The same is true for jokes: If you have to explain them, they aren’t funny. Adams got himself in a situation where he had to explain, explain, explain.

So for me, the video was a big “meh” from a sharp humorist who usually has a lot to say and who says it well.

Why did Adams put out a video that he must have known would get “Dilbert” globally canceled? I get the feeling that might have been his goal all along, to get Dilbert pulled from newspapers that despise its creator. Adams is taking his comic strip private, available soon to subscribers only on his Locals page.

The key to unlocking any remaining mystery is right here in something Adams tweeted on Monday, hours after he released the Kraken: “Now that I have no anchor on my free speech, tomorrow will be fun.”

So it should be for all of us: Americans left alone to enjoy exercising our liberty — right or wrong, funny or unfunny.

Before We Continue, Here’s a Short Video to Restore Your Faith in Everything…

Dogs.. 💪 pic.twitter.com/XSTa9faCLP

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 11, 2023

For the first half of the video you’ll be asking, “Is he really going to do it? Really?”

And then he does.

Your Weekly Dose of Mostly Peaceful Protest

Nike BEGS Portland mayor for police protection to reopen shuttered community store plagued with retail theft

Nike has been quick to embrace the progressive fad-of-the-moment as part of its highly successful 24/7/365 publicity machine.

Now the company is embracing public safety — and in Portland:

On February 9, Nike sent a letter to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and city officials asking for more police at their MLK Community Store, which has been closed for months because of ongoing retail theft, with the shoe brand even proposing to pay law enforcement directly if it would bring them the protection they were requesting.

According to KGW8, Nike proposed two options. The company was open to creating an “intergovernmental agreement” with the city of Portland to directly fund full-time police officers who would be selected to police the store. A second option would be to pay off-duty Portland Police Bureau officers as contracted security.

According to the Oregonian, Nike released a statement that said, “Because a safe and secure workplace is essential for our employees, consumers, and communities, we have proposed a sustained and coordinated partnership with the City to better protect employees, consumers, and the community surrounding our MLK Community Store.”

Et tu, Nike?

There’s a sea change brewing. We might have an idea just how big that change is going to be when we find out the results of today’s Chicago mayoral election.

Quote(s) of the Week

Steve Colbert (@StephenAtHome) attacks the Dept. of Energy for its investigation finding Covid likely came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology: "Stay in your lane" pic.twitter.com/s50uYLZM3k

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 28, 2023

“No, no! Bad Energy Department, no bio-labs until you finish building your electric car-charging stations. Stay in your lane — you don’t see the Census Bureau building nukes.”

But Jim Geraghty knows where the lanes are: “The Energy Department has a special division that, as part of its mission to track and mitigate the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, specializes in the study of biological weapons such as viruses.”

Imma help you out, Stephen Colbert. You’re a guy who has made a career out of looking smart while saying funny things. But things haven’t been funny in a long while and it’s difficult to look smart when you sound so stupid.

Might want to work on that, buddy.

Previously On Insanity Wrap: ‘The Last of Us’ Zombie Apocalypse Could Be Real Says WHO Expert and You’ll Never Believe the Cause

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