I have long gotten a laugh from Dilbert, the socially inept engineer comic created by Scott Adams. Usually, Dilbert is harmless, but occasionally he causes real damage. Last Sunday’s cartoon, which features Dilbert’s mother in an excessive shopping adventure that ends with organ harvesting struck me as rather amusing, but according to Scott Adams’ blog, dozens of people failed to see the humour in it:
Recently I killed thousands more people. I don’t have exact numbers yet. The problem stems from my comic that ran on 11-20-05, implying that retail stores might harvest organs from bad customers and sell them on eBay. I’ve received dozens of letters (long ones!) from very angry people who assure me that the Dilbert comic will reduce the number of organ donors. The concern is that people will think their parts will end up on eBay and so they won’t be inspired to donate.
This would only have an impact on exceptionally dumb potential organ donors. But as you know, that’s a large block of the general population. Now I have to wonder how many people are smart enough to read an entire Dilbert comic and still dumb enough to think that the first person on the scene of an accident might be there just to harvest organs for eBay. It can’t be more than 1%. Let’s see, we estimate 150 million people read Dilbert, so 1% would be 1.5 million. And only 10% of them might have donated an organ anyway, so I’m probably killing 150,000 people.
It’s times like this when “oops” doesn’t seem sufficient.
I bet you did not know that cartoonists could be so dangerous. If you ever meet Scott Adams, approach with extreme caution.
He’s getting a lot of stick for being pro Intelligent Design in the evolution debate. Although I think his stance is actually undecided between the two if ever there was a case of ‘your either for us or against us’, this is it.
He got a lot of stick on his blog for making fun of the hysterics who scream ‘torture’ when US forces apply a little pressure to terrorists, too.
Just goes to show some people can’t leave their politics out of ANYTHING….
Personally, I blame all those Doonesbury readers …
Personally I thought it was the lamest strip I’d seen in ages, including most Doonesbury.
Completely unfunny and pathetic.
Any idiot who would let that stop them from donating probably has (other) defective organs anyway.
The prospect of my organs ending up on eBay doesn’t sound so bad. Once I no longer need them I’m not to bothered what the next owner does with them…
Pete (Detroit) – I’m another one. Dilbert became a cult without being funny, ironic or even interesting.
As to organ donation, that’s another new fascism.
Just like 80+% of the population believe they are above-average drivers, a majority of us believe 80% are dumber than themselves and take it as their duty to chastise whoever attempts to exploit them.
Oops. Ahem.
Sylvain – only 80%?? ((-‘pb
I certainly don’t blame Mr. Adams for bilking the public for all it’s worth. After all, few people have gone broke by underestimating the taste of the American Public (Jerry Springer, anyone?). But the (apparent) fact that people read that twistedly un-funny strip and were inspired to write about e-bay…
NOT the portrayal of the elderly, or shop clerks, or store policies, or relative punishments, or the curent state of transplant tech/policies…
No, none of that.
They were bitching about e-bay.
Pathetic.
Again, not that I’m opposed to people having and expressing opinions, just that I’m often dismayed by the opinions held and expressed.
Good luck to Mr Adams for making a fortune out of syndicating a strip that may take him five minutes to complete each day. I agree that it is as funny as Doonsbury, another jaw-cracking yawn. But I applaud them for identifying a niche market and filling it.
It’s the transplant people that got on my nerves. Another militant, fascist group with a holy mission to impose their will on the rest of the world.
Verity has obviously never actually worked in the Tech industry,
Only Mike Judge (Office Space) has a better handle on it.
No. I haven’t “actually” or even just “I haven’t” worked in the tech industry.
Perhaps this cartoon’s popularity is limited to sensitive potential organ donors who work in the tech industry. who knows?
What concerns me is not a dreary cartoon, but the attitude of the transplant pushers. Is it just me, or do others also feel these people are developing an appetite for power?
Did anyone read ‘Coma’ by (author) Robin Cook? I read it while undergoing a long series of operations after an accident. Scared the crap out of me as good as any book ever. Must have been the context.
You read ‘Coma’ while undergoing a series of operations? Are you out of your mind? It was scary enough to read in full health in the comfort and safety of my own home.
I do like a bit of adventure. 8-|
And no, I’m not out of my mind…
my mind…
mind …
my … er,
oh!
never mind.
Right as rain.
Here comes the nice attendant with my medicine now. |-)
It’s unfortunate that one can’t sell one’s own organs on EBay (posthumously or otherwise). A free market in organs would provide far better service to people in need of transplants.
For starters, it would increase the incentive for people to become donors.
Also, it would put an end to black market organ trafficking.
Edward,
Agreed. There would be a difficult time at the beginning while the market worked the bugs out.
It would be a tough sell to hang tough during the initial problems but ultimately good for everyone.
I imagine insurance companies might start setting the guidelines and take defacto ‘regulatory’ control by declaring what they will pay for. But the underlying market would be free.
Eventually though, organ cloning will make all but emergency transplants a moot point.
Midwesterner – Eventually though, organ cloning will make all but emergency transplants a moot point.
Yes. Transplants have always had a temporary air about them.
Scary when you realize that the immune suppressing drugs needed to prevent organ rejection deliberately cause a chemically ‘acquired immune defiency syndrome’.
Better than major organ failure but still a not a long term solution.
About ten years ago a geneticist friend of mine explained what was known about how cells know whether to be one thing or another. I got to believe we’re getting close to cloning organs.