R.I.P. Scott Adams

This one hurts a lot. On Tuesday, it was announced that cartoonist, media analyst, hypnotist, writer, deep thinker, and humorist Scott Adams had succumbed to the cancer he revealed to the public last May. I never met Scott, but he felt like a personal friend. I listened to his podcast (Real Coffee with Scott Adams) every day - and I mean every day; Scott showed up seven days a week and on holidays.

His wry take on the news was incisive, insightful, and surprising. And despite the fact that the news is too frequently awful, he maintained a sense of humor about it all. Scott's podcast was the only thing Kathy and I could listen to when she was in hospice for two nightmarish weeks. Following her loss, Scott's podcast was frequently the only human voice I'd hear in a day. Despite not sugarcoating the news, he was able to maintain hope and optimism and share it with his loyal listeners.

He did the same as he dealt with his cancer, almost never missing a daily podcast. On Monday, his last day on Earth, he was still doing the podcast although he knew, and we knew, that the end was very near. I even grabbed a screenshot of Scott smiling as the podcast wrapped up, just in case it was my last chance to do so. And sadly, it was.

Scott Adams was famously canceled for his "racist remarks," a lie that sadly is being repeated in most of the mainstream media stories about his passing. Scott was as anti-racism as a person could be, but not in the manner that the woke media demanded. And to the confoundment of that media, Adams saw his cancelation as a new opportunity for unfettered creative expression. His daily cartoon strips "Dilbert Reborn" and "Robots Read the News" went way beyond anything he was allowed to get away with in the newspapers. 

The simultaneous sip - the dopamine hit of the day that made everything better

Behind the scenes, Scott shared and popularized his ideas with America's movers and shakers, not the least of whom was Donald Trump. Scott helped bring down DEI and floated the idea of treating drug cartels like the terrorist organizations they are. His influence extended far beyond what most people knew about. 

Scott Adams helped show us how to maximize our lives (I recommend his book "Reframe Your Brain") and in his final days showed us how to face mortality without fear. He was, and is, a hero of mine and the world is going to be more quiet and much more stupid without him.