Dilbert comics creator Scott Adams continued to have repercussions Monday about his recent comments, which many felt were racist.
Adams made the remarks during a YouTube video while discussing a poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports. The poll itself has also garnered attention due to a controversial question that led to Adam’s answer.
“When almost half of all black people disagree with white people … that’s a hate group,” Adams, who is white, said in the Feb. 22 video while speaking about the poll. “I don’t want anything to do with them. And I’d say, based on the way things are going right now, the best advice I would give to white people is to stay away from black people… because that can’t be fixed.”
The poll question that elicited Adam’s response was, “It’s okay to be white.” The phrase has long been used by white supremacists, which is why Rasmussen Reports included the question in the poll.
“As you know, our motto at Rasmussen Reports is ‘if it’s in the news, it’s in our polls,'” Mark Mitchell, chief researcher at Rasmussen, told Newsweek. “The phrase ‘it’s okay to be white’ has been in the news a lot.”
The main image shows an undated archive photo of a person taking part in an online survey. The smaller picture shows Scott Adams, creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, on August 28, 2001 in San Francisco, California. Adam’s response to a Rasmussen Reports poll drew a lot of backlash. Photos by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images
Mitchell noted that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has labeled “it’s okay to be white” as a hate slogan, and the organization traced the origin of the phrase to a trolling campaign on the 4chan discussion forum.
“Whether the original trollers were white supremacists or not, actual white supremacists quickly began promoting the campaign – often adding internet links to white supremacist websites to flyers or combining the phrase with white supremacist language or imagery,” the ADL wrote.
Mitchell said that despite the phrase’s adoption by hate groups, “the vast majority of Americans are OK with it, including the majority of Black Americans.”
Continue reading
Rasmussen Reports asked poll participants if they agreed with the phrase, and the pollsters broke down the responses by various demographics. Among black respondents, 53 percent said they agreed that “it’s okay to be white.”
However, Adams apparently misinterpreted the results when he said, “Nearly half of all black people disagree with white people.” That’s because 47 percent didn’t answer that they disagreed with the statement — only 26 percent answered that they “did not agree.” disagree,” while another 21 percent responded by answering “not sure.”
Another important consideration in the Rasmussen Reports survey is that people were asked whether they “agree or disagree with this statement: ‘It’s okay to be white.'” The question was not asked of blacks whether they thought it was okay to be white. As such, some respondents may be aware of the controversial baggage associated with the statement used by some white supremacists.
The poll itself drew a lot of criticism on social media. Writer Jeff Charles wrote on Twitter that since Rasmussen polled 1,000 people and only 13 percent were black, the number of black respondents who said they were “not sure” about that statement would be about 61 people.
“Here’s the question: why does it make sense to assume that 61 black people somehow represent the 40 million black people who live in the United States?” Charles tweeted.
A Twitter user responded to Charles by writing: “[t]This is how polls work. Otherwise we would have to question everyone, which is not possible.”
For his part, Adams – who has a history of controversial remarks – was met with swift backlash. His racially insensitive comments led to syndicators removing the Dilbert strip from newspapers and Penguin Random House scrapping plans to publish a proposed Adams book.
Mitchell told Newsweek that Rasmussen would rather not get into the episodes of the Dilbert creator.
“We’ll let Scott speak for himself, but we stand by the results of the poll,” he said.
When asked for comment, Adams told Newsweek in an email that his comments were “not based solely on the poll.”
“In the context of CRT [Critical Race Theory] and ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance ] and DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion], there is a common variable of demonization of white people. (Much of it legitimate.) And that can ultimately only have one outcome.
