Scott Alexander

Eigengender on Twitter ran a poll and found that, here's the poll, If you were a person of Scott Adams' rough level of fame and died today, would you want ACX to do a brutally honest Speaker for the Dead-style obituary on you?

70.5% respond yes, 10.1% maybe, 12.6% no, and 6.9% just wanted to see the results.

Scott writes, which makes me more confident that I landed on the tone I wanted.

And several people commented that the essay seemed pro-Adams, or made them like Adams more.

Joel McKinnon writes, quote, As a chronic sufferer of TDS, I've fallen into the the friend of my enemy is my enemy, and long stopped having any respect for this other Scott A. The Post did a great job of contextualising a complicated and intelligent man's life and ideas.

Jonathan Lipschutz writes, It seems to me he was a true great contributor to America and Americans and Western intellectual discourse in the vein of other greats like Mark Twain.

What I learned from your piece, which was absolutely amazing in its own right and shined throughout as a tribute and labour of love, was Adams' humanity.

He was labelled as a racist, which I believe to be bunk and a lack of honesty or courage with addressing the point or argument he was making.

He was an eminently flawed human being, like all humans, but he was also acutely aware of this and tried to help others with humour and honesty.

pointing out ways humans fall short, including himself.

But he used his special powers in the service of intellectual honesty or inquisitiveness or love for his fellow human beings."

Banjo Kildare writes, quote, This is a wonderful piece.

Your love for Scott Adams shines through.

Disgruntled Cho One writes, quote, This made me actually feel warmly for Scott Adams, a thus far unparalleled feat.

End quote.

Scott writes, The most important question is whether Scott Adams himself would have appreciated the post, and this convinces me that he would have.

One of Adams' favourite persuasion topics was what he called the two movies on one screen, where people would come away from the same event with totally different narratives.

For example, a Democrat might watch a Trump speech and conclude that Trump had openly and clearly announced his racism, while a Republican watching the same speech might think that Trump had just said something patriotic and hadn't mentioned race at all.

Whatever his opinion on what I said, I'm sure he would have found your reactions hilarious.

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