Dilbert: Take some time out of your day to worship Scott Adams' genius.

I've just got hold of the first 2 seasons of the Dilbert TV series, and watching it after spending some time interning at an advertising agency, I now appreciate its genius.

In the same way South Park is precise in satiring everyday-life, such are the masterpieces of Scott Adams, the Dilbert creator, in satiring the corporate environment. The short-sighted logic of bosses, the evil indifference of the human resources department and the marketers' faux friendliness are all humourously ridiculed almost to the point of utter poetry. It's sheer brilliance. Every single character is representative of a concept in reality and Dilbert himself is a medium through which these common experiences can be portrayed.

As a teenager, I bought The Dilbert Principle, The Dilbert Future, and Dilbert's Joy of Work. To me, they were sort of reference books because they were non-fiction and only referenced the actual Dilbert strip after explaining each concept. I liked this about them because they weren't just a collection of funnies. They were a collection of true-to-life ideas that were explained through a few strips. They revolutionised the way I think of things; most notably my cynicism and sense of humour. After that I delved into The Way of the Weasel, which also gave me insight into the ridicule of the corporate environment. I applied this in my final years at high school which was very rewarding as high school is run exactly as a business (at least the one I was at), except for downsizing I think. Then again, I've heard of pupils being "suggested" to other schools and of course, students changing schools. As a result, I didn't find it difficult to convert the corporate satire into academic institution satire. What an eye-opener.

Working in the agency I'm at, I can see how the satire works in essence. The way marketers are portrayed in Dilbert are so precise to the way they generally behave that I think the hyperbole can be applied to practically any marketer. The way I've seen marketers behave in both the real world and at advertising college had me canning myself with laughter at the way they behave in the TV series.

Get something Dilbert now, be it merchandise or a watch if you can't get a book. Even try and bend your tie upwards to work or something, because homage must be paid to an oeuvre this phenomenal.