The death of Scott Adams on January 13, 2026 marks the end of a complicated chapter in American cultural life — a brilliant cartoonist who made millions of office workers laugh and whose later life became a battleground over speech and cancel culture. Adams’ passing has been reported across mainstream outlets, and it’s worth remembering that beneath the controversy was a man whose work shaped a generation’s view of corporate absurdity.

In the aftermath, Dave Rubin has put out a clip and a direct-message memory that he says is “never-before-told,” describing a private act of help from Adams at a time Rubin needed an ally. Rubin’s recollection — that Adams quietly supported and even invested in independent conservative platforms like Locals to help keep dissenting voices alive — speaks to the real-world solidarity that often goes unreported when the mobs are out for blood.

Rubin’s story is worth hearing because it exposes the hypocrisy of a media ecosystem that punished Adams publicly while ignoring the small, practical ways he helped build alternatives to that same system. Conservatives should not be surprised that the left’s gang-up culture prefers spectacle to nuance; Rubin’s DM clip underscores how real friends helped each other quietly while the mainstream edited history for clicks.

Let’s be clear about what cost Adams paid: after his infamous 2023 comments he was stripped of syndication and slammed by legacy outlets, a reminder that one public misstep — or one unorthodox opinion — can wipe out decades of creative work. The newspapers that dropped Dilbert and the publishers that disavowed him were following a predictable script, one that punishes deviation from the liberal consensus rather than allowing debate and disagreement.

But the real story conservatives need to focus on is Adams’ craft and influence: Dilbert captured the absurdities of corporate life with surgical wit, and that cultural contribution shouldn’t be erased because elites decided to cancel the man who made people laugh. The left’s rush to obliterate figures they dislike does cultural damage to the country and sours public life for anyone who dares to push against groupthink.

Rubin’s willingness to go on record with a private message — to show loyalty and to remind audiences that people like Adams helped build platforms where free speech could survive — is the kind of fortitude conservatives should celebrate. In a year when institutions prefer conformity, stories of mutual aid among dissenters matter; they show that conservative ideas and institutions were not simply the product of a few loud voices but of real networks of support.

So mourn the passing of a gifted satirist, yes, but also take Rubin’s anecdote as a lesson: we must keep building institutions that protect speech and back each other when the mobs come calling. Honor Scott Adams by defending the space for rough, necessary conversations and by standing with those who risk everything to keep the marketplace of ideas alive for hardworking Americans.