First, the 'toon:

http://i.azcentral.com/i/6/7/2/PHP52C0D1B662276.jpg
_____


Now, some more reaction:

Complainer:

"benson:

"My, My-what a glorious achievement for your home state of Utah. I am sure all of your Morman relatives there are thrilled to death. You also must be very,very happy.

"Maybe now you can move back there."
_____


My reply:

"I was born in California and raised in Texas. Nice try."
_____


Complainer:

"Well, I assumed that since you barely made it through BYU, you were a native of that state. But, since you are not, being born in California probably permanently installed your liberal attitude. I guess that gives you free reign to malign Utah."
_____


My reply:

"I made it through BYU cum laude. Where do you get your info, from your local ward newsletter?

"Besides California and Texas, I have also lived in Indiana, Virginia, Utah, Idaho, Washington, and Arizona. And, of course, in Utah, they feel they are free to malign the Constitution of the United States."
_____


Complainer:

"I knew about the cum laude, but I thought it was Magna Cum Laude and didn't want to mention it and let your ego to get any larger. It probably was in a USC discipline, wasn't it?

"And what does this mean 'in Utah,they feel they are free to malign the Constitution of the US'? Did they do something against the US Constitution? If so, I am not aware of it and neither are the obamapolice?

"As far as local wards, I don't go there. But I see you have. I quote from one of your critics-,"Benson is quite a guy. He wins a Pulitzer and thinks he can run the Morman Church" [the complainer is quoting a letter to the editor from a local Mormon that ran back when I won the Pulitzer in 1993].

"But that is old history,no?"
_____


My reply:

"Utah has just had its uber-sized ego handed back to it on a platter. Until and unless Utah (against its will) modernizes, larger society will continue to have to treat this Kingdom of Deseret like the primitive adolescent that it still is. A crash course in the 14th Amendment would be a good place to start. (The fact that you have to ask me about what has brought Utah, kicking and screaming, to where it is now in the federal courts indicates that perhaps you have some basic book-learnin' to do).

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=255855449


"That said, the fact that Utah is still behind the civilized curve is what's really old news.

"And, by the way, I'm not running the Mormon Church. The Feds are. Remember polygamy, no?"



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 03:18AM by steve benson.

Gee..I wonder what the reaction would be if you would have drawn that same cartoon except replce the car with another horse drawn wagon, add 1 man and 5 wives in the wagon, and labeled it "Utah......1850's"?

There should have been more wife than one in the cartoon. It would have been much funnier.

Such is life on matters of multiple-wife. Political cartoonists, working as we do in the world of opinionated strife, try to do the best we can in circumstances that always involve some degree of editorial control.

Not complainin,' just explainin.'
_____


Another thing I've learned in my 30-plus years of doing this job:

People will admit that perhaps they can't draw, but they are significantly disinclined to admit that anyone else has a better sense of humor than they do. (Thanks for proving the point).

:)



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2014 07:42PM by steve benson.

Maybe someday you can release a book of your uncensored cartoons. Now we just need to think of a good name for the thing.

I can draw well, at least that is what many people have told me. I love sketching and painting. I also know quite a few people with a much better sense of humor than my own.

I was just being a critic.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 01:22PM by steve benson.

I don't know about that but I wasn't being critical. I didn't see anything wrong with the cartoon. I liked it. What I didn't like was what you impugned about me. Very Daniel Peterson like in my opinion. Any I think usually everyone has one of those.

You wrote and I quote:

"I can draw well, at least that is what many people have told me. I love sketching and painting. I also know quite a few people with a much better sense of humor than my own.

"I was just being a critic."

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1126760,1127571#msg-1127571

Now, if you try to deny having said the above, that would be very Daniel Peterson of you. :)



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 01:27PM by steve benson.

steve benson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Now, if you try to deny having said the above,
> that would be very Daniel Peterson of you. :)

Implying I would deny saying what I did is an interesting way of responding to something after you impugned my sense of humor over a simple observation that you explained was editor constrained.

. . . than mine, which one could say was "impugning" my sense of humor. (As to which cartoon idea was supposedly "funnier" is, of course, a matter of personal opinion. In this case, you personally think yours was and still is). Geezus. Again, you are proving my point.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 02:23PM by steve benson.

It was your idea as well. I wish it could have been. I love the irony of polygamy versus same sex marriage in Mormon hypocrisy.

As ususal great humor. Thanks

Well done. Noticed you on PBS last night. Would have liked to have heard it but my son decided to build legos in front of the tv.

I've lived in Arizona 40 years and wish to make the following observation:

Benson's cartoons used to have a prominent place top and center on the editorial page of the Arizona Republic but in recent years have shrunk in size and are not always top and center as the size and relevance of the Repugnant has diminished.

I have tried to stop my subscription but she who will be obeyed must have her sports page.

... and, hence, the cartoon size as well, in the print edition, as more people are going to the web for their news and information. Our web platform/presence is actually quite strong in terms of providing news to our readership base across multiple platforms, particularly as the newspaper has joined up with Channel 12 broadcast news, a fellow Gannett property. As the technology and reading habits/venues of consumers have changed over time, so have newspapers across the country. What you describe as relevance is more of a matter of reformatting.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 01:21PM by steve benson.

. . . to which I responded.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1126760,1127612#msg-1127612



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 01:31PM by steve benson.

steve benson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> . . . to which I responded.

Yep. You sure did. I won't bother linking to your response since I'm replying to it. That would be redundant. See above.

. . . to you, not as a matter of redundancy, but as a matter of factual verification and reinforcement of what was said and in what context.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 01:37PM by steve benson.

Lots of things are inconvenient to me and often those things are facts. Thanks for helping me realize this. I'm trying to stay more on the side of blinding my ego than being blinded by it.

I don't want to blind it nor do I want to be exclusively guided by it.

. . . then that appears to possibly be a case of you being blinded by your ego.

Unless, of course, this exercise has served to help unblind you in that regard. :)



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 01:53PM by steve benson.

It has. What I considered relevant has become more of a matter of rethinking what I did by way of retaliating for a bruised ego in the realm of humor.

You don't know me personally and so it was silly and stupid of me to take offense.

This individual actually argues, apparently with some kind of straight face, that the state of Utah is not beholden to the U.S. Constitution and, therefore, is under no legal obligation to even ratify the 14th Amendment. Say what?

Complainer:

"O that 14th Amendment. It has something to do with states right, doesn't it? Hmm, Civil War, etc,etc.,,,, Texas? If I am correct, and I usually am, UTAH hasn't adopted the 14th Amendment and doesn't appear to want to. So what?

"I really never thought about Utah as a 'Kingdom of the Desert and a primitive adolescent' as you describe but more of a family oriented, very scenic, friendly, and a very independent state. I have only been there a few times and for some reason they treated me well-maybe because I didn't try to change or take them over like Holder Justice and Obama and apparently you are. Tell me, how many ropes and drugs did they use to make you stay at BYU for 4 years? Or was it a longer sentence?

"You did graduate in 4 years didn't you and didn't use state of other scholarship money that you haven't paid back,have you ?
But they eventually released you to the general public who are now suffering.

"BTW, Thanks for the repartee.I promise to study harder and get to be like you-NOT!"
_____


My reply:

"Yeah, nothing like the U.S. Constitution and its attendant amendments. Read it sometime. If you have to, force yourself to take some college-level courses in American history and poli sci, like I did.

"I realize that, by your own admission, you do not seem particularly inclined to 'study harder;' that is why you ask me questions about the U.S. Constitution in the hope that I will answer them for you without you having to do any heavy lifting. I mean, seriously, relying on a cartoonist to do your homework for you? No wonder your side lost in court."



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2014 05:15PM by steve benson.

Man, love these updates.
Good for the soul.
Thanks.