hi every-one, its me again.....

this earthquake/tsunami should be caused by haarp/quake-weather-weapons, so, what's really needed as a miracle is to counter those human reduction programs initiated and executed by globalist-minded, blue-blood people who are behind haarp/cia/nwo/...etc as encouraged by ex living president who is steves grampa, correct?! agree???

That stuff is about as real as unicorns, hobbits the Book of Mormon and compassionate conservatives.

As soon as he died, the confiscated all of it,

I can see why you want to be anon for this post. You're a looney, plain and simple.

If the intention of the earthquake device was to reduce the human population, they did a lousy job and hit a terrible target.

About 10,000 people were killed in Japan, a country with 127,330,000 people. That means you need to cull about 1000 times that many people to even make a dent in Japan's population.

On top of that, Japan has a very low birthrate and an aging population. Japan's population is going to stagnate or decline on its own with the Gnomes of Zurich or some other Illumanti's help.

If they really wanted to cull the human population, they should have aimed for India with its 1,193,712,000 and rapidly growing.

it'd look like LaToya Jackson!

http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/456262.jpg

Got this letter today from an infuriated reader about the drawing in question:

"We cancelled our subscription years ago largely because we were infuriated with Steve Benson and his obvious bigotry. We have in the past few weeks been close to subscribing again. Today we picked up a Sunday paper and saw that Steve Benson has reduced the entire weekend of gut wrenching images of Japan to his cartoon of a crying Geisha girl. Once again the proof that Benson has no soul is thrown in our face. After all the images we have seen this weekend we need to see a stereotypical image of Japan and somehow think that this is adding to our understanding of the issue? He drew a cartoon of something he knows nothing about. If he did know then he would have drawn the torso of the woman and NOT drawn a bow one her stomach. As it is we are left with an ambiguous image not knowing whether or not this woman is a prostitute. Congratulations Steve. You STINK again!"
_____


My response:

"Ever been to a Japanese New Year’s celebration, in Japan? I have been there (and lived there and speak the language and admire the people and their culture). Not all Japanese women are women of the night but if you were familiar with their ceremonial dress, you would know that."



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2011 11:59PM by steve benson.

Definition of Geisha:

“Geisha are professional hostesses who entertain customers through various performing arts as gei means arts or performances, and sha means people in Japanese. Geisha are not either ordinary hostesses or prostitutes. They patiently went through extensive training to become geisha and keep improving their skills by taking many lessons. Nowadays, there are geisha who learn computer skills or English conversation to serve English-speaking customers. Also, the work of geisha is expanding, including modeling or international tours, for example."

“It's believed that the women who danced for warriers in the 11th century are the predecessors of geisha. Geisha are trained in a number of skills: traditional Japanese dance, singing, playing instruments like shamisen (three stringed instrument), flower arrangement, wearing kimono, Japanese tea ceremony, calligraphy, conversation, alcohol serving manners, and more."

http://gojapan.about.com/cs/japanesegeisha/a/geisha1.htm

As if it's rational to ignore an entire newspaper because of not enjoying one artist's work within it. Steve's daily toons don't take up the whole paper do they? I frequently skip over editorial cartoons if they don't interest me or catch my attention. That doesn't mean I can't read the opinion pages or enjoy other parts of the paper.

As if Steve Benson would deliberately insult an entire culture, especially in their time of greatest need.

As if the AZ Republic would OK the art, if so, and by extension deliberately insult an entire culture.

Even if for some bizarre reason the paper's bosses were fine with doing that (which would be so irrational as to be surely impossible) they need to protect their bottom line by being at least reasonably civil to all potential readers. This would be a big clue to their intent and their comprehension of Steve's intent, which is obviously all good.

I saw the tribute to Japan that Steve created, which to me is beautiful and poignant to a tear-jerking degree. I feel so very sorry for people who look at that piece of art and see ugliness. It surely does not arise from Steve's pen(cil?). Therefore, it must come from within the biased onlooker. How sad. You'd think these naysayers would be able to find a lot of other major issues to get incensed about...like half a million people newly homeless, like thousands dead, like thirst and hunger and fear and grief, like a nuclear meltdown.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2011 11:26PM by Nightingale.

+1

That shows a great amount of ignorance on the letter writer's part; He or she has a nice shiny mirror in hand.

The critic probably thought that a halfhearted viewing of 'Memoirs of a Geisha' counted as a well rounded cultural experience of Japan.

(I love the pic, Steve. Brought me to tears. Just simply beautiful and sad.)

Good response to him Steve. That was very beautiful and touching at the same time. I loved it. The sentiment comes through loud and clear.

As Don Bagley put it;
I love the composition and the sentiment. From tears, seas.

because I cannot say anything better than what has already been said.

Another potential subscriber foiled by a cartoon! I do not understand these people.

I never thought that was a geisha? Talk about racists!

My aunt is from Tokyo. She dressed that like at her wedding to my uncle. I don't think she would have appreciated being compared to a geisha.

Some people are too ignorant to be offended, and some people are offended out of ignorance.

I thought that is how my dad referred to the doll. Obviously he did not purchase a doll of a prostitute to bring home as a gift, and I believe she was a gift for his newlywed first wife.

Apparently there is a lot of confusion over the word. Americans are famous for ignorance of other cultures, and are certainly not familiar with the differences in traditional costumes. Most Americans would not know any better, but that letter has its own distinct nuttiness apart from American ignorance.

Wikipedia says:

“The two became especially confused after many of the professional prostitutes who catered to the occupying soldiers after World War II styled themselves as "geisha"; at a time when few true geisha were able to work, the counterfeit geisha usurped the meaning of the word in the eyes of many foreigners.[43]”

There is also an entire section on Geishas and Prostitution where writers try to set the record straight.

You've drawn a symbol of a beautiful culture, crying.

Part of your critics' ignorance is believing that "geisha=prostitute" that's not what geisha means at all.

Certainly, they are mormon.

Steve Benson is a great pen and ink artist. He's also a deep thinker who writes long pieces on culture and current events. The cartoon in question is gorgeous. I love the composition and the sentiment. From tears, seas.

It worked for me.
But then I didn't look at it with a fast-n-testimony stomach ache.

I've seen your work over the years and it's always top notch. It's clever, intelligent, and artistic. You have a wonderful talent at bringing it all together.

I thought it was beautiful.

Our local paper doesn't ever use Steve's cartoons so I had never seen them before.

Steve, your work is stunning!

Steve, that was beautiful!

Steve, I have watched countless earthquake and tsunami clips, and though I remain horrified, I have been tearless.

Upon seeing your cartoon just now I started to cry....one picture, worth a thousand tears.

As always, I marvel at your talents.

I thought it was lovely, and captured the tragedy of Japan's situation very well.

That's a beautiful way of representing the feelings in the disaster. That's a geisha, isn't it?

Well, I liked it. I thought it was sweet.

Unfortunaly I think it may be a Mormon thing with the ignorance about Geisha.They get two days off a month if they are lucky You think they have time for getting thair lessons and everything else interupted?

My mother even when I told her all this still said that geisha are prostitutes or atelst the first ones were. She wont be told anything else. Sick and anoying.