Posted by:
steve benson
(
)
Date: September 10, 2014 06:12PM
I did the following cartoon, which ran today in print and online. It's clearly Mormon-related because of the pervasive attitude in the wacked-out LDS world of "sacred" sexism that assures Mo men they are messianically "meant" to rule the roost, women step aside:
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/steve-benson/2014/09/09/ray-rice-hit-wife-elevator-nfl-punishment/15371977/_____
I subsequently received the following complaint regarding the above editorial commentary:
". . . Today is my last time looking at [your work]. For a clever, creative and obviously smart person, you really fell short on this one with Rice/NFL. If your message was to show how the NFL looks the other way, you failed. This was the ultimate insult to all women. There was nothing positive to gain in your message. Nothing was clever, funny or acceptable.
"In life, there are some things that should never be joked about; for sure you crossed the line. I doubt I will stand alone in my opinion.
"Respectfully, . . ."
_____
My reply:
". . . 'Respectfully'? That¹s not how my dictionary defines the word.
"In response, may I say this: I was a fully-sworn cop here in AZ. I saw domestic violence in real life, in real time and dealt with its real victims.
"In one case, when I was in the police academy (where I devoted myself seriously to my studies), I accompanied a call responding to an emergency DV situation. The abuser--a little runt with anger management issues--had thrown his female partner into the bathtub of her apartment (hers, not his, since he didn¹t have his own place), breaking her upper femur, the largest bone in the human body. The victim was a nurse who also worked part-time at a supermarket to make ends meet and who was the primary breadwinner in the household with this loser. The guy committed his crime against his female target because she had failed to have dinner ready for him when he came home, prior to their plans to go out to a concert that evening. In fact, when he came home, she was in the process of getting ready to go out with him. He interrupted her preparation in that regard by throwing her in the empty tub, breaking her leg.
"After he threw her into that hard, ceramic tub, resulting in the fracture, she screamed in pain and could not pull herself out of the tub. She begged for him to help her out, so he hauled her out of the tub, placed her on a chair and, at her request, pushed her across the carpeted floor, over to the phone. Every time the chair hit a ripple in the carpet, the woman would cry out in acute pain. From the phone, she called 911. I was part of the first-responding police officer contingent. The woman was extremely upset at what her partner had done to her; the more she thought about it as medics attended to her, the angrier she got. As she was being lifted on a gurney into the back of the ambulance, she told me she wanted the guy prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He was automatically arrested for DV, under AZ law, and prosecuted. I later visited her in the hospital.
"In another case, I was in court with fellow cops witnessing the DV prosecution of a DPS officer who lost his badge for physically injuring his girlfriend in an altercation where he was fighting to keep her from taking the car keys and leaving the house.
"I know DV. I have seen it, first-hand, in real life, as a cop. DV is a horrendous, sick crime not only against the individual victim (as was the case with Janay Rice) but a crime against society, collectively r
"The NFL, under the inept 'leadership' of Roger Goodell, has been an inexcusable enabler and facilitator in its abject failure to see to it that Ray Rice is punished properly, fully and justly for his criminal assault (aggravated felony assault, to be exact) against Ms. Rice. That was the illustrative point of my drawing, as it showed Goodell opening the elevator door for Ray Rice to escape with his victim that he was literally dragging across the floor of the elevator after he clocked her into unconsciousness.
"I can understand why you feel strongly about this issue. I feel strongly,as well--very strongly.
"With that as background, I would like to close by simply observing that, in my opinion, you may have fundamentally misinterpreted the cartoon.
"I have been receiving positive comment today from readers who understood its intended meaning.
"Thanks for writing. I know you care about this issue.
"Sincerely, . . . "
*****
Art can sometimes be a dangerous, misunderstood thing.
In the name of Let's-Be-Nice. Amen. :)
Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2014 07:05PM by steve benson.