Recently, I received this opening-salvo from a grievously wrought individual who had decided to give his digital vocal chords a workout. His wife also joined in as hubby's loyal combatant.

The Complainer's initial missive was subject-lined, “shame on you,” but from there immediately went to all caps:

“BENSON . . .

“FOR ME AS A EX SPECIAL NAVAL WARFARE PERSON WHO HAD 6 TRIPS TO NAM . . . AND . . . WENT THROUGH SEAL TRAINING . . . I TAKE YOUR CARTOONS AS A SLAP IN THE FACE . . . . YOU SAY YOU’RE AN AMERICAN BULL, TO ME YOUR NOTHING BUT A COMMIE LEFTIST WHO SAYS HE IS A SOLID CITIZEN OF AMERICA. . . . I ONLY HOPE SOME DAY I WILL BE IN A PLACE WHERE YOUR EATING OR HAVING A DRINK SO I CAN TELL YOU OFF TO YOUR FACE . . . I YOU’RE . . . IN A POSITION TO PUT PEOPLE DOWN AND GET AWAY WITH IT. . . . LIKE I SAID I HOPE TO HAVE THE PLEASURE SOME DAY TO MEET UP WITH YOU FACE TO FACE SO I CAN EXPRESS MY FEELINGS ABOUT A COMMUNIST LEFTIST WHO IN MY OPINION IS A DISGRACE TO A GOOD PROFESSION."


--My response:

“ . . . I am entitled to my opinion . . .”

[I refrained from informing him that I was not the “AMERICAN BULL” he had described me as but did add the following]:

“As a former cop, I am not impressed by your capital-letter screaming  or by your invocation of patriotism. . . . .

“The  cartoon  at least touched your  nerve, if not your heart.”
_____



--The Complainer’s reply:

“Like I said your a nut I look at your cartoons every day so I know what type of a shallow person you must be. You would have lasted 1 day in seal training your an ex cop I'd love to know where you finished in your class but then again that why you a carton guy.” 

[NOTE: I think the complainer meant to say, “cartoon guy," not "carton guy."]  


--My response:

”Since you asked, I finished top in my police  academy class . . .

“ . . ., [I]t appears that you wouldn’t last a day in cartoon training.    Only certain people can handle it.”

_____



--The Complainer’s reply:

--“What r you some kind of a nut like your cartoons . . . [Y]ou . . . is shallow like your cartoons. HA HA  Pitting that Muslim [Obama] in a great mans chair [Lincoln’s] in the wire house. That's what's wrong with America muslim democrats like you. LOL" 

[NOTE: I think the Complainer meant to say “Putting that Muslim in the White House,” not “Pitting that Muslim . . . in the wire house.”]


--My response:

“ . . . I am neither a Democrat or a Muslim, . . . being the officially-registered non-party-affilliated voter that I am. . . .
 
“Please note [in your] your text . . . where you  launched into an all-caps screed  . . . while making . . . claims that are demonstrably false.  At least now you’ve toned things down to normal upper and lower case;  Please try to keep things in perspective. It’s a cartoon. Yet, you scream and call me names over it.  
 
“As to your false assertions,  Obama is not a Muslim, but even if he were, the U.S. Constitution (Article Vi, Section 3) specifically prohibits any religious oath or test for holding federal  office.”
_____
 

--The Complainer’s Wife also decided to jump into the fray to join her Complaining Husband:

“I would love to add my comment to you as [his] wife. I am not college educated like you and [my husband], however I do have a mind of my own. What I can't understand is, how do you and all your other dems, including my brother and sister in law, do not see [that] Obama] is a Muslim who has single handedly destroyed our country, and lost the respect of the world world. . . ., and [has] increased Muslim terrorists in this country , , , !!!

“Please forgive me if I think you and people like you are ignorant. Your suppose to be a good human being but your full of hate for a good American father. the day I see some type of compassion out of you I might get some respect for you and the cartoons.”


--My response to the Complainer’s Wife:

“You’re  screaming at me with multiple exclamation points—all over a cartoon.    This is America.   Benjamin Franklin was an editorial cartoonist for his own newspaper, the Pennysylvania Gazette.    The Brits were screaming at him all the time.
 
“If  you are, as you claim to be   [i.e., the Complainer’s] wife, then please avail yourself of the Article and Section of the U.S. Constitution that I cited for his benefit--the one which specifically prohibits  the imposition of religious oaths or tests for the holding of any federal office (which would include the office of the U.S.  presidency).” 
_____  


--The Complainer then waded back in with a reply:

“Like I said cartoon man your not worth it your . . . a very little man. Can't wait to see your cartoon of hate from you tomorrow god help people like you so full of hate." 


--My final response:

“I believe this ‘dialogue’ initiated from your end has run its course.   Thanks for writing and  have a good day."

******


HIT IT!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8StG4fFWHqg



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2017 11:04PM by steve benson.

Why can't the college-educated former SEAL spell?
Or check facts?
Or read the constitution?

Probably 'cause he's too busy hating you, and getting his wife to join in. :)

It looks like they saved up enough to finally afford lower case letters. Maybe they can make a down payment on using their spellcheck option.

Seriously, these are truly unhappy people. Maybe they are negatively disposed by nature, or have been unbalanced by a series of unfortunate circumstances. Either way, they need to blame somebody for their misfortune. As there is little point in blaming people who look and act like oneself, the focus has to be on those who are different.

To be fair, he didn't say that he was a former SEAL, just that he had had SEAL training. Perhaps he dropped out after one day.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2017 09:35PM by steve benson.

You created cognitive dissonance for them. They couldn't handle it, and they, not being taught how to respond to it, exploded into rage. Good job, Steve!

So many incensed e-mails from people who hate your cartoons, Steve. What can't they draw their own?

You should talk to your editor and work out a "Compete with Steve Benson" cartoon contest. That way, all the people who hate your work can try their hand at the art and demonstrate their own personal eloquence. The entries could be published on the Republic's web site (no sense wasting the paper of the print edition).

I'm sure the results would be very revealing and utterly hilarious. And maybe, just maybe, some of your critics would appreciate you more -- or at least whine a little less.

They expect me to do so, however, assuming that because I work for a newspaper, I somehow therefore owe it to them to be a "fair and balanced" reporter.

Earth to the uninformed masses: I am not a reporter. I am an editorial cartoonist who signs his own work with his own name--not their name, not the name of dead people or not the name of people who are brain-dead, but don't know it.

I tell them to buckle up and listen carefully because here's the deal:

They cannot channel their cartoon ideas through me. I will not be their clearing-house medium for getting their personal opinions out to the world. I know it's tough love for them to be subjected to such a harsh reality check, but I hold my ground and give them the bad news that they're just going to have to (a) learn how to draw their own cartooned opinion and (b) put it out there themselves.

Boy, howdy, this all-American self-initiative stuff sure as hell doesn't sit well with people who can't, or won't, draw for themselves. Well, OK, then, I tell them that if that's how they;re gonna be, I'm drawing the line: They're just going to have to put out, pick up their own pack of crayolas, and soldier forth.

If they haven't started shouting expletives at me by this point, I reiterate, using monosyllabic words wherever needed, that I am a commentator who draws my personal-opinion cartoons which appear on the editorial pages, not on the news pages. Hit with that stunning bit of news, they often retort that I shouldn't be permitted to express my own views, because the newspaper goes out to a lot of people.

Huh?

I tell them that using that "logic," none of their favorite public officials or preachers or sports heroes should be allowed to hold pep rallies in big stadiums or on TV, or over the radio, or via the worldwide internet, since that is where their opinions are disseminated to, gosh, a lot of people.

I also ask them to point out to me where in the U.S. Constitution it says that Americans are not allowed to speak their minds if what they have to say happens to go out to a lot of people.

At this point, there is usually a long pause and then the phone goes dead.



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2017 12:52AM by steve benson.

Why does he start every correspondence with "My d**k is bigger than yours"?

Bark! BARK BARK. Bark....bark...BARK.

(Apparently he was trained as some kind of seal.)

Once again, I am impressed with your unending calm, professionialism. I would be so tempted to lash out in anger and call him out on his poor spelling, among other, obvious shortcomings he clearly has.

. . . but I don't know if my patients can afford my hourly rate.

" Commie leftist" ? I'm guessing that rube cannot even define "communism".

They don't realize they, themselves, are living cartoons of a certain type of people.

This reminds me of a meme I saw the other day. "You can learn to hate or you can learn to spell but apparently it's one or the other."

Love that.

It frightens me how ignorant some people are. Your responses were spot on Steve.