Many of Steve Benson's posts are very well thought-out and well researched. I have often been surprised at his journalistic skills which go beyond just drawing cartoons, which he is very good at doing that too. When he is on-topic, he is very good at what he writes.
Several months ago, his posts started getting too political, introducing a large amount of liberal ideaology, laced with traces of mormon topics that seemed sparsely related, more like excuses for the political expression than real discussions about mormonism.
If we can get the researcher, the artist, the prophet's grandson back on here, that would be a big plus. I've missed those posts. The political commentator with a political axe to grind.... not so much.
When I spoke the truth about Islam and asked a certain cartoonist to mock Mohamad in a published cartoon if Islam is such a safe religion, something amazing happened. Poof... both the post and the cartoonist just disappeared.
Steve has kicked the ball about with the best of them through many years. One little post is not likely to have seen him off.
One thing Sus I/S often said: We're not the RS here. People come and go and we give them room to come, stay, go, return, or move on to other pastures. It's all the understandable ebb and flow of life.
Another thing different about RfM from LDS Inc is that people don't have to justify their choices to the body at large.
I've spent more time at RfM now than I did in the Mormon Church as a short term convert. Other than jibes about being stupid enough to convert or over-the-top snideities about being Christian, I'm happy to have found this board (recommended by one of the very few exmos I've ever met in person) and happy to come and go and stay or leave without having to explain myself - a refreshing change from the Mormon way.
Of course, I'm not a famous cartoonist/commentator.
Please say your kidding about that being "the drama." For months I've been concerned that maybe there was a serious crisis, like a dire health condition, or a personal family - maybe mo- issue, and it was not my place to pry.
If the "real" cause is "miff due to board rules," I'm glad that there was no serious illness or other personal crisis, but damn.
Just.Damn.
It's exceedingly difficult to avoid politics when dealing with the intrusion of religion into The Ruling Classes of government, but your withdrawl from full and proud participation here proves the right thinking behind the board rule.
^ helped many people with mo issues, and it's a waste of brilliance to not realize that there is a time and place for all of your knowledge, wit and skill.
No need to respond. I miss you, and either you choose to create and help, or you don't. I think you can discern my "vote."
I'll end this by stating that you once had one of my replies removed; I think I hadn't explained myself well enough, and when you thanked the mod for removing it, it took a little time, but I got over it.
Leth Rep If I recall you didn't have a real belief testimony wielding investment in mormonism, is that correct?
If you didn't have a lot of testimony to deconstruct some of the detailed topics might not have been important for you?
For someone like myself who ate, slept and breathed mormon obedience for a huge chunk of my life.... well, S.B.'s ""novellas"" were like a life raft out in a sea of poop.
Gradually each detail began to untangle the mormon noose around my neck.
I owe him, and a number of other posters here whom I won't name now, almost every part of my deconversion.
I couldn't have done it without their painstaking attention to details to extremely important topics.
I bow to some of these posters who made my deconversion somewhat more tolerable, although how the board didn't ban me during my delicate 2 year deconstructing process shows me that the mods have the patience of Job.
Consider yourself very, very fortunate if you had no need for such novellas.
I love Benson's stuff. And he *always* comes back after a long hiatus, this time as a "^". The dude can't help himself. He loves to sprinkle a little sarcasm, wit, and humor into the RfM pot year after year. Comedians are like that-they need their audience. He can't stay away long.
Steve said he was leaving but then started using the name "^" to boost his old posts and put a few comments on the board. Looks like he can't quite let go
Wait, do we know that's really Steve, or is it somebody commenting on Steve's prior post's. "^" talks about Steve in third person a lot. Makes me wonder.
I just drop in every now and then, so I don't follow every little thing that's going on.
I do miss Steve's posts, though. I hope he starts a blog (or something similar), because I'd love to keep reading him, whether it's mo-related or not.