Dredging my filing cabinets, I relived some of my old ventures and ideas. There are a plethora of unpublished books and half written material, some of which still has value! All the important stuff has been carefully re-filed away for future reference.
I also found an old batch of hate mail from a political local cartoon I did that offended the religious community fairly well. There was a local church that rechristened itself with a name that phonetically sounded like L.S.D. Chapel (I will not reveal the name here as a last ditch effort of sensitivity on my part). Of course it wasn’t intended in the reference that immediately comes to mind. However, HOW COULD THEY NOT REALIZE it would conjure up images of Timothy Leary and the drug scene? DUH! I could not resist pointing this out with a cartoon.
A cartoon from my newpaper art director days in 1999.
Of course the hate mail ensued! I don’t deny I may have deserved some of it… I tend to be a little insensitive on certain issues and so that was pointed out. Here are a few juicy quotes:
“I take offense to the cartoon in the paper dated May 19-25, 1999. The *** Chapel was originally a Presbyterian Chapel an should not even be mentioned with LSD as we know it.
I can’t imagine any clergy person using the phase, “Chill Dudes, this isn’t what you think.” or I can’t imagine a clergy person wearing a hateful scowl as you’ve pictured in the cartoon.
Timothy Leary, Marijuana and Peace signs on the “Hippies'” shirts do not excuse the words spoken by the minister in the doorway.
It’s messages like these that send out “sick” ideas to your youth.”
–anonymous local reader
Another reader didn’t mince words!
“We don’t know TJAL but you are a Church basher – you are first class in racism by using slang language and figures of people who have helped ruin many families lives in this area over the years and how sad that is.”
–anonymous local reader number two.
Apparently, I’ve cause many local youth to turn to a life of “Hippie-ness”… Sorry about that. I never did figure out how I was racist… Insensitive, yes. Racist, never. Church basher? Not really.
I cannot take the full credit for this… My boss would collaborate on the ideas behind the cartoons so we are technically both responsible. Since I am not certain where this one originated, I will shoulder it.
If you want to be offended, you can always find things to inspire those negative thoughts. These letters do not offend me. They are merely views from another pinhole in the limited visions of the whole of each of us has. I cherish these ‘pinholes’ for when you add them all up, you have a clear view of everything. We won’t see that in this lifetime until we step back and open up our lenses to the panoramic.
Meanwhile, have a good laugh at my expense. I am certainly not offended and I would never stand in the way of a good snicker!
Tj
The ability to laugh at one’s self is an attribute many church-goers lack. And the ability to shoulder responsibility whether or not actually responsible is a quality even more people are missing. Most people (and I often find myself in this category) try to blame others.
It’s the zealots who give the Church a bad name, but they do what they feel is right. Unfortunately, that sometimes means extreme actions.
Now, remember: I’m a Christian, but I find none of this offensive. And Satire often found itself subject of hate. Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope are two I can name.
When you upset the “religious apple-cart,” you get the heat. But who is more likely to receive it later?
Sometimes, the normal folk just forget: This is Satirical humor. They’ve forgotten the words of the Man who was above all: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
That was a great comment!
Thanks for you support! 😉
Tj