Hay-Soos

This week’s series in Dilbert caused quite a stir. It featured a new guy in the office whose name is pronounced hay-soos and spelled Jesus. I drew those strips a few months ago, and in my typical careless way I didn’t realize they would be running around Easter time. Oops.

You can see the series at www.dilbert.com while they are still in the archive.

As you might imagine, I got a lot of e-mail about this strip. Comments were about evenly divided between people who are deeply offended and people who think it was my best work yet. Interestingly, the people most amused often described themselves as religious, and those offended often noted that they were not especially religious.

My favorite rhetorical question, which I received an alarming number of times, was “Why don’t you mock Mohammed next? Huh? Why not?”

Well, aside from the blindingly obvious reason that I prefer life over death, I didn’t realize I was making fun of Christianity this week. It’s a standard cartoon practice to take well-known historical or fictional stories and put other characters in those roles. I did the same thing with The Wizard of Oz, and no one thought I was insulting Dorothy.

Anyway, I had to answer a lot of angry e-mail. Here’s a typical letter I received, with my pithy answer at the bottom.

In a message dated 3/11/2008 9:54:25 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, (address deleted) writes:

Hello! Mr. Adams,
Mr. Adams I just want to tell you that I don’t really appreciate you making a mockery of my faith. I used to think that your comic strip was funny, now I think it is very disgusting and not funny at all. I have found your last comics strips in reference to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ very offensive. There is a place for everything and there is a place for humor and humor has its limits, especially when it comes to those things and issues that some of us hold as sacred. I will pray for you and that some day you may come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Otherwise you will find Him some day as your judge, and He will justly judge you for your sins and whether or not you believe in Hell that day you will believe and you will repent when you see Him face to face, but then it will be too late. Repent from your wicked ways and stop making fun of my Savior.

Thanks for your time.

Pastor (name deleted).
California

My response…

Thank you for taking time out from feeding the poor to complain about comic strips. I know Jesus would have played it the same way.

Scott

Comments

[David]

Greetings, Scott!

I know you had your reasons for withholding the Pastor's name, but I personally think it would have been more appropriate to reveal the name. Since this guy is so obviously dedicated to his views on religion (and even has the gall to predict and dictate exactly how Jesus will treat you on Judgment Day), why not give him a chance to respond to the many logical and reasonable statments made by a huge number of your fans who supported the Hay-soos strips?

But personally, I doubt the Pastor could make any worthwhile responses. I suspect that you put a lot more into your line of work than he does into his.

Good day!

[Inquizitor]

You know. I looked through those comics and thought it was a neat little story about teh easter story. Done in the Dilbert fasion. I don't understand why people would have taken offense.

[Erik]

Well Scott, apparently it's been a couple of weeks since you got a comment on this blog - I just HAD to add one to it today. I came to the website to day to see if I could find your "Hay-soos run. I'm disappointed because it's out of the archive...

I wanted to show it to my wife, but I'll find some way...

I am an elder in a small church of people who take their faith very seriously and I can't think of one of ours who would be offended at your very comical parody of the gospel. ("I'll punch his pilot light out!" - WHAT A HOOT!!) AND you placed it in the papers about the season of Lent - Perfect!!

Jesus shows up - does some miracles - collects a group of twelve to change the world - Is betrayed by someone who benefited from his ministry - is [killed] - and returns to let them know he [made a way for mankind to be freed from sin] ((so they don't have to be the perfect goody-two-shoes-better-than-the-heathen to be saved)) It was awesome!

To those who want to be offended: Jesus can defend himself - He is alive, right? ;)

[OgrO]

Sorry for commenting on this so late, but I just figured it might be worth something to you to say (though you've probably figured that out) that guys like that probably never ever read a comic of yours before, so making the cheap threat that "I loved your comics, now I loathe them" is really stupid.

Not to mention he's not even close to your target audience... unless you make fun of the Pastor's Manager. Who would that be? The bishop..? Well, then it's safe to say that his VP is Jesus, and God the CEO? Holy crap - no pun intended - maybe he IS in your target audience after all! ^_^

[Anna]

I get the Dilbert comics in my e-mail, and when I first saw the "hay-soos" one, I thought, "Oh no, what next." I thought it was hilarious and rather brilliant, as is most of your work. I look forward to reading other stuff you write.

[Tsuchida]

Don't like what Scott puts out? Don't friggin read it. Great job Scott! Keep'em comin and GET'R DUN FER GAWD!!!!

[Gloria]

A friend of mine is married to a guy named Jesus. I wonder how much trouble he's had in this country because of that. He's from Spain, & it's a common name there, as it is in many Spanish-speaking countries.

[Joss]

Your reply is so funny, and probably funnier than the entire Hay-Soos series.

[James]

More feedback ...
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/forum/feedcopy.asp?storyID=3563&CommentID=1364

[CraigT]

Hey Scott, keep up the great work, the "Hay Sauce" strip deserves a comeback. I noticed a mention of Hare Krishna.... maybe Wally walking on water too.
:-)). Dont worry about me, I'm wearing thick rubber boots.

[Cynical]

Why is it if anyone that does any charitable work disagrees with another person, this person is criticized for taking time out of helping others. Can people not do multiple things at the same time?

Cheap argument.

[topaztic]

hi scott,

sorry to burst your bubble, but i have it on good authority that it is pronounced "hey-zuess"

;)

[Corey]

Hey, Jesus socialized with tax collectors and prostitutes, which was considered highly inapproppriate and offensive to the religious establishment of the day. Jesus would probably laugh his holy ass off at these cartoons. Keep up the good work Scott.

[Chris]

As a "born-again" Christian, I thought this series was hilarious. Any of my brethren who thought otherwise are surely entitled to their opinions, but (in my opinion) need to get a life.

It seems that a number of your commenters have had similar responses. It would be nice if you noted that in your blog. I would guess that the sane among us outnumber the crazy.

[patti]

Patti says:
Ned, I loved your post! My thoughts, exactly.

[Tim]

So, I realize that this is an old post, but I have been away from my computer and still want to comment. I kind of want to write you a negative email so that I can get a sarcastic response back. But I don't think I can. I really enjoyed the haysoos series. It made me laugh. I consider myself to be fairly religious. I don't agree with everything you say in your blog. Anyone who says they do is probably sucking up, although I can't imagine why. I do appreciate reading opposite views, though. If nothing else, it reaffirms for me why I don't ascribe to them. And that's my two cents. (bearing in mind how little pennies are worth)

[Doug]

Just don't you dare make fun of the sacred Flying Spaghetti Monster!

[Jaime Bakulic]

Am I too late to say "OWNED!"?

[Johnny Ouais]

Following your blog since a while, I sensed an increasing interest in your writings about religious thoughts, at least spiritual topics. For instance: a recent blog entry about a very not obvious link between beauty and God.

Then, came a guy name Hay-soos with talents out of an ordinary human being. (By the way, seeing Wally is all its former glory was really cool).

I thing conclusions about you can come out of this.

My question to you is this one: are you still convinced that God doesn't exists that you were in your twenties?

[Mike]

Your comment of "I drew those strips a few months ago, and in my typical careless way I didn’t realize they would be running around Easter time. Oops," just doesn't hold water. You've never been one to avoid controversy and you knew perfectly well when the series would run.
That said, I enjoyed the series, but I knew it would spark a lot of hate mail. You probably knew that too.
Best of luck.

[Andy]

Scott
Speaking as a 'devout' atheist I thought the Hay-Soos strips were great.
ALL religion is nothing less and nothing more than a cleverly evolved manipulation tool to control the less intelligent. The best way to expose this monumentally long standing fraud is not suppression of religion but to expose it for the confidence trick that it all is and the best way to start the education process is to poke fun at some of the sillier aspects of faith.
Well done. Keep up the good work (albeit cautiously as you probably don't really want some nutter taking a shot at you!)

[Annie]

It's not 'Hay-soos' it's 'Hey Zeus' As in 'Hey Dad whytheheck couldn't you just do this job yourself?!'

[Ned]

Scott

I had planned to go to seminary (I had a scholarship and everything) but decided to go into public relations - it somehow seemed more honest and upright.

All my life I've been a believing Christian, though I don't always follow the herd in my beliefs. Among my core beliefs are:

1. God (Jesus for those who believe they're one in the same) has a sense of humor - he created life and isn't afraid of his creations actually living

2. Jesus (God for those who believe they're one in the same) also had a strong sense of humor - almost Shakespeare-like in his pleasure in puns

2a. For example: Jesus said "It is easier for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to get through the eye of a needle" - sounds pretty specific and not very funny. EXCEPT - there was a man-sized gate through the walls of Jerusalem (about 15-feet thick) called "the eye of the needle." To get a camel through it (and apparently, people did that from time to time) you had to get a camel to kneel on a wooden pallet with four wheels; then you had to blindfold the camel; then you had to get a group of strong men to pull the pallet - with the camel - through the 15-foot stone tunnel that was "the eye of the needle" with one guy (apparently a "Camel Whisperer") spoke soothingly to the ill-tempered beast. In short, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible, either. Jesus was telling a joke to make it clear that rich men COULD get into heaven, but that they'd have to work hard at it.

3. It's not your fault (nor, apparently, God's) that parents (seemingly primarily of Hispanic descent) name their children Hay-Soos (Jesus). We non-Hispanics are much more respectful, naming our kids non-offensive/ non-religious names such as Joseph and Paul and Mary and Peter ... and Moshe and Joshua (that's "Jesus" in Aramaic).

4. Jesus (not Hay-Soos) had a real issue with tight-assed self-righteous clergymen of his day - the Pharisees and Saducees and such - in fact, it was those tight-assed self-righteous clergymen who decided to nail Jesus once and for all. So it seems, Scott, that if nothing else, you're in good company.

5. God (Jesus, if you believe they're one in the same) created the heavens and the earth. He created Super-Novas and dung beetles. He created sex (to ensure that his creations would survive) and he created sex as something that's a lot of fun (for the same reason). He made slime and muck and ticks and Lyme disease and the shingles. He's seen your mother naked on the commode. In short, he's not squeemish - he's a Big Man (or Big Entity, or whatever) and I think he's probably big enough to put up with a little fun, once in a while.

In short, Scott, if I was a betting man (and because I live in Las Vegas, I'm NOT a betting man - or I'd be broke and couldn't live in Las Vegas), I'd bet on you vs. that tight-assed pharisee or saducee when it comes to judgment day and the pearly gates. You certainly are NOT of the tradition of the kind of men who nailed Jesus to a tree.

Ned

[Julia]

I think your website is not working properly.
*****
This comment
Posted by: Mark | March 17, 2008 at 05:40 AM

An idea, write a similar strip about cows and tell me if any hindu writes you an angry email.

Just an experiment.
*****
Was not post by Mark, I wrote it! Maybe you should chek it.

[Jesus H. (The Other Hay-Soos)]

Mr. Adams,

As a long time fan (yup, I have all of the books plus "Slapped Together"), it was much to my surprise to see your comic strip on March 8th and the days that followed... I just had to write to you. Ok, enough of the sucking up.

Well, my name is Jesus (pronounce Hay-Soos), I am a database administrator and got the biggest laugh reading last week's series.

I write in hopes you consider keeping the "Hay-Soos" character alive! Umm... you know what I mean... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make him a recurring character. I'm sure there is no storage of material to come up for the "Hay-Soos" character.

I would really like to see how "Hay-Soos" interacts with Dilbert. Once again, PLEASE consider making him a regular character!

Regards,
The Other Hay-Soos