What's here to discuss? They can have their opinion and I can have mine. It's not going to change anything.
Am I practicing Japanese bonsai, or my own adaptation to what once was a Japanese craftsman artform? I really don't care.
I was in Scotland last week, did a whisky tour. The real whisky lovers all agreed about one thing: it doesn't matter how you drink it, as long as you enjoy it. If someone else is telling you that you're doing it wrong, then they don't understand that Scotch is made for humans and that humans just have different tastes and preferences.
I have had the same thing happen in coffee and wine and even awarded restaurant food; it doesn't matter if it's cheap, aged, expensive or looks cool, as long as you enjoy it.
If you prefer to be the elitist kind of person about bonsai, I think you're really missing the point of it. I see more people enjoying McDonalds than I see people enjoying white wine scallops with carrot-beet cake. Now we all know mcD's makes stuff you can hardly call food, but deep down we know that if we were put on a remote island, the first thing we would do after being rescued is order a large burger and some fries, not the fancy five-star restaurant food.
And if that's the case, who is really the artist? The one doing only aqcuired tastes for a small group of people who still like McDonalds on the side, or the one serving almost the entire globe a tray of greasy comfort?
Think about it. You're trying to tell a large group of people enjoying what they love, that they shouldn't. Yet, they don't care and they enjoy it.
I think that you have a different motivation than I have, and that's not my problem.
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