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CHEWIN’ ON THE INNOCENTS

Remember Dave Brown’s prize-winning cartoon that depicted Ariel Sharon munching a baby? Michael Leunig sure does.

The man needs help. Pity him.

(Via reader Richard Gillies)

Posted by Tim B. on 05/19/2005 at 10:57 AM
  1. That is some of the worst art I’ve seen on the Internet, ever. And I’ve read sprite comics.

    This man is a cartoonist? Well I’ve found my lot in life then, I’ve always been under the impression you had to have talent like Hawk or Ian. I could knock up something like that (better come to think of it) in 15 minutes, rest of the day I can play videogames.

    The bloody compression on the image even sucks, look at all that artifacting.

    Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 05 19 at 01:15 PM • permalink

  2. The deluded creature simply has no clue as to the realities in Iraq.  Wishful thinking, indeed!

    Not to mention that the poor thing has zero originality.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 05 19 at 01:23 PM • permalink

  3. It’s time to listen to Luenig and those of the extreme Left. I can’t take the insults to our brave soldiers anymore, it’s hurtful.
    Please lets solve all his problems by releasing Saddam and instal him back in power. Then maybe Luenig will stop being so offensive and Iraqis can get on with their peaceful lives.

    tthoppolowatd

    Posted by gubbaboy on 2005 05 19 at 05:05 PM • permalink

  4. What a thoroughly loathsome creature Leunig has become.

    Posted by Pixy Misa on 2005 05 19 at 05:51 PM • permalink

  5. I can’t think of a single thing to say about this wormy little man that doesn’t involve a lot of obscenity.  Clearly, he is beyond help.  And certainly beyond my wanting to.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2005 05 19 at 07:29 PM • permalink

  6. Leuny!

    Posted by crash on 2005 05 19 at 07:43 PM • permalink

  7. I wonder what the “commission” would say about a cartoon that showed some Arab bomber eating a Jewish pizza sans emblems, of course.
    Yes, that was a rhetorical question.  The cartoonist would never work again.  The lack of a moral anchor and context is just astounding.

    Posted by yojimbo on 2005 05 19 at 07:45 PM • permalink

  8. It’s time to listen to Luenig and those of the extreme Left. I can’t take the insults to our brave soldiers anymore, it’s hurtful. Please lets solve all his problems by releasing Saddam and instal him back in power. Then maybe Luenig will stop being so offensive and Iraqis can get on with their peaceful lives.

    Perhaps we can make everyone happy and install Saddam as the new editor-in-chief at The Age.

    Posted by PW on 2005 05 19 at 07:53 PM • permalink

  9. Even worse today.

    I may be mistaken, but isn’t it the job of a cartoonist to be funny?

    Posted by Tony.T.Teacher on 2005 05 19 at 08:56 PM • permalink

  10. Leunig would deal with hostilities by stocking up on Vaseline to ensure a smooth power transition.

    Posted by Henry boy on 2005 05 19 at 10:11 PM • permalink

  11. Tim,

    Both the David Brown and Michael Leunig pictures are not intended to be anti-semitic, they are intended to be anti-war. The cartoonists are no doubt familiar with iconic artistic imagery associated with war, in particular Goya’s famous painting of “Saturn devouring one of his sons”.

    Posted by Jack on 2005 05 19 at 10:26 PM • permalink

  12. Jack — I refuse to believe Leunig knows word one of classical mythology that wasn’t shown on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Shiksa.  Period.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 05 19 at 10:34 PM • permalink

  13. The Arab bomber question, if I recall correctly, a commission spokesperson (might be wrong in identifying who) said when asked why there were so many “Israeli” and not Arab cartoons, that a joke about Jews/Israelis might earn the cartoonist some flack. Whereas the alternative suggestion could earn you violence or death.
    Leunig neatly buys into the anti-American,anti-Jew conspiracy theories that are so prevalent and vicious. The Americans and the Jews are blamed for AIDS for example. Anti-war protestors in Europe carry banners showing a Big Mac with a dead baby in place of the hamburger meat, a bullet hole through its stomach. labelled “Made in Israel” Even at the banal level of attacking Caterpillar. The repeated whispers that the neo-cons are Jews. Unless this man lives in a vacuum he knows exactly what he is doing.
    Hannah Arendt, as a Jew argued that ant-Semitism was supported by the identification by Jews of themselves as Jews. That is their exclusivity made them more readily a target. But Israel would surely disprove the validity of that claim. The fact that Indonesia is essentially a Muslim country informed by Islamic beliefs doesn’t mean that to be Indonesian is code for to be a Muslim. However the reality is that to be an Israeli is to be nothing but a Jew.  Despite their non –Jewish population and immigration and the fact that Arabic as well as Hebrew is an official language etc. Certainly there is a large Jewish immigration to Israel,  it was a million Jews that were expelled, without their property,  from Arab states after 1947.
    The haters see no difference between being a Jew and being Israeli. So when they produce a cartoon like the one referred to about Israel, it is certainly a cartoon about Jews, and their customs. Did the drinking babies blood start in the Protocols of Zion or is it a long time prejudice.

    And a cartoon about American soldiers killing babies points to the Jewish/American/capitalism evil conspiracy and is propaganda.

    Saturn, the god of agriculture devouring his son because he was fated to be overthrown by his children. But we are presented with an American soldier not Uncle Sam. This is certainly more than a play on Saturn devouring his children. And neither cartoon depicts Sharon or Uncle Sam ruling the world. Rather they depict destruction. The Goya cleverness doesn’t work for me.

    Posted by Ros on 2005 05 19 at 10:45 PM • permalink

  14. In reply to 9, that’s a god damn photoshop, he didn’t even draw anything that time.

    Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 05 19 at 11:53 PM • permalink

  15. Jack, if you are going to apologize for this handless clown of an “cartoonist”, at least get your mythology right.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 05 20 at 01:20 AM • permalink

  16. Look, if Jack wants to believe that Jews kill Christians and drain their blood to make into Matzohs and that American GI’s eat babies then that’s his perogative ok?

    Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2005 05 20 at 05:25 AM • permalink

  17. After the award to Dave Brown received criticism, Dr. Tim Benson, President of the British Political Cartoonists Society, was asked why there were no cartoons denigrating Yasser Arafat, and he replied, “But then they (the cartoonists) would suffer death, wouldn’t they?”.

    He also said, “Jews don’t issue fatwas”.

    Posted by gerschor on 2005 05 20 at 05:36 AM • permalink

  18. #13 Ros:
    I enjoyed your comment ... but what stood out was one sentence ... “Unless this man lives in a vacuum he knows exactly what he is doing”.  I don’t bear the malice towards those I don’t politically agree with compared with what some on the left bear towards their antagonists.  In a country like Australia, the differences in ideology held by those who support either of the two major political parties, IMHO, are a lot less than made out by bitter and sulky dissidents like Leunig ... I don’t think he inhabits the world that real Australians do ... hmmm ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2005 05 20 at 06:41 AM • permalink

  19. Michael, like many other cartoonists, has found that newspapers will continue to pay for work that hits the same anti USA buttons. He is able to supply. He is a bit like Woody Allen in the movie Stardust Memories, when people keep saying they loved those funny movies he used to make.
    Michael used to do wistful, even sad, sometimes funny, but more often just gentle (albeit with a streak of fantasy) commentary on the human condition.
    I believe that he has taken some hard knocks. That is no excuse for libelling and hating on this scale.
    It is a recurring theme of the leftoid commentators (including cartoonists)that the USA and anyone who allies themselves are bent on domination by whatever means.
    It gets ridiculous, because there is no other force who is going to do anything effective anywhere. You want Sudan stopped in Darfur? Whistle up your mates. Sorry, the USA is still too busy in Iraq because you and the rest of the world’s idiot legions are hanging out for them to be done down there, and are not helping. Instead you are cheering on the “insurgents” to make some sort of point about your holier-than-thou international law (signifying nothing).

    Posted by blogstrop on 2005 05 20 at 06:56 AM • permalink

  20. Leunig was a cartoonist I used to enjoy, his quirky cartoons were ones I could equate with and laugh with ... unfortunately his cartoons of today alienate me because of the political and social disorder he is trying to manufacture ... again, hmmm ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2005 05 20 at 07:56 AM • permalink

  21. “The man needs help. Pity him.”

    What is this ‘pity’ you speak of?

    Posted by Scott W on 2005 05 20 at 11:21 AM • permalink

  22. But at least on the bright side, the likes of Leunig, Ellis, Adams, Kingston and Co are going to keep many people scared about voting any way other than conservative for a LOOOONG time :-P

    Posted by Richard_of_Oz on 2005 05 20 at 11:22 AM • permalink

  23. Did I miss something?
    Was there a lesson for the Labor Party in the last election?
    Did somebody read the post-poll tealeaves as saying “if only you make yourselves more like the sadly diminished moonbat parties, you will receive an avalanche of votes”?
    Seems to be what they are doing.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2005 05 21 at 07:19 AM • permalink

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