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February 14, 2004
Last weeks cartoon on the policies of Ariel Sharon & Likud created a bit of a fuss. It was seen as anti-Semitic and fascist. So was I for posting it. There was little discussion of the merits of Ariel Sharon's attempt to pull two peoples apart or his go-it-alone strategy.
In the comments Ariel Sharon and Likud were identified as Israel. Israel was ethnically defined as Jewish. Hence all criticism is denounced as anti-Semitic (racist) and then identified as a part of national socialism. The black and white mentality of the right then tied itself up in knots: they said that the "leftist ideology" of the cartoon is fascist. The circle is closed. The strategy is designed to ensure that there is no space for a public debate about what is happening in Israel.
In contrast, the black humor of this cartoon will pass by without any comment:
Leunig
Cannibalism in Australia? Think Peter Weir's horror-comedy The Cars That Ate Paris (1974). Paris is a small town isolated in the middle of 'nothing'. It cannot tolerate change or difference. In reality, it feeds on strangers. Parisian women do not bear enough children for the town to survive: so, like the mutant cars that terrorise the streets, Parisian patriarchy reproduces by making over the remnants of the car-crashes caused by the men.
Is not The Cars That Ate Paris a macabre and black humoured parable about a paranoid, exclusionary society with a cannibalistic immigration policy?
Now that opens up a whole series of scary narratives.
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Let's face it, Gary. Does anyone really take the efforts of anyone calling themselves "Israelicool" seriously?