You anti-Semites are sick.

"They express an anger that is missing from a lot of journalism"

The problem with anger is you skip a lot of nuance, detail and inconvenient facts in order to reach a state of emotional purity. Like patriotism.

"They express an anger that is missing from a lot of journalism"

Anger should be missing from journalism, unless you're talking about editorialism.

Report all the facts, let us get outraged. If you report the facts with outrage, we'll assume you're peddling an agenda.

Lunacy. Anyone who finds that cartoon "telling" or anywhere near the truth is not capable of being reasoned with.

This is, and you are, truly vile. From one Adelaide gentile to another, "Ani ge'eh la'amod im Yisrael".

Josef Goebbels is alive and well, and working as a political cartoonist in Britain.

Cartoons like that just demonstrate the capacity for leftist ideology to actually remove the humanity from a person, leaving at best a savage, at worst a demon. It's not an anger missing from journalism, it's a cancer and like all cancers there are only two solutions: keep it in remission through continual treatment, or destroy every last living cell of it.

Guess it will be kind of amusing when the Islamofascists turn on you germs in anti-semitic western left. You're just another faction of the hated kaffir family of satan and they'd blow you to smithereens just as eagerly as they would us rationalists. Sad that your hate for everything that has made your society great blinds you to the evil you now embrace.

Then again, the now-certified and documented existence of 'systems for the production of' WMD bodes well for the future of Mr Blair, as Britain still has many intelligent, capable citizens who recognize Tony's able, honest leadership.

If you read the Dave Brown cartoon critically, then you would interpret it as addressing Likund as a political party and its policies--eg, ethnic cleansing and the dreams of a greater Israel.

A political party (Likund) does not equal a people, a nation or a state.

To assume that it does is to pretend that there are no other Israeli voices that are critical of Likund; or have a different conception the Israeli nation-state to Likund's ethnically cleansed Israel.

Likund?

Ethnically cleansed Israel? When you make statements like that, I expect you to back them up with facts.

Have you even been to Israel? Do you have any knowledge of the conflict besides what your leftie colleagues tell you? If you want to know more, you can ask me, since unlike the David Brown's of the world, I actually live here and have studied the region for a great deal of my 29 years.

Trust me, if Likud wanted an "ethnically-cleansed" Israel, we would have one. But, I hate to disappoint you...unlike our "neighbors", Israelis want peace, even though their blood is being spilled.

Gary,
You should try learning about the "blood libel" then you might understand why some people find the cartoon more offensive than you do. Also that is not what Sharons nose looks like, it is an accentuated typically Jewish looking nose. Now why would that be?

Sick people are the best to recognize a sick cartoon...

The cartoon indeed serves a political purpose - often using pictorial metaphor as biting commentary. Unfortunately, sometimes cartoons merely represent crude and vicious propaganda, no more especially than when using slanderous stereotypes to crudely make a point.

The "reworking of Goya's Saturn" as you put it, is crude, discriminatory and lacking in supporting truths. Dave Brown is simply an anti-Semite (by presentation, if not belief). "Why?", you might ask, when criticism of Israel or its PM should be allowed without charges of anti-Semitism being raised.

The point is that the cartoon is untrue, it perpetuates the dreadful blood libel (i.e. Jews sacrifice gentile children to make their Passover matzos etc), and tars all Israel and world Jewry with the animalistic behaviours it depicts in the cartoon Sharon character. Furthermore, it makes no attempt at context, to portray the thousands of Israelis who, over the years, have been the targets of Arab terror. It lacks accuracy, balance and fairness - a propaganda distortion. Now, for a good political cartoonist you should check out the works of (the late) Sir David Low. His depiction of Hitler and Stalin at the time of the non-aggression pact (1939) was truly sublime.

I say, compare Dave Brown's cartoon with those of 'Der Sturmer' in the 1930's and you'll see no difference in substance or style. If it's good enough to call the Nazis anti-Semitic, then the same cap neatly fits Mr Brown - prize or no prize. Those who think Brown's work is a fine example of the cartoon at work in presenting fearless editorial commentary should re-evaluate their own world-view.

"If you read the Dave Brown cartoon critically, then you would interpret it as addressing Likund as a political party and its policies"

And if you read it critically, e.g. with your head out of your ass, you would see that as others here have pointed out it's just another rehash of the antisemitic trope that jews eat non-jewish children. The gross, distorted features and gluttonous body given to Sharon are an old reliable standard of racist imagery. Look back to Nazi jew-baiting and even American anti-japanese propaganda from WW2 and you'll see the same. Anytime a person is given the features of a monster, racism is at work in the creation of the image.

I’d love to know, Gary, how come you think I’m an attack dog while a bigoted fuck like Dave Brown somehow “convey[s] the politically unsayable through graphic images” and “show[s] just how powerful images are in political argument.”

Seems to me he’s that he’s simply attacking people, and in a particularly doglike fashion, too. Wouldn’t you say?

Both cartoons would have done Julius Streicher's Der Sturmer proud. By the way it is Likud not Likund.

Steve Bell eats wormmeat. Thank you.

Tim,
attack dog journalism is a different kind of journalism to watchdog. It maps how journalism is changing.

You use humor and satire to say the unsayable. And you do a pretty good job of that.

But images are even more powerful in terms of their effect on us than words, judging by the response the Brown image has had.

Der Sturmer, absolutely. National SOCIALISM is being reborn as we watch. So many are so ignorant of the recent past.

Explaining away this racist cartoon by references to a subtext of deeper meaning or the power of images is sick.

Really sick.

Dave
You can find a reference to Likud and ethnic cleansing under the name of 'transfer' on this, previous post.

I'm glad to here that many Israeli's oppose Likud policies. I would support their efforts in this.

Jhesos! Interesting responses you got there Gary! Who would have thought this to be so volatile? This is an important phenomenon though. As it seems, the question is:

criticism = anti-semitism?

Evidently a critical reading of this cartoon points to Likud policy. Whether the blood libel aspect is racist or anti-semitic is a different question really - Dave Brown may merely be wishing to express the degradation of zionism, which is hardly anti-semitic.

A completely uncritical, overly subjective interpretation on the other hand, will generate the notion of "anti-semitism" - if you feel attacked that is. Incidentally, an uncritical reading from the attacker's perspective will generate the same notion, however he'll be pleased about it. Funny isn't it...

What is really telling here is the reactionary use of "anti-semitism", as if the radical left's newest thing was some kind of conspiracy against world jewry. Everytime somebody points out the US-Israeli veto club, Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal, hell, even US policy in the Middle East, you can be sure some spineless idiot will cry "anti-semitism".

Besides, anyone who finds these cartoons agreeable would be prone to label the Sharon government as a hoard of reactionary nazis. Can't quite see anti-semitism fitting into this. Can you?

ps. can't stop smiling at the capital lettred SOCIALISM in a post above - goebbles seems to extend his influence into the next millenium!

Mike,
It's the Tim Blair crowd swooping through. This time the level of commentary from his readership is a lot higher than is normally the case.

However, any attempt to engage with the issues is dismissed with slogans and personal attacks. There is only one reading of the image: theirs. As you point out all other interpretations that differ from theirs are deemed to be anti-semitic.

It indicates that Israel is indentical to the right wing interpretation of it. No other interpretation of Israel than the Likud one can be allowed.

So criticizing Likud is criticising Israel.

I think the comic of dave brown is SO TRUE!
Good on him.

I'm doing an assignment on Goya & this popped up. I'm arguing about how the mind needs to be revolutionised and understanding to the world of arts. Thanks for the website! Thanks for all the *booers* out there. I'll use you guys as guinea pigs relating you to the people of hitler germany!

And of course it's a leftists view. Duh!
Thats because we are so ignorant and naive to the extreme right.

It's very interesting to see how strongly people have reacted to just one cartoon in a newspaper. I just finished writing an essay about the impact of political cartoons, and whether you agree with what Dave Brown is saying or not, he has produced a prime example of just how powerful the cartoon is, even today when we're bombarded with images every second of every day.

There are some links to some Australian academics writing about the significance of political cartoons over at junkf for code for those interested.