Whimsical Leunig Goes on a Word Bender
Smashed by his own leftist allies over a cartoon that fell outside social justice warrior approval boundaries, Michael Leunig now defends himself.
Smashed by his own leftist allies over a cartoon that fell outside social justice warrior approval boundaries, Michael Leunig now defends himself:
To … be so hated, insulted, slandered in the public domain for this – as I was – is indeed a dismal fate for the lone cartoonist. It speaks volumes about the current condition of civil society and tolerance.
This is bigotry. The malice has been astounding and so extreme that it has plunged me into a deep contemplation about the nature of angry hatred. Indeed, I am coming to the view that there is an emerging new form of hatred in society which might be more of a mental illness than a passing emotion.
That mention of mental illness won’t help Leunig’s cause. It’s deeply triggering for the woke brigade.
Perhaps I would call it “free-floating, obsessive compulsive hatred” …
I have noticed that people can react to a cartoon as if it is a piece of legislation, an essay, a legal document or a scientific paper - but obviously it is none of these things. A cartoon is a simple allegory, a fable or a parable. It is better understood poetically than literally.
He makes a few good points there, and probably should have left it at that.
Being Leunig, however, he carries on for a total of 1306 words, pleading for mercy due to his working class background, fascination with and support for motherhood and the possibly beneficial outcomes if any worker “in a dangerous environment” sees that cartoon.
You’re in the Melbourne Age, mate. No workers read it. In any case, it’s difficult to feel sorry for Leunig, because as Chris Kenny reminds us:
He didn’t support his fellow cartoonist, the late, great Bill Leak, in his hour of need.
Were he around today, Leak would be in Leunig’s corner, showing a solidarity too many spared for him. Leak was probably helped into his early grave in 2017 because of a nasty and illiberal pile-on over his provocative cartoon about indigenous community dysfunction.
He was given the full thought-police treatment under Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
In miserable comments soon after Leak’s death, Leunig said Leak had probably been “egged on” by others to draw his “cruel” cartoon that was a “terrible mistake”. He could hardly have been more insulting, wrong or cowardly.
As Leunig now writes, a newspaper cartoonist must “always examine their conscience”. Start with yourself, pal.