July 18, 2003

LEUNIG DIAGNOSED

Paul Johnson identifies anti-Americanism as the prevailing disease of intellectuals today:

Like other diseases, it doesn't have to be logical or rational. But, like other diseases, it has a syndrome -- a concurrent set of underlying symptoms that are also causes.

Melbourne Age cartoonist Michael Leunig is in the tertiary stage of the dread illness.

Posted by Tim Blair at July 18, 2003 04:12 AM
Comments

But this is a biased, unrepresentative sample of his work which does not show the hundreds - nay, THOUSANDS of cartoons he's drawn criticizing militant Islamists.

He has drawn cartoons like that, right?

Posted by: Damian P. at July 18, 2003 at 04:23 AM

I'll go look, Damian. I should be back here in 2009.

Posted by: tim at July 18, 2003 at 04:43 AM

His "Help" American flag is disturbing for its glimpse into Leunig's wish-fulfillment. Just weird.

Posted by: Flynn at July 18, 2003 at 05:09 AM

Good God, and I thought Rall was a talentless idiotarian. This guy is pathetic.

Posted by: Latino at July 18, 2003 at 07:33 AM

Put that on a crescent and I'd agree w/him. We can stop when the other side stops.

Posted by: Sandy P. at July 18, 2003 at 08:08 AM

Are cartoons this guy's main source of income? What on earth could he possibly be pissed off about? He should consider himself very fortunate.

Posted by: S.A. Smith at July 18, 2003 at 08:36 AM

Leunig has been baying at the moon for decades.

He used to seem cute for it. Now he just looks idiotic.

Posted by: The at July 18, 2003 at 08:36 AM

Wow.

Posted by: Yobbo at July 18, 2003 at 09:50 AM

"Men of steel"? What the hell?

Posted by: Andrea Harris at July 18, 2003 at 11:19 AM

While I'm sure that the man spent many backbreaking minutes researching and considering the topics for his cartoons, when he started rubbishing Superman, he just went too damn far!

Posted by: fish at July 18, 2003 at 12:15 PM

Leunig is a talentless dill who hasn't experienced an original thought in 30 years.

Posted by: slatts at July 18, 2003 at 12:33 PM

Leunig's cartoons remind me of the ones the Soviets used to run in Krokodil ... only they're not as clever or as subtle.

Posted by: Mike G at July 18, 2003 at 01:02 PM

Isn't there a movie called, ` A Wet Weekend'; Leunig never re-emerged from that one day in childhood, at the pics rolling red balls down the aisle, farting, throwing chips and so forth.

Posted by: d at July 18, 2003 at 01:21 PM

Hi everybody,

I've been reading the Sydeny Morning Herald and The Age (Melbourne) newspapers online for over a year now. I swear to God that in this time I have not seen even ONE Leunig 'toon that even comes close to being pro-American (even in the SLIGHTEST degree), or for that matter, anti-terrorist. Rest assured that if I had, I would have downloaded it, printed it out and framed the damn thing...maybe donate it to the Queensland Museum...they're interested in such rare artefacts, right?

In fact, Tim, I think that you should write to The Age and actually ask them if they could dig up just ONE Leunig 'toon that does not go along with the whole "Evil America" theme.

Let's face it, there doesn't seem to be any cartoonists in this country that are to the Right of John Pilger...but Leunig has to be the looniest of them all.

Posted by: Richard at July 18, 2003 at 01:43 PM

"Men of Steel Q & A" scratch on paper:

Q: How is murderous anger evident?
A: Excessive "them and us" talk ...

I leave you to draw your own conclusion.

Posted by: Preston Whip at July 18, 2003 at 02:04 PM

I liked Leunig... his comics were good... weird, pretentious, and rather morbid, but good.
But I don't know what's happened to him in the last couple of years - he's not just anti-American, he's anti-technology, anti-Government, anti-capitalism - pretty much anti-everything-good-that's-happened-to-the-world.
Actually, he still can be funny - once every few months or so.

Posted by: TimT at July 18, 2003 at 05:01 PM

I hate his patronising out-of-the-mouth-of-babes font.

Posted by: Tim W at July 18, 2003 at 10:29 PM

Being a Yank, I've never heard of this dude.

Being a concerned citizen of the world and armchair psychologist, I urge this purveyor of infantile...well...infantilism to seek the help he so sorely needs.

Posted by: Tongue Boy at July 19, 2003 at 12:06 AM