Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Is this anti-semitic?

popo · 06-06-2003, 11:53 AM

Some interesting comments. FWIW, I never said what I thought about it, nor did I say what my background is.

Here's what I do think. Like another poster said, it HAS to come down to what the cartoonist meant with it. The caroon itself can really be seen both ways, dependng on your viewpoint. Some things that I did not like about it are:

1) the HUGE nose on Sharon is very reminiscient of another era's propaganda, especially considering the fact that Sharon himself does not have a large nose. If he'd been drawn as a man weighing ~500 lbs, that would be more apropos.

2) I do think it would've made a huge difference if the star of david was drawn with a stripe above and below it, like the flag of Israel. Again, without it being the flag it could easily be thought to represent Jewry instead of the state of Israel. The way it's drawn here is the way it's drawn in propaganda cartoons.

3) It doesn't reflect what's going on in the news. Yes, there's the tired old screams about Israel getting $2.5-3B/year in aid/loans while no one frets about Egypt getting $2.1B/year while at the same time fomenting hate against the US in govt run newspapers. But the current peace process is not about money and to my knowledge Bush has not been dangling it in Sharon's face in order to get him to negotiate.

Sharon has always said that he will not negotiate while there is terror going on and when he does negotiate that it will not be with Arafat. Well, he seems to be willing to negotiate now that Arafat is sort of out of the picture. Where has money come into it? Have finacial deals been in the news recently? Not that I've seen.

Usually, editorial cartoon are meant to comment on what's on in the news, but this cartoonist seems to have a message that he wants to get out without any regard for what's actually going on.

This being said, these are very bad caricatures.

06-06-2003, 11:53 AM	#24 (permalink)
popo Psycho	Some interesting comments. FWIW, I never said what I thought about it, nor did I say what my background is. Here's what I do think. Like another poster said, it HAS to come down to what the cartoonist meant with it. The caroon itself can really be seen both ways, dependng on your viewpoint. Some things that I did not like about it are: 1) the HUGE nose on Sharon is very reminiscient of another era's propaganda, especially considering the fact that Sharon himself does not have a large nose. If he'd been drawn as a man weighing ~500 lbs, that would be more apropos. 2) I do think it would've made a huge difference if the star of david was drawn with a stripe above and below it, like the flag of Israel. Again, without it being the flag it could easily be thought to represent Jewry instead of the state of Israel. The way it's drawn here is the way it's drawn in propaganda cartoons. 3) It doesn't reflect what's going on in the news. Yes, there's the tired old screams about Israel getting $2.5-3B/year in aid/loans while no one frets about Egypt getting $2.1B/year while at the same time fomenting hate against the US in govt run newspapers. But the current peace process is not about money and to my knowledge Bush has not been dangling it in Sharon's face in order to get him to negotiate. Sharon has always said that he will not negotiate while there is terror going on and when he does negotiate that it will not be with Arafat. Well, he seems to be willing to negotiate now that Arafat is sort of out of the picture. Where has money come into it? Have finacial deals been in the news recently? Not that I've seen. Usually, editorial cartoon are meant to comment on what's on in the news, but this cartoonist seems to have a message that he wants to get out without any regard for what's actually going on. This being said, these are very bad caricatures.