Posted on 07/05/2007 3:52:35 AM PDT by Clive
Last month three cartoons appeared in Quebec's francophone media that many Jews found offensive.
The cartoonists were apparently ridiculing Action Democratique du Quebec leader Mario Dumont for meeting unannounced with Jewish leaders in the Montreal home of former Sen. Leo Kolber, a prominent Liberal fundraiser.
This on the same day the fate of Quebec's budget, introduced by the minority Liberal government, was being decided. In theory, the budget, which Dumont opposed, could have been defeated, forcing an election, had not the Parti Quebecois decided to back the Liberals.
Somehow though, cartoons supposedly intended to mock Dumont for showing poor political judgment, employed stereotypical imagery highly offensive to many Jews.
Herve Philippe of La Tribune showed Dumont seated behind a desk facing two Jewish men (identified by their yarmulkes and sidelocks) dressed in business attire, each carrying a briefcase, one with a visibly large nose.
A seated, smiling Dumont, under the headline "The Jewish community courts Dumont," welcomes them with outstretched hands saying: "$OYEZ LE$ BIENVENU$ ME$ AMI$" ("Welcome my friends") with every "S" replaced by a dollar sign. The pupils of Dumont's eyes are also dollar signs.
Perhaps someone could explain to Philippe that seeming to imply that Jews are rich and thus have undue influence on politicians, is a common smear made by anti-Semites.
I'm not suggesting Philippe (or the two cartoonists cited below) is anti-Semitic, a charge which gets thrown around too freely. That would be unfair based on one provocative cartoon by someone whose job is to provoke. I'm saying this cartoon, whatever its intent, prompted understandable concerns because it evoked a slur common among anti-Semites.
Next, Serge Chapleau of La Presse depicted Dumont as a smiling, big-nosed, bug-eyed, leering Hassidic Jew, who says: "Next week, I'll be courted by the nude cyclists of the Plateau. Don't miss it!" under the headline "Mario Dumont courted by the Jewish community."
La Presse responded it's a defender of that community, that the cartoon was intended to mock Dumont, not Jews, and that B'nai Brith, which called the cartoon "hateful", should apologize. If I was at La Presse, I wouldn't hold my breath. And if the cartoon was intended to mock Dumont, why use a caricature of him offensive to many Jews?
Finally, a cartoon in Le Devoir by "Garnotte," (Michel Garneau) had Dumont declaring "Now I am certified kosher" and wearing a T-shirt with the same message. It also prompted complaints, although to me, at least, it seemed the mildest of the three.
That said Philippe, Chapleau and Garneau can rest easy about some things.
(1) No rabbis will issue death threats against them, or call on the faithful to kill them.
(2) Thousands of Jews will not riot around the world, demanding they issue a groveling apology or that their newspapers be blown up.
(3) If any Jews were to make such threats, many more, including me, would publicly condemn them.
Point is, these three cartoonists won't have to live through the nightmare endured by a dozen of their Danish counterparts after a Danish newspaper published cartoons in 2005 which many Muslims found offensive.
That provoked widespread rioting by many Muslims (not most, many) around the world.
Protesters who complained the Danish cartoons unfairly depicted the Prophet Mohammed as violent and bloodthirsty, responded by acting in violent and bloodthirsty ways. (In fairness, some Muslims publicly condemned the violence and Canadian Muslims did not employ such tactics.)
In any event, here's my free advice to cartoonists: Just because you know some people won't riot about cartoons they find gratuitously offensive, isn't a valid reason to gratuitously offend them.
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If that's “silliness”... then I guess Goebbels had a real... “sense of humor”.
Glad I pitched my old Montreal Canadiens gear.
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