The Unsettling Views Lurking Beneath Australia’s Most Cherished Cartoonist.
The usual tone of Michael Leunig is a sentimentality that addresses the world in a whimsical, fantastical way. But when it comes to a topic such as vaccines this innocence belies an adamant voice that disregards science.
Wait, did Leunig compare the Victorian Government’s No Jab, No Play campaign with fascism? Yep.
This particular picture was already well reported in 2015 and it’s already well argued that mandatory vaccinations are very important not only for the survival of one’s own spawn but also the wellbeing of whole communities. So, I don’t need to go over the arguments again, but basically: parents shouldn’t force their own anti-vaxxer mumbo-jumbo on their kids. If pressuring your kid to go for a football team is at one end of a spectrum, forcing them to be at risk of contracting deadly diseases is at the other. Fulfilling one’s responsibilities as a parent doesn’t fall into the category of ‘shoving your own ideologies down your child’s throat’.
Also, it’s sort of messed up that in other countries countless people die from not having proper access to vaccines, meanwhile some privileged people from our own country such as Leunig are more concerned about misguided claims that vaccines are bad.
Leunig also has some really great and constructive ways of using cartoons to add to discussions of feminism…
….Just kidding. Here he is making fun of women calling men misogynists while painting men as the victim.
Also, supposedly women reclaiming public space from lecherous men is another thing worth poking fun at. It’s really great to have your input, Leunig.
He strikes again, undermining the many strong and valid reasons that mothers have for leaving their kids at childcare. Also apparently fathers who take care of children don’t exist.
What even is this one? Leunig weighs in on motherhood again. Mothers, make sure your tattoos aren’t too scary! What?
So, what conclusion can we mostly agree on here? Pretty simple really: Leunig, our proud nation’s cartoonist is flawed, just like all of us and the societies we inhabit…but him a fair bit more.
