Sep 11, 2018 05:39 AM
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018...acist.html
EXCERPT: . . . Mark Knight, one of Australia’s most infamous cartoonists, has previously been called out for his racism and sexism. Just last month he was lambasted over his dehumanizing depiction of African teenagers in Melbourne trashing a train station, which stoked an ongoing racist dog whistle driven by erstwhile almost–prime minister Peter Dutton (and faithfully carried out by the Herald Sun). In 2012, he used the annual Australia Day debate to joke about the genocide of Indigenous Australians, with a cartoon of then–Prime Minister Julia Gillard fleeing an Indigenous protest while saying, “Geez, if the Aboriginals had’ve put up a fight like this in 1788, we might not be bloody well here celebrating Australia Day…!”
Knight is no stranger to sexist portrayals of powerful women, with a 1999 cartoon portraying the female leader of the centrist Australian Democrats in bed with conservative Prime Minister John Howard. Beds are continued to be a favorite Knight trope for depicting the deal-making of women in politics—he portrayed Gillard, Australia’s first and only female PM, in bed with male leaders on multiple occasions throughout her 2010–13 reign. Her partner, Tim, was predictably emasculated by Knight, while her conversations with then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were “girl talk.” (Also, handbags!) The exaggerated Gillard profile—long nose, large ass—is distinctly Knightian, and although it was perpetuated and reinforced by other political cartoonists and at disgusting opposition party fundraisers, it’s fair to argue Knight is most responsible for its ubiquity.
His cartooning style is far from unique: Australia’s white, middle-age, male cartoonists have long been called out for their bigotry... (Larry Pickering - Bill Leak) [...] Many on this side of the Pacific have pointed out that Knight’s Sambo-style drawing looks like something out of a history book [...] But this kind of “racism from another time” continues to pop up in Australia, which has a very small black population and yet has somehow picked up many of America’s most racist black stereotypes, from basketball stars donning blackface to KKK costumes. Australia just doesn’t seem to get it, something one University of Sydney professor calls “ignorance from a distance”—most Australians simply don’t know any black people....
MORE: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018...acist.html
RELATED: JK Rowling condemns 'racist and sexist' cartoon of Serena Williams at US Open ... Herald Sun Cartoonist Defends Racist, Sexist Serena Williams Cartoon
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EXCERPT: . . . Mark Knight, one of Australia’s most infamous cartoonists, has previously been called out for his racism and sexism. Just last month he was lambasted over his dehumanizing depiction of African teenagers in Melbourne trashing a train station, which stoked an ongoing racist dog whistle driven by erstwhile almost–prime minister Peter Dutton (and faithfully carried out by the Herald Sun). In 2012, he used the annual Australia Day debate to joke about the genocide of Indigenous Australians, with a cartoon of then–Prime Minister Julia Gillard fleeing an Indigenous protest while saying, “Geez, if the Aboriginals had’ve put up a fight like this in 1788, we might not be bloody well here celebrating Australia Day…!”
Knight is no stranger to sexist portrayals of powerful women, with a 1999 cartoon portraying the female leader of the centrist Australian Democrats in bed with conservative Prime Minister John Howard. Beds are continued to be a favorite Knight trope for depicting the deal-making of women in politics—he portrayed Gillard, Australia’s first and only female PM, in bed with male leaders on multiple occasions throughout her 2010–13 reign. Her partner, Tim, was predictably emasculated by Knight, while her conversations with then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were “girl talk.” (Also, handbags!) The exaggerated Gillard profile—long nose, large ass—is distinctly Knightian, and although it was perpetuated and reinforced by other political cartoonists and at disgusting opposition party fundraisers, it’s fair to argue Knight is most responsible for its ubiquity.
His cartooning style is far from unique: Australia’s white, middle-age, male cartoonists have long been called out for their bigotry... (Larry Pickering - Bill Leak) [...] Many on this side of the Pacific have pointed out that Knight’s Sambo-style drawing looks like something out of a history book [...] But this kind of “racism from another time” continues to pop up in Australia, which has a very small black population and yet has somehow picked up many of America’s most racist black stereotypes, from basketball stars donning blackface to KKK costumes. Australia just doesn’t seem to get it, something one University of Sydney professor calls “ignorance from a distance”—most Australians simply don’t know any black people....
MORE: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018...acist.html
RELATED: JK Rowling condemns 'racist and sexist' cartoon of Serena Williams at US Open ... Herald Sun Cartoonist Defends Racist, Sexist Serena Williams Cartoon
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