Ok, It’s a Brutal Cartoon, but Political Satire Is Often Brutal

Australian cartoonist fired for vaccine mandate cartoon (reclaimthenet.org)

What’s the cartoon?

Well, remember this famous picture from Tiananmen Square?

He used the same imagery to protest vaccine mandates.

Ouch.

A Melbourne-based newspaper, The Age, fired a political cartoonist after he compared COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the Tiananmen Square tanks threatening “Tank Man.”

Michael Leunig, a cartoonist referred to as a “living national treasure,” lost his role after he posted the cartoon. He included a drawing of a man staring at a large injection (vaccine) alongside a widely used photo from the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests of 1989 where a man is staring at a tanker.

The newspaper rejected the cartoon. Leunig proceeded to post the cartoon on his Instagram, drawing a lot of criticism from those who support vaccine mandates.

So wait.

He was fired by the newspaper for posting the cartoon on his personal Instagram account.

Umm…no.

Sorry, but…no.

Freedom of speech, anyone? Hello?

Ugh. The world is becoming an awful place.