Cartoon corner

I have nothing special to offer regarding the Danish Cartoons saga. The kind of people we've seen burning the Danish embassy in Beirut suffer from the defect of possessing in combination an emotional age of about seven and the memory of an elephant. As for their attention span, who can say? I hope it will blow over, but then I have a feeling that a British officer in India in 1857 might have said the same thing at news that his Muslim Indian troops were getting agitated over a rumour that their rifle cartridges were greased with pork fat. At least this affair has already had the effect of showing up the hypocrisy and cowardice of the Western mainstream media - and beyond them, the community of 'transgressive' artists - always so ready to bravely challenge Christian religious sensibilities.

On that subject, I recall the fuss here in Melbourne when Andres Serrano's Piss Christ was on display. A meeting was organised by the bien-pensants to show support for Serrano, and in my morning coffee spot, I overheard two artists discussing it. Asked if he would be going, Artist B replied that, unfortunately, he was busy that evening preparing his next grant submission. I felt a warm inner glow, knowing that the rotten capitalist system would somehow remain upright as long as the transgressive artists - who could otherwise smash it with a single blow - had had their mighty right arms permanently frozen into the handout or 'baksheesh' position.