Even more Statue of Liberty images

I'll post some more tomorrow. Visit Ghost Town Orange or be square!

UPDATE 5 June 2004

Here are the promised images of Lady Liberty!

In January, 2004, French schoolchildren competed in a cartoon festival at Carquefou, France. The theme of the contest was the United States. The editorial cartoonist of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, David Horsey, was a guest at the festival. The other American political cartoonists there included Kal (Kevin Kallaugher) [Baltimore Sun]; Steve Benson [Arizona Republic]; and Ted Rall [Universal Press Syndicate.] Here is Mr. Horsey's description of the children's drawings from his article on the festival:

They drew obese Americans devouring Coca-Cola and McDonald's hamburgers. They drew the Statue of Liberty with fangs or in chains or being run over by a wicked Uncle Sam on a motorcycle. And they drew George W. Bush: Bush riding a tank to war; Bush taking over the world; Bush as a liar; Bush as a monster.

I am most interested in images of the Statue of Liberty, so I was thrilled to find a French web-page featuring Lady Liberty cartoons from this contest:

La statue de la liberte et ses multiples facettes
La statue de la liberte reste une figure emblematique des Etats-Unis. La vision des jeunes des Etats-Unis se traduit par cette statue symbole de la liberte sur plusieurs thèmes : malbouffe, guerre surconsommation, inegalites. Utilisee comme un support pour faire passer un message, c'est une base efficace pour representer les Etats-Unis.

On la retrouve autant chez les plus petits que chez les plus ages. Meme si les autres themes ont beaucoup marque les participants comme les Twins, un theme recurent, nous avons choisi ce theme car il a souvent ete repris par beaucoup de participants et que les representations de la statue de la liberte sont variees et interessantes.

Here is the theme the young artists were attempting to illustrate:

Etats-Unis, entre mythes et realites
Berceau de la liberte, de la democratie, symbole d’un mode de vie, d’un brassage culturel, la realite des Etats-Unis est aussi moins idyllique: inegalites sociales et raciales, sort des clandestins, couloirs de la mort, interventionnisme exterieur, rejet des accords internationaux... Prenez vos crayons et vos couleurs pour nous transmettre votre image des Etats-Unis.

As you can see, the deck was stacked against Lady Liberty, but this is a typical European view of the United States.

Here are some of the cartoons [Each can be clicked to enlarge]:

by Julie Escure


Chercher l'erreur by Emmanuel Sergent

by Romain Guereau

by Audray Blin
Others found wandering this website:


by Pierre-Damien Pays

Go West! by Marina Le Sugou (spelling of name uncertain)
Now, my favorite, a cartoon that gives me hope:

Je veux etre libre comme elle! (I want to be free like her!) by Amelie Chevillard
Adults also competed. Here is an uncredited image from the contest:

by an unidentified adult competitor

If you think that many of these images of the Statue of Liberty are unfair to us Americans and our ideals, try to imagine the reaction of people around the world to these lyrics by Toby Keith:

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And there's gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And itll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
--from the Angry American

What poetry! What literature! What a stinking pile of manure!

Events of the past few years have unfortunately given lots of ammunition to our enemies. Lady Liberty used to be a peaceful torch-bearer for ideals of freedom and the rule of law; she was the welcomer of immigrants from oppressive countries all over the world. Now, under the Bush Administration, she has evolved into a jingoistic, blood-thirsty, fist-shaking tyrant with a voracious appetite. Can we Americans bear to look at our reflections in the mirror?

Conservatives used to criticize liberals of being naive utopians attempting to achieve impossible dreams with the power of government. Do they realize they have fallen into the same trap?

By the way, here's a link to a webcam featuring the Statue of Liberty.

A recent shot from the Liberty Cam. The webcam is located in an office building about 2 miles away from the statue. From this angle, Lady Liberty is in front of a busy dockyard. The large cranes in the background unload container ships.

UPDATE 2 January 2006

I removed the accents from the French copy above--it was not displaying correctly, and I have forgotten how to get the proper characters to display.

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)