Posted on 08/01/2006 7:04:55 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
So is Mel Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic spew really headline news -- or is it just another celebrity DUI? Another high-profile addition to The Smoking Gun's mug shot gallery (Nick and Glen, meet your new buddy Mel)? Monologue fodder for Leno, Letterman, Conan, and Kimmel? Nothing but a tempest in a tequila bottle?
Maybe that would be the case if these were ordinary times. But, with extremists gaining power and garnering sympathy all across the world, there is nothing ordinary about these times.
And that is why this could prove to be a seminal moment in our cultural history. Particularly in the cultural history of Hollywood.
Taking a page from our president, I see the Gibson story as "a moment of opportunity," a chance for reasonable people to stand up and be counted. For the sane among us to identify, separate, and condemn the extremists, the fanatics, the fundamentalists, the bigots, the hate-mongers and say 'no more.'
In the same way that ordinary Muslims need to separate themselves from the blood-drenched ideology of Hezbollah, Hollywood needs to separate itself from the odious racism of Gibson. And I don't make that connection lightly. Remember, during his DUI tirade, Gibson claimed, "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." That kind of thinking makes him psychological soul mates with Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who has said, "If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak, and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology, and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew."
Gibson's no-longer-deniable brand of bigotry has led to the extermination of millions -- and continues to fuel much of the strife and suffering in the world today. Which is why Hollywood cannot sit this one out and wait for the reviews to come in.
For years, social conservatives have questioned the morals and ethics of the entertainment community -- tossing around the shibboleth of "Hollywood values" as an oxymoronic grenade in the culture wars. Well, now is the time for Hollywood to show what those values really are by making Gibson pay the price for his bigotry and intolerance.
For starters, the town's power players need to step up and publicly condemn Gibson's vile comments (in effect, saying in public what they are already saying in private conversations I and many others have had). I mean, it shouldn't be so hard to publicly denounce someone -- even an Oscar-winner -- for being a raging anti-Semite.
But that's not happening. From this morning's Los Angeles Times:
Although many of the town's senior executives are Jewish and Hollywood has a long history of supporting Israel and Jewish causes, there was no widespread public condemnation of Gibson's comments over the weekend. Although some high-level executives privately expressed dismay at the statements attributed to Gibson after his arrest, none of those contacted would speak on the record.
Talk about lacking the courage of their convictions. Which makes Ari Emanuel's no-holds-barred post all the more praise-worthy. But is Ari the only high-profile figure willing to publicly draw a line in the Malibu sand? How disgusting and disappointing is that?
I know this is, at its heart, a very cautious town -- a place that always likes to keep one eye on the bottom line -- but this is no time to play it safe or to put dollars ahead of doing the unquestionably right thing.
Which is why Gibson's agent, Ed Limato, should immediately drop him as a client. And not because his boss at ICM, Jeff Berg, is Jewish, nor because so many of his clients, including Billy Crystal, are Jewish. This isn't a matter of Jews sticking together or non-Jews showing solidarity. It's about choosing sides in the real battle being fought all across the globe -- the fight between extremism and rationality, between hatred and common decency.
And Bob Iger at Disney needs to pull the plug on two Gibson projects that are in the works. The company is slated to distribute Gibson's latest directorial project, Apocalypto, opening on December 8. They should refuse to do so. And ABC, which is owned by Disney, should, without delay, scrap its head-scratching plan to develop a miniseries about the Holocaust with Gibson's company (yep, you read that right).
Yet when asked about the status of the still-in-development miniseries, an ABC spokeswoman said, "It is not at the point where you would make those determinations. There is no script."
Question for ABC: Do you really need to see a script to know that the idea of having a Holocaust-set miniseries produced by a guy who thinks "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world" is a god-awful one?
Reading the horror stories of the survivors of the Qana bombing, any rational person's instinct is to criticize the tactics Israel is using to take on Hezbollah. Then a thought arises: will this criticism come across as part and parcel of the anti-Semitic worldview of the Gibson crowd?
Which is yet another reason Gibson needs to be ostracized: his lunatic ravings make it all-the-harder for legitimate criticisms of Israel's methods to be expressed and to be heard with uncluttered ears.
What is it about this guy that so many of you want to defend so much. Yes, he's a Christian..but a small sect of Christianity that hates Jews...he hates Bush, he's verbally attacked him on many occassions...He's against the war...why are you so willing to give him a pass?
And that is why this could prove to be a seminal moment in our cultural history.
Zsa Zsa Gaboring sizes up the cultural zeitgeist as well as she sizes up future husbands.
Damn, Arianna, take a pill!
The Twits spewed their hatred from a stage overseas - not in the presence of less than a handful of people. They spoke against our president on foreign soil while we were at war and they have not only not apologized for their poor judgment - they continue to defend their actions and have released a new record proclaiming they are unrepentant.
No one is perfect, and while Gibson's words were hateful, he said them while intoxicated and has apologized from them. I don't think a boycott is warranted because he admitted he was wrong and it is laughable that Hollywood would be upset over his remarks when they are mostly pro-terrorists and anti-Semites as a whole. How hypocritical.
Thanks Merry, I can go and find it, with the number of "got" Mel posts I thought everything was getting posted.
A boycott is a personal thing. You may not think a boycott is in order, but I do. And a celebrity blaming the ills of the world on Jews, a line that will be published around the world, to me, is just as bad if not worse than what the Dixie Chicks did. Unless you're Jewish, there's no way you can understand that.
Your slandering me will not change the fact that I fully support the nuking of Iran and Syria.
Nor will it change the fact that Mel was mericilessly attacked for the Passion - which was not anti-semitic.
Nor will it change the fact that some police are prejudiced.
Like I said, I have gone from "Guilty" to "witholding judgement".
I think we stop these divisive gossip posts and concentrate on the fact that our real enemies (including Jewish Dems - does that make me antisemitic?) are obstructing our efforts to defeat IslamoFascism.
Maybe if you were better read, you would have come across this fact. Mel Gibson's PR firm started damage control immediately including the words in his so called apology. Stop making excuses for him. He was just sorry he got caught. I still also think he has the right to his beliefs. Didn't someone during the Revolutionary War say something about nothing liking what you say but defending to death your right to say it.
Seems to me the hate Gibson crowd smells blood and is hoping to create a frenzy......
I see it as someone obviously too damned drunk and agitated saying things they won't remember a few hours later.....
Comparing a drunk tyrade be Mel to Hezbullah???? I dunno, $itfaced tyrades don't equate to intentional targeting of civilians.
I want to see what Mels BAL was... I think this is just overreaching by folks who don't like Gibson. For crying out loud, this is the same crown who keep saying give Downey Jr. one more chance....
He's apologized for it, he was likely $hitfaced when he did it... and if he had been anyone else in hollywood they'd be making excuses for him.
I dunno.. I see this as much ado about nothing.
All I get is a little red x instead of a picture but I agree Mel Gibson should account and I believe he has and will.
I am disappointed by this, but will still respect and admire his work.
So, you are suggesting a mans character is what you see when they are $hitfaced drunk?
I would challenge you completely on that claim.
I've seen the nicest people in the world, become beligerent a$$holes when they've gotten drunk.. I've seen the most anti-social introverted jerks become the most outgoing and friendly folks.
Drunken state is not a window into anyones character.. if anything it just shows you how much higher brain function is responsible for ones true character.
Yes, I agree that a boycott is a personal thing. My point was that for the Hollywood wackos to be calling for a boycott for this when there are so many hateful diatribes that go unnoticed there is ironic.
I agree with you that incidents such as this serve to fuel the fires of hatred against Israel and while I am not Jewish, I am absolutely on their side in their quest to live in peace in such close proximity to Islamofacists. Israel has been a steady friend to the US and I will continue to support them in their current fight.
There are more non-Jewish Dems than Jewish Dems and the fact that you would point that out specifically just proves my point even more.
The way it goes is that one must be black or Jewish to be "equal". White or Christian, much less white and Christian is decidedly not entitled to free speech in the perception of this Nation. Any well trained lap-dog will self-righteously tell you that.
Thought crimes are particularly punishable because those who have taken charge are intent on the power of "mastery". One certainly cannot have another Master; that currently impugns Christians. A miniscule percentage of whites (and blacks) were once called "master"; that requires assignation of guilt dumped only on all whites.
If one is both white and Christian plus successful in the face of opposition from those who “master” the stakes are higher so the punishment is exponentially imposed. After all independent thought and freedom of worship are the enemies of mastery.
Those two “enemies of mastery” are exactly what prompted the Mayflower immigrants to set foot on that vessel. Too bad they were white and had a Biblical Master Who had persuaded them to believe that they were Israel going to the "promised land" to become the "city set on a hill".
Hurry up and give us a link to that story!!!!!
Maybe if you were better read
It's an interesting cultural phenomenon, also, that not only can you be punished for what you say, but you can be punished worse for what you say while drunk.
A pass?
He did stupid things when drunk... you can condemn him for being drunk... but if you think when you are drunk you do smart things.. you obviously haven't drank.
You want to judge a man by his actions when obviously inebriated.. a state that doesn't seem to be the norm for Mr. Gibson. Last time I was $hitfaced I stripped nekkie and made mud angels in a rainstorm.. I'm not proud of it, but I did it.. does that mean my entire life and character is summed up by playing naked in the mud?
If you thing what a person does drunk and what a person does sober are one and the same then you are in denial.
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