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Mel Gibson's Apocalyptic Stupidity
Human Events.com ^ | December 13, 2006 | Ben Shapiro

Posted on 12/13/2006 4:59:55 AM PST by UltraConservative

According to Mel Gibson, his new movie, "Apocalypto," is a metaphor for the death of American civilization. "The precursors to a civilization that's going under are the same, time and time again," Gibson explained at a film festival in Texas. "What's human sacrifice if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?"

Gibson's comparison between Mayan and American civilization is deeply offensive. To elucidate just how offensive the comparison is, I must review the film's portrayal of Mayan society. (Warning: There are spoilers. If you are intent on seeing this movie, read no further.)

"Apocalypto" portrays two societies within Mayan civilization. The first is a hunter-gatherer sort of Rousseau-ian society, wherein noble savages tell colorful stories, cherish their pregnant wives and play practical jokes involving eating raw tapir testicles. The second is the decadent Mayan city, where slave laborers covered in powder cough up blood as they pound rock; where throngs cheer wildly as power-mad priests engage in ritual human sacrifice, pulling still-beating hearts from chest cavities, beheading victims and tossing those heads down towering flights of stairs to a waiting crowd, which then sticks the heads on pikes; where the headless bodies are dumped in Holocaust-like mass graves, to rot in the sun.

The Mayan city society invades the Rousseau-ian hunter-gatherer society, brutally and graphically raping and murdering its way through village after village. Citizens of the hunter-gatherer society are kidnapped and used for ritual sacrifice, or for sport killing.

Gibson's point is this: Mayan civilization in decline had corrupted itself through brutality and barbarity. It sacrificed its own citizens on the altar of fear. The values that made Mayan civilization worth preserving -- the values embodied by the Rousseau-ian society -- were destroyed so that the fears of the population could be assuaged. In doing so, Mayan society made itself ripe for conquer by the Europeans.

Gibson likens Mayan civilization to American civilization. "We're all afraid," Gibson told Entertainment Weekly. "That's something I've been finding out more recently -- how racked by fear we are as a society." We are discarding our values, Gibson implies. We are engaging in Mayan barbarities in Iraq, sending our own citizens off to die on the altar of fear.

"Apocalypto" opens with a quotation from historian Will Durant: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it destroys itself from within." Durant is correct -- but the film's exposition of Durant is utterly wrong. If American (and Western) civilization falls, it will not be because our fears drove us to "Mayan barbarities," but because, like Gibson, we failed to distinguish good from evil.

Not all civilizations are created equal: Some deserve to fall because they are deeply corrupt from the outset. Mayan civilization, with its human sacrifice and primitivism, was never a beacon of liberty. The Rousseau-ian values Gibson sees were not what distinguished Mayan civilization. The strength of Mayan civilization was based solely on its power -- it was doomed to fail from the moment it encountered a society more powerful militaristically and economically than itself.

Western civilization has values worth protecting -- liberty and equality of opportunity -- and those values give it strength. Those values make us stronger than our enemies, unlike the Mayans. Equating all civilizations, as Gibson does, is what undermines Western values. There is a world of difference between using violence out of superstition and using violence to both ensure domestic security and free others from the oppression of a death cult that ritually beheads its citizens or dumps them in mass graves. It is moral barbarism of the highest order to equate the two, as Gibson does.

Critics have rightly focused on the stunning violence of Gibson's "Apocalypto." The movie is certainly one of the most violent ever filmed -- Gibson's camera lingers lovingly over each wound. But it is the violence Gibson does to morality that should worry us. It is that violence that contributes to the internal destruction of Western civilization. If Western civilization is doomed to failure, it will not be despite Mel Gibson's best efforts, it will be because of them.

Mr. Shapiro is a student at Harvard Law School. He is the author of "Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future" (Regnery, a Human Events sister company) and "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctinate America's Youth" Thomas Nelson).


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: apocalypto; benshapiro; iraq; melgibson
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To: UltraConservative

The obvious thing which Shapiro hints at but doesn't mention, is what "civilization" on earth today most resembles the Mayan savagery? There is no doubt it is the Islamic World.


61 posted on 12/13/2006 6:43:23 AM PST by montag813
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To: DungeonMaster

"where throngs cheer wildly as power-mad priests engage in ritual human sacrifice, pulling still-beating hearts from chest cavities"

The bodies were taken down to the back of the temple where they were butchered and used for meat. The sharp stone spikes still found on some sites were not to keep people frommsitting there, nor were they a security feature.

Chunks of sacrificed captive meat were hung on those sharp stones. Thing Stone Age meat hook.


62 posted on 12/13/2006 6:43:54 AM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon Liberty, it is essential to examine principles, - -)
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To: UltraConservative

Regardless of what kind of stupid comments Mel may have made, I have heard from two trusted sources that it is a very very good movie. Conservative radio personalities and film critic Michael Medved said it was one of the years best and it captivated him from the opening scene. He said he was so captivated he almost forgot he was there to take critic notes on the film. And Seattle area conservative radio host John Carlson said it easily makes it in his list of top 10 best movies he has ever seen. He liked it better than the Passion, and he was a major Passion fan.

Both of these people said the film actually puts the arrival of the Spaniards and their religion at the end of the film in a favorable light, bringing civil order and Christianity to a once brutal and godless society. Yes the Spaniards brought disease and a heavy handed approach to conquer the new World, but that’s the subject for other movies.

I’m seeing it this weekend.


63 posted on 12/13/2006 6:45:02 AM PST by NavyCanDo
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To: betsyross1776
ONE thing for sure I am not going to waste my time on a movie when in the next theater I can see a great movie about the miracle of the Birth of CHRIST. Mel might make money on this one etc, but as far as my wallet goes , it goes to the Nativity with pride.

Ditto...I'm hoping more Christians pay money at the box office to see 'The Nativity Story.'

64 posted on 12/13/2006 6:45:09 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: UltraConservative

"But it is the violence Gibson does to morality that should worry us. It is that violence that contributes to the internal destruction of Western civilization."

This is true.


65 posted on 12/13/2006 6:47:37 AM PST by little jeremiah (Those who thirst for the truth will see the truth)
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To: Miss Marple
Do you believe he didn't know about the Holocaust Denial conference?

I heard that on Sirius this morning. The original question asking what his reaction to this conference was. That response of his troubled me. You could not know about any such conference going on but one should oppose such things anyway!

66 posted on 12/13/2006 6:47:44 AM PST by pnh102
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To: UltraConservative

67 posted on 12/13/2006 6:48:48 AM PST by Gritty (We do not address the issue of nukes in Iran. That, we leave up to the UN. - Lee Hamilton on ISG Rep)
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To: UltraConservative
The second is the decadent Mayan city, where slave laborers covered in powder cough up blood as they pound rock; where throngs cheer wildly as power-mad priests engage in ritual human sacrifice, pulling still-beating hearts from chest cavities, beheading victims and tossing those heads down towering flights of stairs to a waiting crowd, which then sticks the heads on pikes; where the headless bodies are dumped in Holocaust-like mass graves, to rot in the sun.

So, let me get this straight: Gibson compares modern day America to this culture, while it's the islamic fascists whom we are fighting who are actually carrying out these barbarities today.

Just checking.

68 posted on 12/13/2006 6:53:20 AM PST by SlowBoat407 (A living insult to islam since 1959)
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To: NavyCanDo
The Spanish Crown had a pretty good law system for the locals, one that was very kind to them. However, there were a lot of Spanish adventurers who showed up to grab as much as they could, usually one step ahead of the gallows.


Take for instance the history of New Mexico. In many places it was the priests and the crown representatives against some of these adventurers.
69 posted on 12/13/2006 6:55:15 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: Miss Marple

Bonnie and Clyde, LoL, make sure you do not ever see "The Wild Bunch" if that one bothered you.


70 posted on 12/13/2006 7:00:16 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit (If you believe ANYTHING in the Treason Media you are a fool.)
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To: betsyross1776
Look like people are not as made at Mel as they say, either that or the Jews have more people that hate them then they think.

Yea, people are going to rush and see Apocalypto because they hate the jews. Do you have any idea how utterly moronic that statement is?
71 posted on 12/13/2006 7:08:19 AM PST by newguy357
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To: UltraConservative
We're all afraid," Gibson told Entertainment Weekly. "That's something I've been finding out more recently -- how racked by fear we are as a society."

Wow! Who knew Mad Max was such a complete tool! Maybe all the useless, imbecilic actors in Hollywood (and their even more pathetic, fawning entourages) are "racked by fear", but that's because they live in a fantasy land where not getting fresh papayas with their breakfast is a traumatic event.

I'm not "racked with fear", nor is anyone else I know. Actually, the only thing I fear is that idiots like Mel Gibson and those who think like he does (Democrats, liberals, etc.) will be allowed to run the country.

72 posted on 12/13/2006 7:08:42 AM PST by Sicon
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To: x_plus_one
"don't let the smoke of anti-christian secularists obscure the truth"

HUH? I get called an Anti-Christian secularist at least on a monthly basis and I have no idea what you are talking about.

It's not playing locally yet but I'm looking forward to seeing it.

(the anti-christian secularists are responsible for all the wars in the world don'cha know)
73 posted on 12/13/2006 7:09:42 AM PST by ndt
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To: UltraConservative

This is an excellent column - thanks for posting it. Confirms my total lack of interest in patronizing hyper-violent movies, especially by a hypocritical, anti-semitic sicko like Gibson.


74 posted on 12/13/2006 7:10:47 AM PST by Menehune56 (Oderint Dum Metuant (Let them hate, so long as they fear - Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC)))
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To: UltraConservative

The "wet brain" (MG) speaks. This is what happens when folks are too much into themselves. I wish the follywood folk would entertain and then just shut up. sigh, the American mind is in a soap opera. Keep up the great thought provoking work all you Freepers. Great minds,,,,


75 posted on 12/13/2006 7:19:11 AM PST by rusureitflies?
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To: Miss Marple

Because he's trying to get an Oscar nod, and if you want an Oscar nod you release no earlier than November and preferably in December.


76 posted on 12/13/2006 7:23:27 AM PST by discostu (we're two of a kind, silence and I)
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To: MojoWire

I had noticed before his uh "incident" that he seemed to have lost his center. He was incoherent and disconnected in a couple of interviews......not jovial at all - more like just plain weird and not someone you would want to spend any time with.


77 posted on 12/13/2006 7:24:07 AM PST by daybreakcoming
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To: montag813

"The obvious thing which Shapiro hints at but doesn't mention, is what "civilization" on earth today most resembles the Mayan savagery? There is no doubt it is the Islamic World."

I have no idea what Gibson intended, but comparison to the savagery of islamofacism is what I saw.

From the warning Jaguar Paw's oblivious tribe was issued by the fleeing tribe to the frenzied, bloodthirsty crowd at the temple, (with wardrobe changes) it could have been a newsclip from today.


78 posted on 12/13/2006 7:27:42 AM PST by windchime (I consider the left one of the fronts on the WOT.)
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To: UltraConservative
Gibson is just another Hollywood half wit.

I am not afraid. I do not know anyone who is afraid.
We are not sacrificing anyone on any alter.
We are sending voluntary defenders of civilization to stop the barbarians from destroying it.
The real story is that so many refuse to help or are totally ignorant and in denial of the nature of this enemy.
Why wont someone make a Hollywood movie about that?
79 posted on 12/13/2006 7:29:47 AM PST by Names Ash Housewares
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To: indylindy
Mel seemed to be holding back hostility.

I think that's Mel in a nutshell. But he's becoming less and less able to control his rage. Since his father "has never lied to him" imagine the inner conflict and turmoil of growing up with a Jew-hating, Holocaust denying crank as a role model. And by the way, this goes way back to the Lethal Weapon series when, even as an actor for hire he played a rage-filled over-the-edge head case. I think it's fair to say that his greatest acting performance was the dim and meek Tim, in his very early years. All the rest were not much of a stretch.

80 posted on 12/13/2006 7:29:50 AM PST by veronica (http://images20.fotki.com/v360/photos/1/106521/3848737/gladysPSCP-vi.jpg)
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