Posted on 07/31/2006 12:29:38 PM PDT by veronica
Edited on 07/31/2006 1:43:28 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I was just in the middle of writing a long and tedious essay, about how to tell a real anti-Semite from a person who too-loudly rejects the charge of anti-Semitism, when a near-perfect real-life example came to hand. That bad actor and worse director Mel Gibson, pulled over for the alleged offense of speeding and the further alleged offense of speeding under the influence, decided that he needed to demand of the arresting officer whether he was or was not Jewish and that he furthermore needed to impart the information that all the world's wars are begun by those of Semitic extraction.
Call me thin-skinned if you must, but I think that this qualifies. I also think that the difference between the blood-alcohol levels—and indeed the speed limits—that occasioned the booking are insufficient to explain the expletives (as Gibson has since claimed in a typically self-pitying and verbose statement put out by his publicist). One does not abruptly decide, between the first and second vodka, or the ticks of the indicator of velocity, that the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion are valid after all.
There's a lot to dislike about Gibson. He is given to furious tirades against homosexuals of the sort that make one wonder if he has some kind of subliminal or "unaddressed" problem. His vulgar and nasty movies, which also feature this prejudice, are additionally replete with the cheapest caricatures of the English.
Actually, I think Hitch is right on this one. The father does belong to a crackpot group that does not recognize the Pope - which would make them HERETICS! Let's hear it for the Inquisition!
Here`s some info I looked up on Al Sharpton BEFORE he ran for Prsident. Remember, liberals had no problem with this guy running.
Freddie's Fashion Mart
It is also alleged that after calling a Jewish shopkeeper a "white interloper," he looked on while an associate of his suggested the man's shop should be burned down. When a black member of the crowd did so, killing several people and himself, Sharpton initially denied having been present. When confronted with a video tape showing his presence, he said: "What's wrong with denouncing white interlopers?" Sharpton later apologized for his remarks. Other such controversies center on purported offenses by Jews against black Americans, although in one case it is alleged he verbally attacked Korean shopkeepers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Sharpton#Freddie.27s_Fashion_Mart
Oh yeah, and if you`ll notice on that website they mention Bryant Gumbel which reminds me; Wasn`t it Bryant Gumbel who last year cursed out the Winter Olympics for being "too white"? My oh my, didn`t that dissappear fast.
I'm certain that pro-semitic groups such as the ADL and prominent film distributors did nothing whatsoever during his filming and distribution of "The Passion of the Christ" that would cause Mel to think anything similar to "maybe dad was a little right?"
My brother, my uncle, and I once got kicked out of an "Irish" bar in Baltimore after my uncle asked a young lady to dance. She being a "regular" and we were from out of town(although my brother and I grew up in the same neighborhood)we were asked to leave. At first we refused, then we went outside and dared the Mick,worthless, Irish punk scum to step outside and "get some". We then saw police lights and scrammed. We are of Irish decent, but for the rest of that night, we kept saying "F@#K THE IRISH". We don't hate the Irish, we were just pretty well lit.
I think it's clear that Mel's got a lot of anger bottled up against the Jewish "spokesmen" and commentators who waged a hateful campaign against him for the audacity of putting the Christian Gospels on film. Too bad he appears to have generalized his justified anger at these Christian hating victim-mongers - the Foxmans, etc. - against Jewish people generally.
Wouldn't know about that. But I do remember, very early in his career, playing the title character in a small Austrailian Indie called "Tim". He was brilliant and mesmerisingly handsome as a low IQ laborer who's taken under the wing of a rich lady.
If the man believes what he is saying, he isn't lying.
Exactly my point.
Good enough for me.
He didn't blame anyone else, or give the patent "Sorry that you are sorry" BS "apology."
I agree it would be wrong to dismiss Gibson's comments as not reflecting upon him at all because he was drunk.
But I also think it would be just as wrong to take his words as reflecting the deepest depths of his soul, although they may.
Gibson was raised by a professional anti-Semite whose paleoism makes Pat Buchanan's look nuanced. No doubt that upbringing is a part of him, but even if the ideas weren't, the reflexive, hateful language that comes with it would likely be just the sort of habit that could reemerge when drunk.
The Jesus portrayed in the Passion is far more Jewish than any of the other mainstream movies about Him I've heard of. I think it shows his best side and this shows what's hopefully his worst.
Some people think Richard Nixon was an anti-Semite because of the bigoted language he used when referring to left wing Jews, but he was one of Israel's best friends when it counted. Mel Gibson's suspicions of President Bush and the War on Terror, on the other hand, make me tend to think that Gibson's feelings are much darker than those of Richard Nixon ever had.
Hitchens seems to be mellowing in his hatred for Israel, I think because he's waking up to the threat of Islamic/Arab fascism since the days he wrote for the Nation and buddied up with Edward Said, the man who who rejected Arafat for being too moderate.
But Hitchens will always despise theism, especially Christianity. Its power and influence repulses his contrarian instincts, his belief in his own "rationalism" and (according to him) his desire to not have someone watching over him. I don't think Hitchens ever hated Jews so much as he hates religion. Since PLO had been a secular leftist movement, it was that much easier for him to sympathize with.
I take issue with the notion that the ADL is pro-semite, any more than Jesse Jackson is pro-black. This is mau-mauing and victim pimping.
We FReepers use that term sparingly. Most of us sit tight for months before expressing unfounded, unsubstantiated, generalitites on a topic on which we know nothing. The petroleum discussion has been discussed here for about a year. Many of us were econ majors, we run businesses, post articles discussing facts on a given topic. I've posted a half dozen articles on the oil topic. Some published by the government's bureau of statistics, some from oil companies and others from trade magazines and corporate financial statements.
I've know several executives from Texaco and some of the stories they told me were amazing when they were hemorraging profits and had to sell their most profitable business units to generate cash to prevent bankruputcy.
For instance:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/1139.html
And I bet you didn't even have to get drunk before you posted.
Outrage from whom? They sat on the stage with all the other Dem candidates for President and were treated with the respect and deference accorded everyone else. They were equals. I didn't see any other Dem candidate become outraged that Sharpton was even being considered to be President or sitting on the same stage with them. In fact, they joked with him and the MSM fawned over him. Al and Joe Lieberman joked with one another.
LOL! sorry. My post got there a bit late. :>)
Are you serious? I hope not! My father was a victim of Jew-hatred during Holy Week and was routinely called a Christ killer and assaulted. Does this ring a bell to you?
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