Hey, new to the forums altogether, but looking for a place to discuss and venty on this and other related topics, so...
I gotta say, Gibson's comments were vile, angered and inflamatory, but "anti-semitic"? By definition, anti-semitism would be inflamitory or hate-filled speech, and that's what Gibson did, but if he was three sheets to the wind, is he really responsible? Is it really "hate-filled" when you are out of control?
Face it, he's been dodging this antisemitism wrap for years now, and probably keeps a lot of resentment bottled up over it, which can easily spew out when anyone out there get's completely lit after a night of drinking. I don't defend that actual things he said, but look at it in context. He also called a woman officer "sugar tits", but we dont' hear anyone lambasting him for being an "anti-femite", do we?
I see these stories all over TV and hear it all over the radio, but I had to dig to find the actual quotes, and it sounds like he's just a foul-mouthed drunk to me.
Maybe I keep hearing other comments instead: Jesse Jackson's "Hymie Town", Hillary Clinton's "plantation" comments refering to Republicans in Washington, or, more recently, New Orleans mayor Nagin's proclamation that the city neeed to be a "Chocolate New Orleans" as God intended it. The public out-cry in all of these cases was mild compared to the outrage over Gibsons DRUNKEN rampage. Yes, his comments were racist and sexist, but at least he was trashed - those other folks were totaly sober.
Perspective and context.