Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mel Gibson's Meltdown
Slate ^ | 07-31-06 | Christopher Hitchens

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.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: hitchens; invinoveritas; melgibson
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 441-460 next last
To: veronica
This from a bona-fide anti-Catholic bigot like Chrissy Hitchens?

MEGA YAWN.
61 posted on 07/31/2006 12:50:42 PM PDT by Antoninus (Public schools are the madrassas of the American Left. --Ann Coulter, Godless)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cspackler
I believe that we now know Mel's true colors

I don't think Mel is going to be able to worm his way out of this one, but it would be amusing to see him try.

62 posted on 07/31/2006 12:50:52 PM PDT by Nonstatist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: veronica
Some excerpts from Hitchens' article follow. I think they show Hitchens to be completely unhinged.

This is not just proved by his twistedly homoerotic spank-movie The Passion of the Christ, even though that ghastly production did focus obsessively on the one passage in the one of the four Gospels that tries to convict the Jewish people en masse of the hysterical charge of Christ-killing or "deicide." It is validated by his fealty to his earthly father, a crackpot who belongs to a Catholic splinter group of which our Mel is a member. This group more or less lives off the stench of medieval anti-Semitism.

At the time when The Passion of the Christ was being released, many nervous evangelical Christians tried to get the more horrifying bits of anti-Semitic incitement toned down. (The crazy scene where the rabbis demand the blood of Jesus on their own heads was taken out of subtitles, for example, but left as it was in Aramaic.)

63 posted on 07/31/2006 12:51:22 PM PDT by Stingray51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Borders.Language.Beer.

You take that back!

I love Stewie!


64 posted on 07/31/2006 12:51:31 PM PDT by HonestConservative ((It's SNOWING!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: SE Mom

Christopher Hitchens claims that he is partially Jewish and that therefore he has a right to vilify Israel every chance he gets without being criticized.


65 posted on 07/31/2006 12:51:47 PM PDT by wideawake ("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: HarmlessLovableFuzzball

Kasparov has repeatedly stated that Fischer was the greatest chess player of all time.


66 posted on 07/31/2006 12:51:50 PM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: veronica

Looks to me like some people are hoping to continue to create a division within FR by keeping these type of threads going.


67 posted on 07/31/2006 12:52:07 PM PDT by daybreakcoming
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: slackerjack

I disagree. My pastors, my friends and many others all told me I had to see the Passion. They told me they cried throught the whole movie. I went to see it, and I thought it was at best a mediocre effort which was not at all compelling. I never had any sense that I was watching things how they actually were. I was not touched spritually or emotionally at all. The dramatic license was over-the-top.


68 posted on 07/31/2006 12:52:21 PM PDT by dinoparty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: veronica

Starting to get real tired of seeing these Mel Gibson threads.


69 posted on 07/31/2006 12:52:34 PM PDT by diamond6 (Everyone who is for abortion have been born. Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: L98Fiero
If "The Passion" hadn't been made, this article wouldn't have been written.

Bingo.

70 posted on 07/31/2006 12:52:37 PM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: SE Mom
He and his late buddy Edward Said were always denouncing Israel and apologizing for the Palestinians. Whenever he'd be on the air about a situation there, his answers were predictable from the beginning: Israel lobby controls Washington, too-harsh responses to attacks, etc.

I guess maybe I shouldn't call him antisemitic, but he's definitely anti-Israel.

71 posted on 07/31/2006 12:52:51 PM PDT by Darkwolf377 (http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_04.htm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: My2Cents

In all honesty, I'm ashamed I bought it in two different home theater video formats: DVD and DVHS.

If it comes out in HD DVD or blu ray, I won't be buying it again.


72 posted on 07/31/2006 12:52:55 PM PDT by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: veronica
Well, I've got no room to talk. Like Mel I have a DWI on my record too. I grown a lot since that 1978 incident in my misspent youth...I learned from it too as it cost me plenty in court fines and insurance premiums, plus a restricted license and embarrassment to my family. I believe Mel will learn too...it seems only if your name is "Kennedy" or "Bush," that you can somehow manage to cover up the incident (Bush for years, Kennedy seemingly for ever) and avoid mortification.
73 posted on 07/31/2006 12:53:02 PM PDT by meandog (If I were to draw the odious Islamic prophet Muhammad, he would have horns, a tail, and a pitchfork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica

I think that stupid comments from a drunken Australian is far from the Jews' biggest problem right now. This kind of crap barely deserves press coverage.


74 posted on 07/31/2006 12:53:22 PM PDT by Kenton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica
Everyone on this planet is a racist at one time or another (it's called the problem of evil).

It has nothing to do with whether you are or are not a racist at a given moment - it has to do with what you do with those attitudes/feelings/emotions.

Mel may have just had a bad day -drunk, of course - Nonetheless a bad day.

We can either chastise and move on - Or we can crucify him; which is it?

: )

**********************

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone... Go And Sin No More"

And if ya' do sin again - then repent...

It's all over with people... Move along... Keep it moving... Nothing to see here...

75 posted on 07/31/2006 12:53:34 PM PDT by chris_ab
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wideawake

Thanks for the info.

Hitchens is often brilliant- but not always!


76 posted on 07/31/2006 12:53:57 PM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet-pray for Israel))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Dark Skies

Hitchens doesn't get to pick which stock photo runs with his articles. No writer does, unless he runs the Website, which Hitchens does not.

Blame him for the writing and the ideas it expresses, certainly, but don't hold against him what is clearly not his decision.


77 posted on 07/31/2006 12:53:57 PM PDT by Xenalyte (I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: frogjerk

I have been stupid drunk many times and "unfortunately" I love EVERYBODY----should see me when I am sober!


78 posted on 07/31/2006 12:54:03 PM PDT by brooklyn dave (Jesus a perfect 10 v. Allah 0)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: veronica

I can only imagine what Hitchens says when he's drunk. Oh wait he even says it when he's sober.


79 posted on 07/31/2006 12:54:33 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica

He no matter who and what he "IS" Mel could never in a million years make Israel say they are gonna give up their Air Power for 48 hours.

Now President Bush on the other hand...


80 posted on 07/31/2006 12:54:40 PM PDT by funkywbr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 441-460 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson