Posted on 08/02/2006 10:00:34 AM PDT by abigail2
August 2, 2006
Contact: Ermias Alemayehu (323) 782-1980 / (213) 804-1872
Where’s The Compassion for Mel Gibson?
LOS ANGELES- Since Mel Gibson’s arrest for suspicion of drunk driving last week, liberal Jewish leaders and most of the media have condemned him for uttering anti-Jewish slurs. On two occasions Gibson has since offered apologies and asked forgiveness from the Jewish community—but some in the media are still not satisfied. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of BOND (Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny) issued a statement today calling for Gibson’s detractors to “have compassion” for the star. Below is Rev. Peterson’s statement in its entirety regarding this issue:
“I am sorry that Mel Gibson and his family are going through this difficult period. Gibson absolutely did the right thing by offering a heartfelt apology and asking for forgiveness from the Jewish community—he’s even asked to meet with Jewish leaders. To those who will not be satisfied until Gibson is destroyed—I say ‘shame on you. Where’s your humanity?’
“Now there appears to be an orchestrated campaign by some Hollywood insiders and media to personally destroy Gibson. These same people opposed Gibson’s blockbuster ‘The Passion of the Christ’ which despite opposition from liberals was a huge hit among audiences. These ‘smear merchants’ are using this incident to get back at Gibson. It’s time that people accept his apology and move on.
“Had this been a liberal struggling with a similar addiction—these same people would be calling for understanding—so where’s the compassion for Mel Gibson? Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Louis Farrakhan have all made anti-Jewish remarks in the past with little public condemnation. But God help you if you make a highly successful movie about Jesus Christ and then succumb to alcoholism. This is another example of selective outrage practiced by liberal hypocrites. So much for liberal compassion.”
BOND (Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny) is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization whose mission is “rebuilding the family by rebuilding the man.” Rev. Peterson is the author of SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America. For more information visit BOND
You are receiving this communication because you asked to receive information via email from BOND. If you have received this email in error or would like to be removed from the email list, please send an email to frontdesk@bondinfo.org
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Based on JLP's own writing (we all know that most Blacks are lazy and immoral - Sept. 2005) I would say that he would agree.
Getting drunk now and then, even falling down drunk, is NOT the same as being an alcoholic. Two completely different animals. And by alcholoic I mean someone who starts their day with a morning screwdriver or two, and moves on from there, from lunch to dinner and up til bed time.
And I can tell you from personal experience that vodka does smell. And I can also tell you that the difference between when an alcoholic is sober and when they are not is like night and day - Jekle and Hyde. It is THAT dramatic a difference. Add into that whatever depression the person is feeling.... well ...
It's an ugly picture - damn ugly!
Getting drunk and being a drunk - not the same at all.
Is it the 4th Commandment that requires us to honor our father and our mother?
What would you have a son do who loves his father even though the father is a flawed human being like the rest of us?
Exactly.
And what does it matter whether his father is a communist, a Nazi, or a Quaker?
Good grief, if someone attacked my parents, on national TV, the last thing I would do is agree with them. No matter what I thought of the privately.
This was a wake-up call to Mel to stop drinking before he kills himself or another driver.
Yea, Cindy Sheehan said the same thing and went into detail about it talking about Neo-Cons and PNAC. There is always a double standard against the right. Rhandi Rhodes statements make Ann Coulter's look tame but she gets a radio show on a a left wing network.
Okay, I don't know exactly how strong or mild Mel Gibson's anti-semitism is. Certainly it exists, and it's not pretty. The fact that he was drunk could have diminished his inhibitions so as to cause him to reveal his true inner feelings, or else it could have led him to make exaggerated statements in a deliberate attempt to shock and outrage his listeners, or perhaps it was some combination of both.
Different people react in different ways to alchohol. I've never been drunk myself, so I can't offer any first-hand experience. But it's impossible to believe there wasn't at least a kernel of anti-semitism for Gibson to even think of making those comments about Jews.
Mel has the right to think what he thinks, and the First Amendment allows him to say what he said. He's not going to be placed in a politically-correct indoctrination camp to re-mold his opinions. But other people also have a right to evaluate him by his statements and alter their opinions of his character.
I personally hope this will be a wake-up call for Mel. Driving drunk at high speeds and getting arrested and facing a barrage of criticism for his anti-semitic tirade might just cause him to re-evaluate the direction his life is going. His apology is a good first step. I hope it's a sincere one, and that he will decide to make changes in his life. If he truly does so, he should eventually be able to rehabilitate his reputation.
I just don't get the ease at which some just write off these statements as "the booze talking", and not a glimpse into his soul.
You'll probably even get the alcoholic "Jekyl and Hyde" argument. Funny thing is is that the whole point of that story was the concoction was simply briging out the dark side of what is already in us...
I've been touched by alchoholism in a very personal way. I saw it, and was affected by it everyday for more years than I care to remember.
And I saw how, when on the sauce, a normally very caring and loving person, could turn on, and be mean and downright cruel, to the people that person loved.
So its not a stretch for me to beleive that a group of people, not related in any way to Mel, for whom he may may may not have any personal feelings for, could come under fire from him while the monkey was riding his back.
You folks need to under understand that long time alchoholics brain chemistry has been severely altered. It NOT THE SAME as getting drunk once in a while.
What I want the American people to know, what I want the Congress to know is that I am profoundly sorry for all I have done wrong in words and deeds. I never should have misled the country, the Congress, my friends or my family. Quite simply, I gave into my shame.
That apology good enough for you? Is all forgiven now?
.12 is three drinks. That is not blind drunk.
I'm assuming, truth serum that booze is, that no one on a drunken toot ever told another that they "loved them' when all they really wanted was the proverbial roll in the hay. When drunk we ONLY speak the truth ;)
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And those who can insert themselves into it for the purpose of getting a little media attention.
You can google "functioning alcoholic" for more info.
Sure he has issues with Jews, think of what he had to go through to make The Passion.
Why should he have issues with "Jews?" Again, I believe this is the soul of bigotry. Some Jews slurred The Passion. The vast majority didn't - in face, the vast majority of Jews didn't care at all. But apparently, he has issues with "Jews" which would imply all Jews to me. So again, why is it that Gibson has issues with Jews?
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