The Vast Right Wing and Mel Gibson

The American-Partisan ^ | 01/17/03 | Linda A. Prussen-Razzano

[Clintons-B-Gone]

Have you ever suffered from acute political apathy?

I’m in the grips of it right now, an experience altogether unfamiliar for someone who has spent many years and earned a modicum of infamy exposing the foibles of various politicians. In retrospect, it began after the traumatic, premature birth of my second child, the insane weeks that followed, and a postpartum hormonal roller-coaster that left me feeling like a ghost walking through my own life. Despite the frenzy of political activity and the surging American response to September 11, 2001, I found myself so physically and emotionally drained that I could not follow events to my satisfaction. Unwilling to walk the path that so many in the mainstream media do – penning columns with little research and fewer facts – I drew back from politics slowly, steadily, and, almost completely.

Yes, apathy. The bane of an informed electorate. The primary reason why evil men rule, because good men are too darn tired to care and let them. A weariness so resounding that I can’t even muster the anger to slap Tom Daschle for his blatant lies and outrageous, daily antics. How do I know he’s lying? He opens his mouth. The same can be said for Saddam Hussein, North Korea, the Communist Chinese, and a whole host of others. What more needs to be said on the matter?

So what occurred to shake me from my relatively unhappy, willfully uninformed stupor? Darrell Ankarlo, a morning talk-show host for KLIF, played a snippet of Bill O’Reilly’s interview with Mel Gibson. Apparently, Mr. Gibson is currently making a movie about the life of Jesus Christ, a dry, reverent, brutal, yet accurate depiction of scripture. According to Mr. Gibson, bloodhounds in Hollywood, upset by the very politically incorrect nature of the material, have delved into his past, dug through his trash, and pestered his elderly father, looking for anything inflammatory to discredit him and the project.

This type of skullduggery is obscenely hypocritical. False stalwarts of free speech excoriated the Catholic Church when it objected to "The Last Temptation of Christ." The Church objected to the depiction of Christ as a confused and shiftless soul and was extremely offended by the sex scene with Mary. So what that their Lord and Savior was having a little dirt thrown on His face? The Media Elite painted the Catholic Church as an intolerant, archaic monster that couldn’t withstand any scrutiny and the movie quickly went to video.

But for all the hue and cry against the film, the Catholic Church did not launch a full-scale assault on Willem Dafoe or his family. And now that a version of Scripture is being made the Church might actually approve of, it must be cut down before the first curtain rises. If the Church approves and the Media Elite doesn’t, I know it’s going to be worth watching.

Having come to this conclusion, I realized that I wasn’t so apathetic, after all. I had made a decision, several years ago, to reject those actors who used their fame to spout anti-American, anti-Conservative propaganda. While I supported their right to voice their opinions, I didn’t have to support them with my money. After visiting several popular conservative information and chat sites, I realized I wasn’t alone. Others had come to the same conclusion and kept running lists of who would benefit from their hard-earned dollars, their trips to the movies now an annual event, if that.

The same could be said for television. When too many shows started spewing stories that read like a liberal’s fantasy, I switched channels, never to return. I couldn’t tell you what’s on CBS, NBC, or ABC anymore and, quite frankly, I don’t care. I discovered there are a great many people who also arrived at the same conclusion. If it’s not on FOX Cable, the History Channel, or a scarce few others, it doesn’t matter.

The same could also be said for music. Despite my head-banging, boot stomping, slam-dancing youth, I refused to waste my money on music pumped out by illiterate, smarmy snots who can’t play more than three cords yet chant about forgiving third world debt. Again, I was not alone.

The same could be said for advertisers. After Rosie O’Donnell shot her mouth off, announcing to the world that I, as a gun-owner, deserved to die, but her children were allowed to be protected by an armed guard, I walked away from K-Mart and never looked back. A pity, really, considering I usually spent several hundred dollars annually on holiday decorations and inexpensive, comfy clothes. If you ask any involved gun owner, and they will probably tell you the same thing.

Last, but certainly not least, was reading material. I tossed out of our house, and out of our lives, any magazines, newspapers, or periodicals promoting an agenda contrary to my Christian beliefs and Conservative positions. Pro-abortion, anti-gun, cheap sex, you name it…out it went, to the trash heap where it belonged. I doubt that I am alone in this regard.

Is there a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy? Yes, in a fashion. Quietly, but with increasing frequency, Conservatives are making the conscious choice to no longer fund the opposition. Ticket prices are up, but ticket sales are down. The Big Three are facing steady viewing declines, while cable is on the rise. Conservative talk-radio is bursting in every city, while music stations are resorting to disgusting pranks to keep listeners. Rosie O is on her way out of the popular culture and K-Mart just announced that it’s closing another 300 stores. Most newspapers are so desperate for readers, they’ll give you the paper free for six weeks, just to keep the printing presses busy.

Mel Gibson has never announced his political leanings, never threw a public hissy fit like Babs, or Alec, or Julia, or Ben, never done anything more than try to live his life according to the will of his Savior. So go ahead, vilify Mel Gibson for being an honest, decent man, who decided to make a movie about Jesus that he reportedly felt compelled to do. It could be the biggest stink bomb in history, panned by every reviewer on the map, and it will still do well. In my immediate family, there are at least 10 people who openly avoid the theaters – but they are anxious to see it.

If the Vast Right Wing mobilizes, it will be a box-office buster.

© 2003 Linda Prussen-Razzano

[Clintons-B-Gone]

I think she nails the reason K-Mart is going down! It ain't Martha Stewart; it's Rosie O'Donnell.

Linda is also right about Christianity. It's okay to use the word "Christ," just so long as you use it as a curse word.

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[yendu bwam]

Last, but certainly not least, was reading material. I tossed out of our house, and out of our lives, any magazines, newspapers, or periodicals promoting an agenda contrary to my Christian beliefs and Conservative positions. Pro-abortion, anti-gun, cheap sex, you name it…out it went, to the trash heap where it belonged. I doubt that I am alone in this regard.

You're not! We aim to have a Christian household, in every way. Our kids are well aware that society is far different, but already sense the seeminess and sinfulness and fruitlessness of much of what society has to offer.

[yendu bwam]

In my immediate family, there are at least 10 people who openly avoid the theaters – but they are anxious to see it.

We also. May God shine on Mel Gibson for his courage and faithfulness. We need so many more like him.

[Marauder]

In terms of the celebrities and their errant spewing of bizarre political claptrap, I think the main motivation for avoiding them and their "product" is the same as when we were in school, where we dealt with nerdy or obnoxious kids by shunning them. We tend to send celebrities who behave obnoxiously - Baldwin, Streisand, Fonda, ad nauseum - the same unspoken social message.
Ralph Waldo Emerson is supposed to have said this to an aspiring politician: "What you are thunders so loudly above you that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary."
This is sort of how I feel when I find a movie like the one where Balwin's a former cop in South Louisiana, co-starring his fellow idiot Eric Roberts. The movie's premise and storyline are intriguing, but Baldwin's and Roberts' off-screen behavior ruin it for me and I can't enjoy it.

[Cap'n Crunch]

bump

[stevem]

In my immediate family, there are at least 10 people who openly avoid the theaters – but they are anxious to see it.

I don't openly avoid theaters. The fact is I really like going to movies, although there are a number of actors, whose movies I avoid like I try to avoid bubonic plague.

As for Mel Gibson, with the exception of Lethal Weapon(s) 3 through 26 or whichever was the last one, I have looked forward to each of his movies, and have not been disappointed, except I should have skipped Lethal Weapon 2.

His own productions i.e. those of his own special projects have been truly superb.

[Varda]

This lady is not alone. I threw out my Barbara Streisand Christmas album and refuse to watch the networks except for football. Movie's are only watched if they've been thoroughly reviewed for content. I've started watching Mel Gibson only since he made the Patriot. My family also liked Signs and We Were Soldiers. We'll be there to see the Passion.

[TLBSHOW]

If the Vast Right Wing mobilizes, it will be a box-office buster.

BUMP TO GIBSON

[xzins]

Ping to an excellent article by a Christian conservative!

Where we choose to spend our money.....hmmmm.

[MissAmericanPie]

"I doubt that I am alone in this regard"

No, you are not alone in that regard, but thanks for letting me and others know that we are not alone in that regard either.

I could not tell you what is on any of the alphabet soup channels, in hollywood magazines, what is on at the movies. Conservative Americans are simply tuning out, it's so good to know. Mel's film will make millions upon millions, Hollywood will hate him for it but not repent of their anti-Americanism.

The bad thing about these facists monkeys is that they are facists. The only thing holding them back from violence against those that won't go along is prison time. They will do anything to attack dissent. As with Gibson, they use any corrupt tactic to get him, pick through his garbage, look into his past, and shoot themselves in the foot by coming up empty, merely adding to Mel's stature as an admirable and trust worthy man.

All their yammering about equalaity and fairness becomes a sick paradoy of Stalin or Pol Pot in practise. We have a deadly enemy destroying this nation, now that they feel threatened and the old ploys no longer work so easily for them the mask has come off as to just how corrupt, dangerous and desperate they are.

[rep-always]

My christian family and I usually avoid the theaters. Last time we went was to see Signs by Mel Gibson. Loved it. The next time we go will be to see The Passion. God bless FreeRepublic (it's lurkers and posters), God bless Mel Gibson and God bless America.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Mel Gibson will always be #1 in my book for that terrific Three Stooges biopic he produced for television...

[RayChuang88]

ABSOLUTELY SUPERB, INSIGHTFUL COMMENTARY!!

This commentary hits it literally right on the nose on why more conservative media are rapidly rising in popularity. Why do you think Rush Limbaugh has 20+ million listeners per week, the Fox News Channel is clobbering everyone else in the ratings for cable news channels, other conservative talk show hosts like Sean Hannity and Michael Savage are rapidly rising in popularity, and conservative web sites are getting very high "hit" counts.

In short, Americans are rapidly tiring of the anti-American and anti-Christian Bravo Sierra we're getting from our entertainment industry and mainstream media.

[Vic3O3]

nice little article...

[copycat]

After Rosie O’Donnell shot her mouth off, announcing to the world that I, as a gun-owner, deserved to die, but her children were allowed to be protected by an armed guard, I walked away from K-Mart and never looked back. A pity, really, considering I usually spent several hundred dollars annually on holiday decorations and inexpensive, comfy clothes. If you ask any involved gun owner, and they will probably tell you the same thing.

Same here. K-Mart lost me as a customer when Rosie shot her mouth off against the Bill of Rights.

[oyez]

bfl

[alnick]

I rented "Signs" last night. Other than being frustrated by the darkly lit scenes (I want to SEE what's going on), I really enjoyed the movie. The message was uplifting. I love Mel Gibson.

I was disturbed by one of the previews on the video. It was for an upcoming TV series on ABC. There were violent scenes and the words "God is Nowhere" flashed on the screen. One man said something like, "Why would God do this?" Another replied, "Who said it's God?" It looks absolutely horrible. I don't know what the name of the show is going to be (unless it's "God is Nowhere"), but it's definitely anti-God. I hope it bombs.

[Fiddlstix]

Great Post!
C

[ZULU]

I hope his film succeeds and I wish him success. However, having seen a few of the outtakes, and having a good historical knowledge of the ancient world, the Bible and a vivid imagination, combined with a weak stomach, I doubt if I will see it.

A really graphic depiction of Christ's passion is something most Americans, regardless of religious orientation, might find difficult to watch and definitely not for young children.

I HOPE his film doesn't follow the current politically correct canard of blaming Christ's execution on the Roman government's view of him as a dangerous radical. They had more important things to be concerned about than a wandering preacher and religious prophet - the Palestinian area was full of them and Christ's teachings were the least threatening to the Roman state.

Christ was directly executed for a number of reasons. The
Jewish religious hierarchy viewed his infleunce with the masses as a religious reformer as a dangerous threat to their own lucrative positions and lifestyles.

Judea was a hot bed of prior difficutlies for the Roman state. Unlike almost every other group of people the Romans conquered, the Jews alone refused to become assimilated and Romanized and the strength of the Roman state lay in its ability to incorporate conquered populations into its political and military system rathe than exclude them (most of the legions involved in suppressing the later Jewish Revolt were actually recruited in Spain).


Despite attempts by the Roman government to woo the Jewish population by making allowances such as keeping the sheilds of their legionnaries and the images of their standards covered in Jerusalem due to the Jewish opposition to graven images, the hostility between conquerors and conquered was exacerbated by the unbridgable theological gulf between monotheism, an essentially exclusive religious belief, and Paganism, which commonly practised incorporation of other people's gods into one's own Pantheon.

Pilate had recently had his fingers rapped by the central government in Rome over creating some disturbances in Judea by actions viewed as insensitive to Jewish public opinion.
Consequently, he was not in any mood to take any action that might unnecessarily aggrevate the Jewish establishemnt and create any other causes for concern by his bosses back home who just wanted the province run quietly and securely, with the taxes rolling in. (Due to its geogrpahic location, Judea was a strategic province - its possession was essential to control the eatern Mediterranean and the trade routes Roman merchants relied upon with the east.)

Consequently, Pilate reluctantly consented to the execution of Christ at the demands of the Jewish religious hierarchy, but not before trying a bait and switch with Barabbas,a genuine criminal and threat to public safety, trying to get Herod to deal with the situation, and finally trying to satisfy Christ's accusers by having Him flogged instead of crucified.

From a purely theological perspective, while the above were the MECHANICAL reasons for Christ's death, the real causative agent was the need to redeem mankind - us - from our own vile natures and evil sins.