If you look at the date of this post, you'll figure out what this is all about. Mel Gibson got drunk, was doing 87 mph on a 45-mph zone, got pulled over by a cop, and in a drunken rage started accusing Jews of anything and everything wrong in the world. Well, not quite. He only said that Jews are responsible for all wars in the world. But that's pretty heavy stuff too.
Now people are wondering what will happen to Mel. Others are condemning Mel for being racist and making anti-Semitic remarks and rehashing the criticism leveled against him when the Passion of the Christ was released that it depicted the Jews as the killers of Jesus.
(QUICK ASIDE: That's one criticism I've never understood. First, Jesus was a Jew, so the whole thing about "Jews" killing Jesus sort of loses its punch when you keep that in mind. Second, if that was meant to happen for our salvation - if you believe such things - then it's part of God's plan and there's nothing the Jews could have done to prevent it. But maybe these arguments make way too much sense for the religious zealots out there.)
Mel has two problems: first, he is, apparently, a recovering alcoholic who relapsed. Second, he's a bigot. Alcohol has the ability to lower our inhibitions so we end up doing and/or saying things we wouldn't do or say when we're sober. So Mel is a bigot. What's the big deal about that?
It is one thing when marginal figures with no credibility make anti-Semitic statements. It is a completely different thing when a figure of Mel Gibson's stature does so.
What's Mel Gibson's stature? Is he a policy maker? Was he elected to public office? Does he claim to represent the views of a group, fringe or mainstream? The answer to all those questions is "no" unless you somehow believe that he speaks for Catholics everywhere, which he does not claim to do.
He is an actor, director, producer, and Hollywood figure. That's it. Beyond that, he's just another fallible human being like the rest of us.
If people want to condemn him, want to boycott his films and any other project he's involved in, boycott whoever sponsors him, that's perfectly fine. It's freedom of speech. Just like it was Mel's freedom of speech to say what he said about Jews.
Was it wrong? Yes, because the "Jews" neither individually or as a group are responsible for all the wars in the world. It's also bigoted and racist, and I happen to agree with the general consensus that both those things are wrong. Was it stupid? Unquestionably. Is Mel a bigot? Probably. At the very least he knows that shouldn't have said what he said and even if he honestly believes he doesn't adhere to those points of view, at some deep subconscious level he probably does but he believes it to be wrong. In other words, I don't believe that he's not a racist. I believe that, at best, he's racist but knows that it is wrong to be that way.
Mel is finding out what I've always noted, that freedom of speech does not equal freedom from consequences from exercising that right to speak.
Get off his case. He'll have to deal with his comments for the rest of his life and will have to work extra hard to show that he's not really an anti-Semite. And no matter what he says or does, to whom, and in what context, many out there won't believe him anyhow. He has lost his credibility and his integrity. That is far worse, over the long run, than being called a bigot.
