The Passion of the Mel

Mel, courtesy Wikipedia Commons

by blogSpotter
I was already writing a blog when I had to stop the presses. Mel Gibson’s DWI arrest last Friday trumped any other topic in the pipeline. Many actors have received DWI’s, but Mel’s was made special by the anti-Semitic rant that he performed along with it. He has since apologized profusely, but many in the “blogsphere” remain unconvinced: “In vinum veritas” (In wine there is truth) they say. Gibson’s father, Hutton Gibson, is a well-known anti-Semite belonging to a Catholic fringe group which adheres to "Sedevacantism". The group holds Jews responsible for, among other things, interfering with early Catholic liturgical practices. Gibson has meekly distanced himself from his father’s stance in the past, but “meek” is now the operative word.

Mel’s magnum opus, The Passion of the Christ, was roundly criticized for portraying Jews as blood-thirsty Christ killers. Many people defended Mel from this accusation – and those same people are on the defensive now. I’ve always wondered about anti-Semitism itself. It has a historical basis, obviously in different versions of the Crucifixion story. In more recent centuries, Jews have been portrayed as self-serving greed-mongers. In fact, the Jewish people are bright and accomplished – they’ve done well playing by the established rules of the game. Virtually all social subclasses engage in fraternal behavior, where they help each other with issues of employment, acceptance and what not. My suspicion is that anti-Semitism is a collective form of jealousy. Maybe the rules of the game of capitalism need revisiting; or maybe others need to improve their own game.

But I digress; let’s get back to Mel. Mel said, upon his arrest, “My life is f**ked”. Gibson is a wealthy, healthy handsome actor who could live off royalties the rest of his life. In what sense, other than a highly publicized rant, is his life “f**ked”? It makes you sad for the man – what agitated, aggravated state of mind is he in? He said it himself and it’s probably true – he needs to wean himself from beverage alcohol. Sobriety itself is a journey of introspection; maybe in that journey, Mel will learn the sober truth that angry rants thrown at another group are unlikely to solve any problem, career or otherwise.

© 2006 blogSpotter.