PREACH IT! Mel Gibson isn’t sorry, never was, end of story
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Four years ago, when Mel Gibson got arrested for drunken driving and delivered the anti-Semitic rant heard ‘round the world, he took his time delivering his mea culpas. A day after his arrest, he issued a vague apology, but it was aimed largely at the cops who arrested him. It barely addressed the millions of others he offended by opining that Jews are ‘responsible for all the wars in the world.’ Three days after that, Gibson finally got around to the Jewish community.
‘The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life,’ he intoned. ‘Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.’
Cynics (and maybe one or two clear thinkers) blew him off. But many, many more people didn’t. Apologists flocked to comments boards worldwide, proclaiming that it was time to leave the poor guy alone, that some jerks in the media would never be satisfied, that he clearly had suffered enough.
Most importantly, defenders insisted, the apology really so totally proved that Gibson is so, so not a bigot, and all you ‘haters’ -- because anyone who continued to question Gibson couldn’t possibly have reasonable reasons to do so -- could just sit down and shut up.
Cut to 2010. A brand-new, even more bigoted rant from Gibson ...
... has been confirmed by at least one media outlet -- and not exactly denied by his camp. This time it’s African Americans on the receiving end of the vitriol, with some misogynist rape-wish fantasies thrown in for good measure. Gibson has yet to apologize to anyone for this boner. But no matter, right? Surely, Americans won’t be so quick to fall for his publicist-engineered non-apologies a second time, right?
Let’s just take a look at the comments here and confirm. Ah! Here’s one:
‘And how many of you do-gooders have NEVER said anything in anger that you wished you could retract, or that you didn’t really feel?’
Hmm. Let’s find another.
‘They’re allegations by his bitter ex who hates him. Calm down, America.’
Well, OK. Forget we said anything.
What Gibson’s unquestioning white knights of the Intertubes don’t seem to get -- even as they hit ‘send’ on their amazingly mind-blowing judge-not-lest-ye-be-judged revelations -- is that is isn’t about us. Or ‘do-gooders.’ Or even ‘America.’
It’s about one person: Mel Gibson, and what he said, and whether he’s finally ready to start taking some serious responsibility for his influence as a public figure.
Given his track record for saying stuff he clearly doesn’t mean -- and through middle-men, to boot -- something tells us the answer is no.
Guess that makes us nothing more than a bunch of do-gooder American haters.
-- Leslie Gornstein