Mel in a Handbasket

For those who think Mel Gibson is a Jew-hating, jack-boot polishing, oven-feeding, swastika-waving Hitlerite, I have a couple of questions:

1. Sure, drinking lowers one's inhibitions, thereby prompting words and actions truly meant, though kept under reign in polite society; but doesn't anger also goad people in saying things they do not mean? I'll repeat the open question I asked over at Vox's: Have you ever said things--perhaps even terrible, inexcusable words--while angry? Things you didn't really believe? Now add alcohol to the mix, and you have a heightened effect in an already-lousy situation. Though I've heard people condemn Gibson over and over for allowing his supposed deep-seated beliefs a venting through alcohol, I've not heard the above alternative explanation mentioned, yet.

2. Why would an anti-Jew make a movie in which every character of any moral fortitude is a Jew? I'm speaking of The Passion of the Christ, in which all of the positively portrayed characters are Jewish, including (and especially) Jesus. Also, a bigot could've had a field-day with this subject matter, crucifying the Jews on film for Jesus' murder, yet that's not what happened. I've seen the movie, and there's not a trace of Jew-bashing in it. In fact, one could make a case that the Jews were treated with kid gloves.

3. Why is hating Jews anathema if you're a Hollywood actor, but acceptable and downright delightful, if you're a Muslim, Koffi Annan, the U.N. in general, pick-your-decadent-European-ruler, or an American leftist?

4. Where is the compassion for Gibson's chronic problem? We're told over and over that alcoholism is a disease: Alcoholics Anonymous and virtually every other treatment group assures us of this, as does the media, Hollywood, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Public Health Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the WHO, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, and the Society for Besotted Inebriates. So why all the outrage? This feller needs help, and can in no wise be held responsible for his actions while under the influence of the Devil's Ichor. I don't care if he was doing 120 in a school zone, with twice the legal limit blood alchohol levels, with infants in the front seat without safety restraints. It doesn't matter, because he has a disease."Once an addict, always an addict;" I believe the profound philosopher Timothy Leary observed this fundamental truth. So not only is he in a diseased state, but it's terminal, as well. The poor man needs our sympathy, not our contempt.