Gibson, tequila and anti-Semitism

I just responded to this piece of judgmental nonsense (a take Zev Chafets, who at least has better credentials, shares) thus :

Dear Mr. Robinson:

Mel Gibson's dad- whom he loves; most of us love out dads- is a raving anti-Semite. Doubtless Gibson was raised with this garbage. Yes, booze removes inhibitions. But given deep, suicidal depression and profound drunkenness, is it what the heart of the adult we see, or that if the credulous child?

Gibson repudiated his words it in the wake of his arrest- just as, despite your direct statement to the contrary, his assertion to Diane Sawyer that "to be anti-Semitic is to be un-Christian, and I'm not" is so emphatic a repudiation and denial of anti-Semitism that I don't understand what you were thinking when you wrote your that patently self-refuting denial of that fact.The inherent anti-Christian bigotry behind the well-established slander that the Christian scriptures (whose account of Christ's death Gibson's movie follows) are somehow anti-Semitic for putting the people of Jerusalem in a bad light is worthier target for accusations of bigotry than Gibson's remarks.

I wouldn't go so far as to call you a bigot, Mr. Robinson. But your analysis does strike me as both hasty and uncharitable- especially in view of Gibson's repeated and actually quite emphatic denial of the attitudes you attribute to him.

Sincerely,
Robert Waters


HT: Real Clear Politics

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think your absolutely right Bob. I find the reaction to this interesting. As horrible as what he said was, why is this offense worse than other actor's offenses? I was watching a clip from "The View" and Barbara Walters was trashing him and said that she was never going to go to another Gibson movie again. So, why was saying something anti-semitic worse than let's say leaving your wife and children to marry a younger woman? I certainly don't see her calling for a boycott of Kevin Costner or Harrison Ford's movies. Those actions were pre-meditated and executed with much time to think about the harm they would do. I would imagine that a person who made "Braveheart" was probably not thinking clearly when he asserted that the Jews were "responsibly for all the wars that have ever happened." Actually what I think is more horrible is that he was driving drunk at 87 miles an hour. He could very well have killed himself or someone's kids. This would also seem to be a pattern, insofar as he's been stoped a couple of times over the last few years.
I don't want to get into "better" or "worse" comparisons. What he said was reprehensible. The question is whether his drunken tirade reflected what he actually believes, or was the nonsensical blathering of a man who was rased by a pathological anti-Semite who had gotten deeply drunk in the midst of a suicidal depression.

We can't see the heart.
Anonymous said…
Bob- Your very right. I don't want you to misunderstand me. My point was that we should some how weight what's better or worse. I in no way what to miminize what he did by sayings it wasn't that bad or something. My point was merely that he's being singled out over other actoer who engage in equally bad be beahavior.
Anonymous said…
The second sentence should read "was not..." It was early. Sorry.
And mine should say "raised" rather than "rased." Must have been the tequila ;)