Mad Mel and the Jews

Michael Medved offers some thoughts on the recent episode involving Mel Gibson:

The anti-Semitic rant which accompanied Mel Gibson's drunk driving arrest in Malibu raised the incident from the level of tawdry tabloid embarrassment to an act of image-shattering self-destruction, while providing abundant fodder to celebrity gossips, late night comedians, and the actor-director's innumerable enemies. Those of us who defended and praised Gibson for his outspoken Catholic commitment, and for his refreshing efforts to use the movie medium to advance his faith, now feel betrayed and, yes, a bit humiliated. In that context, six pertinent points may help keep the pathetic incident in proper perspective.

[Snip]

The "Mad Mel" Moment in Malibu may change the way we perceive the dark hatred that lurks within Gibson's heart but it alters nothing about the images and messages he put on screen in "The Passion of the Christ." It's still the same movie, frame for frame, line for Aramaic-and-Latin line, that it was before his tirade and arrest. The tens of millions of people who felt overpowered and inspired and uplifted by a remarkable piece of cinema need not now apologize because they responded in good faith to the work of a deeply flawed, bigoted filmmaker. Mel Gibson's personal disgrace makes me feel pity for his family but it does nothing to force my reconsideration of my critical admiration of his movie. At the time of its release, I argued vehemently against hysterical charges (many of them emanating from people who hadn't even seen the film) that "The Passion" represented some vicious, anti-Semitic screed, and I also decried dire predictions ("He'll have blood on his hands," thundered one commentator in The New Republic) that the movie would inspire anti-Jewish incidents around the world. I tell the story of my high profile involvement in this dispute in my recent book RIGHT TURNS (everyone should read it!), and in the aftermath of Mel's meltdown and arrest I wouldn't change a word of it. The fact remains that all the predictions of pogroms in Pittsburgh proved preposterous: while earning some 1 billion dollars in movie theatres and on DVD, "The Passion" inspired no anti-Semitic incidents anywhere in the world. In fact, several surveys of audience attitudes showed that anti-Jewish sentiments actually decreased when movie-goers saw the film. The worst part of this latest controversy is that Gibson's revolting statements give people like Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League a juicy, retroactive excuse to say "I told you so" --- long after the benign and warm-hearted worldwide reaction to the movie had utterly undermined all the smug denunciations claiming that this wildly popular entertainment would foment implacable hate.

I'm just waiting for the Gibson haters to demand that we reconsider the American Revloution in light of Mel's statements.

Medved has a warning:

At a time of surging Jew-hatred around the world, Gibson's drunken, after-midnight remarks to arresting officers on a lonely stretch of Malibu highway represent a less serious threat to the Jewish people than the very public anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments by numerous celebrities, academics, UN officials and politicians. In April of 1996, for instance, the Oscar-winning actor Marlon Brando declared on Larry King Live: "Hollywood is run by Jews, owned by Jews, and they should have greater sensitivity about the issue of people who are suffering. Because they have exploited....We've seen everything but we never saw the Kike." The Anti-Defamation League criticized Brando, of course, but never suggested that he should be ostracized and boycotted, as they recently demanded in Gibson's case. Meanwhile, Gibson had already attempted a public apology for his loathesome private remarks, declaring that "I acted like a person who was completely out of control when I was arrested and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable.I am deeply ashamed of everything I said." Compare this contrition to the unapologetic, and ceaselessly repeated attacks on Israel by another controversial Hollywood director, Michael Moore, who declared in Liverpool (quoted in the New York Times, June 26, 2004) that the embattled Jewish state represented one of the modern world's centers of evil: "It's all part of the same ball of wax, right? The oil companies, Israel, Halliburton." Ironically, Michael Moore's agent, Ari Emanuel (brother of a Democratic Congressman from Illinois), is one of the entertainment industry figures leading the charge to demand that the show biz establishment blacklist Gibson.

[Snip]

. . . Like it or not, Mel Gibson will not simply disappear (though he might well take some time off for rehab) and the Jewish community will hardly benefit by isolating him as a permanent enemy and encouraging him in the far more open expression of anti-Semitic attitudes. Does Ari Emanuel believe it would somehow help the Jewish cause if his client, Michael Moore, could now welcome a new colleague --Mel Gibson -- as a participant in the poisonously anti-Israel rallies, conferences and demonstrations that Mr. Moore regularly addresses? Those who believe that Gibson's anti-Semitism couldn't get any worse simply lack imagination. Public amplification of the bigotry that Mel revealed privately in Malibu might well spoil his popularity in the United States, but imagine how it could boost his already considerable following in Europe, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union-- not to mention the Islamic world!

Mr. Medved's caution to his fellow Jews also raises a question. The Hollywood left does not reject Michael Moore even though Moore is an anti-Semite. I have not heard any Hollywood leftist denounce congressman Dingle for refusing to draw any moral distinction between Israel and Hezbollah. I can remember the last time that Hollywood types held a fundraiser to get a convicted cop-killer out of jail, but I can't remember the last time they held a fundraiser to help the IDF.

I also don't remember any movie stars or producers or agents or any other representatives of the Hollywood community picketing the UN for allowing Arafat to address the General Assembly.

So what is the source of Hollywood's hatred for Mel Gibson? The answer is simple. The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson earned the undying hatred of left-liberals by making a movie which accurately depicts events from the Bible in a way which has brought tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people to faith. Gibson's work has been used by God to save many souls from hell, so it is a natural thing that the enemies of God will gnash their teeth.

The fact that God was able to use Mel Gibson in this way despite the fact that Mel holds deeply sinful hatred for God's chosen people in his heart is simply proof that God is able to work His will through flawed and fallen instruments (good thing to because there are no other kind among humans). After all God was able to use Adolph Hitler to bring about the rebirth of the nation of Israel, wasn't He?

The story if Mel Gibson's life is not yet over. If the lives of the saints teach us anything it is that we are all works in progress. The door to repentance and redemption remains open to us as long as there is breath in our bodies and thought in our minds.