Mel Gibson's screw-up, public judgment, and personal passion.

Vic Biorseth, http://www.Thinking-Catholic-Strategic-Center.com

It looks like the MSM, or the SLIMC, as I like to call it, is beginning to slowly circle Mel, just like sharks in the water, or vultures in the air. This is in response to most of that media treatment.

It seems that Mel, who admits to an on-going alcoholic condition, was filmed in a bar getting drunk, then stopped by police for drunk driving, was somewhat belligerent and stupid, and made some anti-Semitic remarks. The most important and most quoted of which was something like, the Jews started every war in history. Which would be, of course, quite a stretch. Yet, the SLIMC would have us know that, whenever a falling-down drunk says something, there is always a dark, hidden, Freudian meaning, which is not stupid, but very profound. Indeed, it might go to the very core of his being.

Being close to a recovering alcoholic for several years now, I can testify that, in my view, what a man does and says when drunk is not normal, is out of character, is generally stupid, and is just about never profound. People who waste their money in therapy trying to get in touch with their inner child, and men who seek to get in touch with their feminine side, and all who buy into any part of Freudianism are the ones most likely to believe that booze, or some drug or other, has the magical ability to unlock the true but hidden psyche of the abuser. Horse Patooties.

The conscious human mind is ephemeral and un-substantial. It cannot be objectively and empirically studied, because it is immaterial. It can only be subjectively studied by another entirely subjective human mind, or by itself. The unconscious human mind cannot even be detected with certainty. And the drunken human mind is - well, drunk.

We cannot know with certainty whether or not Mel Gibson is anti-Semitic. If he says that he is not, then common civility and manners dictate that we take him at his word, until his word is justifiably called into question. (When he is sober.) Two major threads to this whole unfortunate story are of potential major negative impact. Both are bad news for Mel. First, the timing of this major news story could be counter-productive to support for the current efforts of Israel to survive. Second, it lends support to those who unfairly charged Gibson with anti-Semitism over his production of The Passion.

The timing of this event comes at a time when the world is trying to pressure Israel into an early cease-fire and negotiations. Right. Israel is expected to negotiate with people committed to her annihilation. Negotiations are supposed to produce compromise positions. What would a compromise with annihilation look like? Half annihilation? Meanwhile, Islam is busy propagandizing the world on how Israel is the aggressor here, and poor Islam is getting it's butt kicked again.

Hezbollah cross-border murderers take their families with them, to become willing martyrs. They live among and swim in the sea of the people of Lebanon. They rent houses to store their rockets; they fire them from civilian targets and lead SLIMC journalists around by the nose to show the world what Israel did to all those innocent civilians. Meanwhile, the pseudo-Red Cross arm of Hezbollah shelters and feeds and tends to wounded and refugee Lebanese civilians, to win over hearts at the grass-roots level. There is no end to those who claim that Israel is the bad guy here, and the number of those who actually believe it is growing daily. Public remarks like Jews started every war in history contribute to this trend, even when coming out of the mouth of a drunk, especially if he happens to be famous.

I still feel that The Passion is the best movie I've ever seen. Those few who believe that it's anti-Semitic are most likely the same people who think that the entire New Testament is anti-Semitic, and so there's little point in arguing with them. Personally, I think Mel Gibson wimped out on it, by negotiating Matt 27:25 out of the movie. There's nothing anti-Semitic in that line, unless you want to do some really gross misinterpretation. Let's look at Matt 27:24-26, with 25 emphasized:

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this righteous man's blood; see to it yourselves." And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

I take all the people to be every human being ever born and ever to be born. But the narrow interpretation of some that limits the verse to Jews only probably stems from the many New Testament verses containing the term The Jews in some negative way. Those who interpret this way miss the whole point. The meaning was not anti-Semitic; it was anti-pre-Christian-Judaism, as a religion, and there was nothing racial or ethnic about it. You may call it a strictly spiritual anti-Semitism, if that term makes any contextual sense. All the people who wrote the New Testament term The Jews were Jews. No exceptions.

Jesus was a Jew, the Blessed Virgin was a Jew, St. Joseph was a Jew of the House of David, all twelve Apostles were Jews, St. Paul was a Jew, and even the four Evangelists were Jews. (Matthew, Mark and John were Semitic Jews; Luke, a Greek physician, was religiously a Jew, which is the most important way to be one.) All the very first Christians were Jews; the earliest disciples of Jesus Christ were all Jews. So, I submit that the New Testament is not anti-Semitic, and neither is Mel Gibson's The Passion anti-Semitic.

Which brings us back to Mel. This whole sad affair contains a serious lesson for all men everywhere. Everywhere you go, everything you do, every word you say, someone's watching you. If you are rich and famous, some of them will have cameras and microphones trained on you. But no matter who you are, you are making an impression on someone. You can be a good example or a bad example, but, I guarantee, you will be an example to someone. Think about it.

Pray for Israel. Pray for our troops. Pray for the President.

May you please God, and may you live forever.

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