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Decoding Mel Gibson

Posted By Matt On 1st August 2006 @ 14:59 In Celebrity and Celebrities, Mel Gibson, Scandal, Anti-Semitism | 5 Comments

At first I thought this whole thing had to do with cars. But now, I see quite clearly that we’re dealing with a train wreck.

Below, you’ll find quotes from Mel Gibson’s second apology, followed by what I think he was really saying:

There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

Since there should be no tolerance for anyone who “thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark,” I should not be tolerated. Um, hold on a sec . . . get me rewrite! (damn! anyone know where I can find a non-Jewish writer in this town?)

Look, I’m asking the Jewish community to forgive me, since its members have obviously orchestrated this public-relations disaster. They run Hollywood, you know. And the global economy. That’s why they start all the wars. I’m pretty sure that’s why they killed Jesus and exaggerated the Holocaust, too.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

You thought I was acting insane in Hamlet? I’m not that good!

Oh — and by “assume personal responsibility,” I mean “shift personal responsibility to the worm in that bottle of tequila.”

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. 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.

I love Jews, for Christ’s sake!

Besides, I’m talking about what I profess to believe, not what I actually believe.

I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I’m not just talking out of my ass here. I’m actually willing to go one step further and sit down with some of those dirty Jews! If that doesn’t show contrition, I don’t know what will.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

Can someone tell me where all that hate is coming from? ‘Cause I have no idea.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. Its about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

This about a film. This is about “artistic license.” But it’s also bigger than that. When you get right down to it, the problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, do they? I hope not.

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5 Comments To "Decoding Mel Gibson"

#1 Comment By Comandante Agi On 1st August 2006 @ 16:26

Stay out of Malibu Lebowski Gibson!

Hmm, does this mean he’ll be attending Kabbalah class with Britney Spears and Madonna in a few months?

#2 Comment By Mikhail On 2nd August 2006 @ 00:51

I vote for a “Parse This.”

#3 Comment By Matt On 2nd August 2006 @ 02:35

I don’t know . . . I’ve had about enough of Mel Gibson for the time being.

But feel free to parse the apology here in the comments. Here’s Shakespeare’s Sister’s version. She hits on another thing that bothered me about this apology — that Gibson is asking the “the Jewish community” (always singular, as if there is just one) for help, as if it was the responsibility of other people to help him deal with his personal problems.

It may just be me, but I read a little bit of a veiled threat in that — that if Jews don’t help Mel, they will be deserving of the hatred he so obviously holds in his heart.

#4 Comment By eRobin On 3rd August 2006 @ 11:34

It may just be me, but I read a little bit of a veiled threat in that — that if Jews don’t help Mel, they will be deserving of the hatred he so obviously holds in his heart.

I don’t agree that asking “the Jewish community” for help in finding the path to healing is wrong at all. Who better to show him the error of his ways? He can’t work for forgiveness all by himself.

But let’s face facts: He’s first and foremost a movie star. He muddled that distinction when he made Passion. This event has destroyed all the backpedaling and equivocating he did about that film, which can now really only be interpreted as the blood libel it is. Nobody is going to believe a contrite word he says until he makes a movie that can be interpreted to be about this experience and maybe even as an apology for it and possibly for Passion. That will be interesting.

Then again, I could be way off and his next movie, Apocaloptica, or whatever it’s called, will be a huge hit and all will be forgiven.

#5 Trackback By Ftop On 9th January 2007 @ 22:32

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