Mel Gibson : Anti-Semite or just bad drunk???

[Harry Vest]

I had to start this because no one has...and it's been three days for crying in the soup. So what is it. Is Mel Gibson a fervent anti-semite or just a bad drunk who shot some bullshit out of his mouth while being arrested??? Personally I don't know what to think - a part of me thinks he's a fervent bigot but something else tells me he's had a serious problem with booze for decades and he was just shooting his mouth off - I just don't know. Oh well, interesting timing for this debacle to happen isn't it?

 

[verte76]

Interesting timing indeed. I think Mel is really anti-Semitic. He's a Traditionalist Catholic. They are some very right-wing Catholics who reject the authority of Vatican II. That council drafted a document admitting that the Church had been responsible for some of the anti-Semitism in Europe and denounced anti-Semitism as having no place in the modern Church. The Traditionalists reject this whole thing. I read an interview with Gibson about two years ago, and he blamed the pedophilia scandal in the priesthood on Vatican II. I'm a practicing Catholic and I don't appreciate being referred to as a crypto-Protestant. Nothing against Protestants, hell, half of U2 are Protestants!! It's just that I'm not one. They believe that and also reject the authority of the current Pope, so there's some irony in the whole situation--they'll tell you that the Pope isn't Catholic. I'm serious.

 

[nbcrusader]

Again, if someone rejects Vatican II, does that automatically make them an anti-Semite???

 

[verte76]

Again, if someone rejects Vatican II, does that automatically make them an anti-Semite???

No. But it makes me suspicious because they reject the authority of the document denouncing anti-Semitism. But no, this doesn't automatically mean that Mel is indeed anti-Semitic. It's my contention that he's anti-Semitic. But I can't prove it.

 

[Se7en]

Again, if someone rejects Vatican II, does that automatically make them an anti-Semite???

blaming jews for all current wars may have something to do with it? just throwing that out there.

i've been wasted a time or two and i've never spouted racist or overly offensive slander. so it makes you wonder if it has been inside of him all along.

that said, it does seem that he has a problem. if he looks at this event as a turning point and a need for change, more power to him i say.

 

[MirrorballLemon]

alcohol, by its very nature, makes you say things you don't mean.

i'm all for the benefit of the doubt, so my guess is he didnt know what he was doing.

 

[verte76]

I'm familiar with the effects of alcohol. It takes away your inhibitions and yes, you say things you wouldn't say when you're sober. I'm suspicious of people who are Traditionalists and so gung-ho on the evils of Vatican II. I'm biased in this matter because I'm a practicing Catholic. I'm not the most qualified person to judge this controversy. Others will disagree with me. Fine. I'd love to be wrong and have Gibson not be an anti-Semite. Maybe he'll go to that synagogue on Yom Kippur and make a great speech. That would be great news to me.

 

[yolland]

This exact issue has been discussed plenty of times both in MrsS's thread in here, and in Lila's thread over in Lemonade Stand. And all the above points have already been made in one or both of those threads. I really don't see the need for a third thread on Mel Gibson.