[Peace-discuss] Mel Gibson RIP

[Robert Naiman]

For most people most of the time, stress, even extreme stress, doesn't
lead to an alteration of world view. A person who expresses
anti-Semitic sentiments under stress is almost certainly a person who
already held these views, although may have previously been able to
exercise enough self-restraint not to publicly and explicitly express
them.

The information about Gibson's behavior is in several press reports
based on the police report. Neither Gibson nor his spokespeople have
denied anything in the press reports.

The notion that Israel's war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza justify or
explain or excuse anti-Semitism is dangerous. It is a significant
obstacle to reforming U.S. policy in the Middle East.

I imagine that there are a lot of folks that admire and respect Mel
Gibson for totally unrelated reasons, and in retrospect my original
post was unnecessarily provocative, and I apologize for that.
Certainly, if folks who feel protective of Mel Gibson tend to downplay
his anti-Semitic statements as a result of feeling that he is being
picked on, that would not be a good thing.

I don't mean to suggest that in the set of all problems in the United
States today anti-Semitism is a huge one. Anti-Semitism in the U.S.
today is certainly a minor phenomenon compared with what most Jews had
to deal with in Europe for hundreds of years, or even in the U.S. a
hundred years ago. But in the context of discussion of the Middle East
in the U.S., it's extremely harmful. It obstructs conversations that
urgently need to happen, and helps keep people in positions that they
need to come out of.

On 7/30/06, Tammy Watts <tammyewatts at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I've always had enormous respect for Mel Gibson, and this incident doesn't
> change that.  I think anyone remotely in touch with the latest newscasts out
> of Lebanon and Gaza and has a drop of humanity in them has gone a little
> insane by now.  Provided this information is accurate, that is.  Jewish
> "advocacy" groups have been out to get him ever since The Passion of the
> Christ was released.  If the ADL isn't too busy defending today's massacre
> of children in Qana as Israeli self-defense, I'm sure they'll be all over
> it.
>
>
> Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I am so delighted to see this right-wing thug go down. Is that bad?
> The Daily Mail omits that he sexually harassed a female deputy, as
> reported by TMZ and the Daily News. What a beautiful human being.
> Definitely the sort of person who should be responsible for moral and
> religious instruction. I do hope the ADL and the Wiesenthal Center
> aren't too busy with other activities to concern themselves with this.
>
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=398182&in_page_id=1773
>
> 29/07/06 - TV & showbiz section
>
> Mel Gibson 'in anti-Semitic rant' after drink drive arrest
> By SHARON CHURCHER, Mail on Sunday
>
> Mel Gibson was embroiled in furious controversy amid claims he
> launched an anti-Semitic rant after being arrested on suspicion of
> drink-driving.
>
> The 50-year-old Oscar-winner, who is from an ultra-conservative
> Catholic family, is alleged to have told sheriff's deputy James Mee:
> "F****** Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the
> world."
>
> It is claimed Gibson then asked: "Are you a Jew?'
>
> The allegations were made by an American website, which claimed the
> comments were included in the report into the incident written by Mr
> Mee, the officer who arrested Gibson.
>
> Hollywood, ultra-sensitive to any hint of anti-Semitism, was abuzz
> with talk of the claims, which could, if true, destroy Gibson's
> career.
>
> TMZ.com posted what it says are excerpts from Mr Mee's handwritten
> report, and the story was reported by newspapers including the New
> York Daily News.
>
> Police declined to confirm or deny the claims, which come two years
> after the actor's father launched a vicious attack on Jewish people,
> claiming they fabricated the Holocaust and were conspiring to take
> over the world. At the time Gibson was facing criticism that his film
> The Passion Of The Christ was anti-Semitic.
>
> Gibson's spokesman Alan Nierob told The Mail on Sunday: "We are
> unaware of any of the information pertaining to the police report. We
> will be happy to issue a statement to you once we have one. In the
> meantime we have no direct knowledge of any details."
>
> According to the widely read website, partly owned by Time Warner's
> AOL subsidiary and generally regarded as reliable, the actor also
> 'continually threatened' Mee, bragged that he 'owns Malibu' and would
> spend all his money 'to get even' with the officer.
>
> The site reproduced four pages from what it said was Mee's eight-page
> original police report. It said that Mee was ordered to rewrite it,
> omitting the alleged slurs, after his superiors decided it was 'too
> inflammatory'.
>
> TMZ claims he was told he could write a supplementary report
> containing the omitted information, which would not be issued to the
> media.
>
> The Daily News additionally quoted a sheriff's deputy saying that a
> top official 'personally' ordered them to withhold from the media the
> mugshot taken when Gibson was arrested.
>
> Los Angeles sheriff's department's media spokesman Steve Whitmore
> repeatedly refused to answer The Mail on Sunday's question: "Is the
> report posted on TMZ genuine?'
>
> He said: "My only statement is that the sheriff's department's
> investigation into the arrest of Mr Gibson on suspicion of driving
> under the influence will be completed and will contain every factual
> piece of evidence. Nothing will be sanitised. There was no favouritism
> shown."
>
> One Hollywood insider who knows the star said: "Everyone is talking
> about this. It could destroy his career. People were sympathetic about
> the drinking allegations until they heard this."
>
> Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 50 per cent over California's legal
> limit, TMZ reported.