L'Affair Mel Revisited

Al Kimel has posted an article about Mel Gibson over at Pontifications which I thought was worthy of note. In some ways it might have been a response to my own post on this sad subject. He certainly makes some good points. Al’s is an interesting approach, which I would like to take a step further. Before doing so I should note that I posted on this page a week ago some thoughts on L’Affair Mel.

In my post, which I generally stand by, I referred to alcohol as a form of truth serum, something that the Pontificator took issue with (though I am not sure it was directed at my post specifically). My reasoning is based both on reports which I have read in a number of credible sources and also on anecdotal evidence. I spent 10 years in the Navy and have seen my share of drunks. In almost every case my experience has been that alcohol uncorks the buried passions. People often say and do things which we would not normally do but for which there is some inclination. I also pointed out that I have been a huge admirer of Mel’s both for his artistic skills and also because of what I perceived to be his personal life in a place (Hollywood) that is not exactly renown as a bastion of Christian virtue.

Whatever personal demons Mel suffers from I have nothing but sympathy for him. But the days when I defended him against charges of anti-Semitism are over. I think it is almost impossible to conclude that he is not in fact an anti-Semite. Here however is the point where I and many of his detractors will part company. Like Al Kimel I believe that on a certain level we are all prejudiced against some people for the wrong reasons. But bigotry and prejudice are not a one size fits all sort of thing. It comes in degrees. And how we deal with the darker side of our human nature, which afflicts us all with a tendency to look askance at those who are different or who don’t fit in, is just as telling.

I do not suffer from anti-Semitism. I was raised in an environment with a large number of Jews and I count several among my very close friends. But I do suffer from prejudice. I know I do. When a black man walks into a room full of Euro-ethnics it immediately seizes my attention. He stands out. If I am driving through an obviously minority neighborhood I still catch myself reflexively locking my car doors and becoming much more observant about who is where in relation to me and what they are doing. That’s race prejudice. And it’s a sin. I work consciously to overcome it, but its there. Its part of the dark side of my nature and it was fed by a culture that depicts African Americans as gangsters and criminals.

But that’s not the same thing as being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. I don’t burn crosses on people’s lawn, assault people or make racial slurs or crude jokes. Which brings up the point of degrees. Not all anti-Semites are Nazi storm troopers waiting for a uniform fit. Some couch their bigotry in terms that might almost sound reasonable at times. And still others actually recognize the demons which are in them and make a conscious effort to fight them.

I think in evaluating Mel’s sin we need to ask ourselves what is its degree? Where did it come from? And what has he done to fight it. Let’s start with the question of origins since that is probably the easiest to answer.

It is pretty much universally agreed that an enormous amount of who we are, our character our faith and beliefs and our core values are passed onto us by our parents. For most of us that is a great blessing. But for some with parents who are either (charitably) nut cases or just plain evil it can be terrible cross to bear.

Hutton Gibson is a certifiable wacko. Seriously. This is a guy who is in desperate need of some quality time on a couch with a guy who has lots impressive degrees in Latin on his wall. He believes the Holocaust is a myth. He thinks that a Jewish / Masonic conspiracy is responsible for Vatican II as part of a plot to destroy the Roman Catholic Church. He refuses to recognize Vatican II and does not believe there has been a real Pope since Pius XII! Unfortunately he is also Mel Gibson’s father. This is the man who formed and raised Mel Gibson. How do you adjust your reckoning of someone’s character that was raised to believe this kind of craziness as gospel truth?

I don’t honestly know. But I think it has to be taken into consideration when forming judgments. Then we have to weigh into consideration the other aspects of the person’s life. Mel Gibson has shown no overt signs of anti-Semitism prior to this incident, that are known. He has battled other demons including drug and alcohol abuse with clearly mixed success. Against this however lie the disturbing religious associations which he has had.

Gibson is a traditionalist Catholic. This is to say that he rejects the reforms of Vatican II. Now traditionalist Catholics also come in different forms. Some are quite moderate, simply expressing a personal preference for the way things were. Others seriously question the wisdom or efficacy of some of the reforms especially those in the liturgy. However there are more than a few who simply reject Vatican II out of hand and have used the word heresy in connection with it. These groups are certainly at the least schismatic and in some cases are just off the wall nut cases. And some of them like so many radical sects revolting in the name of a religious purity they perceive as being threatened, have become infected with a very nasty form of anti-Semitism based on the heresy that Jews bear an hereditary responsibility for the death of Christ. Given Hutton Gibson’s support for that kind of Catholicism it seems unlikely that Mel has moved far from it himself. This may be the most disturbing aspect.

As long as Gibson is associated with a radical fringe sect which teaches anti-Semitism I will have doubts about his true repentance. How can you repent of something that your church is telling you is the truth?

Can we surmise that Gibson has made a conscious effort to suppress the bigotry he was almost certainly raised on? Perhaps. But there are a lot of questions that remain beyond even his religious beliefs. And I think that he is not going to be able to take the fifth on these. We all have our demons. And we all fall short of the Glory of God. Some of us have been given a very heavy cross to bear in life which complicates our efforts. That much I think is certainly true in Mel’s case.

In conclusion, do I still think he is an anti-Semite? Yes. But I also am more prepared than I was a week ago to give him the opportunity to explain where it has come from and what he has been doing to fight it. Fairly or not Mel Gibson is a public person. And that means that he is some ways more accountable to the public for his behavior than ordinary people. For now, I, like Al Kimel, am willing to suspend further judgment pending a clearer picture of things. But that suspension is not indefinite. Serious questions remain, and they require answers.