The Burr in the Burgh

I agree that Mel Gibson has a problem. I don't agree with many in the media, however, about the nature of his problem.

First, he was drunk, driving 87 m.p.h. in a 45 zone, had an open container in his car and when stopped, let fly a string of insulting remarks toward the police officers.

All of that is bad, even criminal, behavior. His anti-semitic remarks are the part, however, that is receiving all the press. And admittedly, there is no excuse for what he is quoted as saying.

What puzzles me is the amount of coverage this has received. Is this the first time a famous person has been on the wrong side of the law? Or is it the first time someone of Gibson's stature has said stupid, offensive, hurtful things?

So the plastered Gibson said the Jews are responsible for all the wars. People say that about Christians all the time. Stop the presses! The statement, in both cases, is erroneous and bigoted. So what else is new? People are ignorant and bigoted. This is news?

Then I read this article from then LA Times. It has a lot of interesting stuff. It basically says that the people in Hollywood who know Mr. Gibson personally and have worked with him have always known about the man's drinking problem and say that when he ties one on, he becomes a different person entirely. So he acts differently when he's smashed on Tequila? Right. Would you, fair reader, want the world to know everything you've done or said after an evening of excessive revelry? This is not to excuse Gibson's behavior. Just to put it back into perspective.

The Times article then ends in the weirdest fashion. It lists a long history of movie stars who've misbehaved, implicitly lumping Gibson among them. But come on! Fatty Arbuckle was charged with rape and murder; Roman Polanski with rape (and he subsequently won an Oscar). Rob Lowe filmed himself having sex with a minor. By comparing Gibson's drunken misbehavior with these far more serious offenses, we risk the further deadening of our consciences.

Is hurling anti-semitic remarks - as wrong as that is - really as bad as rape and murder? If so, then why aren't people tarring and feathering Ted Turner for saying Christians are losers? Is he to be compared to rapists and murderers like Fatty Arbuckle and Rob Lowe? You can tell when a culture is unravelling when it lacks all sense of proportionality. Gibson did a bad thing. But it's not murder.

It reminds me of when I saw a television exchange between two Roman Catholic priests. One a lib and one a conservative. I don't remember the name of the lib, but the conservative was Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. The lib was barking at Pavone for being so concerned for fetuses but not showing equal outrage over the innocents who've perished in Iraq. God bless Father Pavone. There is a man who understands proportionality. Yes, even a single wrongful death is horrible. But there are btwn 3000-4000 abortions in America every day. Which situation really has the greater moral urgency?

Comparing Gibson to Fatty Arbuckle is a major lapse of moral judgment.