Reality in America is fairly out of focus. We tend to accept words from any source as reality, without so much as a follow up question. With celebrities it’s far easier, since our knowledge of them is based on an act, or a publicity interview. It’s rare that any of us ever gets to know who a celebrity figure is in real life, not the personality they’ve carefully crafted for us with the assistance of a group of handlers. I’d heard about Gibson’s anti-gay comments from years past. In America, however, that’s not an uncommon sentiment, so I filed it away as inconsequential. As is usually the case in life though, things tend to be what they appear to be.
We’ve all heard about Mel Gibson’s hate filled diatribe when he was pulled over for drunk driving in Malibu. He verbally spat on Jews and women just to name a few. His excuse was alcohol. I don’t know about any of you, but I’ve never seen a drunk person suddenly become a racist. If you’re a racist while you’re drunk, then you’re a racist. If you’re a homophobe when you’re drunk, then you’re a homophobe when you’re not. Alcohol doesn’t create calculated prejudice, it doesn’t turn you into someone else. Alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions, the ones that normally censor your words. Alcohol doesn’t altar your beliefs.
But Gibson did what every other public figure does to earn their way back into the money making hands of the American public, they lay blame to an influence. It’s either a drug, or an emotional problem, or pain medication that causes them to behave against public morality codes. It’s worked at times, in cases where it was true, cases where people were simply being stupid under the influence, but we all know that a few shots of tequila doesn’t turn anyone into a member of the KKK. Nope, they had possession of a white robe before they paid the cover charge. Gibson’s tactic of pretending a substance has the power to alter his core beliefs is insulting, as is the same tactic used by Mark Foley or any celebrity entering a cushy rehab facility.
Look at Tom Cruise. I’d heard about the Scientology thing. Even so, I know that millions of people in America are plugged into some wacky religious mythology, so I didn’t put a lot of weight into it. It’s Hollywood, so it probably involves yoga and chanting, right? In fact, it involves beliefs we lock other people up for, like the fact that an evil alien captured a bunch of souls and blah, blah, blah. If you have to know anything beyond that then you’re a sucker. But go ahead, look it up. Scientologists are freaks, now fearful and scattering from the light of public revelation.
Ask yourself this. Why does Gibson even care to act his way through an apology? How can we believe it’s about money, when the man swims in it? We’ll say, “he’s doing this to get his market back, to secure his future”. True, Gibson has about 12 kids (which in itself should tell you something about the reasoning center of his brain), but if his financial future isn’t secure by now then we’re all in a lot of trouble. No, it has to be that he’s doing it for the acceptance, the restoration of ego, the re-admittance to the club, whatever club he worships. Regardless, how can we participate any further once we’ve seen with our own eyes that he’s an angry, bigoted, hateful asshole? The admission price to see a movie is bad enough, forget about the popcorn and soda. But to financially encourage a full blown bigot once we’re made aware?
See for yourself, this Gibson is someone undeserving of any further attention, except from a qualified psychiatrist.
(this is about a five minute excerpt from the interview, but you can catch the whole thing on You Tube also)
