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Mel Gibson May be an Alcoholic, a Sedevacantist and an Anti-Semite – But He Has My Sympathy
The Catholic Herald (UK) ^ | 10/25/10 | Stuart Reid

Posted on 10/26/2010 7:21:57 AM PDT by marshmallow

Hollywood has turned against him: he has been dropped from the cast of Hangover 2

Here we go again. Mel Gibson has been dropped from the cast of Hangover 2. He was to have had a cameo role as a tattooist – the role played in the original Hangover by that winsome rapist Mike Tyson – but at the weekend it emerged that his co-stars had decided that they could not appear alongside a man whose wickedness has dragged the good name of Hollywood through the mud. Over at Salon Matt Zoller Seitz thinks he detects double standards at play:

“There’s something about this Hangover 2 thing that doesn’t pass the smell test. It seems, at the very least, yet another example of the selective outrage that fuels controversy-driven entertainment coverage, and Hollywood posturing generally, with actors, directors, producers, studio bosses and other players working themselves into a righteous snit about certain people and offenses while giving others a pass.”

Go here for the whole thing.

The case against Mel is that he is anti-Semitic, homophobic, violent and alcoholic, and, to add insult to injury, a Roman Catholic. That’s a bad combination in Hollywood. Most Hollywood types can forgive alcoholism and a little domestic violence, but they draw the line at anti-Semitism and homophobia, and they don’t like Catholicism unless it comes from Bing Crosby and is wrapped in tinsel. No one would ever accuse Mel of wrapping his Catholicism in tinsel.

But hang on, is Mel Gibson really a Catholic? No, say his critics; he is a sedevacantist and therefore a schismatic and therefore not a Catholic. You didn’t hear much talk of that sort when The Passion of the Christ was released in 2004. Then it was Mel the conquering Catholic hero; now, in some quarters at least, it is Mel the Damned. When I last wrote about him three months ago, one reader declared in the combox: “I am sorry to say that Mel will go to Hell when he dies. He is NOT a Catholic and absolutely does not practice the true Catholic faith.” Bless that reader for having compassion enough to regret that Mel Gibson is doomed to spend an eternity in unspeakable misery.

But not even Google can tell us exactly what Mel’s religious position is. His friend the Jesuit scholar William Fulco says that Mel denies neither the Pope nor Vatican II. Mel Gibson is obviously a religious nut, however, and there must have been times when, as a loyal son, he embraced his father’s sedevacantism. It is possible that he remains a sede. But so far as I know he has never questioned, far less rejected, any part of Catholic teaching. That’s more than can be said for a lot of Catholics, including priests and bishops. Surveys show that most Catholics in the comfortable West do not accept the Church’s teaching on (for example) birth control. They don’t just ignore it – the way we all ignore moral teaching from time to time – they believe the Church is in error. So it could be that some of those accusing Gibson of sedecavantism may themselves be heretics, or at the very least recalcitrant dissidents. I am not defending sedevacantism – on the contrary – but I am suggesting that sedes are sometimes more faithful to Church teaching than respectable Catholics in the suburbs.

Whatever Mel’s status as a Catholic, however, he is in his anger and resentments a classic type of Catholic alcoholic. His anti-Semitism is very Catholic, too. Catholic anti-Semites are very rarely prejudiced against individual Jews, but have a “thing” about Jews collectively. G K Chesterton loved individual Jews, and was outspoken in his condemnation Hitler’s anti-Semitism, but he was able to write:

“I am fond of Jews
Jews are fond of money
Never mind of whose
I am fond of Jews
Oh, but when they lose
Damn it all, it’s funny.”

Some might say that those lines are quite innocent, but I am not sure many Jews would.

Mel himself obviously has nothing against Jewish people. His agent, Alan Nierob, is Jewish. Nierob is also the agent of Liam Neeson, who has been picked to replace Gibson in the cameo role in Hangover 2 – pending, as Nierob has said, “clearance of cast and crew background check”. Probably the only sane response to this is to laugh.

All the same, I have sympathies with Mel Gibson, if only because I, too, am an alcoholic, and sense that if I were to go back on the booze I might soon find myself doing Gibson turns. My perhaps rather pious hope is that Mel will sober up – whether or not he is drinking now, he is not sober – and make his peace with the Church. He can after all do that and continue to hear Mass in the old rite. First, though, he must learn moderation. That’s more than I have ever managed to do, but I am persuaded that the only antidote to booze, anger and bad religion is love of God and neighbour, especially when your neighbour is also your enemy.


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; General Discusssion
KEYWORDS: gibson; melgibson
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To: ravenwolf

You are right about the eternal kind of judgement on Mel. No one knows Mel’s heart but God. I just see a very painful and self destructive dance he’s doing in life. I hope it does not continue for him like this.


61 posted on 10/27/2010 12:41:08 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: SaraJohnson

I hope it does not continue for him like this.


Me too.


62 posted on 10/27/2010 12:48:47 PM PDT by ravenwolf (Just a bit of the long list of proofs)
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To: allmendream
You keep talking about a “larger agenda” and heaping doubt upon the idea that this Malibu cop was not part of something larger.

Wow, when you chop everything up into pieces an rearrange them you can get to any where. I never said anything about the cop being involved in a "conspiracy".

You don't think that Hollywood has a "larger agenda"?

The left and Hollywood went after Mel before his Christian movie was even made, because they heard about the script, now he is losing his career, and you are defending the left, yet you are uninterested in the industrial sized attacks against Christianity by Hollywood, where they spend billions to destroy, attack, create hatred against Christianity on an international scale.

63 posted on 10/27/2010 12:52:43 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12
you are uninterested in the industrial sized attacks against Christianity by Hollywood, where they spend billions to destroy, attack, create hatred against Christianity on an international scale.

No, Hollywood is just in business for the money. It is pure coincidence that virtually none of the big executives or stars are conservative Christians. /sarc

I think that the only reason Mel, with his religious beliefs, was allowed to become a star is that they figured he was too much of a drunk to cause trouble. Hollywood has since realized it miscalculation, and is trying to drum him out.

64 posted on 10/27/2010 1:21:39 PM PDT by mas cerveza por favor
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To: ansel12
By all means, circle the wagons around this loony antisemitic Holocaust denier as a person worthy of defense.

You could do little else that would be more effective in discrediting Christianity as to try to set this guy is our poster boy.

He is a antisemitic conspiracy mongering Holocaust denying loon.

That is simply the truth.

He being an antisemitic conspiracy mongering Holocaust denying loon is serving the “larger agenda” of Hollywood more than it is doing anything conceivable to hinder it.

65 posted on 10/27/2010 1:36:51 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: allmendream

It isn’t a matter of circling the wagons around him, it is a matter of telling anti-Christian, racist bigots, (to use your language, since Christians aren’t Jews) that after all these years they can become a little less obsessed with destroying the man, at least a conservatives can.

Hollywood doesn’t bother you, a generations old war against Christianity by Hollywood doesn’t bother you, Gibson losing his career, doesn’t bother you, only his drunken insult against Jews bothers you, that is an unusual case of tunnel vision and selective outrage, and bigotry for a supposed conservative.


66 posted on 10/27/2010 1:54:39 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12
Destroying the man? He lost a job because people didn't want to be associated with him. Inconsistent as they worked on the prior movie with a convicted and unrepentant rapist.

Am I obsessed with destroying Mike Tyson's career as well? No. Would I want to be associated with him? Not ever.

It is you who wants to make this about Hollywood and about Gibson being ‘under siege’ by Jews.

I say it is about a raving antisemitic Holocaust denying idiot and the people who (inconsistent or not) don't want to work with him.

I like the guys movies, and even pay to see them in the theater - but let us not lose sight of the fact that the man is a CRAZY LOONY RACIST with no knowledge of history that isn't bent by his raving loony world view of Holocaust denial and the idea that Jews start all wars.

To you, it seems, he has the right enemies - so his idiocy and ignorance and racism can be excused.

I don't see it.

But I guess unless I declare the man a living saint without sin, I am not concerned enough with the “generations old war against Christianity by Hollywood”.

Baloney!

67 posted on 10/27/2010 2:01:31 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: ansel12
“all these years”?

Um..... it wasn't that long ago.

Is there a statute of limitations on being a Holocaust denying Jew hating loon?

68 posted on 10/27/2010 2:04:16 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: allmendream

LOL, nothing about Hollywood being anti Christian on an industrial scale, and making entire movies attacking Christianity, bothers you at all, by now your bigotry and racism (to use your language, since Christians aren’t Jews)is obvious.


69 posted on 10/27/2010 2:07:28 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: allmendream
Holocaust denying Jew hating loon

On what occasion did Mel Gibson deny the Holocaust?

70 posted on 10/27/2010 2:08:50 PM PDT by mas cerveza por favor
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To: marshmallow

I feel sorry for him.


71 posted on 10/27/2010 2:09:57 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: ansel12
Your lunacy is obvious.

I am a Christian and have there is nothing bigoted or racist in pointing out Mel Gibson's own words.

He denies the Holocaust.

He thinks Jews started all wars.

He is a loon.

People from a movie don't want to work with him. They are free not to.

This is only an attack upon Christianity if you are seeking to elevate Mel Gibson to be the poster boy for Christianity instead of the fringe nutjob (who thinks he is more Catholic than the Pope) that he is.

An attack on Mel Gibson is not an attack on Christianity.

Saying people are free to not work with Mel if they don't want to (while pointing out the inconsistency in that they worked with a convicted and unrepentant rapist) is not buying into the Hollywood “war” against Christianity.

Yet that is the entirety of your argument.

If I point out that the guy is off his rocker and a racist, I must hate Christians (I am a Christian), be a bigot and a racist, and be for the “war” against Christianity by Hollywood.

Preposterous! Ludicrous! Idiotic! Infantile!

72 posted on 10/27/2010 2:14:21 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: muawiyah

Let me guess: you’re a redhead. And it all goes back to psychedelic mushrooms, flying reindeer and Santa Claus, who was himself in fact a redhead, who ate reindeer. And mushrooms.


73 posted on 10/27/2010 2:16:14 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: mas cerveza por favor
When asked about his father's Holocaust denial and if he agreed or not he said “My father never lied to me.”

He advocated his Father's Holocaust denial. This was quite awhile ago, and many people let go his little equivocation and dropped it; he was making too much money for all the right people in Hollywood - and nobody wanted to dig too deep.

In light of his “The Jews are responsible for starting all the wars in the world” rant, his Holocaust denial and the abject lunacy behind his worldview comes more clearly into focus.

74 posted on 10/27/2010 2:17:03 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: allmendream

Yeah, we are in our almost 8th year of Gibson bashing because of “Passion of the Christ”, and creeping up on a half decade since the drunken slurs that got your and the anti-Christian, Hollywood set’s panties in a wad, yet Mel is losing work even now.

Nothing about Hollywood being anti Christian on an industrial scale, and making entire movies attacking Christianity, bothers you at all, by now your bigotry and racism (to use your language, since Christians aren’t Jews)is obvious.


75 posted on 10/27/2010 2:22:53 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: allmendream; mas cerveza por favor

What you keep refusing to do is show us Mel Gibson denying the concentration camp deaths, yet you keep posting that he does, show us the proof or drop it.


76 posted on 10/27/2010 2:27:43 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12
Your idiocy is obvious.

Four years ago is not “after all these years”. It was four years ago. 28 July 2006. Going 87 mph in a 45 mph zone, drunk to the gills with an OPEN bottle of Tequila, ranting and raving about Jews starting wars and “sugar t*ts”! (under siege by Jews, they must have used a mind control ray, and GIVEN him the Tequila! Yeah, that's the ticket!)

But unless I sweep it under the rug and declare him repentant (he didn't) and reformed (he isn't) I must be buying into the Hollywood anti-Christian war and be a bigot and racist.

Awwww, the poor widdle millionaire is losing work? Well, when you sh*t in your own bed, it takes some cleaning up.

But be sure to cry yourself to sleep that he will not be working on “Hangover 2”, no doubt it would just be a vehicle to further the “war” on Christianity anyway.

What a loon!

77 posted on 10/27/2010 2:30:10 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: ansel12
He was raised up in his father's Church, learning from his father. When asked about his father's WELL KNOWN Holocaust denial, he said “My father never lied to me.”

He supported and advocated as truth his father's Holocaust denial.

That sort of shoddy thinking is ALSO behind the lunacy of thinking and saying that “Jews are responsible for starting all the wars in the world”.

If you think a conspiracy on the scale of the ‘invention’ of a false Holocaust is possible, so would be a conspiracy whereby Jews are behind all the wars in the world.

The guy is a loon!

Besides all the stuff that happened four years ago (all those years ago!), he just recently was on tape saying things about “N*gger” this and “Wetback” that.

Oh, but I am the racist and bigot for pointing out that this is NOT a man worth defending! Sure, keep telling yourself that. Maybe make up some more conspiracy theories about Jews laying in wait with poor widdle Mel “under siege”.

Amusing!

78 posted on 10/27/2010 2:35:25 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: allmendream

Yeah, you are obsessed, and making things up, you are getting overly excited.


79 posted on 10/27/2010 2:37:38 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: allmendream
When asked about his father's Holocaust denial and if he agreed or not he said “My father never lied to me.”

“My father never lied to me.” is not a denial of the Holocaust. You are trying to read the man's soul. He has a very public forum and has never promoted anything having to do with the Holocaust. Your false accusations are a disgrace.

80 posted on 10/27/2010 2:40:26 PM PDT by mas cerveza por favor
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