Mel Gibson, the most Christian of the Catholics — more Catholic than the Pope — got himself in hot water this week with tapes leaked of his abusive rants against his estranged girlfriend. Oh, say it ain’t so, Joe! Another pillar down!
Mel Gibson, Authoritarian Misogynist Racist Bigot
Mel Gibson, he of The Passion of the Christ fame, which received widespread support and endorsement from evangelical leaders and Conservative churches, was not content to leave it at abuse of his girlfriend and mother of his child. Nope. Mel’s rant is peppered with racist remarks reminiscent of his other anti-Semitic rants. Sigh. Mel is also, too, being investigated by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department in connection with domestic violence charges. I fear this means he may soon run for office on the Republican ticket, as abusing one’s partner is all the rage right now among the GOP (see Vitter, Rivera, et al).
After Mel’s long-time agent passed away last week, William Morris Endeavor was finally able to drop this pustule. Of course, Disney (that Right Wing Dream Factory) is not dropping their Mel projects as of yet….after all, Real America loves Mel. Until Americans get it together and stand up collectively against this kind of extremism, Disney et al are going to keep shoving this crap down our throats and justifying it because these people make money for them (what’s the difference between Mel Gibson and Sarah Palin?).
What does all of this tell us? Mel’s derision of all people other than himself says a lot about the current radical Conservative movement. What we have here are people who value power over other people. In this sense, it doesn’t matter if the people he’s mocking are women, Jews, the Pope, African Americans, Latinos, the unemployed, the homeless, the hungry.…. no, the point is that he and people like him view the world from the authoritarian structure of power over and power under. In Mel’s world view, anyone who is under him is wide open target for his hatred.
Mel hates everyone whom he views as beneath him. It is his right, in his mind, to scorn, belittle, mock and revise history to accommodate his self-fulfilling belief system. And somehow, his notion of himself as God’s Chosen feeds into this mindset. This kind of extreme tribalism and rejection of all others reminds me of a certain religious extremist group with which American is currently at war.
In his latest rant, he was heard speaking thusly to his girl friend and mother of his child. RadarOnline.com has the audio but be warned, much like Tammy Bruce (conservative hate radio), it’s not safe for civilized humans. Much name-calling, scorn, abuse, mockery, and belligerence befitting only the most ignorant and hubristically self-aggrandizing and utterly un-self-aware:
“You’re an embarrassment to me. You look like a f***ing bitch in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault.,,,So you’re not lying to me about fake t*ts?”
“Keep them if you want, they look stupid. Keep ‘em if you want. Look stupid. See if i give a f*ck. They look like a Vegas whore. And you go around sashaying in your tight clothes. I won’t stand for that anymore.”
Those are some super nice family values. Reminds me of John McCain. Sure is the Year of the Mama Grizzly. Wow. Shatterin’ those glass ceilings.
It’s important to acknowledge a trend here: the authoritarian mind set (power over/under) seeks to maintain the status quo, wherein they are on top. In order to achieve this, they implement the tools of bigotry and misogyny. When one group is denigrated, we are all denigrated. The very values of this country are denigrated. And that’s not OK. Yes, they have a right to free speech. And we have a right, nay, an obligation, to shun them for their hatred.
Where are all of the religious conservatives right now? Shouldn’t they be condemning Mel’s rant? Wasn’t it bad enough that Mel’s father was a Holocaust denier and he himself has walked that fine plank? Apparently not.
Conservative media figures claimed Gibson as one of their own after his anti-Semitic rant when he was arrested for driving under the influence. Not only did they defend him, but Media Matters reported, “Right-wing activist David Horowitz even suggested that the anger over Gibson’s comments is rooted in a “hatred of Christians,” while other commentators suggested that criticism of Gibson was an extension of criticism of Gibson’s role in producing and directing the February 2004 film The Passion of the Christ.”
Religious Conservatives were busy passing Mel off as a martyr, when in fact, he was and is an abuser. I’m not holding my breath for their condemnation of Gibson. I do hope the rest of Hollywood follows WME’s example, however, and roundly renounces Mel Gibson and the hate he espouses. We should note that under the very excuse Conservatives give for their other hate mongers, Limbaugh and Beck, Hollywood could claim that Gibson is just an entertainer and a business proposition. Let’s hope Hollywood shows higher standards than the Radical Right.
I see a spectacularly ticky takcy theme park in Mel’s future: DoucheBaggery Alcoholic, Revisionist, Bigot & Abuser Land. He can get Vitter and Rivera to join him (let’s not leave out Sanford and Ensign). They can talk about how God gave them the right to beat, cheat, lie and abuse. Somehow I see a huge Beck following, maybe even a merger between Beck U and DoucheBaggery A, R, B & A. Said theme park will be a huge hit among the Science Deniers and the Obama’s a Socialist Crowd, in other words, the Radical Right. They seem to be suckers for every grifting plan their leaders put into motion. Goldline, anyone?
If Mel is convicted of domestic violence, c’est le bouquet! Nothing like a few domestic violence convictions and ethnic rants as a GOP resume builder. Look for him to run for, oh, I dunno, the US Senate, on the TeaPublican ticket. And don’t you dare criticize anything Mel says or does — after all, he has Jesus on his side.
“But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?”
—Robert Kennedy
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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