I am no Mel Gibson fan

[malaise]

but I really don't understand the non-stop attempts to destroy his career.
Yes he has said horrible things about loads of people but it appears that only one horrible comment is driving this destroy Gibson fury.

Limbaugh, Beck, Bachmann, Lady Blah Blah and the teabaggers have said way more hateful things live on air.

[iamthebandfanman]

1. i agree its silly hes singled out

when other figures say crazier things...


but you gotta admit, the poor guy has had a slow dissent into madness...

people should know how he acts tho, as we all MAKE his career.

[uncommon]

4. Yeah, poor Mel Gibson. Ugh. nt

[LostinVA]

6. +1

Poor misunderstood racist, anti-semitic, homophobic, misogynist, Holocaust Denial abuser.

I weep for him being attacked so harshly.

[damntexdem]

30. Yeah, all he did was actual violence in conjunction with his sexist, racist rants.

Why punish him for merely acting out his reactionary mindset/obsessions and doing violence to another person?

And also, why get upset with Polanski for merely raping an underage girl?

Don't you realize that movie hotshots are exempt from the rules that hold civilization together?

[geek tragedy]

43. What's crazier than threatening to put

the mother of one's child in a shallow grave?

[uncommon]

2. He is an abusive piece of shit hate monger. I hope he fails in every possible way. I hope the

others fail in every way as well.

[EOTE]

3. Whaaaaaa? Are you for real?

Have you heard or read any of his recent comments? Or is this just a joke?

[LostinVA]

5. WAY more than one comment -- many comments

And, it appears, domestic abuse. Plus, past behavior and words.

The only one destroying Mel Gibson's career is Mel Gibson.

[driver8]

8. +1!

How could anyone defend that sorry sack of shit?

He is a hate monger and, it seems, he likes to beat up women.

Fuck Mel Gibson.

[JuniperLea]

7. Violence against women is hard to take...

He's a bully, and that's hard to take too. It's a felony to tell someone you are going to cause them bodily harm, or to kill them. I know this first hand as I was on a jury earlier this year that put a gang banger behind bars for criminal threats.

I don't really see anyone attempting to destroy his career, except himself.

[Robeson]

9. He's a racist. A bigot. And physically abuses women. What's not to like?...

...:sarcasm:

[av8rdave]

10. I understand what you're saying, but...

I think what drives a lot of the media frenzy about Gibson is that he once enjoyed a very good reputation: Dedicated family man, religiously devout, hard worker, all around good guy, etc. It seems like the better someone's image is to start with, the harder it is to accept their shortcomings, and the more surprised we are to discover them. Sorta like the whole thing about that golfer recently that got in all the trouble.

Limbaugh, Beck et al have all been long known as @$$holes, so their egregious behavior is far less likely to outrage or shock us.

I pay little attention to the world of celebrities, but from what I have heard and read, Gibson apparently scores remarkably well on the Limbaugh-Beck @$$hole scale.

[LostinVA]

And, he's held himself up as this great family man and Christian all these years

If you set yourself on a pedestal, you can't complain about how far it is to the ground.

[av8rdave]

13. How true. A good corollary to that is....

The more we revere somebody, the more likely we are to be disappointed.

[WolverineDG]

23. My cousin is also a Latin Rite Catholic

and man, are they waaaaay out there....but this behavior is shocking even him, which should indicate just how far away from reality Mel is.

dg

[AngryOldDem]

35. I thought Mel was Opus Dei.

Which is even further to the right of the Latin Rite...I recall something about his dad and him setting up some kind of chapel on their property for the saying of Mass, with a big stink over whether or not they were in communion with the Church.

[WolverineDG]

47. I don't know about that

My cousin would talk about Mel in glowing terms because they believed the same things (God can only understand Latin, women have to wear dresses & cover their heads in church, don't recognize Vatican II). :shrug: I think it's sexist bullshit, so I don't really pay attention to him when he blathers on about his beliefs. I do know, however, he does not condone domestic violence & if he saw anyone hitting a woman or a child, he'd do something about it, so I have to give him kudos for that.

dg

[ecstatic]

11. It's to the point now where it's just funny--he has offended EVERYONE

except white men. I won't be supporting any of his new efforts, just like I've avoided Michael Richards like the plague since his racist rants. By the way, I actually was against Helen Thomas' racist rant as well, unlike most of DU.

[uncommon]

21. Yeah it's hilarious when men hit their girlfriends. nt

[ecstatic]

37. I haven't heard every single audio

:eyes: I'm speaking in general.

[uncommon]

39. Have you been paying attention at all? Why make an ignorant comment if you are unaware of the

details of the situation?

Roll your eyes all you want.

[ecstatic]

41. You have reading comprehension issues... read the entire post

Not funny in a literal sense.

[WolverineDG]

52. I know plenty of white men offended by Gibson now

including my own extreme right-wing cousin (see my other comments in this thread). So yes, he's managed to piss off everyone.

dg

[peace frog]

12. He seems to be mentally unstable

Decades of alcohol abuse is probably a contributing factor. Hope he gets help soon.

[pipi_k]

14. I'm not a fan of his, either but...

I do understand how someone who probably has mental problems and may be a raging alcoholic to boot can say and do some pretty awful things.

My younger brother just went through something similar with alcohol in the past year. The alcohol built up in his liver, affected his kidneys, and caused some SERIOUS changes in his brain.

It's organic. Contrary to what a lot of people here who want to believe that Gibson is just being an asshole or something, if he's got serious mental and alcohol problems.


He needs help.

[WolverineDG]

49. He can get all the help he needs

as as guest of the California Institute of Corrections.

Just because he may have some disease that's affected his mental stability doesn't get him a pass to commit domestic violence & threaten to kill someone.

dg

[Ozymanithrax]

15. I don't understand why Mel would destroy his career, either.

However, as an individual, I find his blatant racism, sexism, and anti-semitism puts him at the bottom of the list to receive any of my endangered discretionary spending.

Mel Gibson suffers more than a little from hubris, thinking that his position as an artist and actor give him pass to be an anti-semitic racist sexist bigoted asshole. That right doesn't mean he has the right to be one without comment or wihtout the condemnation of others.

[Enrique]

16. he threatened to kill his wife

that's pretty bad.

[Seneca]

17. He destroyed his own career

As for those others you mention, I think we should be relentless in speaking out against them. None of them should be exempt from criticism and challenge.

Still, I am pretty sure if Limbaugh outright said (rather than covertly imply) the same things Gibson said, there would be an appropriate response, and the end of his career too. Limbaugh and the others get away with what they do because they speak in code, and too many Americans tolerate code=speak because they like when someone confirms their prejudices, even when loosely hidden beneath the folds of flab in Limbaugh's mid-section.

Gibson not only scrapped the code-speak in his tirades, he bared the id of the entire right-wing, theocratic, racist, homophobic sub-set of Americans, who are far more prevalent in our culture than we would care to admit. I am thankful there are enough of us with at least the bare minimum of common decency and intelligence to recognize both the code, and the overt, and condemn them both.

[WolverineDG]

18. Only one horrible comment?

I'm counting several: anti-Semitic remarks, racist remarks, sexist remarks, admissions of committing family violence by striking a woman holding a baby....

If that ain't enough to kill Gibson's career for you, just what the fuck would he actually have to do? Kill her?

dg

[inna]

19. I used to feel the same way, but this case is completely different.

It sounds like you don't know details - because this is not about "horrible comments" this time.

It's about absolutely horrific abuse and psychopathy; he's a piece of human excrement, really.

I don't blame you for not following the gory details, but I'm certain that if you had listened to the tape that was released yesterday, you'd have a different opinion of him as well.

Here's a link, just in case: http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/07/exclusive-new-audio-mel-gibson-admits-hitting-oksana-threatens-kill-her-listen-it

[Gold Metal Flake]

20. Your concern is noted.

[ReverendDeuce]

22. LOL... WTF? He's crazed! Did you hear the three tapes released so far?

LOLOLOL...

Gibson's career = OVAH!

[Mad_Dem_X]

24. Umm, what? He threatened to kill that woman!

"a bat to the head"..."put you in the rose garden"? Even ignoring the fact that he hit her hard enough to knock her teeth out (while she was holding a baby, no less) - threatening to kill her is reprehensible!

I can't believe there are folks out there who would defend this racist, sexist, antisemetic piece of shit.

[SOS]

25. It's remarkable

How much damage alcohol can do to a person.
He is destroying himself and everyone around him.

It ends in one of three ways:
jail, institution or death.

[chrisa]

26. He's a misogynist, racist tool.

And the performance in his last movie was pitiful. His career is done. He even said it himself.

[uncommon]

27. Amen to that. nt

[malaise]

29. And so are many others who are not being hounded

out of their professions.
Is he any more crazy than Rush Limbaugh? Does he have the kind of access to the public like Limbauhg, Beck, Savage et al. We don't like him so we don't support his movies but we don't watch Fox either.
Sorry I still don't get it.

[uncommon]

31. The others should be hounded out of their professions as well. There should be no place for ignoran

ce and oppression in a civilized society.

[chrisa]

32. As a public figure, you have an image to maintain.

Is it always fair? No. However, they're selling themselves as well as their talents.

His career was done for anyways, though. This is just the nail in the coffin.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. First of all, while Rush is a gas bag and hate monger

I have to say I have never heard of him punching a woman in the face, while she was holding a baby. Same for the rest of those vermin you list. I have to say, to me there is a difference between even the most vile slanders and punching a woman holding a baby in the mouth knocking her teeth out.
This is a man, one of many, who claims that he is a Christian, and speaks out against the equal rights of others on the basis that his family life is a divine thing, Sacramental, and all of that. He is a woman puncher, and you know he knew he could have harmed that baby.

[uncommon]

40. Thank you. nt

[geek tragedy]

44. Yes, he's worse than them.

He punched his girlfriend while she was holding their child.

He's a sick animal.

[lapislzi]

45. I don't buy that comparison

To the best of my knowledge, those gasbags don't physically harm anyone. If the charge of domestic battery is true, Gibson is a criminal and should be treated as such. He should go to jail like any other criminal.

The racism, the religious zealotry...those just make him an asshole.

[WolverineDG]

48. I get it, you're okay with hitting women nt

[AngryOldDem]

28. Mel Gibson is a sick man and needs help. n/t

[ljm2002]

33. Let's see:

Racial epithets, check.

Sexist epithets, check.

Acknowledgment of domestic violence, check.

Actual recordings of the above, check.

Can't imagine why anyone would single him out.

I don't know anything about him or his erstwhile gal pal. Maybe she's not a nice person either. But once he said she deserved to have her teeth knocked out, that right there sealed it for me. He's an asshole and he deserves every bit of grief headed his way.

I say this as someone who endured the tender ministrations of a violent drunk. And I'll tell you what: being drunk is no excuse! Some lines cannot be un-crossed, and knocking out someone's teeth is one of those lines.

[Pisces]

34. He is on a mission to destroy his own career. He had an affair with this woman

who he didn't really know. He has a child with her and then proceeds to berate and abuse her. He had no idea that she would fight back by recording his brand of crazy. No one but Mel Gibson is
responsible for his current predicament.

[msanthrope]

38. Poor Mel. He's like Job. (Jeebus!) n/t

[geek tragedy]

42. He's a violent, criminal, wife-beating, Jew-hating, Klan robe wearing

bigot.

He deserves to have his career destroyed.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

46. Are you aware of all the crap he said and did?

More important, were you already aware of that when you wrote your OP?

[malaise]

51. Yes and he joins a list of well known

assholes.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

53. Than I can't say anything else.

Rules.

[EOTE]

55. That's right. I know of plenty of people who knock the teeth out of the mother of their children.

And then proceed to threaten their very lives while going on crazy, misogynistic and racist rants. Yep, plenty of well known assholes like. You really think the attention being given toward Gibson is unjustified? Really?

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. It is good entertainment

yesterday I spent an hour at the Dentist chair... and they had Headline "news" on... here is the catch... no sound.

Still in that time I saw the truth of US News exposed in all it's glory. Fifty minutes and at no time did we have any coverage of Iraq\ Afghanistan, The economy, the Gulf, the bombing in Africa during the WC final, the final at the WC...

All that they showed, mind you no volume, was fluff, what should be local news or Gibson.

What did Cicero write 'bout bread and circuses? No volume was even more instructive as to what they are doing with the Nooze.

What was funny is that I actually commented on that to the dental hygienist. She is good at cleaning teeth, but she had that look of WHO CARES? THAT IS NEWS?

[blueworld]

54. I won't even watch his TV movies anymore & I can't believe so many defend him

I was a caseworker at a battered women's shelter & later a hotline volunteer for years. It is absurd to assume that rabid rants like his are only drunken blithering - they are serious threats. Oksana did the right thing taping those calls for evidence. He's rich & famous & if she didn't, she'd be simply marked as a gold-digger & be another number in a case file. I know.

I had to photograph a woman's head after her husband stabbed her in the scalp - I didn't even know a knife could penetrate like that. Because of a custody battle, after he had called her up in a drunken rage.

Just because anyone else has done something worse is a specious argument. Gibson is a misogynistic, racist, out of control, arrogant pig of an abuser. He made serious threats & allegedly serious physical attacks. I hope to Jesus his career is over for good. My parents taught me that spewing verbal filth was as much racism as riding around in a sheet. Gibson needs help.