Gibson Inspired by 'Fear-Mongering' Bush

[muriel_volestrangler]

Film star and director Mel Gibson has launched a scathing attack on President George W. Bush, comparing his leadership to the barbaric rulers of the Mayan civilization in his new film Apocalypto.

The epic, due for release later this year, captures the decline of the Maya kingdom and the slaughter of thousands of inhabitants as human sacrifices in a bid to save the nation from collapsing.

Gibson reveals he used present-day American politics as an inspiration, claiming the government callously plays on the nation's insecurities to maintain power.

He tells British film magazine Hotdog, "The fear-mongering we depict in the film reminds me of President Bush and his guys."

http://www.hollywood.com/news/detail/id/3500331

Interesting ... I can't wait to see Free Republic's reaction.

[azmouse]

1. I thought Gibson was a RW nut.

I'm surprised to hear him say something like that.

[xultar]

4. He is. Just cuz you are RW doesn't mean you like Bush. Mel is

a strict Catholic and the church has come out against the war.

Mel Gibson is also a RACIST. Don't ever forget that.

[Cassandra]

15. He really hits all the high spots,

doesn't he?

[Uncle Joe]

18. Why do you say he is a racist? n/t

[LostinVA]

57. He's probably referring to "The Patriot"

And, I agree with that. At the very least, the depiction of slavery in that movie shows extreme ignorance... but it;'s ignorance that a five-minute search on Google would erase.

[brentspeak]

33. Racist? In what way?

News to me.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

59. Passion of the Christ...

He went to great lengths to make the movie authentic, except for the white guy playing Jesus.

Although I'm willing to bet there are clearer examples.

He's certainly a homophobe.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

60. Sorry, I don't get it - everyone in the movie was white

or was that the point you were trying to make?

[fujiyama]

48. Where'd do you hear that?

He's homophobic. THat's been confirmed by his outbursts in interviews, but I have never hear him saying anything racist.

[Atlas Mugged]

49. He's a racist?

I hadn't heard that. My love affair with Gibson started and ended with 'Gallipoli'. Never cared for 'Road Warrior' or any of the other action crap he's done, so I've not really paid that much attention to him since then. Well, it was impossible to ignore him during the tasteless 'Passion of the Christ' media blitz, but I didn't hear anything about racism. Could you please supply a reference?

Thank you,

Atlas

[LostinVA]

55. And, at then very least a Holocaust denier apologist

And, homophobic.

[President Kerry]

74. How is he a racist? n/t

[Starbucks Anarchist]

77. That explains all the Lethal Weapon movies with Danny Glover.

:sarcasm:

[Halliburton]

5. he said he was opposed to the iraq war and liked Farenheit 9/11

people just think of him as a Bush man because he's a fundie

[Teaser]

14. He is a religious conservative

Which doesn't always map onto political conservatives.

My wife is one. She's basically a fundamentalist Christian. But she is politically liberal, down the line.

[ileus]

41. Same thing here in my family.

It's hard sometimes.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. Call me entirely cynical, but I'm smelling attempts to regain

his non-wing-nut audience...

[bluestateguy]

26. He is, but he's a paleoconservative

In the mold of Pat Buchanan or the much more articulate Bruce Bartlett.

[xultar]

2. I know cuz they so loved him for the Passion.

[AX10]

3. I'm suprised to hear him say that.

He seems very conservative.

[xultar]

6. The Catholic Church has come out against the war. Just cuz you are

conservative doesn't mean you like war.

[JerseygirlCT]

22. He's not even part of the Catholic church, however...

his break-off sect doesn't recognize the current church, or anything done since Vatican II. WAY out there!

[Canuckistanian]

32. They haven't approved of anything since the Inquisition

And some said that didn't go far enough.

[xultar]

34. I see a great movie here...CATHOLICS FROM OUTTER SPACE!!!

Buhwawawa!

[LostinVA]

56. Correct, and anyone but Gibson would have been excommunicated

[Critters2]

76. He's basically excommunicated himself

The church he built and worships in isn't part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He's Catholic, but he's not ROMAN Catholic.

[arewenotdemo]

71. Was that before or after it helped Bush dispatch Kerry?

:hide:

[ShortnFiery]

85. No, not all AMERICAN Catholic Churches have come out against the war

The Priests had us praying "in particular" for President Bush up until a year ago. Is it any wonder that I now drive 20 miles to Mass in a Franciscan Parish.

THE POPE came out against the war from the onset, but the American Bishops *interpreted* what "his Eminence" REALLY MEANT.

There are several right wing American Catholic Church Parishes who delude themselves into believing that both Afghanistan and Iraq meet the "just war" criteria.

That's why I don't care much for Mel Gibson as a person albeit he's a great actor and easy on the eyes. The Right Wing Catholics do qualify as "religious nutcases" every bit as much as the fundamentalist Protestant sects. Mel Gibson is far right wing Catholic. There are good and bad things about that ... but the bad (Mixing of Church and State) side of the Conservative Catholics far outweighs the good.

[bleedingheart]

10. I prefer to think of him as "unique"

he has varied views some of which are not shared by me....

[bleedingheart]

7. I am shocked...his new film includes human sacrifice...

:evilgrin:

[crikkett]

20. LOL maybe a quarter-hour of evisceration too!

I'll never watch his movies after Braveheart. That was billed as a date movie too!
Something's wrong with that guy.

[RoBear]

24. Christianity was founded on a human sacrifice.

One of the reasons I left. I also couldn't deal with the intimations of cannibalism ("Take and eat--this is my body").

Flame away...

[cliss]

29. I walked away from the Lutheran church,

but not for the reasons you've listed. I just got tired of having an index finger pointed my way, preaching, telling me I was a 'sinner'.

I left and found a much better place: Hinduism.

[kysrsoze]

42. were you missouri or wisconsin synod? If so, that explains it

evangelical lutherans are much more positive and liberal. you might want to check it out. not a knock against hinduism in any way - i just hate to see the more dogmatic, conservative forms of christianity ruin it for everyone.

[cliss]

53. No, this was in Sweden.

In downtown Stockholm. The church really hasn't changed since the 1700's. Ever Sunday, you get the joy of having the pastor hold his bony finger out and accuse the parishioners of being sinners, and bad.

Even the pews are designed to torture: they are low and they curve right in the middle of your back, so you have this sharp edge cutting into your back through the whole sermon. Someone explained to me that the pews were designed like that "so people won't fall asleep during the sermon".

No wonder the churches stand empty all over Sweden today.

[FredStembottom]

52. Thanks for this!

That's my #1 reason (among about a dozen) that I left Christianity. It's another human sacrifice based religion. And the sacraments of "blood" drinking and "flesh" eating are unwise choices to base a religion upon, I believe (seems Christianity is at it's best during eras when these things are de-emphasized within the religion and vice versa).

I give credit for making it the Last Sacrifice and a substitution of various stage bloods and body crackers - but still.....

None of this should be taken to mean I actively harass Christians. I am somewhat of a deist myself - so we get along. This is simply why I don't join up.

Your mileage may vary.

[arewenotdemo]

72. As an ex-Catholic, I've got a zillion good reasons why I left

Oddly enough, the fact that it's a human sacrifice based religion was one I never really thought of.

It's amazing what lunatic views one can absorb when brain-washed...

[dalaigh lllama]

67. Wasn't it Vonnegut who

called the Catholic Church the "Church of the Gooey Death"? As a fallen away Catholic, I always thought that an apt description.

[yellerpup]

8. I'll be buying tickets for this one.

Decline (extinction) of the Maya kingdom because of human sacrifices mirrors the decline of our "kingdom" in the present day. How many dead in Iraq today?

[xultar]

9. ATTENTION...Just cuz someone is Consrvative doesn't mean they

love war.

Geezzz

[bleedingheart]

11. yup...there are a lot of fiscal conservatives who are socially liberal

and who hate war..

[DinahMoeHum]

12. They are called "Libertarians"

and they have a great website www.antiwar.com

:thumbsup:

[MrPrax]

17. Is that the new slogan...?

The anti-war movement is rightwing?

[DinahMoeHum]

31. Don't get put off by the name of the site; just open it and see for

yourself.

:freak:

[brentspeak]

36. "Fiscal conservatives"

Today, a fiscal conservative is simply someone who doesn't want to pay their fair share of taxes. They could care less about the national debt, budget deficits, Social Security, etc.

[bleedingheart]

61. well even among fiscal conservatives there are differences...

I am a bleeding heart liberal but I wanna know that all of our tax money is well spent and accounted for....but I am okay with paying my share.

then there are the folks who don't want to pay taxes and think money grows on trees..

[Supersedeas]

39. sure, but we know they love MONEY most and will say anything to make more

of it

[Tummler]

13. I anticipate right-wing outrage over the fact that Gibson holds opinions

Of course, it was perfectly alright when Gibson's opinions seemed consistent with theirs.

[K8-EEE]

16. oooh the freeps will love THAT!

BWAAAHAHAHHA!

[OnionPatch]

19. This is a good thing

Lots of fundies out there have the highest regard for Gibson. Maybe he'll open a few eyes that have been glued shut with Bushco eye glue.

[RoBear]

25. That was my first reaction as well...

n/t

[Mr_Spock]

23. Holy Moly! Does this mean he's not a RW nut job any more?

Or are even RW nut jobs starting to hate King Bush?

[Frank Cannon]

37. Mel is a nut job, but not RW in the neocon sense

Aside from his fundie fervor, I have to give Mel some credit, because he seems to be holding onto some classic conservative views: like it's an outrage to be wasting money and lives on a suspect war, and that it's terrible for a government to wield fear over its own people like the Soviet Union did.

That shows a heck of a lot more integrity than the so-called "conservatives" who are just cheering right along with neocon insanity and thievery.

[Sapere aude]

27. I guess we can see this film with out the stench of a freeper sitting

next to us.

I can see it now, boycott Mel Gibson, he called OUR PRESIDENT a name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MGKrebs]

28. They'll just say it's a perfect example of why actors

shouldn't talk about politics. And/or that he has finally been corrupted by Hollywood.

I could write for Limbaugh. :evilgrin:

[Dora]

30. Gibson is a maverick. We need mavericks.

Mavericks say things that piss us off, and then we start talking.

[Love Bug]

68. He was enjoyable in "Maverick" too

:-)

[sarcasmo]

87. His father is an extreme nut case. IMHO the apple doesn't fall far from

the tree.

[chat_noir]

35. FReeper thread up

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1631140/posts



Now I wonder if alot of us that thought he was a Conservative will now dump on him?

If I could return my copy of the Passion of the Christ to get my money back, I would.

Hollywood just needs to shut up and act, regardless of their politcal leanings.

8 posted on 05/12/2006 8:58:08 AM PDT by The South Texan



Is he a closet leftist?

What happened to him?

Doesn't be realize the terrorist threat is REAL?

Has his extreme wealth removed him from reality?

Us common folk, have lost loved ones in 9/11.

16 posted on 05/12/2006 9:00:09 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) !)

[Sapere aude]

38. It's like going to the zoo and watching the monkeys in their cages

so very entertaining.

[kineneb]

50. potted plants in FR?

Just remember that if the IQ of the denizens of Freeperville get any lower, someone will have to water them twice a day.
:)

[arewenotdemo]

73. My crotons and African violets resemble that remark

[Charlie Brown]

78. I remember when Gibson complimented Far. 9/11 at the Peoples Choice Awards

and blasted the Iraq War. The Freeps went absolutely bat-shit insane.

Funniest damn thing I've seen in my lfe. My esteem of Gibson went up a few points after that.

[kskiska]

80. Freeps: Passion was wonderful. Now they claim didn't really like it.

To: Sans-Culotte
His original idea to film The Passion in dead languages WITHOUT subtitles was nutty, too, IMO.

I watched The Passion again, this year, during Lent, thinking I just wasn't in to it last year.

I find it less than inspiring, with so much focus on the bloody scourging.

The Passion only makes sense in light of Jesus' entire life, and the flashbacks (some of which were pure fantasy) just weren't enough.

Ever seen Gibson do an interview? His nuttiness comes through loud and clear.
102 posted on 05/12/2006 9:21:42 AM PDT by sinkspur ( OK. You've had your drink. Now why don't you tell your Godfather what everybody else already knows?)

--------------

To: discostu
Simply put - It was no good. In general I like the story of Jesus, but this was torture to watch and not at all inspiring (of course I am agnostic). I really wanted to go to the movie to piss off the libs and stick it to Hollywood.

I think this whole thing has been a set up. Get the Christians on Mel's side, then let him blast Bush. Then people might say, "Even Gibson thinks Bush is bad, I guess I don't like Bush now."
128 posted on 05/12/2006 9:35:06 AM PDT by Codeflier (Implement Loser Pays)

-------------------

To: Obadiah
For sometime now I have begun to see the Passion of the Christ as a movie made from the context of Mel Gibson's near prurient interest in matters related to blood and brutality.

"Passion" is of a piece with his other bloody films

Think about it, apart from his commecial box office movies, i.e., Lethal Weapon, What Women Want, etc., all his movies have all nearly been devoted to blood and brutality.

Walter Hill and other directors got bad raps for too much blood and only doing violent movies. Mel Gibson has somehow avoided this.
268 posted on 05/12/2006 2:52:17 PM PDT by dennisw

[brentspeak]

40. There were people on DU blasting Gibson

because of his "Passion Of Christ" film, claiming that the film meant he was a RW conservative.

Gibson is a religious conservative, yes, but not necessarily a political one. Wealthy, of course, but he was not, and never was, part of the "I've got mine, screw you!" wealthy greedmeisters.

Give me the choice of having a Democratic party consisting of economically liberal, anti-unregulated free trade, pro-New Deal Democrats who aren't socially liberal versus socially liberal but economically neoliberal Democrats, and I'll take the former in a heartbeat.

[ShortnFiery]

82. Yes, he's not political - that's why HE called into FOX to voice

his Religious Right Wing position on the Terri Schiavo case. :thumbsdown:

Just because Mel Gibson is easy on the eyes and "kicks ass" as an excellent actor doesn't make him any less bat shit crazy as perhaps, Tom Cruise?

The Rats are Jumping Ship Indeed, but hell, any port in the storm for us I'll welcome. ;)

[brentspeak]

83. And that makes Gibson more "political" or a "right winger" how?

We've already established that Gibson is a staunch endorser of highly conservative Roman Catholic social views.

Social views. Not political views.

Show us where Mel Gibson was pushing for the invasion of Iraq or the repeal of the estate tax -- then you'll be able to argue that he's a right winger or a Republican. Until then, your "rats leaving the sinking ship" analogy in regards to Mel Gibson is 100% misplaced (ie. wrong).

[ShortnFiery]

84. Well ole' Mel took it upon himself to call FOX on the Terri Schiavo

incident.

Hey, he's fetching to look at and I loved his "Lethal Weapon" and "Mad Max" movies, but he's one ultra-right wing religious man of the Catholic persuasion.

Nope, I ain't gonna jump on the "I love Mel" bandwagon. Again, he's ultra conservative religious borderline "Opus Dei" kind of guy ... and we both know that sad fact. :(

[cascadiance]

43. Bruce Willis has recently done an about face too..

He used to be a far bigger supporter of Bushco than Gibson was, and has recently been dismissing all of those in Washington as not working in his or America's interests too. So I think there's plenty in other parts of the spectrum that have become fed up with Bush. If many of them want too much power to make the rules once we get rid of this bastard though, I think we need to remind them of who made the mistakes earlier so that they have a bit more humility in coming to the peace table with us on determining what we do to fix this country.

[Weaksauce]

69. That turd...

I remember him sending all sorts of ridiculous crap in a care packgage to the troops after Iraqattaq first started.
Never watching his violent shit again.
Recall Tears of the Sun, his last film was all about how his small group of white soldiers invade a country to rescue more white people. But then just end up totally fucking w/ the internal politics. Typical dream sequence for genocidal racists.

[Minstrel Boy]

44. This is the most radical and corrupt presidency in American history

Why should it surprise anyone that authentic conservatives are also appalled by it?

[0007]

66. Doesn't surprise me!

[Selteri]

45. Like rats abandoning a ship - So to are these right wingers NT

[Oak2004]

64. True, but if you are honest with yourself

you can imagine a reverse scenario where a president elected as a progressive goes off the far deep end, and many liberals cling to him or her almost to the bitter end.

Imagine, say, that "President Ofthwall" decides that the US has a racism problem that needs to be addressed (oh so very correct), and that the latest technology needs to be employed to try to eliminate it (a little shakier here, but most are with him). So President Ofthwall decides we need voluntary use of the https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/> implicit association test , with anti-racism education programs for those who score particularly poorly (so far, we're still with him). But them the test starts to creep into things that are only nominally voluntary: first to enter the military (the argument being that armed racists are a danger to society, and we're still with him. Those who object get labeled racists and freepers), then to qualify for government contracts, then to qualify for government jobs (the unions start to go lukewarm), then to qualify for college financial aid ... all the way down to a requirement for passports and drivers licenses. And the threshhold for re-education incrementally changes to include more and more people, and the "education" itself becomes more and more coercive and ever more about holding power and determining loyalty rather than addressing racism.

When would we bail here? Some of us, civil libertarians who can see the slipperly slope and who stay current on the news, would bail almost immediately and try to warn the rest of us (the "Pat Buchanans" of the left). The rest of us would grow increasingly uncomfortable. Some would speak out in the mid-phase of this. Others of us would try to quietly slip off the back of President Ofthwall's bandwagon without raising much of a fuss, at first lying about our continued support, then going silent. Some of the silent ones would, just before the complete collapse of popular support, begin to speak up, too. Eventually, all who would be left in President Ofthwall's camp would be the totalitarian left and those whose liberalism is really nothing more than a big chip on their shoulders.

I think we'd like to think we'd all be objecting immediately, but we wouldn't. Most of us would feel a party and/or ideological obligation to support the president for as long as we could possibly bear, and for some of us that's going to be for a very long time. And some of us here, lets face it, are motivated by hate, and would never bail on any program used to persecute our opponents, no matter how un-liberal it is in practice.

If you don't think a liberal could ever do this, then you're either not honest with yourself, or you've never had enough power to understand how it can warp someone. The founding fathers put checks and balances into our system of government for a reason: they understood that we can all be corrupted by power.

I say all of this not to defend those of the right who have glued themselves to this Administration . By putting party and ideology ahead of nation and constitution they have done great harm, and they need to understand their errors and shoulder the burden of repairing the damage. But I do think we need to understand them, because we will need to live alongside them, our neighbors, after this national crisis is over.

Unless of course we want to repurpose those Halliburton concentration camps in the name of liberalism, in which case count me out.

[kineneb]

46. Hmmm, sounds like he was reading "Collapse"

by Jared Diamond. There is a long section on why the Maya civilization collapsed. Seems that it was a combination of environmental problems and bad leadership (surprise). Diamond gives the following for their slow demise: over-farming, deforestation, increased fighting for fewer resources, overpopulation and failure of the leaders to recognize the problems and deal with them.

See any patterns, class?

Gibson, will of course, have lots of blood and gore, some of which may have been historically accurate. However, warfare and starvation was more of a factor in deaths rather than sacrafices.

[CJCRANE]

47. 9/11, Shock and Awe, Katrina...

plenty of lives have been sacrificed unnecessarily due to * (either through incompetence or criminality depending on your viewpoint) so Gibson isn't that far off in his comparison.

[fujiyama]

51. Not too surprising a statement

coming from Gibson. He's always been somewhat "out there"...

People here may have forgotten his interview with Sean HAnnity when the Passion came out. AT that time he said he liked many things Bush had done, but was very disappointed with the WMD thing. I remember him also saying he liked F-9/11.

He's never been a straight up neocon. He's probably closer to Buchanan and less ideaological than that as well. I don't think it's easy to peg his idealogy or politics into a liberal or conservative category. He seems all over the place. He's definetely a religious nut job (very anti choice, homophobic, and somewhat mysoginistic as well), but he's an interesting actor and filmmaker...and at this point, he strikes me as less crazy than Tom Cruise!

[Dr Fate]

54. I never had a problem with "Passion" to begin with. Never saw it either.

Good for old "Crazy Mel"

[CatholicEdHead]

58. Catholic Conservatism "<>" Fundie Conservatism

<> is not equal to.

Mel is of the old-style mold of Catholics which frowns upon ecumenialism and wants total obidence to the Pope. Mel has a pre-Vatican II mindset, which usually brings a deep hatred of all Protastants. The last thing Mel is going to do is ally himself with the fundies, who are often schism splits many times over of Protastant mainline sects.

Now, some newer Catholic conservatives who are conservative but not in the old pre-Vatican II style are the ones who will ally themelves with the fundies and blindly follow the Republcians over mostly just abortion and gay marriage, and only the standard Republcian talking point way of those issues.

[ShortnFiery]

63. Simple! IMO Mel's another rat to "jump ship" ...

He was plenty Pro- RW nut-case even a year ago.

We were Soldiers? No Mel, you were NOT. :(

BTW I still love his "Mad Max" and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" movies.

Can we say "Another Rat has jumped ship?" I thought we could. ;) :hi:

*Remember him being called on the Terri Shiavo Saga? I rest my case.

[VegasWolf]

65. So Protestant mainline sects are better than secondary Protestant

sects? If my history serves me, the Church was plenty pissed off and excommunicating and damning to Hell the primary Protestant sects at one time.

[Bridget Burke]

70. I thought it odd that so many Fundamentalists loved Passion....

When the works of a very Catholic mystic supplied many bits that were NOT in the New Testament.

[arewenotdemo]

75. Simply flies to the blood and gore

not to mention the anti-Semitism, latent (repressed) homosexuality and sado-masochism.

Little something for everyone in the religio-wing-nut family!

[musiclawyer]

62. I like Mel as a filmaker.....

He's an arch-conservative catholic. These types disagree with a lot of progressive social positions. So what. I'm a liberal catholic. But we can agree on certain things like peace love and understanding and not war for profit. And if he decides to shine the light on the cockroaches, great! He's also got an artsy streak in his film-making that underappreciated.

[Pale Blue Dot]

79. I'm beginning to think that Gibson is not RW or LW,

just a very, very savvy businessman.

[ShortnFiery]

81. That and also ...

perhaps an selfish shill type wind vane who will posture which ever way the wind blows. :puke:

How tragic to see "the real Mad Max" at last. :P

[IndianaGreen]

86. Joe Scarborough: "This is an imperial Presidency and it is dangerous!"

I am not surprised that many rightwingers are alarmed about Bush's power grab and law breaking. Many of them fear a President Hillary exercising the same powers that Bush has.

I am surprised somewhat about Mel Gibson, but then, the polls show that many fundies are becoming disenchanted with Bush. When Bush sits at 29% approval, you know that his base is fracturing.

[Bushy Being Born]

88. Boy, some here on DU see things just as black & white as Bush, don't they?

Gee, I thought he loved Bush 'cause of that Passion movie. What's that, he doesn't love Bush? Oh, then he must be one of us! Right?