Monday, July 31, 2006

Mel Gibson: in vino veritas?

Entertainment news site BBC story Ynet story

The first site I linked to, has some very unflattering shots of Mr G. :D


Mel Gibson was caught drink-driving and tried to escape arrest, also making some virulently anti-semitic remarks, presumably under the impression the policemen concerned were Jewish.

He has apologised for everything he said and his belligerent behaviour. He said he was deeply ashamed.

I am aware that his father is widely viewed as a huge anti-semite and he has never distanced himself from those views. Would it be a family betrayal to say, "I love my Dad but I don't agree with him?" Does silence mean condoning his views or sharing them?

Also his film The Passion of Christ was accused of anti-semitism. Not having seen the film, I can't comment on that, other than to say that this issue has risen with Gibson previously.


Despite the topic, I'm not all that interested in Mel Gibson and whether he is an anti-semite (although it seems very likely), but I am interested in the notion of "in vino veritas". Is it true that when drunk, your true self, your true feelings come out?

Alcohol affects inhibition. It's a social lubricant: sometimes shy people are emboldened to talk more. People are more likely to rant on about things, be aggressive & belligerent, more prone to exaggerate and dramatise? Sometimes I think the rants are based on underlying concerns which haven't been brought up out of tact, or not-wanting-to-rock-the-boat, or not feeling it important enough to discuss. Sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere. But presumably there's something underlying it?

Hmmph. I may come back to this.

5 comments:

Mephitis said...

I'm not sure where I am with this, I just have lots of questions.

My gran and mum often say hugely un-pc things, and I only ever pull my mum up on these. (My gran gets away with it because of her age).

But if I was famous and my relative was making anti-semitic statements, would it be disloyal to the person to say I didn't agree? Not that silence necessarily means agreement, but in a position where my views (or lack thereof) would be reported (no matter how crassly) wouldn't I have a responsibility to say either that "I love my relative no matter what, but don't agree with them on everything" or that I do agree or disagree?

Mephitis said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mephitis said...

Oh, and on a lighter note, Mel isn't actually Australian. :D He was born in the US and moved down under at 12. :D

Mephitis said...

I was reading the Wiki entry on the Passion of Christ, and it's given me further food for thought.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?I52C23E7D It says that when asked about his father's holocaust denying and other dubious beliefs, he said “He’s my father... I love him... gotta leave it alone, Diane. [You] gotta leave it alone.”

Adding in the honour your parents commandment and the fact he is very devout, I suppose that his silence on the subject may stem from that.

But it does leave room for doubt, especially accompanied by this latest scandal.

Mephitis said...

Poo, what is the point of being able to put in html linky things if the links don't work anyway?

I must be doing something wrong. Or is it blogger?