Say.

[sab]

Say.

I don't want to light a match under anything, or anything, and I only know what I know from glossing over the Internet and I'm so totally a year late and a few tacos short --

But what do we make of Hutton Gibson's -- Mel Gibson's dad's -- comments about the Holocaust in the week that his son's "groundbreaking" "anti-Semitic" (I have zero evidence for either of those things and am merely quoting what I've read) Jesus film hits the box office?

Hutton Gibson says he didn't know his comments were on the record, which is probably true enough, if not, you know, precisely relevant to the issue here.

Whether Mel has denounced these views or not seems to be open to interpretation, and I don't want to put words in his or anyone's mouth. He seems to say he stands by his father, which is dandy, and also seems to acknowledge that the Holocaust, um, happened, which is also, you know, dandy, but doesn't seem to be saying anything particularly enlightening about the sentiment behind his father's statements, nor trying to distance himself from them.

The radio transcript's here if you're in the mood to download a .pdf, also there's audio clips. Personally, I don't need audio clips and the synopsis was really enough for me, but in the interest of sharing. I am moderately creeped out. Not in a wanting-to-start-a-Crusade way, just in a personally-creeped-out way.

Anyway, this is what I know, because the Internet told me. And because one should never address anything without first consulting the Great Oracle of Truth, www.snopes.com, here's Snopes' take on the situation, which has been brewing in public consciousness since last year.

Comments

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

I think you're right, that it's a combination of Catholic guilt and father issues where Mel's concerned. And that his dad's a bona-fide looney-tune who would have gone on being quietly a looney-tune had he not accidentally ended up on the radio.

I still get nervous, though, because it only takes one person to say "maybe he's right," especially with a movie as inflammatory as this (which, incidentally, I believe hesychasm in the fact that the movie itself isn't anti-Jewish, but it doesn't matter if it isn't if people think it is and can read it as such) and then another person to throw a rock and, you know, we're all locking our doors.