Monday, July 12, 2010
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Monday, July 12, 2010
EDITORIAL
The Mel Gibson I Know All Too Well
The fire (and hate) within: Mel Gibson and racism,
misogyny, spiraling out of control.
A scene from the 2010 drama "Edge Of Darkness".
Warner Brothers
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW THE REEL
Monday, July 12, 2010
I know Mel Gibson very well.
This Mel Gibson is a familiar one. And you may well misunderstand what I
say here when I say I know him very well.
I know that I know him. In those isolated, suffocating spasms of supposed
self-righteous internal fury, when silently reacting to one of infinite
variations of an ugly strain of human impulse that haunts billions of lives each
day.
I know Mel Gibson.
Amidst the misogyny, invective and incessant verbal and domestic abuse that must
also be addressed and condemned stood the racist rants and raves of Mel Gibson.
During a phone conversation with his estranged girlfriend, the truth buried deep
within his heart poured out. Two minutes of that conversation recently hit
the Internet via RadarOnline.
Mel Gibson is the problem.
No. Mel Gibson represents, or symbolizes the problem.
No, we do.
We -- society -- do.
Mel Gibson is hardly the lone famous (or infamous) person to ever say something
so vile and hateful, whether publicly or privately. Some of your most
beloved stars (late icons Farrah Fawcett and Elvis Presley, living icon Brigitte
Bardot) and stars of the moment (John Mayer, Michael Richards) have been caught
without a censor button as well. Some have apologized, others have not.
(People not on the abbreviated list here were smart enough to be away from a
microphone and a recorder.)
There have been politicians (including Enoch Powell, Jean-Marie LePen, George
Wallace, Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd), absolute fanatical race-baiters and
racists (Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck) and countless others who've
made their dirty mark, branding their personal scarlet "R".
That dirty mark won't go away in small part because the lessons of hate and fear
are easily passed down from parent to innocent child in a society blanketed and
fortified by institutionalized racism. A society that readily gives cover
to and emboldens those harboring the racist attitudes that often go
unquestioned, unchallenged or unpunished in your workplace. Attitudes that
are uncomfortably laughed off or casually justified.
Attitudes found in those who cowardly attack Rachel Maddow or Joan Walsh for
merely characterizing a racist as just that, or for raising critical questions
about a mainstream press that ignores those who are victimized in the wake of a
horrific event in which the focus is on the person who is the victimizer, all
but labeled a hero by some.
That dirty mark: all it takes is a moment to unearth something lurking deep
beneath the surface, a something that on occasion is neither fully nor
consciously verbalized. A moment producing something resembling Sal's
outburst in "Do The Right Thing" or Rod Steiger's in "In The Heat Of The Night".
Mel Gibson needs help. The diagnosis is abundantly clear.
God, Mr. Gibson, doesn't like ugly.
So where does that leave those of us who harbor the same kinds of feelings or
sentiments? Where does it leave those of us who justify the killing of an
unarmed, handcuffed California man named Oscar?
Did Mel Gibson and Johanes Mehserle harbor a deeply-ingrained three-fifths
mentality all along?
Did they flashback to that inglorious language once contained in America's
hallowed documents?
Just over a year ago a work colleague told me that as a very light-skinned black
man he would cringe in shock and despair when as a guest at country clubs, home
parties and anywhere where "they" weren't, some of his white colleagues would
say the most viciously insulting and racist things. He stepped up to the
plate, he said, shocking them back when he told them of his true identity.
I'll say it again in the most sincere, non-patronizing way I can: Mel Gibson
needs help. I hope he gets some. I hope he cares to.
Some may be wondering if Mr. Gibson is going the way of his suicidal, madcap
character Marlon Riggs from the "Lethal Weapon" series.
I meant Martin Riggs, but that Marlon Riggs-Martin Riggs meeting would
have been quite an encounter.
It is easy to condemn Mr. Gibson, but how easy is it to discuss views and
feelings about race and racism with a compatriot of a different race?
This is the most important question. How easy is it?
And do we want to do it?
"We're back! We're bad! You're black, I'm mad!"
I wonder what Danny Glover, who still has trouble getting a taxi to stop for
him, is thinking about all of this.
No. I don't wonder. I believe I may have a clue.
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