God and Chocolate
I wonder if Mel Gibson's recent... infamous DUI belongs on this thread as well?Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering
He isn't a politician; he's a celebrity, and of course they are allowed to act like idiots more. (Ie, politicians cheating on their wives is a scandal, celebrities doing so is merely sensational). They get in trouble for criminal activities, but they just get free publicity for insensitive idiocy.
But certainly, he was quickly and roundly condemned for his inexcusable racist remarks (he was drunk and belligerent, from what I understand). If he had 'just' cussed out the cops and claimed that he owned Malibu, it would have been celebrity news, but not a big deal. If it had 'just' been a DUI, it would have been a black mark against his name, but his PR people could assure the world that he was getting help for his drinking problem. But because he made anti-Semitic remarks, his problem was taken as much more serious - people do not filter their thoughts when they are drunk.
(And therefore his apology was much much more contrite [though perhaps no more sincere]).
I'm not sure how long it took the story to break, but as soon as it was a story, it was a condemnation of his behavior (and rightly so).
Of course, in his case, he had faced accusations of Anti-Semitism when he produced The Passion. Since most of the questionable dialogue was taken directly from his source materials, I thought that perhaps the charge was misguided - perhaps he did not understand the history and implications of those scenes from the Gospels on 2000 years of history. It could easily have been unintentional or misinterpretted. (How many anti-Semitic films would be filmed in Aramaic?)
But these remarks were not based on someone's interpretation of his artwork; they were made directly by him. It will be interesting to see what the (eventual) fall-out is. The man does not need to work, but he may want to
. Will he 'get away with it' and get to go back to business as usual after a grace-period in which he plays contrite? Or will he have to face long-term consequences for his actions?The reason I bring all of this up is to compare to politicians - some lose their jobs at re-election because of stupid things they've said, and others get away with it.