Jackie Mason Defends Mel Gibson

by Liberty and Power

Neil Cavuto interviews Jackie Mason. Jackie Mason gets it right. Perhaps we can now move on.

More Comments:

E. Simon - 8/11/2006

Because that's the gawking nature of a Hollywood able to laugh at one of their own once he decided to make a joke of himself, and because of his overwhelmingly evident hypocrisy in light of his protestations just two years ago that a production that he so "passionately" pursued was simply devoid of any of the classic anti-semitic motifs that were abundantly clear to so many others.

I don't enjoy it. I think it's sad and think he must be close to an unhinged lunatic in some ways. I enjoy reading Andrew Sullivan's ability to point out that it is uneasy to project an isolated form of hatred. Coupling Gibson's recent behavior with his demonstrated homophobia in the 1990's speaks to the generalized personal degeneracy that accompanies unconfronted bigotry.

Sheldon Richman - 8/11/2006

Mason's shtick is in part exaggeration. You have to discount that. The best point he makes is that too many people are positively enjoying Gibson's downfall. Why are they enjoying it so much?

Craig J. Bolton - 8/10/2006

Yes, he is unquestionably a bigot. Not much of a surprise since he was apparently reared as a bigot by his father.

However, he is also a bright and creative guy who would be an asset if he were "turned." The main problem in turning him, so far as I can discover, is that he protects his "privacy" much better than any other public personality I'm familiar with. If this were not the case, I and a few of my friends would be hounding him right now with offers to take him to Jewish classes, services, etc. to see first hand what he's so worried about. Since I don't necessarily agree that all bigots are dogmatists, and I particularly don't believe that those who enjoy portraying themselves as loons fall in that category, he might just take us up on the offers. Anyone know Gibson?

Aster Francesca - 8/9/2006

I concur. Gibson's comments sound exactly like the open bigotry I've heard in cases when it is still publically acceptable to express hate. His psychology reeks of the authoritarian personality. His overworld worldview is in the class of a Fitzhugh, a Spengler, or a de Maistre.

I think our society is likely to hypocritically flay him alive while other members of the power structure say the same and worse amongst themselves, behind closed doors. And I feel uncomfortable at the notion that an artistic career should be destroyed because of an artist's evil opinions- Wagner and Kipling had evil ideas too. I liked Braveheart.

But Gibson's still a bigot. None of us should pretend otherwise.

Jonathan Dresner - 8/9/2006

Mason never was all that funny, and he stinks as a pop psychologist. He's wrong about Gibson -- Passion of the Christ and all that -- and he's wrong about the motives of the people who criticize Gibson, at least a lot of them. Move on if you like, but don't parrot junk.

Gary McGath - 8/9/2006

Mason portrays Gibson as "drunk and stupid, lying on the floor." This is nonsense. He was driving a car. His reported blood alcohol level was .012%. (OK, I saw a report of 12%, but since Gibson is still alive, that must have been a slipped decimal point.) That's too drunk to drive a car; it's not so drunk that a normal person would be "banging his head against the wall" or "cursing their own mother" without reason.

I see no reason to dwell on the issue, but Gibson was responsible for what he was saying.