Evils that befall the world are not nearly so often caused by bad men as they are by good men who are silent when opinions must be voiced.
"The shame is that so few say 'shame"
"...When an actor-director who has won an Oscar, had a string of action hits and made "The Passion of the Christ," one of the biggest-grossing movies in recent history, has an anti-Semitic hissy fit, the Big Kahunas of Hollywood are silent. DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, Warners' Barry Meyer, Universal's Ron Meyer, Paramount's Brad Grey — the list goes on and on — are happy to weigh in on censorship and movie piracy. But bad behavior by a big movie star? Not a chance.
Not to let Gibson off the hook, since he is the real bad guy here, but the silence of Hollywood Jews has been responsible for many of the most shameful chapters in industry history. When Hitler was killing Jews in Europe during the Holocaust, Hollywood studio chiefs were largely mum, rarely giving money to Jewish refugees or — God forbid — making movies about the subject until long after all 6 million Jews were dead.
It's telling that she (Sony Pictures' chairwoman, Amy Pascal) didn't say she was outraged; she said she was disappointed in Gibson. I feel the same way about her studio peers. Once again, Hollywood had a chance to do the right thing, and once again it flunked the test. "
"...The world -- the United Nations -- created Israel. It ought to safeguard it. It is the only way.
ReplyDeleteIsrael pulled out of Lebanon in 2000. It pulled out of Gaza last year. It was making plans to pull out of most of the West Bank. Still, the suicide bombings continue, the rockets keep coming down and soldiers get kidnapped, maybe never to be returned. Yet the world, appalled at what it can see on television and untroubled by what it cannot, has had it with Israel. Mel Gibson would understand."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073100927_pf.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20060802/cm_uc_crsesx/susan_estrich20060802&printer=1;_ylt=AjqBOjnF9jwMK59Meu9DjqaWts8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
ReplyDelete"HATERS ANONYMOUS" by Susan Estrich
Wed Aug 2, 6:49 AM ET
The scariest thing about Mel Gibson is that you know lots of people think the same thing: Jews are responsible for all the wars; they run everything. He gets in trouble and his first reaction is to blame a Jew instead of taking responsibility. People do it; countries do it. The only difference is that Gibson got caught red-handed.
An example needs to be made of him. An example of everything that is wrong with a spoiled, self-indulgent, out-of-control, vicious hater.
The question is: Will it be?
Or will he be forgiven?
Blame booze. Sure. But who put those thoughts in his head?
And could it have come at a worse time? Am I the only one who wonders whether Israel is being set up?
The question in Hollywood is whether the Jewish community, which does control so much of this town and of which many members have been Jewish in name only, as well as the non-Jewish community, will do anything about the man who slandered them in his drunken stupor. So far, one studio head has been quoted by name in the press. Just one. Where are the rest? Maybe waiting to see if he has a second act coming (for cheap).
Will they forgive him? Will they help him?
Why bother? One word. It has nothing to do with sympathy, sickness or anything else of that nature. Money. Greed. Or in polite company, business.
Alcoholism is a disease, but hatred is a curse.
Alcoholics deserve help. Haters deserve to be shunned, dropped, dismissed, ties severed. Is there another word?
Why is this so hard in Hollywood? Is it because the competition doesn't have any values either?
Which call would you like to have been on: The one between Gibson and his Jewish agent, or the one planning strategy with his Jewish publicist? How much self-respect can those men have if they still work for him?
At some point, you have to stand up and be counted.
It doesn't matter how much "talent" someone has. I don't care how "good" he is as an actor, how "troubled" he is as a person, how "sorry" he is for what he said, how full of "remorse" he will be for what he's done, or how many good works he does in the future.
This was a guy with a record.
This was a guy with a megaphone, with the ability to influence others, a guy who swore up and down that he wasn't an anti-Semite, a guy who made a movie that people challenged on precisely these grounds, who held himself out as someone to be trusted.
He has a movie coming in December. Will you see it? Who cares how good it is? Why put a penny in his pocket? Why send the message that he should ever work again?
And then there's that project he had so far done nothing on, that project about the little historical incident his father (who, he says, never told him a lie) says never happened, the Holocaust.
Why did Disney give him a project about the Holocaust? Well, you know why -- to clean him up. They're the ones with the December movie. They want to make him look better. The woman whose life it was based on had never even met him. Hollywood.
But the real question about Hollywood is whether this will be one of those moments when people stand up for something, or one when they see the chance of a bargain. Mel Gibson usually makes $20 million a picture. The speculation is that he'll be willing to work for 20 percent of that. Websites are buzzing about how quickly the phones will be ringing at his agency with offers.
No one's betting on principle.