February 27, 2004
THE PASSION OF THE PUNDITS
I'm ambivalent on whether I'll see "The Passion of the Christ". I don't mind splatter-gore, of course, I just don't like a heaping platter of guilt served up with it. And I do renunciation about as well as I do witness.
I'm amazed, though, at the pure fucking hatred leveled at Mel Gibson for this. For six months I was inundated with bile about the anti-Semitic nature of the film from people who hadn't even seen it. When that got no traction, the tack changed to "Mel's making money off the crucifixion of Jesus". Like any of these cornholers cared about the supposed sacrilege of such a thing.
I DO know no one in Hollywood would touch it with a ten foot whirling wenis, which is why Gibson gambled $25 millie of his own coin to produce it, and a like sum to distribute it.
THAT is a cold, calculated risk. One that is paying off for Gibson, although I don't think he cares if he makes a dime. But this whole thing could have turned south on him quickly, which is what the liberati wanted to happen.
Why the hatred? I didn't see any of these people protesting the rave hit "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", which is packin' 'em in in Cairo.
Christians don't bother me. I consider myself one upon occasion, like on those infrequent mornings when I pass the suspicious urinary discharge. And that whole "I'm terrified of the Religious Right" bullshit? I don't recall seeing Bush handle any snakes at his press conferences, or heal any invalids, nor do I remember Rumsfeld pounding a shot of strychnine at his. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed? They are completely marginalized from the political process. Which is fine with me. Bush wants these guys around like he wants an ulcerated dick knob.
Back to my point. The same scum lambasting Gibson over what was, for him, a very personal, very risky, and incredibly important endeavor should hang their heads in shame. The only thing driving them is bigotry and prejudice. Let the man make his movie. And let the market decide. THAT, of course, is precisely what these sack sniffers are afraid of. Freedom of choice, and the free flow of non-sanctioned ideas.