August 4, 2006
In Vino, Veritas?
In wine, truth. When one is drunk they speak their truth. I've always hated that conundrum. It is at least two millenia old, but it is the falsest, the most bullshit of truisms. I recoil at the mention of the phrase.
And, yes, I will speak of Mel Gibson, and his anti-Semitic diatribe against his arresting officer. I didn't want to. Swore I wouldn't.
I like Mel. Think he makes good cartoons that pass for movies. But I have no truck with his statements upon being arrested for DUI, and his subsequent anti-Jew statements to his arresting officer. But let us explore what he really did.
Gibson is an alcoholic. No issue there. He'll brag about it as he has an AA meeting on set. What he told that cop was not anti-Semiticism to me, though. It was drunkard anger. I know this horrible thing. I've been in my cups, and you may have been too, when you were in a situation where you knew you were fucked, and you reached for the biggest shit bat you could find to hurt the person fucking your world. Been there.
Oh, I've been there. It is a defense mechanism. What will hurt them most? In this case Gibson had a Jewish arresting officer. So he played the Jew card. If the officer had been Turkish he may have played the Armenian card.
But, the fact remains, Mel was raised by a psycho fringe Papist dad who filled his head full of crazy shit about Jews. Fair enough. Not Mel's problem, though.
Mel's problem is alcohol, and how drunken people hurt each other with it. My point?
There isn't Truth In Alcohol. Cocksucking bullshit. Look: we all have a bit of nastiness in us which we let fly when we are drunk. Phrases, words, designed to hurt. I'm guilty. Way fucking guilty. But it is only the evil part of us. Not our essential soul that makes us cool 99% of the time.
I went to school at Virginia Heard Elementary, Savannah Country Day, and Emory Law School with unbelievably cool Jewish peeps, so that is not, has never been, my bugaboo. I love the Jewish people. But I can get drunk and tee off on anyone else. You ain't protected. Not because I hate your Moroccan, or black, ass, but because as I am drunk I take the path of least resistance, and slide the stiletto between your ribs.
That's all. Nothing personal. Just something incredibly shameful.
I've seen this evil in me. I've been guilty of it. As for Mel Gibson, I could give a flip shit. Just saying, there ain't no truth in alcohol. But there can be plenty of hate. For a love drug, there can be plenty of hate.
Gibson took the path of least resistance, unfortunately. Sucks, too. What sucks more is the fact that I've been there. I struggle with it, and think I tend to be a nice guy, but who knows? Ultimately it is my friends' call, not mine. What kind of man am I, indeed?
a wicked, wicked man?
there was definitely some troof in that. sounds like it's once again time for the chatham artillery time trials, no? if there's one thing that makes you feel ok spewing hate, it's a parking lot full of equally drunk haters...and a whip don't hurt...and a pimp hat neither.
Posted by: shoe at August 4, 2006 10:02 PMWell, I've seen you in your cups, and you didn't seem to be an especially hateful or obnoxious cove. Gotta watch that "Break Left" thing, though. Yabu's still hurtin' from that move.
Posted by: Elisson at August 4, 2006 10:04 PMA friend is someone who can take in that drunken bullshit, and let it slide. If I'd been called on 1/8 the shit I've said or done when liquored up, I'd be in a hole in the ground now. Luckily I was, instead, surrounded by people who put up with my alcoholic ravings, knowing them for what they are.
Posted by: og at August 4, 2006 10:28 PMHey, now, I was trying to overcome, show Yabu the Love.
Posted by: Velociman at August 4, 2006 10:30 PMWell said, sir, with your usual pithiness. I say right on and amen. In vino est bull manure.
Posted by: Marianne at August 5, 2006 1:10 AMReads to me like even though, you sir, are an asshole, I mean that in a good way, put the whip down. You are a very damned good "look yourself in the mirror everyday honest one".
I ain't no angel either man, but then again, I ain't got Mel's bankroll, nor do I have your propensity for dryer deposits. If I did,(his bankroll) we'd be gettin' drunk somewhere, hell, anywhere. Alas, you'll have to look yourself in the mirror everyday, unless I get a cameo in Lethal Weapon 16. When I get that call, it's on.
Hold your breath ok?
Posted by: RedNeck at August 5, 2006 2:09 AMUs Armenians don't need to be drunk to hate the turks.
Posted by: caltechgirl at August 5, 2006 9:18 PMI ask myself daily, what kind of man is the Velocione - really? Guess I'll never know unless I get within firing range of the chatham artillery.
Posted by: Libby at August 5, 2006 11:24 PMGibson's apple did not fall far from the tree. Like it does with many other things, alcohol, applied liberally, will strip the veneer of civility that has been applied to us and so reveal the darker original.
Jews have their prejudices, too, however. Get one of your jewish friends talking about arabs and muslims. I actually had a jewish friend, an older person with at least one advanced decree, tell me that her rabbi had explained it all to them, and arabs are actually genetically inferior. As a Son of the South, I tried to remember where I had heard that before ...
Posted by: Jack Straw at August 6, 2006 7:17 AMI think that is absolute bullship. Mel Gibson would have no idea the arrresting officer was Jewish, his last name was Mee. How many Jews do yo know with that last name? You may speak ill of the Jews when you're drunk and the Jews may speak ill of the Gentiles even when they're not drunk but you are not in the public eye nor do you make million dollar movies condemning the Jews for the death of Jesus. He's all sorry now that he's sober because the majority of Hollywood is Jewish and rich or not, he like most actors need the adulation of his peers. What he said was hateful and stupid (especially with what is going on in the Middle East) and I believe he meant every work. Stop using the booze as an excuse to be an asshole. Just say no, you know?
Posted by: lauren at August 6, 2006 11:04 PM