Angelina WagnerThe big news story this week was the release of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” The controversy surrounding the movie has been the “is it Anti-Semitic or isn’t it” argument.
It’s a well-known fact that Gibson’s father belongs to a conservative Catholic sect that has denied the Holocaust happened. The media and prominent figures fused Gibson’s father’s remarks with the violent nature of the movie and called the movie blasphemous against the Jewish race.
I can guarantee you that if this was a movie that showed Catholic people in a negative light, the media would hardly even touch it. Why is it fair game to criticize and sensationalize the Catholic religion and its members but once another religion or race is touched, people cry prejudice?
There have been countless movies, plays and songs that have been made to depict Catholics in the most horrible way possible and for some reason it is acceptable in society. It is unacceptable to be anti-Semitic but it is OK to be anti-Catholic. They’re both forms of bigotry, whether you want to admit it or not, but one is permitted and one is not.
When Trent Lott said a nice thing about one-time segregationist Strom Thurmond he was branded a bigot by the media and politicians, particularly Democrats, until he resigned. When Bill Clinton spoke highly about William Fulbright, a segregationist senator from Clinton’s home state of Arkansas, no one blinked an eye. Why did the media hunt down Lott and leave Clinton alone?
Spike Lee can talk about how he thinks Charlton Heston should be shot for being in the National Rifle Association without any outrage. Jesse Jackson can call New York City a “Hymie town” and only have to issue an apology. Hilary Clinton can make a remark about Gandhi owning a gas station in the south and the matter is blown over in less than a week. It is OK for liberal folks to make these kinds of statements, but Republicans cannot.
This imbalance in how some cultures are fair game and some are not is a major evil in the world today. How one thing can be prejudice and another thing is not does not make sense, but it is tolerated. It’s a shame, really.
Posted to the web by Lauren Joseph
