Christian Attitudes

Well, did he or didn’t he apologise? Mel Gibson is a ‘traditionalist’ Catholic stuck in a 1950’s time warp, before the Church began to change its attitude to Jews. Observing his behaviour can be like examining a religious fossil, to discover what life was like in those far off times.

Cathnews tells us Gibson is ashamed of his anti-Semitic outburst. But is he?

The Guardian also says that Mel Gibson apologises for anti-semitic abuse, but then, would the Guardian recognise anti-Semitism if it tripped over it? Julie Burchill stopped working for that paper because she found it too anti-Semitic.

The BBC also tells us that he “says sorry”, but then, what would they know, either? Melanie Phillips notes the strange absence of any mention of his remarks about Jews in their account and asks: "Why was the BBC so determined not to report what Gibson actually said? Just what is it with the BBC and the Jews?"

Read Gibson’s full apology here and notice what is missing.

As this article points out:

And, when he had a chance, a real chance to say, “I want to apologize to the Jewish people for the hideous remarks I made since I do not feel that way at all”, he demurred.

All that can be said in his favour is that at least his prejudice is frank when he is drunk, and he cannot pretend it is something else once he is sober again. He is anti-Semitic and knows it now. At least there is some hope that he might learn from this. He cannot simper virtuously and hide, as some people do, behind the dishonest claim that he is “not anti-Semitic, merely anti-Zionist”. He knows what he is, so perhaps he can do something about it.

For those who delude themselves that their hatred is virtue, there seems little hope