The Mel Gibson Mess

What I fear is some of those good people, who don’t go to movies, but flocked to see The Passion of the Christ are tacitly agreeing with Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic statements, even as he more or less denies them.  I’m afraid they may be glad a big celebrity gave voice to their beliefs.  Because I write Southern novels, I tour the South.  I’ve spoken to groups in beautiful homes, stuffed with antiques, where even at 10:00 AM a miasma of bourbon floated from the thick, silk drapes and Oriental carpets.  When I said I was Jewish a frisson rippled through the well-dressed crowd.  They were invariably polite, but it was clear, I was no longer “their kind.”  I am also afraid some of the not-so-closeted anti-Semites in bars and back-yards not just in the South but across the country are nodding their heads and saying, “You tell it like it is, Mel.”