Mel isn't the only sinner

Dallas Morning News | Rod Dreher:

“Yes, Mel [Gibson] was wrong, said my friend [J.], but consider that he was raised by a Holocaust-denying kook of a father. Could either of us, J. went on, say with complete certainty that the racism we grew up around had been entirely eradicated from our souls? We think we've put that all behind us, said J., but is it not possible that under the right conditions, either of us right-thinking Southern white boys could shock ourselves by what came out of our mouths – and our hearts?”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Mr Dreher calls Mel Gibson a "fellow Christian" and admits loving and defending The Passion of the Christ against charges of anti-Semitism. Now that Mr Gibson's anti-Semitism is on display for all to see, Mr Dreher is suffering a severe case of buyer's remorse. He struggles to come up with explanations for Mr Gibson's anti-Semitism, reasons that will defend Mr Gibson's Passion itself from the stain of anti-Semitism.

So, according to Mr Dreher, we're all racist at heart. We're all capable of uttering equally ugly things. Mr Dreher pairs Mr Gibson and his drunken rant against Jews with a Louisiana woman who, from a sense of white Southern paternalism, helps rescue a local African-American church from possible bankruptcy. What the heck?

Mr Dreher says the woman should be forgiven because she isn't aware that her paternalism is a form of racism. And then he somehow jumps to the conclusion that just maybe Mel Gibson isn't aware that it might be racist to say "F#@*ing Jews...The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." That's one enormous benefit of the doubt. Even if Mr Gibson were somehow completely clueless about what racism is, how can Mr Dreher even suggest some kind of rough equivalence between well-intentioned paternalism and virulent hatred?

We all may have faults, but I deny that we all share Mel Gibson's level of bigotry. And if I ever say anything that reveals the faults that my lie deep inside me, I hope Mr Dreher and others will speak up and call me on it. And not find excuses for unacceptable behavior just because the speaker directed a movie that I am now forced to see through new eyes... and maybe not like what I see quite as much as I did before.