MEL IN HELL

 
 
 
It has long been a mystery to me how the likes of such theologically exclusionist bigots like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Tom Delay so shamelessly patronize the orthodox Jews, the Zionists and the Israeli fascists with such apparent, effortless impunity. The first question an inquiring observer would have to ask him/herself is, are the Jews actually falling for this? Don’t they realize that according to Protestant fundamentalist doctrine and even the admissions of conservative Roman Catholics like Mel and Mel's father, Jews will be forced to convert or be put to the sword in the last days.  
 
Not having a great depth of historical knowledge on the subject of Jewish accommodation with oppressors, but having a more than passing familiarity with my many friends and family who are members of the tribe, I can say that Jews have frequently sought to mollify and appease potential oppressors because they possess the belief - call it faith - that they can ultimately outsmart and even make goyem their servants. Of course European history is replete with some notable exceptions. Still the Jews and especially the Israelis are basking in the largess of a bought and paid for U.S. Congress thanks to AIPAC as well as enthusiastic support from the Christian religious right. That side of the equation is not hard to understand. I'm sure the Jews know on what side the matzo is buttered. They probably even enjoy the thought of playing these fundamentalist rubes for all they are worth. They are not crazy enough to believe that there is a chance in Sheol that the Book of Revelation will actually come to pass. After all, it's not even in their book.  
 
The most interesting observations to be made, I think, center on the other side of the equation: the Christian zealots and the kind of cognitive dissonance that must be chafing them raw. I'm sure none of them actually like Jews. At least I have not heard of hoards of evangelicals descending on Jewish homes to help with the lighting of the chanukiah or celebrating bar mitzvahs. The Jews are to them nothing more than the way to the ends of the end time fulfillment. Israel must be restored in all its prophesied glory in order that the law be fulfilled. Being Old Testament literalists, many bizarre hoops must be negotiated before the Son can return in all his glory. I'm sure that the requirement for these old anti-Semites to put on a smiley face around these Christ-killers must produce a no small amount of tension. Never mind that these blood-thirsty Bible Belters are just lusting for the day when they can put Shylock to the sword, it must be very stressful to keep these emotions under wraps - perhaps even from themselves. 
 
Suddenly along comes Hollywood's family-values-man, fair hared boy, Mel with cheek - to upset the apple cart. Mel's little accident with the bottle, an automobile and LA's finest was not a really an accident. I think it was one of those little zeitgeist, psychic pre-shocks that erupts sometimes when the pressure builds a little too fast and a little to hard. Poor Mel's incident was just a little manifestation - a small revelation of the dark geologic forces of anti-Semitism that lurks beneath all this apparently benign smiley-faced end time theology.  
 
Professor Davis is right - there is a truth that can manifest itself when the alcohol loosens the tongue and the inhibitions. Suddenly the mask can drop and like Jamie Tyrone in A Long Day's Journey into Night you can tell all the damning secrets of your tormented soul about what a back-stabbing louse you have been all your days - secrets that can destroy the carefully constructed façade that has been built up over a lifetime.  
 
The shock of hearing of Mel's outrageous anti-Semitic statements is seconded only by the shock of this evidence of his falling off the wagon. I am not familiar with Mel's psychological history, but I do know that he attributes Jesus (and his wife) for cleaning up his act.  
 
Kind of reminds you of someone else we know and love to hate doesn’t it? There have been unfounded rumors from time to time that our own King George II has fallen off the wagon. I have heard some mental health professionals argue that, considering George's history, predisposition and the monumental stress he must face on a daily basis, it is only a matter of time until he goes back to the bottle. What about Jesus? People ask. No, they say, Jesus alone, without professional help, is not enough to conquer an addiction as pernicious as alcoholism. What do you bet these are not evangelical mental health professionals? To my knowledge, George Bush is not receiving and has never received treatment for his disease. Like the Scientologists, fundamentalist Christians cast a suspicious eye on such demonic arts as psychoanalysis, drug treatment therapies and any healing modality that does not employ regular, daily doses of the Holy Spirit. I once again cannot claim any expertise in this area or access to studies relating to the drug/alcoholism relapse frequency of Christians not on secular treatments compared to non-believers on secular treatment programs. Sounds like a great idea for a DMH study. I bet it has never been done. My anecdotal speculation is that I wouldn’t give a rat's tail for the chances of Jesus alone to cure alcoholism. Mel has just become the new poster boy for my assertion.  
 
I wish I had the time or the interest to really give Mel's attempt to shovel this latest bit of do-do back off the media carpet the attention it deserves. Unfortunately the misadventures of what passes for the lusty, capricious and self-destructive behavior of our present day re-incarnations of the ancient Roman gods and goddesses hold less than no interest for me. I'm sure it will be interesting and bizarre as all such frantic attempts to re-adjust the torn scenery that hide the deeper truths are. Perhaps as you read this, Dominic Dunne is already beginning his first draft for Vanity Fair. 
 
Robert Boldt 
 
[IMG]http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/bboldt2/MelSml.jpg[/IMG] 
 

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RE: The Passion of St. Mel

Is it wrong for me to assume that Jews think that Jesus was a hoax or as one said on a news program the other night, "THE biggest lie of all time". So now all of these folks that are throwing rocks at Mel Gibson are getting into the boat with the Jews? is that it ? or have I missed something deeper here. 
 
It seems to me IF the Bible IS the way to heaven and the Bible teachs me that the Jews hung my savior, Jesus Christ on a tree then I could give doodly-squat what is said by some hollywood actor about that tribe of people. Billy Graham says "he is the way and the light" and that's good enough for me and Billy wasn't too fond of them (the Jews) either for the same reasons. 
 
 
It would be interesting if a Poll was to be taken that was believable and just see what the numbers would reveil about the silent majority that is without Poncius Pilot or Abie Pearlman controlling the votes or leaning on the scales of justice. I don't feel you can categorize every person. This country is more complex than that and our faith in Jesus and GOD is solid. It appears that everybody is out of step but us. Is that possible? 
 

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Dbark - Defender of the Faith

First of all, I want to commend Dbark for stepping, like Daniel, into this forum of iniquity. Perhaps he is not familiar with the writings of our editor Walter A. Davis on the subject of fundamentalist Christianity.  
 
All that aside, I would like to respond point by point to Dbark and his passionate response to the editorial. 
 
Do the Jews think that Jesus was a hoax or 'the greatest lie of all time"? I think that characterization of Judaism's belief concerning Christianity's central figure may be unduly harsh. Anecdotally, the Jewish scholars, rabbis, and believers that I know really don't care anything for the debate concerning the search for the historical Jesus. After all, it is of no concern to their history, doctrine or literature. I think that a lot of Jews would view with a certain amount of amusement and disdain fundamentalist Christian attempts to connect elements of Jesus' life and times with, for example, Old Testament prophesy. None of it really applies to them unless of course they happen to find themselves at the receiving end of a sword in the hands of a Christian during one of their latest pogroms. I suppose if pressed they might grudgingly acknowledge the existence of some Palestinian terrorist who was crucified by a bunch of Italians in the first century of the Common Era. I see no reason to believe that the consensus of Jewish opinion should differ markedly from accepted contemporary Biblical scholarship on the subject. No one really knows for sure who Jesus was, what he believed or if anyone possessing the actual characteristics attributed to him existed at all. The Gnostics have an interesting take on the whole thing which is pretty complex and probably just too confusing for you at this time. I would recommend you go to good old Wikipedia, enter "Historical Jesus" and read a well-researched article on this "greatest lie of all time." Get back to me if you have any questions. 
 
Concerning all "these folks" getting into the boat with the Jews - I think that a definition of terms may be helpful. The difference between Jews, Judaism and the present government of the State of Israel should be kept foremost in our minds in this and all discussions. This is a distinction that many who support Israel (right or wrong) would like to blur as much as possible. As a result you hear criticism of, for example, the injustice of Israel's decimation of Lebanon, as being motivated by anti-Semitism. Similarly any US Congressperson who does not support Israel and condemn Palestine is automatically called anti-Semitic. The assertion that all the folks throwing rocks at Mel Gibson, by which I assume Dbark means former critics of Israel, have somehow now become pro-Israel just because of Mel's anti-Semitic remarks is absurd. Nothing could be further from the truth.  
 
Let's stop talking in the abstract here and just reference one man's position - mine. I am not anti-Semitic. As the expression goes, some of my best friends are Jews. I am definitely not pro Israel right or wrong. Even though I have largely negative feelings toward monotheism, especially in its Big Three manifestations: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and have some pretty unflattering things to say about organized religion in general, I would never denigrate another person's belief system. As I think I tried to make clear in my previous post, the thing that fascinates many critics of fundamentalist Christianity is the latent intolerance and anti-Semitism that lurks just beneath the surface. Scratch a fundamentalist, or get him drunk enough and you'll find an anti-Semite. 
 
I am hoping that you weren't drunk when you wrote this post, because your next statement would be hard for even an impaired St. Mel to surpass for its anti-Semitism. The old dodge, that the New Testament asserts that "the Bible teachs (sic) me that the Jews hung my savior, Jesus Christ on a tree…" has, to my mind, been officially repudiated by nearly all mainstream Catholic and Protestant denominations as well as most fundamentalist sects. Unfortunately not by Mel's father and probably not by Mel either. To make it an article of faith on par with Christian salvational exclusivity I'm sure would get you in trouble with most contemporary believers and probably even with your own spiritual advisor unless you go to Mel Gibson's church.  
 
You should be more careful with your words unless you want to let the cat out of the bag - which is: Christianity is inherently intolerant and anti-Semitic. You are perhaps just too honest for your own good my friend.  
 
Another thing, you are probably right about, but should keep under wraps, is that Billy Graham has been considered to have been quite a Jew hater in his early days. I'm sure Billy would not look too kindly on your spouting such uncomfortable facts like this. Well as they say (in case you really were drunk when you wrote this) "In vino veritas." FYI - that is Latin for "In wine there is truth." (When a person is under the influence of wine he shows himself in his true colors.) 
 
You must forgive me if the thrust of your last paragraph was not immediately apparent to me. I had to give it a couple of reads before I got your drift. Your message (as I think I understand it) is identical with the rallying cry of the religious right in this country for some time: that Christians are a poor oppressed minority under the boot of the state (Poncius (sic)Pilot(sic)) and the dominance (in the case of your paranoid anti-Semitism) of hostile heretical religions and secular humanists (Abie Pearlman?) Please correct me if I've got this all wrong here.  
 
Just an irrelevant aside but I am curious how a good Christian boy like you can get the spelling of the name of perhaps one of the central villains of the New Testament so totally wrong. I myself am a notoriously poor speller, but "Poncius Pilot" - come on! 
 
To address your feelings about Christians being a poor oppressed group in this country - I have good news for you. Americans regard themselves as overwhelmingly Christian in the upper 80 percentiles according to most polls. Imagine how much more dominant your faith would be without the benefit of Pilot's (sick) or Pearlman's elbows on the scale. I am not going to get into an argument with you as to which of these polled Christians are or are not apostates. I will leave the angelic pin-dancing disputes of your cult up to the faithful.  
 
I wish I could agree that everybody in this country is out of step but you. Unfortunately the opposite is true. I'm afraid your ingrained Christian persecution complex will just have to get used to the fact that your side is winning. 
 
Peace unto you, 
 
Bob Boldt 
 
 

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