Mel Gibson: Forgivably Nuts.

Wow! Another in defense of Mel Gibson article! Maybe one day I will do one that's not about him. Honestly, this wasn't the way this paper was planned to go.

So, yeah. I defended Mel Gibson's crazy Anti-Semitic comments sometimes ago in an article that as I read it now, comes off perhaps as Anti-Semitic as he would seem to be. A very embarrassing article written years ago, that I have begged Herc Isadore to destroy to no avail. Tonight I find myself unable to sleep, having spent the better part of the night up searching out a tape of him (Mel) psychotically shrieking at his wife, threatening her with death, confessing to beating the shit out of her while she was holding her baby, and making I think nasty racial comments about pretty much every ethnicity known to man. I hate to say it, but even now I feel more sad for Mel than anything else. Probably something wrong with me, right?

That's not to say that I agree with any of the shit he's shrieking. Just that I think his wife...or ex-wife...or whatever that situation is, is right. He needs help. Medication. Bipolar I think. Reminds me of a friend of mine. Just listening to the tape left me with this taste of metal in my mouth, it reminds me so much of him. I feel like one day that will be my old friend, and a mixture of relief and guilt that I can't be there for him. But what can you do, really? People need to face their demons, and accept the help that medical science can provide. Hopefully this situation will help Mel (and many others with bipolar disorder and/or other rage issues/conditions) to do that. I can't be angry at him, even now. Well maybe a little bit angry, but mostly sad.

Right now people are going to be going after him. I think especially the Atheist community, which I am almost a part of, as I like bitching about religion with the Atheists sometimes (an agnostic myself). But I feel like it's kind of sad, situations like these where someone has been so inspirational to the Christian community, and now it seems like he's let everybody down, and the Atheists will seem so gleeful about it, hopping up and down declaring that this is the seedy underbelly of the Christian faith or what not, and I think it just isn't fair to rejoice in the downfall of our heroes like that.

I dunno...maybe I am too easy on celebrities. I do love them so. I still think OJ is probably innocent even...because you know...he was NORDBERG. He can't be a killer! But anyway, I'm not even gonna go there.

I really respect Mel's wife and what she did. And I hope that she is safe from him. I also hope that now he will see what's become of himself, and gets the help he needs, and not do anything to hurt himself either. I love Mel Gibson. I know maybe listening to shit like this I should hate him, but I just can't. I grew up idolizing him. It was his Hamlet that got me into Shakespeare! But that's not really even the point. He seems repugnant now of course, but if you can care enough to look beyond that, he is obviously sick. I want him to get better, and be a good father to his daughter, and a good ex-husband to his ex-wife, and do Lethal Weapon 5 if we can get Danny Glover to take him back.

Get better, Mel. Some of us are still rootin' for ya.

-Beth Macbeth.