Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

Are You Now, Or Have You Ever Been, An Anti-Semite? Volokh conspirator David Bernstein draws parallels between a possible organized boycott of Mel Gibson and the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s.

More excuses to bash The Passion of the Christ. Some commenters to this Daily Kos post use the story as an excuse to criticize the film.(Commenter Valtin is not one of them.) Everyone who has any interest in the film should read Dennis Prager's review. This passage is worth noting:

[A] Christian who hates Jews today for what he believes some Jews did 2,000 years ago only reflects on the low moral, intellectual and religious state of that Christian. Imagine what Jews would think of a Jew who hated Egyptians after watching "The Ten Commandments," and you get an idea of how most Christians would regard a Christian who hated Jews after watching "The Passion."

Humor from an unexpected source. Kos contributor Salo channels a fictional Ann Coulter take on the incident, focusing on one specific remark of Gibson's.

Leftist hypocrisy. At Liberty Film Festival, commenter Direct Current observes that Mel's critics on the left often tolerate or even extol antireligious bigotry, including antisemitism. I would add another hypocrisy: those who are more critical of Mel than of anti-Israeli terrorist organizations and the Middle Eastern societies that tolerate and/or abet them.

Mel Gibson for UN Secretary General. So suggests David Frum. He is seconded by Michael Medved, according to another Direct Current comment in the aforementioned LFF post.

Mel's next movie role? At Kesher Talk, Hila (second commenter) sees a resemblance to Sadam Hussein. At least Mel never launched Scud missiles at Tel Aviv.

Update: Andrew Sullivan needs to get out more:

Here's David Frum, who uses the occasion to suggest Gibson's anti-Semitism qualifies him to become head of the U.N. Can you imagine him taking such a jocular approach if, say, Louis Farakhan had been ranting similar things about Jews?

Sully's never heard Farrakhan jokes?