Mel Gibson says he was close to suicide before making this movie and that it saved his soul. He also says that his wife will burn in Hell because she isn't Catholic.

Contrary to the Church's doctrines and historians like Flavius Josephus, he portrays Pilate as the poor civil servant devoid of choice and the Jews as evil, and he shows them as physically similar to Jews of today. At a time when anti-semitism is so rampant in Europe that the French police do not even investigate the murder of Jewish schoolchildren in their playgrounds, and when terrorists are trying to turn anti-semites to their cause, this film is not very well timed, to say the least.

I'm not against paying ballplayers a quarter billion dollars, or actors even more for their services. And the truth is that Mel Gibson is one of my favorite actors. I had the Road Warrior before it even came out in the US. But he's a nut (who usually plays nuts in his movies) and should not be trusted with displaying his own version of the events, especially at this time, just to make himself feel better. Not when it could result in the forfeiture of lives and social unity.

He says he loves all peoples, and that we all are sinners including Jews. But that does not give him the right to single them out to show the rest of the world why they are sinners. Just because he claims it wasn't his "intention" to single them out does not mean that he isn't doing great harm.

And I don't even blame him. Before Hollywood, acting used to be considered a very low-class method of earning a living. Now we turn actors into role models. At what point did we vet them for ethics and intelligence?

We're the idiots.

Do you have a reference that substantiates this? It seems a little over the top.

It may even be in this quick google search. From a quick scan, most links seem to refer to the French government's promises to pursue these matters, something they have not yet done.

It's not a simple issue. IIRC, there is a huge population of Palestinian immigrants in France, most of whom are poor. The French government is afraid of igniting any spark there.

These people are also becoming a large political force in France. Just these two pressures alone prevent the French from pursuing such matters. But this is spreading to Belgium and even England.

I don't know how politically knowledgeable you are, but the Europeans generally view government differently from the way Americans do. The USA is big on civil liberties and self-direction, which is how we define democracy. Europe, on the other hand, views government as being charged with providing order. For example, they say the Axis powers as the outgrowth of free elections, which showed the futility of the masses trying to govern their own affairs. The US saw the war as being won because of the industriousness of free people.

This is a whole subject in itself, and has implications regarding the US not joining the world court (a democracy of *governments*) and how our president deals with the United Nations, sometimes ignoring them and acting unilaterally.

Anyway, I'm glad you now seem interested in the repercussions of Mad Max's actions.

• quick google search

That there is a centuries old "tradition" of anti-semitism in western Europe there is no doubt. That it parallels the black racisim of the US is also quite true.

But open season on school children? Unsubstantiated

You're right, I can't find the reports of children dying in the schollyards. I tried the Weisenthal site where I found http://www.wiesenthal.com/social/press/pr_item.cfm?itemID=5852, but I can't find the list of incidents in France that is mentioned.

As for attacks on children in French schools, there is http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=151220&contrassID=3&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0

For a list of anti-semitic acts in Europe including people being killed in France and Tunisia, there is http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=169625&contrassID=2&subContrassID=15&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

For firebombings of schools and houses of worship in France only until about a year ago, there is http://www.coldfury.com/Sasha/archives/003553.html

So maybe I spoke out of turn. I thought those killed were the schoolchildren in the kindergarten schoolyard that was attacked by teenagers. I can't that particular incident right now. However, there were killings and there were attacks on schools.

"That there is a centuries old "tradition" of anti-semitism in western Europe there is no doubt."

What all these reports agree upon is that anti-semitism in (all of) Europe is *growing* at an alarming rate. Many agree that anti-semitism is a barometer of social intolerance in general. No, I won't do searches on that.

"That it parallels the black racisim of the US is also quite true."

Only in that it is a barometer. There is an alarming amount of racism and bigotry all over the world. Some believe that the tribe (or gang) mentality was a survival mechanism for humans in the past and is therefore a natural phenomenon. I think we all agree that acts of bigotry have no place in the modern world, so fueling the bigotry itself is inappropriate.

"But open season on school children? Unsubstantiated"

I'll agree that I have not found mention of deaths due to attacks in schoolyards so I spoke out of turn, but these attacks are prevalent and documented above.(I used to have a link to an Israeli site on anti-semitism in Europe until my computer crash and I remember that incident clearly. I also had links to problems in Thailand, the middle and far east, especially a news site discussing anti-chinese prejudice in Malaysia. In that regard you are right, it is all the same problem).

But we still disagree. To me, just because I can't quickly find links to the deaths of these particular schoolchildren does not mean that, as you put it, saying it's open season on schoolchildren is quite over the top. One teenage boy was stabbed 27 times, two young girls were hurt in their schoolbuses, and other schools and schoolbuses were firebombed. Rabbis and businessmen were attacked, some were killed. You may take me to task personally for not being able to document a particular incident, but I do not believe that you can discount the fact that there is a growing problem that does not need to be fueled.

Also documented above is Chirac's early denial of any anti-semitism in France until a year or so ago. This denial led to the paucity and brevity of investigations surrounding these incidents. And this is just in France, which was only used as an example.

So I still think the point, that it is irresponsible for Gibson to ignite a powder keg of (documented) emerging anti-semitism, stands.

So I'm silent about anti-semitism, anti-muslimism, anti-christianty, anti-hinduism or anti-atheism. Damnit, I left out the Buddists and the Zoroastrians. Well, I'm gonna be silent about their dissenters too. Seems better to be "for" something than "against" something, but I'm sure in no position to judge. I just hope that I can be cool sometimes.

I agree with your idea that intolerance and bigotry act as a sort of barometer of social unrest. It does seem to come in waves, and it does seem that people are more tolerant when they are secure and happy. I guess that's pretty much a no-brainer. When we see someone that is intolerant, we're probably looking at someone who is scared, angry or hungry. Something like that. If we see a whole culture become that way, then a large part of the culture is probably scared, angry or hungry. The ones that aren't are probably agitated by the ones that are, so the social mood swells.

I also agree with your hypothesis that gang mentality might be a survival mechanism for humans, with long roots back into tribal cultures. That is an interesting observation, and one that I agree with. Sounds reasonable. One would like to think that if they were in a culture that was doing something really stupid, they would buck the system and go towards the side that wasn't being so stupid. But I don't guess we get to see how we'll really react until we're in the soup.

I find it perfectly plausible that children might have been murdered, on a playground or otherwise, under the killer's assumption that they were Jewish (even though I didn't see any reference to such an act). clearly, Israeli citizens of all stripes are quite likely to be murdered by Palestinians while they go about their normal everyday lives.

What I refuse to accept is the "uninvestigated" part of your assertion, as in depraved governmental indifference to the murder of children in schoolyards. I don't believe any government would sanction such a thing.

As to whether it's a growing problem, that's open to investigation. You may remember quite a period of insanity in the US a couple of years ago when many were claiming the black churches were being burned in some sort of coordinated effort. There were rallies and vigils all over the country. Politicians jumped on the band wagon as they are wont to do, promising investigation and punishment (see link below for summary).

In fact, more white churches had burned than black and black church burings were at an historical low. Federal and private groups were only able to link something like 20 percent of all fires to racially motivated arson. An equal number of black churches were burned by blacks, some in arson-for-insurance fires. In short, the massive country-wide arson attack on black churches was a creation of the media supported and promoted by interested parties.

Like the tidal wave of anti-semitism you cite, there was plenty of reason to believe it was true. There were dozens upon dozens of articles in the press. Many awful things had happened in the past that gave an air of credibility to the claims. But in the final analysis the arson free-for-all did not exist.

Fixation, obsession, media attention, and grandstanding all conspired to build a public perception that did not have any basis in reality. The truth with respect to the church fires is evident - nearly 10 years later you'll be hard pressed to find any ongoing claims or records of prosecutions that substantiate the earlier hysteria.

• http://archives.cjr.org/year/96/5/churches.asp