After TMZ.com broke the Mel Gibson story recently (a feast by itself), I started to check the site out a little more. I had heard about it on the LA station KROQ and to listen to how seriously Harvey Levin takes this stuff, I was excited. A little disappointed, when he could so easily be going after important people, but denying celebs their perceived entitlement is a worthy goal.
So I checked it out today and found this story about Beyonce. The gist of it is that PETA won an auction for a dinner with Beyonce. Mind you, she didn't know it was PETA, and they ambushed her. Or so TMZ described it. I hate to admit I didn't watch the all-important video. All I know is that, no matter what, PETA, as much as I enjoy their sneakiness, had done a stupid, stupid thing.
I posted this quick response, which sums up my beliefs nicely:
"Firstly, I'm a vegetarian. I'm anti-fur, anti-hunting, anti-killing of
anything. And that's good for me. Certainly, I disagree with her wearing
or selling fur. I don't like it. To me, it's tacky and supports a business
with a brutal base. And that's fine for me. But I'm still not going to
join some divisive special interest group like PETA and attack someone for
what they believe. The reason the people of PETA do this, or do anything
for that matter, is that they don't know how to debate. Sure, they give you
some interesting, helpful facts, but then they go and pull shit like this,
making liberals look like completely incompetent, mushy douchebags. PETA
has an agenda, not a set of morals. I may not care for what Beyonce does,
or her music, or what have you, but I would have NO place attacking the
woman. Sure, I probably won't be able to ever wrangle her into a debate,
but I don't care. I'm secure in how I feel and I don't have the agenda PETA
needs to keep itself running and paid for."
Like any comment on an article on the web, this rant was meaningless in the grand scheme. But at least it's gramatically sound, fairly concise (for me) and is genuinely from my heart. I hate PETA. I used to like them, and I really do agree with them. But being a radical is one thing - Being a fucking idiot and in the process making me look like one, is unacceptable. Poo on PETA. Yeah, I said it.
But on to Mel. What a divisive little issue this is. And over the guy who spawned the likes of Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman. We shouldn't care. But he said some stupid shit. While drunk-ish - legally drunk in California is a blood/alcohol level of .08. His was .12. Hardly balls-to-the-wall, choking-on-your-own vomit drunk, and even less so for a confessed alcoholic.
He's got more to deal with than that, though. Something so deep I can't comprehend it. I understand intolerance a little, I suppose. I grew up in the village of Laurens, in upstate New York. With a population of around 1,200, the percentage of white people is effectively 99%. And, though not ashamed, I'm a bit embarassed to admit that, when moving to the big city (Chicago) at the age of 20, I was a little uncomfortable around black people. But in a diverse city, even someone like me, with nasty OCD, can realize my discomfort was completely in my head, especially considering my liberal upbringing. So I kind of sort of understand it.
But look at it this way. Mel Gibson went to my elementary school before moving to Australia. Which says something for the impression that area of upstate must have had on them, that they felt the need to move far enough away that winter was during a different time of year. He came from the same little village, became a success at the hands of jews, and still has this nagging problem. Could be the whole "his dad denies the holocaust" thing. Which I think is where the secret probably lies. I used to blame my hometown for my problems. Then my family - Can't deny they're responsible for some things deep down. But at the end of the day, we're responsible for expressing ourselves, dealing with our problems, forgiving and forgetting, and most of all what comes out of our mouths and teaches our children.
And you don't have just "Fur is Murder" and "Jews are bad" to choose from.
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