SHE'S GOT LEGS
There are some stories in the press that have legs, whether it’s simply newsworthy or for sensationalist reasons. For example, let’s take the recently released rants (for lack of a better word) of Mel Gibson. Ahhh Mel, it’s hard not to type your name without shaking my head in disbelief - and then laughing my ass off. This story, like it or not, has legs (and hence why I must revisit it). Sensational legs actually, that are as long as Elle Macpherson’s. Now, I’m not saying this story is news (cause the way I define ‘news’, it is far from it) but it has sensationalism in spades, which in today’s world, trumps news any day. In this case, it is chock full of drama, debauchery, violence, and the downfall of a public figure. All the things most people love and usually get from their soap operas….I love it when the veneer cracks, don’t you??
The interesting subject it raises for me, other than why isn’t this man in 24-hour anger management classes with a touch of shock therapy thrown in (you threaten to kill a woman I figure it’s the least you deserve), is the racism and misogyny issue. Let’s just wrap those two issues in one, shall we, and call it a hatred for anything other than one's perfect self. Here’s the thing, the man in question, Mr. MG, is clearly heard on all these tapes hurling every offensive epithet one can think of, and he does so with a vitriol of the likes I’ve never heard. Now, saying this, I’m sure there are many out there in the privacy of their own homes doing the very same thing, I’m just glad I don’t live there. But that’s not the interesting part - at least not to me. What is interesting is the dialogue this kicks up in regards to what constitutes racism. Whoopi Golberg just came out in some sort of defense of Mel G, saying she’s known him for years, he’s hung out with her kids, and he may have overstepped the mark with his words (um, you THINK?), but he’s not a racist. And she knows this cause she’s black.
Okay, let’s give her the benefit, and say that she’s had a very nice friendship with him over the years, and he’s taken her kids to ice cream, sweet Uncle Mel. But my thought is this, his hatred is in there, percolating, and just because he is down with Whoopi, does not mean he is down with all black people. In fact, he not only thinks they're rapists, but in my book, if you can whip out the N word (amongst other slurs) and use it with such force you have some serious issues that need tending to. But that’s me.
Then I wonder, if you’re racist against one group, but accepting of another, what exactly are you? Selectively racist? Discriminatory? “Well, he loves black women, but those Jews, they started all the wars.” (his words, NOT mine). And from what I’ve heard on those tapes, MG is neither selective nor discriminatory when it comes to whom he hates, he throws them all in the big boiling cauldron to meet their death. In my book, hatred of differences is just that, hatred. And epithets, although easy to say they’re just words, are words - words with power and history behind them that should not be thrown around lightly.
The other interesting thing is the whole misogyny thing – which I think gets a sad backseat to the racism. Cause in my book, there are people out there who hate women right up there with other minorities. Not to mention, far too often, this hatred turns into violence, which often goes unchecked and unreported. So if Whoopi wants Mel, hell she and her kids can have him, I’m more worried about him burying women in his rose garden. It is also interesting how many people have come out and said that due to the fact that his ex girlfriend – Oksana whatever her name is – is a ‘slutty gold-digger’, and I quote, ‘drove him to it’ she somehow deserves what she is getting. I see, that old ‘if I wear a short skirt, I’m asking for it’ argument.
People, he picked her, and it wasn’t for her intellect. He then of course showered her with money, knocked her up, and did all this behind his wife’s back. I can’t say I’m going to feel too sorry for him at this point. As for her, fine, maybe she did have an agenda – many do - and maybe she is as manipulative and duplicitous as they come (well done with the taping sistah!), but he still could’ve walked away – & never cheated on his wife in the first place! - without morphing into the racist, violent HULK….who is of course, is still very religious and a man of God! Praise Jesus.
Ohhhh the irony is what keeps me alive.