Well folks, this topic has been on my mind since it first came up a couple weeks ago. Mel Gibson. Braveheart. Patriot. Mad Max. Lethal Weapon. What Women Want. All these great flicks made by the notorious anti-semite. Well let me ask you this...

What makes YOU better than Mel Gibson?

The guy is really no different than you or me. I used to make fun of all races and I never made a newspaper. I never had any real news stories' attention diverted to me for comments I have made. While I by no means condone any kind of racism or bigotry, you have to admit there are some funny jokes out there. Some are way worse than others, but deep down we are all human beings that when we get surrounded by our own kind, we ultimately feel the most comfortable. Think about it. I am white. I have mostly white friends. I rarely see one white guy hang out with all the same black guys, day after day. Go to a bar and see the grouping of individuals. That to me is an indirect form of racism, most likely started from the day you were born and began making friends. You are raised by your family (for the majority of people as I realize there are definitely exceptions to this rule) which for me was all white. Black people raised by mostly blacks. Chinese by chinese. Get the picture?

I love all people, even the gays. However, I would most likely have an uncomfortable feeling going into a group setting where I am the minority, when I am alone with another group of members of another culture. I do not hate them, I just feel jumpy. Even priests feel this way. The most religious people in the world have racism as well. They do not support Buddha, Allah, Jesus, or whoever you may worship. The religious people feel that other religions do not support a real god. So while they teach to love your brothers on this planet, they are really full of shit because if they 100% believed that then they could walk into any place of worship and preach about any god.

So, back to Mel. While I do not condone him personally verbally attacking a cop who pulled HIM over for drunk driving, I do not think he deserves all the shit he is given. He should be given shit for having no regard for human life for driving drunk. That is irresponsible and should bring him shame for as long as he lives. He should feel guilt every time he hears the news about a death from a drunk driving accident and think "That could have been me."

So maybe he hates the jews, big deal. Jews may hate me. That's not making the news. Blacks hate koreans, Germans hate Jews. Arabs hate Americans. Stereotyping at its best. What is the most publicized form of racism? Arabs hate Americans. Specifically, Muslim extremists. However, as I introduced this topic by only talking generally about Arabs first, most people just picture an entire group of people. It is a shame. Why are we not ragging on Bush and Co. about their racist views on the Middle East?

My bottom line is that we all exhibit racism to some degree. While most of you may not be card carrying Klan members, you may show racism directly or inadvertantly.

The real story about Mel Gibson is that it was another topic that came up while several other major world events were happening with drastic short and long term global effects. Israel, while being attacked as well by a militant group, took out HUNDREDS of innocent civilians and Lebanese military members (who are not a part of the attack against Israel). Several oil leaks or spills or rising oil prices occurred and nobody knows as much about that as they do Mel Gibson. Indonesia gets hit by another tsunami. This world sucks a lot of times, but the stories like Mel Gibson hating Jews distracts us all from that and allows us to focus our negativity on him rather than on real issues.