Why Is Mel Gibson’s Rant Newsworthy?

On July 15, 2010, in Culture, media, by Paulie

Let me cut to the chase. Mel Gibson is friggin’ billionaire. He became famous because he was a handsome Aussie and starred in several cool action flicks. He has become a talented director and happened to produce the most successful religious movie in history. Great. He’s a Hollywood star. And he has a temper and a drinking problem.

So what.

I feel sorry for the man on a personal level. As the son of an alcoholic I know first hand that alcoholism is a horrible thing. He has many demons to face and he may never conquer them. That is sad. But why is his verbal abuse worthy of news saturation and airtime, especially given the enormity of our current political and economic climates?

I could continue to point out the many problems we face in America, but I think my point is clear. We are fiddling as Rome is burning. Our president cares more about playing golf, meeting celebrities and spending time with athletes — his image — than he does about his job as the leader of the free world. Someone needs to slap him in the face and remind him that he is the PRESIDENT now. It’s time to stop campaigning, stop blaming others, and stop playing games. It’s bad enough that he sucks as a president, but he is doing a massive disservice to the black community by wasting his self-proclaimed historic and  unprecedented achievement in November 2008. And before you start the spam and hate flames, I despise Barack Obama because he is 100% liberal, not because he is 50% black. Race has nothing to do with my opinions. This is about POLICY. This is about Obama’s political ADD. This is about a man neglecting his duties.

But does America care about any of this? Obviously not. We are more concerned with who’s “got talent,” who can create the most provocative music video, or who can generate the most vile rant. We have become a nation weened on “Beavis and Butthead,” “Jackass” and “Big Brother.” When a college teacher is unable to tell you what year our country declared its independence, you have serious problems as a community. Mel Gibson is wrestling with his demons, and the only reason we are talking about this is because we as a nation have the internet, YouTube and web sites that exist merely to expose personal strife for personal gain. America is sick and in need of some emergency surgery. Start with turning off the television and opening a book.

Spread the word!
  • RSS
  • Slashdot
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • email
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • MySpace
  • Ping.fm
  • Add to favorites
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Reddit
  • Technorati
  • Yahoo! Buzz
Tagged with: