Scare Tactics

Stations of the Crass

Today's column from Maureen Dowd melds two very current topics, the latest Bush proclamation on marriage and the latest Mel Gibson bloodbath. As you've probably guessed, she and I have problems with both; the former has asked that we write bigotry into the Constitution, and the latter has reawakened the notion of Jewish blood-guilt that had remained dormant for years.

What disturbs me about this is not that they're saying what they're saying--that is, after all, what the First Amendment assures their right to do, and I can't support my own right to have this site without supporting their right to say things that I can't stand to hear--but that their speech is attracting so many listeners, as it were. Bush has drawn a good deal of fire from folks at the New York Times, but I'm not so blinded by the opinions of my close friends as to think that there aren't those, like Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council, who thrilled at every word of his announcement and only wish he'd go further. Gibson, too, has found his audience, and he deserves credit; he worked the media and the public more effectively than anyone could have expected, getting huge crowds (estimates are in at $15-20 million for the first day) to see a subtitled movie so violent that one woman in Kansas died just watching it. I should include the disclaimer that I won't see his film in theatres, if at all. I don't want to give him any of my money or support his worldview. But it doesn't matter what I think: offending the Right in America makes you a pariah, offending the Left makes you a hero--at least to anyone who would boycott a movie or a company. Gibson and Bush have both hewed to a line that keeps them in the good graces of those most likely to squeak if not oiled. That doesn't mean the line is right.