Traffic Stops and Wake-Up Calls

Two weeks ago Mel Gibson was stopped for drunk driving and in the process of being arrested made several derogatory comments about Israel and Jews. Gibson’s mega-celebrity status, combined with his production of the blockbuster movie, “The Passion of the Christ” a few years ago, itself perceived by many Jews as anti-Semitic, made this a front-page news item. I’d like to look at it on several levels.

First, it is certainly disappointing that Gibson, by all accounts a devoted Catholic and dedicated family man, was driving drunk. He has since acknowledged a problem with alcohol and is seeking treatment. Sometimes incidents like this can be redemptive in forcing someone to confront a personal failing, and we can all wish him the best in this endeavor.

More disappointing are the comments he made, which raise an intriguing question: Does drunkenness cause someone to exaggerate his feelings or does it actually create new feelings? I recall a modern proverb I read once: “Words cannot come out of our mouth that have not had a home in our heart” (or something like that). Drunkenness doesn’t excuse things we say or do. Words and actions come from somewhere within us, even if some things (e.g., drunkenness, peer pressure) exaggerate their expression. Gibson was right to apologize profusely to Jews for his comments; he must take responsibility for them (Hey, here’s an idea for all of us: Don’t get drunk!).

But let’s look at still a different level of this episode, and that’s what happened on the very same day but which received comparatively little news attention. A 30-year old Muslim man named Naveed Afzal Haq brought a pistol to the Jewish Federation office in Seattle and shot six people, killing one woman and injuring five others. One writer described this incident as “one of the most gory anti-Jewish crimes in American history” (Zev Chafets, L.A. Times). And yet how many of you heard this story featured more than just in passing in the news or on the web?

Ready to go to the next level? Take a deep breath now. The reason we heard far more about Gibson’s arrest than about this attempted massacre of Jews by a Muslim man in Seattle is because Gibson is a Christian and the politically correct view in America holds that Christians (re: conservative Christians) are more of a threat to Jews (and to America in general) than are Muslim terrorists. But wait! This man wasn’t a member of Al Queda, Hezbollah, or another “official” terrorist group! He was just a Muslim angry at Jews.

Ready for the final level? Maybe Muslim anger at Jews isn’t limited to terrorist groups. Maybe Islamist leaders need to step up and publicly condemn this kind of incident. Maybe American media need to drop their double standard. Do you honestly believe that if a Christian or a Jew had walked into a “Muslim Federation Office” in a major city and attempted to massacre Muslims, we wouldn’t hear repeated news reports warning about a possible pernicious spread of Islamo-phobia in America? Of course we would.

Maybe it’s time for Americans to wake up. A Muslim American walks into an office building on American soil and guns down American Jews, and we’re preoccupied with what a drunken actor says during a traffic stop?