Harvey to Mel -- Get Real

I'm sorry for neglecting my blog, but it's really been crazy this week.

So much has happened so quickly, I wanted a little time to reflect. Initially, I had harsh comments about Mel Gibson, but as the week wore on, I started having conflicting feelings. On the one hand, Gibson was really on the ropes and maybe he did really want help. On the other hand, it's very difficult to get past his anti-Semitic rant.

But I now have some conviction on how I feel. I'm not buying Mel Gibson's p.r. In his second statement, Gibson says "I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display...." Guess what? That's pretty much the definition of anti-semitism: A deep-seeded hatred toward Jews. Notice, Gibson did not blame the remarks on alcohol -- he said he was trying to understand how he could utter those words.

That said, it leads me to the fundamental problem with Mel's mea culpa. In the statement Gibson insists "...I am not an anti-Semite." By his own admission, yes he is.

If Gibson simply acknowledged his anti-Semitism and vowed to take steps to understand why and then do something about it, I would respect that. But Gibson did the opposite. He denied the obvious because he didn't like the label, and then offensively tried to manipulate the Jewish community by disingenuously asking for its help.