On July 12, RadarOnline.com released a recording, allegedly of famed filmmaker Mel Gibson and his former mistress, Oksana Grigorieva, in which Gibson is heard spewing profanity at the mother of his eighth child. The celebrity gossip website has continued to incrementally release recordings that were recorded by Grigorieva over a protracted period of time.

With the latest tape having been released on July 26, the tally of tapes is now at seven, with no one but the celebrity gossip website and those involved knowing what the total count will be.

The tapes that have been released thus far were recorded over a period of about one month in January and February of this year by Grigorieva, after the couple's relationship hit the skids. Besides copious amounts of profanity, the tapes include Gibson allegedly employing racist slurs and threats. At one point the Braveheart star screams that he has the ability to put his Russian pianist co-parent in “a rose garden” — I guess that is supposed to mean that he can put her under the roses. The tapes are now part of an investigation into domestic abuse by Gibson, as well as an investigation into allegations of extortion that have been levied against Grigorieva. There are also rumors that the tapes were edited. Exactly who was responsible for the leakage of the tapes to RadarOnline is still a matter of speculation. Somewhere in the mix is a custody battle over their nine-month-old daughter, Lucia. In short, it's a mess and, regardless of the legal outcome, things do not look good for Gibson.

In early July, Gibson's longtime agent, Ed Limato, known for being one of Gibson's few friends in Hollywood, died. Gibson's agency, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, announced that they would no longer represent Gibson. It is no secret that WMEE head honcho, Ari Emanuel, has had it out for The Passion Of The Christ director since Gibson's 2006 drunken rant in which he stated that Jews are responsible for all wars.

As the Gibson-Grigorieva affair devolves into an epic tit for tat tailor-made for the tabloids, the entirety of the media, it seems, can now be classified as “the tabloids.” Everyone has something to say about the erstwhile couple's implosion, from Fox News to The Huffington Post. Even California Governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped into the fray, albeit jokingly, when he compared the seemingly unending flow of bad news concerning Gibson with the recent unending flow of oil into the Gulf.

There are undoubtedly many who will dismiss the Gibson fiasco as mere celebrity gossip. They are correct in assuming that this is, ultimately, a private matter between all those involved and the proper authorities. However, the fact that Mel Gibson is known in Hollywood for his conservative views cannot be ignored. As such, liberal pundits everywhere are wasting no time in seizing this opportunity to engage in ad hominem attacks against any sort of viewpoint that is anathema to the Left. Gibson, it seems, represents everything that is the Right, at least as the Left sees it.

The atheist and British, liberal banner-bearer Christopher Hitchens is a good example of just how badly the Left's flaccid logic is exposed through their unzipped intellectual fly concerning Gibson's latest fall. Writing for Slate.com, Hitchens uses the occasion to unleash a diatribe against the Catholic Church because he is sure that Gibson's hate-filled rants are owing mainly to his Catholicism.

This sort of lazy cheap shot against a very complex system of thought, based on the actions of a single person that subscribes to it, is indicative of how many are abusing the situation. On The Huffington Post, Jonathan Kim manages to use Gibson as a sort of prefiguring of what he believes is likely to happen with the Tea Party. Of all things to use Gibsongate as a hatchet on, the Tea Party may not be the least likely, but considering that Gibson has no affiliations with the group nor has he ever mentioned them, the comparison comes off as desperate, made by someone glaringly eager to not allow the actor's possible downfall to go to waste. Damian Thompson, writing for the Telegraph, while alleging that Gibson is not even Catholic, documents two more instances of pathetic cheap shots at Catholicism, the worst of which uses profanity, the second being a mean-spirited and unnuanced attack on the priesthood.

We must not forget that what Mel Gibson says in the tapes and the way he allegedly treated Grigorieva is despicable and indefensible, regardless of the reasons, but what intellectual hacks of Hitchens' ilk will never admit is that most of us, liberal or conservative, Christian or atheist, have all indulged in prejudicial, infantile language either in the comfort of like-minded company or in extreme anger — witness the ongoing leftist "JournoList scandal," wherein a whole slew of famous liberals acts in a similar manner. It is certainly no stretch of the imagination to think that Hitchens and Kim have done the same. The only difference is that most of us have not been taped doing it.

Perhaps the most level-headed comment thus far on Gibson's most recent fiasco came from, of all places, actor/writer/director Sylvester Stallone. When asked for his thoughts on Gibsongate in an interview with Access Hollywood, the Rocky star stated, “I just hope that the court of, let's say, fairness just hears it out.... You don't know anything about anybody until you take a walk in his shoes.”

Photo of Mel Gibson: AP Images

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Bob L. said:

Oh boy! Mel has his problems and occasionally "steps in it" but I think a lot of the hoop-la in the effort to totally destroy his career is because of his roles in religious and patriotic films. He is not alone in "Hollywood" controversy but given his conservative history, he is a target of the left. One reason he got sacked by his agency could be because Ari Emanuel is White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's brother. There is nothing like having enemies at the top.

July 29, 2010

Durk said:

... Well, at least you linked to Christopher's article, even if there was nothing in the way of refutation besides a clumsily conceived and poorly phrased dick metaphor. I guess we can't all be as eloquent and bookish as Hitchens. Tell me, have you ever READ anything by Hutton Gibson? I thought not.

July 29, 2010

stann said:

The Religious Right Won't Accept Responsibility For It's Actions "The atheist and British, liberal banner-bearer Christopher Hitchens" Hitchens is an American Citizen and one of the most vocal suppoters of the war in Iraq. The Religious Right is emotionally incapable of distinguishing between liberal and atheist. This is why religious tea partiers are trying to cleanse it's ranks of non-religious libertarians. The Religious Right bet it's lot on a foul-mouthed, bigotted, alcoholic, cult member who to a break from making bloody & violent movies, to making a bloody and violent movie about a certain god. Man-up and deal with it.

July 29, 2010

My Two Cents.... said:

... Everyone should consider the wisdom - "He who is without sin, cast the first stone." We all fall short....and will someday be accountable for our actions. The religious, non-religious and the atheists.

July 29, 2010

Jack said:

The most astute criticism that can be made ... ... is that based on his 'despicable and indefensible' actually ARE the logical conclusions of his beliefs. Mel Gibson, good Catholic and terrible human being. Why is it that people seem to think these two descriptions are mutually exclusive? Has it not been repeatedly proved time and again that religion, despite it's noble aims, is rather easily perverted to justify ignoble actions? And stop saying atheists are on the left, it's a gross mischaracterization. Our non-belief has nothing whatever to do with our politics.

July 29, 2010

Red Pill Please said:

Psalm 53:1 ~ KJV The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. While Mel Gibson is dealing with his own damaging demons, Christopher Hitchens brings the 53rd Psalm to light, while attempting to bask in it.

July 29, 2010

Chris Moore said:

If the Religious Right Naturally Ends at Gibson's Behavior... Then that's one hell of a lot better a place than where the atheist Left naturally ends: Trotsky, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot... I'd hold up Gibson's resume, warts and all, favorably to theirs any day of the week.

July 29, 2010 | url

lee Gonzales said:

Allof a sudden I feel like renting a Mel Gibson movie Jack says: "Stop saying atheists are on the left." Hitler was a lefty as was Joe Stalin. There, I've said it again. Jack, you'll have to take a leap of faith and take a closer look at the political spectrum. To the extreme left of the spectrum lies the domain of totalitarians and their invented forms of state monopoly popularized by such 20th century tyrants as Lenin, Hitler, Mussolini. Since Hitler championed socialism (National Socialism) he goes on the left side. Hiler was an atheist as was Lenin and Stalin. Benito was an admirer of socialists and fashioned a state monopoly system similar to Hitler's but with sprinklings of British Fabian socialism. Mussolini hated Christianty and declared himself to be an "atheist." With all of that totalitarian government on the left of the spectrum the opposite end must be zero government. a system where no government exists lies at the extreme opposite of total government. Therefore no nazi I ever read about preached zero government. Nazies are "left wingers" and a great many of them were atheists. The Founders preached and actually set up a "moderate" form of government. They called it a "republic." They set it up knowing that only a truly moral and religious people could keep it and work within its features. A moral foundation is necessary for a republic to work. http://wn.com/John_Birch_Socie...ca__Part_4

July 29, 2010 | url

Rudy Bauer said:

If you want the roots of Gibson's problems, check the family tree Anyone who has read anything Mel's dad has written will well see the roots of his bigotry, and his father couched it all in a reationary reading of catholicism. Anyone who chooses to look into antisemitism and catholicism with an open mind will be appalled by what they find, and not just during the inquisition, but up to and including WWII

July 30, 2010

stann said:

Has Christianity Killed BILLIONS? Communism and atheism are not the same thing. If they are, then so is being Christian and a Klansman. Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot were probably atheists. They were also brunettes, asians and had a penchant for uniforms. Please name ONE TIME ANY of them said they commited their attrocities in the name of atheism? If we used the standard that just being an atheist means atheism is the reason you commit a crime, then Christianity has slaughtered BILLIONS by comparison. By the way, Hitler credited Christianity for his destruction.

July 30, 2010

Chris Moore said:

Atheists Worship Themselves and Government Government worship (Leftism/Communism/Fascism) is the default religion of atheists. Why? Because nature abhors a vacuum, spiritual or otherwise. Atheists seek to negate organized religion so that government (which they often seek to control themselves) becomes the moral authority and fills the void by default. Some atheists believe government is truly rational and scientific, but these are just too blinkered and brainwashed to comprehend that it is merely the modern equivalent of the authoritarian, pre-Reformation Church, only far more corrupt, powerful and totalitarian -- and inescapable. But most atheists know government worship flows from atheism, and even know that the government itself is totally corrupt, even if they won’t admit it. Lying doesn’t bother them, because atheism is inherently morally relativistic. That's how atheist murderers like Hitler, Stalin and Mao were able to live with themselves for as long as they did. They became their own moral authority, their own “God.” Like these tyrants, most atheists are essentially megalomaniacs who see themselves accountable to nothing and no one. Atheists are so far gone morally, some will even pose as Christians and then commit the most heinous and evil of deeds in an effort to undermine and destroy Christianity from within for having the temerity to suggest that we are all ultimately accountable to a moral being. Pedophile priests come to mind as examples of this. As a dedicated Catholic, Mel Gibson will probably ultimately admit his behavior was abhorrent, and make penance and amends. That’s something an atheist would never do, nor would the idea that making amends is a moral imperative ever even occur to an atheist.

July 30, 2010 | url

Marv Swett said:

... @Chris Moore "Because nature abhors a vacuum, spiritual or otherwise." You have no physical evidence that "spirit" exists. Cite one peer-reviewed journal that defines what "spirit" is, or how to characterize it. That is how "natural" systems are defined. "Atheists seek to negate organized religion so that government (which they often seek to control themselves)" As an avowed atheist and libertarian, all I can say is: "Did you hurt yourself while beating your strawman to death?" "But most atheists know government worship flows from atheism,.." I see nothing in anything you've written that has any source in fact. You've strung together a mass of fiction and attempted to convince the gullible that you know something about atheism. You know nothing about atheism or about limited government. You are a sheep.

July 30, 2010

stann said:

Christians Stole Libertarianism and Make Worse Neighbors Than Atheists @ Chris Moore proves my point that the Christian Right is emotionally incapable of distinguishing between atheism and liberalism. He is trapped in an either-or fallacy. There is not just the government or religion as a choice of authority. There is the individual, something both have warred against since the dawn of man himself. What flows from atheism is science and reason. There were and are Christian communists and socialists ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism ) and Karl Marx said he only used atheism and it was not required for his system. Libertarianism was co-opted by Republicans like Lew Rockwell while real libertarianism unburdens the individual from the shakles of both dogma and dictatorship. Gibson belongs to a break away cult from the Catholic Church that does not recognize the Vatican's authority, particularly the moderations of the Second Vatican Council. Statistically, if you have both a Christian and an atheist neighbor, the Christian is more likely to commit a major crime, go to prison, divorce, consume "adult content" and, ironically, advocate torture. Look it up if you don't believe me. Now choose your neighbor.

July 31, 2010

Chris Moore said:

Atheists contrive "facts" and declare their findings "science" Atheists promote each other in pseudo-secular, government-worshipping institutions (the best of which, like Harvard, were founded by Christians before being colonized by parasites, left-liberals and atheists) and use their ill-gotten "credentials" to declare themselves "objective" authorities. They then hand each other trumped up "peer review" articles and declare their findings "science." Often they conspire to rig the findings, similar to the global warming hoax perpetrated by the University of East Anglia for leftist political purposes of seizing ever more resources from society for the parasitical political class under the guise of saving the planet. These findings get circulated and become “facts,” which are then pointed to as “science” and “reason.” “Statistically, if you have both a Christian and an atheist neighbor, the Christian is more likely to commit a major crime, go to prison, divorce, consume "adult content" and, ironically, advocate torture.” Yet another absurd lie from an atheist who doesn’t even bother to offer even one link backing his ridiculous claims. As I said, atheists have no moral qualms whatsoever about lying or making up “facts.”

July 31, 2010 | url

your mom said:

I find your lack of reading comprehension disturbing. "He is a member of a fascist splinter group that believes it is the salvation of the Catholic Church." Really... was that so hard to understand? Not THE Catholic Church. A "fascist splinter group."

August 03, 2010