<p>I can’t imagine sympathy for Mel Gibson in this matter. What? That his dirty laundry was aired publicly? Sure that is an embarrassment. But his behavior is so extremely abusive that the fact that it is not just hidden behind closed doors may protect the victim hopefully. Then again, she could be in more danger. But really, it is hard to feel sorry for someone who behaved in this terrible manner. I hadn’t listened to the first three tapes but after seeing this thread, I did listen to the ones (#4 and #5) yesterday and today and they are chilling and almost hard to get out of my mind. This is not a fight between two people but rather continual abusive out of control raging attacks that no woman should have to endure.</p>
<p>Sympathy for Mel Gibson- have you listened to any of these ?
Bipolar yes, but does not excuse a thing! Alcoholic, yes, still no excuse!
Racist, Sexist, Antisemitic, Homophobic, a truly hate-filled person, and dangerous!!!</p>
<p>^^^I was the one who referenced bi-polar. And I was very careful to state that it does not excuse his behavior.</p>
<p>Yes, nightchef, that’s a better way to put it and what I meant to say. Sorry, all!</p>
<p>NRdsb4- yes, not suggesting you were using that as excuse, just that many, all over the web are using it as an excuse, just as many suggested his antisemitic ranting was due to alcohol.
Diane Sawyer asks him some tough questions…</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Mel Gibson Jewish Question Interview Part 1 #](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDfUhlBgfoU&feature=related]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDfUhlBgfoU&feature=related)</p>
<p>My telephone answering machine has a recording device on it and I think it would sound similar – the person using the phone itself would sound clearer than the one on the other end, especially if he was on a cell phone. Just putting that out there.</p>
<p>After listening to the first link, I think I get the jist. Quite possibly the ugliest rant I’ve ever heard. I can see why she would release the tapes – how else would anyone believe that he could sink that low, even with his prior history? Wouldn’t you think she was exaggerating for effect?</p>
<p>Okay, if it was a phone conversation that makes more sense. I don’t know why I thought it was not. Were all these tapes made before the first one was released? It’s hard to imagine that he would continue talking to her after the first tape was released.</p>
<p>I think these audios are older- in the latest released one he talks about selling off artwork, which he did some time ago, I thought during the divorce with the first wife.</p>
<p>First wife Robyn Gibson stepped forward in defense of Mel:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“Robyn Gibson Supports Mel in Court”>Robyn Gibson Supports Mel in Court;
<p>feel bad for his ex wife, does she think she’ll win the prize back? probably in her agreement to defend him</p>
<p>Well, it’s my nature to put my head in each lion’s mouth that is presented to me. Can’t seem to break myself of the habit.</p>
<p>Before I write I want to say that not only am I an ardent feminist, but I have taught Women’s Studies (among many other things) for 30 years. I also worked at a Women’s Crisis Center and have a lot of experience with domestic violence.</p>
<p>Mel Gibson’s remarks are certainly despicable, but I think we make a mistake if we overly demonize him.</p>
<p>I find his accusation that she is baiting him perfectly credible. Does that excuse the level of angry/violent rhetoric? Not at all, but it’s clear he can’t control himself. </p>
<p>Of course he should be held accountable for his actions, both verbal and otherwise.</p>
<p>However, I don’t think we should lose sight of the fact that we live in a society that makes the Lethal Weapons movies blockbusters and films that deal with ordinary men trying to work out tough emotional issues are usually viewed as chick flicks and are flops at the box office.</p>
<p>Gibson has had plenty of stroking to expect to be serviced.</p>
<p>His GF didn’t need to be standing there talking to him; she could have been in a cab with her child on the way to a hotel. If she had feared for their safety I hope she would have done this, so my best guess is that she didn’t.</p>
<p>I don’t blame her either. I have been the victim of abuse, too, starting with my mother (who seriously physically abused me and emotionally neglected me). It’s easy to become enmeshed and entangled.</p>
<p>These are clearly two disfunctional people.</p>
<p>I find it more worrisome that so many people saw and touted The Passion of the Christ, which is clearly virulently anti-Semitic, and many others who find the most violent scenes in Braveheart very entertaining.</p>
<p>Was Hitler powerful on his own? No. It was because so many followed him.</p>
<p>We live in a culture of violence and often misogyny. It’s very easy to demonize one troubled and inappropriate individual. </p>
<p>But really, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>These tapes are bizarre and very troubling. But I don’t think Mel Gibson is the source of violence against women in our society or violence against men either, for that matter.</p>
<p>And I do wonder if there is some medical/psychological problem underlying these rage attacks.</p>
<p>Let us speak out against his racism, misogyny and hatefulness rather than against him.</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>^^mythmom you wrote
“His GF didn’t need to be standing there talking to him; she could have been in a cab with her child on the way to a hotel. If she had feared for their safety I hope she would have done this, so my best guess is that she didn’t.”</p>
<p>I understand that these are tapes of phone conversations.
Also, heard that the Jan 6th episode when Mel punched her in the mouth, as she held the baby, she left the house, and he had a gun which he threatened her with at that time.
I believe these taped phone conversations are from Feb. (but I’m not sure). </p>
<p>Perhaps many of us feel that OJ got away with murder, and this is a woman who has taken matters into her own hands, and I for one, applaud that. </p>
<p>I do think Mel is despicable, and it disturbs me,
when so many people feel Oksana is to be blamed for protecting herself, and revealing the true Mel Gibson.</p>
<p>
I don’t understand how the fact that we live in a society that fetishizes and glorifies violence mitigates a particular person’s violence (whether acted out or just vociferously threatened) in any way. To me that’s an insult to the many people who refuse to get caught up in that stuff. And let’s remember that Gibson is not merely a consumer of fetishized violence; he’s a producer of it. Bringing in the Lethal Weapon movies, Passion of the Christ etc., far from letting him off the hook, adds another charge to the docket. He’s part of the problem in more than one sense.</p>
<p>I have no idea if this is the real Mel Gibson or an evil twin, but the rantings on these tapes (I have heard two of them) makes me not want to ever buy a ticket for another Gibson movie.</p>
<p>I had a relative that was nice as can be, and other times he was verbally abusive to those around him. What set him off? Alcohol.</p>
<p>If he were alive today, I would absolutely say that this relative was bipolar based on behavior.</p>
<p>I would be willing to bet that Mr. Gibson also suffers from some imbalance along these lines. Maybe it is a chemical imbalance or another medical condition that is altering his behavior? </p>
<p>Anger over merely a failed relationship doesn’t make a person become this…out of control. He sounds contemptuous of her and I wonder how did he find her so appealing that he left his wife and litter of children…and then call her the names he did? That’s not normal.</p>
<p>The relevance is that our society adulates power and some people learn the lesson too well. If we have compassion for only one half the of the equation of an abusive relationship we will never solve the problem.</p>
<p>I worked with DA’s, judges, and police, and until we show compassion to abusers and abused we are not going to make real progress.</p>
<p>It’s easy to call someone despicable; harder to figure out he got that way and how to solve the problem.</p>
<p>As Mother Theresa said, she only made progress when she acknowledged that Hitler was inside of her.</p>
<p>As awful as Mel Gibson’s rant is, I’d rather continue thinking of him as part of the same group of people I belong to: fallible human beings.</p>
<p>Good for Mother Theresa. But Hitler isn’t inside me, or anybody I know. Symbolically or otherwise. I’ve never bought that kind of logic, and never will. We obviously are all fallible, but we do not all have the potential to be a Mel Gibson, let alone a Hitler. I have no problem whatsoever in considering him despicable.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Totally agree with Donna. When we buy into the “it might be any of us” rhetoric, across the board, we, at some level, assent to, “it will be some of us”. We will only change when we don’t accept the evil as the norm. it’s fashionable to do so, but I think it’s dangerously misguided.</p>
<p>I am a fallible human being, but I am not a cruel one, and not an abuser. And will not be.</p>
<p>mythmom, Not to pile on you here, but I don’t have any trouble at all reconciling both points of view. He is a sick man who needs help AND he’s despicable. Let his doctor show compassion, and give the Nobel Prize to those who figure out how to solve the issues of people like these, but the rest of us need feel no obligation to feel, think or act according to that mindset. I would even argue that it is a dangerous to do so if it encourages an abused woman to stay a day longer or a young woman to feel empathy or sympathy for someone like this.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Opining that he is sick and troubled, as well as abusive, after hearing any of these tapes is not exactly demonizing him. I would say that he is doing it pretty well all by himself. And I don’t think anyone is saying he is the source of all of society’s ills either, but like many hyprocrites in the public eye, his behavior is strangely at odds with his professed beliefs. Or maybe they’re actually well aligned (I have never seen Braveheart or Passion).</p>
<p>Well, as a professional, I don’t agree. I think compassion and understanding are always in order.</p>
<p>It’s just too too easy to point fingers and feel superior.</p>
<p>I really wouldn’t want tapes of things I’ve said in anger released.</p>
<p>I know I’m not a bigot, so I wouldn’t have the kind of despicable ideas that Gibson expresses, but I’ve said many things I don’t mean.</p>
<p>But go ahead. I obviously have a minority opinion, in fact a solitary position. But I expected as much. Just thought I’d try and express a different point of view.</p>