“Be careful of the words you say, keep them soft and sweet
You never know from day to day, which one’s you’ll have to eat!” – Anonymous
After a week of national headlines, late night jokes, and broadcast news leads and sharp-witted cartoons, Mel Gibson has become a poster boy for unfiltered rage and abuse. His alleged rants during private telephone conversations with his girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, are quickly slipping from our consciousness and the media’s “top stories” column. The abuse aspect of the Gibson rants remains under-reported and we should question the circumstances surrounding the media avoidance of this very serious topic.
Indeed, Mr. Gibson’s media profile, status, and wealth provide the public platform for us to re-ignite the dialogue with victims and survivors of domestic violence, and commit our support to the service organizations in our communities that serve them.
According to The National Domestic Violence Hotline, abuse is defined as follows:
Abuse is physical, sexual emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure or wound someone
A full transcript of Mr. Gibson’s remarks can be found at online at Salon. I have included a few of his remarks to demonstrate the absurdity of the media’s omission to address abuse. It is my hope that Mr. Gibson chokes on the bowl of regret now sitting before him.
“You insult me with every look…”
“… you go out in public and it's a fu**king embarrassment to me.”
“You need a fu**king bat in the side of the head.”
“You need a fu**king brain transplant.”
“You don't love me …”
If you know someone that is a victim of domestic violence or abuse, the National Domestic Hotline can be reached in confidence and anonymously 24-hours a day – seven days a week at 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) 1.800.787.3224 (TTY).
All too often, people refuse to or are incapable of seeing the real story within the story. The media emphasizes a point that will get the most shock value, the most internet clicks, and the most chatter. The media took this story and ran with the quotes because they give a quick jolt to the average person's sensibilities.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, because the emotional pain experienced by Oksana isn't visible to the naked eye, it has less "value" as a story when viewed in the light of tabloid execs seeking to grab your attention in the impulse isle at the grocery store.
Fortunately, you've identified the BIG story, the 800lb. gorilla hiding within the margins of the story. Should anybody really care about Mel's so-called racist rants? Or should there be more outrage over the blatant repeated abuse inflited on Oksana? It is not more disturbing that a man could harbor that much hatred and utter disgust for a woman he at one time claimed to love? Mel's fluidity in his rants, the comfortable expressions of disdain, and the ease with which he spews his hatred are far greater causes for concern than the fact he used the word "nigger."
And you're right, we completely missed the point. I will say this, from the beginning I thought it was mighty strange that he HATES her so much but was able to tolerate her long enough to get her pregnant.
Thanks Kemic - Hmmm.... I wonder what happened to that over-used phrase, "teachable moment", when this was the news of the week?!
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