Why is this man smiling?

As I watch the spectacle surrounding Mel Gibson's latest masterpiece,"When Movies Stars Go Wildly Anti-Semitic," I've noticed a disturbing trend coming from certain factions. Namely, the heavy blaming of the bottle and the heavier playing of the pity card. Something along the lines of, "Poor Mel. Isn't alcoholism terrible. Brave of him to seek help."

What? Hello? Is this thing on?

The man ranted to the deputy: "Fucking Jews...The Jews are responsible for all the wars on the world...Are you a Jew?"

The same man told Diane Sawyer two years ago that he was categorically not anti-Semitic and that "for me, it goes against the tenets of my faith to be racist in any form. To be anti-Semitic is a sin. To be anti-Semitic is to be un-Christian. And I'm not."

Sooooo, let me get this straight. You're not anti-Semitic, but the tequila you consumed was. Fucking tequila. It's probably Jewish!

His racist remarks were just the tip of the iceberg on Mr. Gibson's Wild Ride. He vowed to get revenge on the arresting officer saying he "owned" Malibu. He called a female officer "sugar tits." He even tried to pee on the jail floor.

What can I say, the man is pure class.

Mr. The Passion of the Christ issued an apology over the weekend saying that he "acted like a person completely out of control" and said things that he did not "believe to be true and which are despicable" because of his "disease of alcoholism." On Monday, the obligatory statement was issued that he had checked into rehab.

You know what, Mel is right. Alcoholism is a terrible disease. But it's one that can be treated and controlled. Ignorance and hatred, those are even more insidious and the recidivism rate is killer.

UPDATE: Looks like Mel has gone mea culpa crazy. Here is his second, more contrite, more directly apologetic statement where he reaches out to the Jewish community. He is "not a bigot" and he wants to meet one-on-one with Jewish leaders to discuss the "path for healing." My thoughts? Oy vey.