(December 18, 2017 at 11:02 pm)bennyboy Wrote:
(December 18, 2017 at 12:45 am)wallym Wrote: The duality of people. There's who someone is, and who they want to be. For many people, the discrepancies are simple. I wish I would eat healthier and go to the gym more, but they don't. But then there are people suffering from alcoholism, or drug abuse, or rage, etc...
Mel Gibson has always been fascinating to me, because who he is is an alcoholic with rage problems and all sorts of racism. But it's not who he tries to be, which is why people who work with him tend to rave about him. I think because his experience fighting himself allows him to be more sympathetic to others who are also in that sort of fight, and he's shown some understanding to folks who others that the mob wanted to toss in the trash.
Interesting discussion. If someone is struggling against for example addiction, but sometimes relapses and does something terrible (like drive drunk and get caught ranting by Jews), what stance should we take? "He's such a noble guy-- he struggles with his addictions and personality problems, and finds a way to produce great art" or "Fuck that guy. . . fucking drunk driving Jew hater!"
He's both at times, but the intent seems primarily to be toward the art.
My take is I think Mel is a decent person who creates great art, and suffers from a disease and I wish him the best in overcoming the disease.
Rehabilitation/Treatment over punishment just makes so much more sense now that we recognize how much of what we do is motivated by things not particularly under our control.
