More Thoughts On Mel – Plus Another Movie Pitch

I honestly didn’t expect a mini-controversy (see below) to erupt over my Mel Gibson blog entry, but in retrospect, it’s not that surprising. Any time you mock someone who’s beloved by millions, especially when religion is involved, you’re bound to take some heat for it, and I’m okay with that. My only regret in all this is that it brought up some bad memories of Stuart Adamson, a personal hero of mine, who also battled alcoholism.

For those who don’t know, Stuart was the leader of Big Country, the Scottish rock group best known for their debut album The Crossing and hit singles like In A Big Country, Fields Of Fire, Look Away, Chance, and Wonderland.

Late in life, Stuart suffered a relapse and was charged with drunk driving in Florida. Shortly afterwards, he went missing for nearly a month, and was eventually found dead in a Honolulu motel room where he had hung himself. His blood alcohol level at the time of his death was 0.279 percent. The legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent.

It hadn’t occurred to me that jokes about Mel Gibson’s drunk driving would trigger memories of Stuart’s darkest hour when I posted a link on the Big Country website, and for that I apologize to Stuart’s fans and anyone who knew him. It still pains me to think about that dark period in Stuart’s life. I honestly never thought about Stuart while writing that post.

With that being said, I still think drunk driving and reckless driving in general is a horrible thing to do, and people should be held accountable for their actions. If Stuart had lived, I would have expected him to serve whatever jail time the judge deemed appropriate, and I would have hoped he’d get the help he needed to battle his demons. The same goes for Mel Gibson. Since he means nothing to me personally, I chose to express myself through jokes, or attempts at such. If Mel Gibson’s fans were upset, remember that he brought it on himself, and I’m hardly the only one joking about it.

One reason for my post was to remind people that alcohol is a drug that’s every bit as dangerous as illegal drugs like heroin or cocaine. It’s extremely addictive, it can ruin your entire life, it can make you do things you’ll regret for the rest of your life, and you can overdose from it or die from accidents related to alcohol. Worst of all, you might kill someone else. So when someone as famous as Mel Gibson screws up publicly because of alcohol, non-celebrities like me have a chance to make their voices heard on the subject.

When famous people do anything, the average Joe pays attention. If a normal person had done what Mel did, it would have shown up on the police blotter in a Malibu paper and that would have been the end of it. If a non-celebrity had done what Mel Gibson did and killed someone – a very real possibility – it would have been headline news in Malibu for a few days, but the rest of the world wouldn’t have heard a thing about it. But when Mel Gibson gets arrested for driving drunk, the world suddenly pays attention. That’s where people like me come in.

If celebrities who drive drunk are publicly mocked and sufficiently punished by the legal system for their crimes, it just might cause a few people out there to think twice about getting behind the wheel after they’ve had a few, and that’s a good thing. If young people realize that alcohol can make them do incredibly stupid things in the short term and destroy their lives in the long term, they may not even drink in the first place, and that’s a very good thing. If Mel Gibson had never touched a drop in his life, he wouldn’t be going through what he’s going through now. And I sincerely believe that if Stuart Adamson had not been seduced by the glamour of alcohol as a young man, he’d still be with us today writing wonderful songs like this…

"Devil In The Eye"
(Stuart Adamson/Ray Davies)

Take a little care
When you put your lips
To her long cool neck
One kiss will be too much
A hundred not enough
Treat her with respect

If I could tell this to you
Would you believe it was true
You might just laugh I expect
And say you feel sophisticated
Confident and ready for the next

Has no time for modesty
Doesn't care for honesty
Deals in broken promises
Will spell you with her lies

Has no time for modesty
Doesn't care for honesty
Deals in broken promises
Will look the devil in the eye

You'll be the class fool
A perfect asshole
You'll be the guy in control
And make decisions
Based on derision
And wake up deep in a hole

Wishing the ground would
Open beneath you
Enough to swallow you whole
So you don't have to face the wreckage
You left scattered from the night before

Has no time for modesty
Doesn't care for honesty
Deals in broken promises
Will spell you with her lies

Has no time for modesty
Doesn't care for honesty
Deals in broken promises
Will look the devil in the eye

You will be dazzled by
The pictures she will paint
Colours she will bring
And feel so safe and warm
Far away from harm
Wrapped up in her wings

And slowly drift through the day
Letting it all slip away
Without a care in the world
And wake up in a cold sweat
Screaming for her touch to ease your troubled soul

Has no time for modesty
Doesn't care for honesty
Deals in broken promises
Will spell you with her lies

Has no time for modesty
Doesn't care for honesty
Deals in broken promises
Will look the devil in the eye
Will look the devil in the eye

Now if I could get back to Mel Gibson for a minute, I find it unfortunate that the media is choosing to focus on Mel’s alleged anti-Semitic remarks. As vile as racism is, it’s not a crime. Drunk driving is. It’s a very serious crime, and the focus on the alleged statements downplays the gravity of the crime that we know was committed. If what he supposedly said turns out to be true, he should be tried in the court of public opinion, but he should also carry the stigma of being a drunk driver every where he goes.

Also, I’ve heard people say, “He’s already apologized. Can’t we just leave it at that?”

Hell, no!

First of all, his apology was probably as much a callous business move as it was an act of genuine remorse. The apology was released by Mel Gibson’s publicist, whose top priority is to make sure Mel Gibson’s image is not tarnished by this arrest. There’s an excellent chance the apology was written by the publicist, or a crack team of highly-paid damage control experts, in consultation with the legal department, of course. Maybe Mel had a chance to approve the final copy before it was released to the media, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the apology was already being worked on by Mel’s “people” while their meal ticket was still stewing in the drunk tank.

As far as I’m concerned, his “apology” is meaningless.

If Mel Gibson is genuinely remorseful about what he’s done, here’s what he should do – use his vast financial resources to fund a movie about the potential horrors associated with drunk driving. Given his penchant for slow-motion cinematic violence, I bet he could come up with something sufficiently disgusting to make sure a lot of people never make the same mistake he made this past weekend. I even have a title for him… “Blood On The Highway”. And if he needs a failed screenwriter to come up with a script, he knows where to find me.

Here I am, less than week into my blog’s existence, and I’ve already wavered from the idea that this would simply be an outlet for my attempts at comedy. I guess that’s okay, but don’t expect all my posts to be as serious-minded as this one. I’m sure my next post will be nothing but a bunch of goofy jokes without an ounce of substance. At least, I hope so. Being silly is much easier.