I don’t have cable tv. I don’t really miss it that much. It has been so long since I’ve had it I honestly forget what I used to watch. What I don’t understand is “trash hour” on network tv. This is the hour after happy hour is over and before prime time begins. The news is done so what do we put on? Every network seems to think celebrity gossip is the answer. Except for the one network that airs Dr. Phil. Now I have never been a regular viewer of the Dr. Phil program. Personally I don’t like the guy. However, occasionally I’ll forget to turn the television off after the news hour ends and (depending on what channel I was watching) Dr. Phil begins. Over the past year I’ve noticed a dramatic change in his programming. Dr. Phil used to explore psychological relationship issues. Now, no doubt to compete with Xtra, he is sliding down the slippery slope into Sally Jessie territory. All this month he is busting cheating husbands and child molesters. He has a running gag called the “Dr. Phil House.” The first incarnation of this House in California was shut down by angry neighbors as the house was used to have angry couples loudly fight out their differences en route to a divorce. The second incarnation – which is the current draw on the show – is to put as many bigots, racists, haters, etc. in the house with the exact person they hate. A skinny girl who hates fat people is rooming with a big fat-ass man who hates skinny people. A black woman who hates white people is rooming with a KKK member. The list goes on.

This got me thinking about our culture of celebrity worship. Our latest little “big story” was Mel Gibson. We are going about this all wrong. Mel Gibson is entitled to his personal beliefs no matter how misguided they are. He is not a politician, he is a private citizen. He said anti-Semitic remarks in the middle of the night where only one other person could hear him. A bigger deal should be made about the fact that he was driving drunk and our penalties for doing such in this country should be much higher. That should have been the real issue. Does knowing he hates Jews make Braveheart not a good movie all of a sudden? Is Mad Max a bigot now? No. Furthermore, Gibson’s attitude is purely a product of environment. Gibson’s father is one of those morons that is convinced the holocaust didn’t happen. Normally when someone is raised in that environment the truth starts to shine in as soon as they move out and go to college. At the age the rest of us went to college Mel Gibson was staring in Mad Max and becoming an international movie star. That star would keep rising and rising. The more money you have the smaller the obligation you feel you have to listen to anybody else, especially the younger you are when the money starts flowing. When this happens the only people who can tell you what to do or how to think are the people who were there for you beforehand; which in this case was Mel’s father, Hutton. This is the same reason Michael Jackson thinks it is okay to climb trees at age 50.

Mel Gibson is anti-Semitic. Is it my problem? No. Will it stop me from watching his movies? No. Is it any of my business what his personal beliefs are? No.

The problem is that in this country we aren’t taught to think, we are only taught to follow. We become outraged about something a celebrity said without stopping to question if we should even care at all about what he says. Now, if a politician said “Jews suck” then we should perk up and listen (which is ironic because we obviously don’t…even when they molest children); but Mel Gibson is not in any power of authority over the American people. His opinions don’t matter. I remember when Entertainment Tonight used to report on movies, and not just the people starring in them.