The Passion of the Christ--controversy and all

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Ahh. . . I see. I guess I missed that angle to the argument.

 

But do you really think there's enough anti-semitism left in North America that Passion of the Christ could incite violence?

 

Maybe I'm completely naiive, but I've never really considered there to be that much anti-semitism in North America anymore - like I said, those groups that are anti-semitic (ie Aryan Nation, Ernst Zundel) are usually whackjob fringe groups. And my understanding is their motivations for anti-semitism aren't the same as the medieval "they killed Christ!!" argument so I'd be surprised if this movie incited them at all.

 

Hmm. . . I wonder if myself or any of my relatives with German* last names should be worried the next time a WWII movie comes out? Those don't portray Germans all that well. . .

 

But seriously, I don't mean to be insensitive. And I must admit I've only experience racism once. . . and that one incident was comical more than anything. You see, one time when I was a kid another kid accused me of being racist just because my last name was German!!

 

I hope everyone can appreciated the irony in that.

 

*I'm a complete mutt btw. . . only about 1/32 German, but that 1/32 gave me my last name.

[Guest peachy]

But do you really think there's enough anti-semitism left in North America that Passion of the Christ could incite violence?

Well, I don't know. I'm really not sure. My natural inclination is to think "of course not!" for much the same reasons you wrote.

 

But then I do a quick google search and this page turns up, stating that the Canadian B'nai Brith had 459 reported incidents of antisemitism in 2002. And then I'm not so sure.

 

But regardless of what I think is likely, and even regardless of what really is likely, I feel certain that Holocaust survivors and their children (and perhaps their grandchildren!) will always quite honestly consider antisemitism to be a very real and present threat.

 

I also don't mean to be insensitive with my comments, and apologize if anything came across that way. I've never experienced any kind of discrimination myself either. And I am certainly not any kind of expert on this (or any other ) subject.

[Guest noncestvrai]

Given that the original post was about the movie, I will give my impression. This movie has little to do with the Jews being the source of christ's pain, it has all to do with Christ's sacrifice for the love of his fellow man. I am not a hardcore catholic, but I appreciate the judeo-christians values that most if not all religions have also. If you understand Christ's words, they are of forgiveness and love, not of hatred. Although quite gory, I was moved by the movie, and the movie itself showed how he might have inspired others, even of the other "camp".

 

That being said, I can count easily 4-5 recent movies depicting the WWII Holocaust, not too many other genocides, notably Ararat, an Atom Egoyan movie concerned with the Armenian genocide in the early XXth century. The question of overrepresentation is irrelevant, since as consumers we choose what we want to see/hear, if I don't want to watch Schindler's list, I won't. Fortunately we have freedom of speech/expression in the occidental world, so Mel Gibson has the right to show whatever he feels, within certain rules of decency (rating, CRTC (french acronym sorry) etc.). I pledge for diversity and understanding, but if a movie shows CLEAR excessive discrimination against a certain group, I will react and express my feelings, that movie not being one of those.

 

My 2 cents.

 

noncestvrai

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Yeah, I must admit some of the events of the last few weeks (in particular the firebombing today) are shaking my faith in what I said a month ago.

 

I still stand by my claim anti-semites are whackos. I don't think I'll get much opposition to that statement. I don't think there's any danger of them becoming mainstream in the very near future (as they had to be for the pogroms in Russia or the Holocaust.)

 

But I can't figure out at all what is going on. Who are these people?!? White supremacist Neo-nazis? People politically motivated by events in the Middle east? I'm really quite perplexed by this

[Guest NL07]

What we are witnessing now on the streets and suburbs of Toronto, Montreal, and most of Europe, is the latest in a long history of acts deliberately designed to intimidate and scare the Jewish community. Although I don't believe that the movie in question has anything to do with these crimes, these are the kinds of acts that the ADL, B'Nai Brith and others were afraid that the movie could potentially incite. As far as I'm concerned, it is the seeming lack of any real news that has caused most news outlets to latch on to the most vocal critics of the movie, and blow the entire issue out of proportion. Let's put things into perspective here, without resorting to very sensitive issues that will most likely never come up in medical school interviews.