Higher standard: Perhaps we need to care about what really matters

Another day and another 25 minutes of nothing about what actor Mel Gibson might have said to a police officer on a traffic stop after having had much too much to drink.

You would think by the way the national media is covering Gibson’s brush with antisemitism that this was a serious concern of great world interest.

And it would be if Gibson were a world leader or the chief of some radical underground group trying to make a political statement.

But he isn’t. He’s an actor — and he was a drunk one at that.

If you listened to the questions that ABC’s Diane Sawyer asked the famed actor with a proclivity for controversy, you would think his statements could change the course of history.

In truth, he was just a drunk with a big mouth.

If we want to start putting our priorities in the right place, we have to stop assigning importance to people who really are nothing more than simply performers.

Gibson is a man with connections, just like every other Hollywood actor or musical performer who gets time in the limelight and thinks he or she knows the secret to creating world peace.

His opinions are as important as yours or mine. They are not gospel. They are not earthshattering. They will not change the world.

Gibson did not pretend to be a political expert or stand in front of a crowd and advocate for new policies. He was a guy who made a mistake — a rather disturbing one — but a mistake nonetheless.

He has apologized for the statement, and it is time to let it go.

There are much, much more important concerns to deal with and better places to spend air time.

Published in Editorials on October 15, 2006 12:36 AM