[Vision2020] Response to Don Nelson on Gibson's Film

Thu, 08 Apr 2004 10:34:03 -0700

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Greetings:

Some of you may have seen Don Nelson's letter in the "Daily News."  Here's 
my response.

On the UI front, the faculty of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social 
Sciences voted this morning to support the AFT's resolution to "Retain 
Studio Arts" and also voted on an alternative budget reduction plan that 
avoids the elimination of studio arts.  I agree with Pat Kraut that Dean 
Zeller is funny at times, but he was rude to me all the way through the 
meeting.

To the Editor:
I would like to respond to Don Nelson's claim that Mel Gibson's "The 
Passion of the Christ" is not anti-Semitic (Letters, April 6).
In response to Christian and Jewish critics who were allowed previews of 
the film, Gibson agreed to a single change. Gibson cut the English 
subtitles for this notorious passage, found only in Matthew: "His blood 
[will] be on us and our children!" (27:25). "All the people" said this when 
Pilate said "I am innocent of this man's blood."
Gibson was very reluctant on this concession: "I wanted it in. My brother 
said I was wimping out if I didn't include it. It happened; it was said."
Yes, it was said in the Old Testament (2 Sam.1.16), and Matthew most likely 
inserted this as one of his many fake prophecies.
Furthermore, this passage was the favorite among those Christians who 
called the Jews "Christ killers" and who, in the not too distant past, 
raided Jewish ghettoes to kidnap, to burn, and to kill, especially during 
these days just before Easter.
Gibson partially had his way: the phrase is still spoken in Aramaic and who 
is to say that it won't appear in Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Turkish, Malay, 
Indonesian, or Farsi subtitles, where it will inflame already deep seated 
anti-Semitic feelings world-wide?
In 1916 B'nai B'rith objected to D. W. Griffith's dark depiction of the 
Jews in his movie Intolerance, and he removed the offensive scenes. In the 
1927 King of Kings Cecil B. DeMille, after received similar objections, 
focused the blame on Caiaphas and dramatically diminishes Jewish 
responsibility. Would that Mad Max Mel had been so reasonable and 
accommodating.
I have seen only a small number of films done on the Gospels, but I defer 
to many film critics who claim that Gibson's movie is the most anti-Semitic 
since "The Galilean," a German silent film in 1917.
My entire film review can be found at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/madmax.htm.

Nick Gier, Moscow

"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any system cannot be 
discovered by dividing it into its component parts and studying each part 
by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the whole and on the 
interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our intellectual 
life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between science, religion, and 
art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of its various parts." 
--Max Planck

Nicholas F. Gier
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho
1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843
http://users.moscow.com/ngier/home/index.htm
208-883-3360/882-9212/FAX 885-8950
President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/ift/index.htm

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Greetings: 
Some of you may have seen Don Nelson's letter in the &quot;Daily
News.&quot;&nbsp; Here's my response. 
On the UI front, the faculty of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social
Sciences voted this morning to support the AFT's resolution to
&quot;Retain Studio Arts&quot; and also voted on an alternative budget
reduction plan that avoids the elimination of studio arts.&nbsp; I agree
with Pat Kraut that Dean Zeller is funny at times, but he was rude to me
all the way through the meeting. 
 
To the Editor: 
I would like to respond to Don Nelson’s claim that Mel Gibson’s “The
Passion of the Christ” is not anti-Semitic (Letters, April 6). 
In response to Christian and Jewish critics who were allowed previews of
the film, Gibson agreed to a single change. Gibson cut the English
subtitles for this notorious passage, found only in Matthew: “His blood
[will] be on us and our children!” (27:25). “All the people” said this
when Pilate said “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” 
Gibson was very reluctant on this concession: “I wanted it in. My brother
said I was wimping out if I didn’t include it. It happened; it was
said.” 
Yes, it was said in the Old Testament (2 Sam.1.16), and Matthew most
likely inserted this as one of his many fake prophecies. 
Furthermore, this passage was the favorite among those Christians who
called the Jews “Christ killers” and who, in the not too distant past,
raided Jewish ghettoes to kidnap, to burn, and to kill, especially during
these days just before Easter. 
Gibson partially had his way: the phrase is still spoken in Aramaic and
who is to say that it won’t appear in Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Turkish,
Malay, Indonesian, or Farsi subtitles, where it will inflame already deep
seated anti-Semitic feelings world-wide? 
In 1916 B'nai B'rith objected to D. W. Griffith's dark depiction of the
Jews in his movie Intolerance, and he removed the offensive
scenes. In the 1927 King of Kings Cecil B. DeMille, after received
similar objections, focused the blame on Caiaphas and dramatically
diminishes Jewish responsibility. Would that Mad Max Mel had been so
reasonable and accommodating. 
I have seen only a small number of films done on the Gospels, but I defer
to many film critics who claim that Gibson’s movie is the most
anti-Semitic since “The Galilean,” a German silent film in 1917. 
My entire film review can be found at
<a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/madmax.htm" eudora="autourl">www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/madmax.htm</a>. 
Nick Gier, Moscow 
 
<x-sigsep></x-sigsep>
&quot;Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any
system cannot be discovered by dividing it into its component parts and
studying each part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on
the whole and on the interconnection between the parts. The same is true
of our intellectual life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between
science, religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of
its various parts.&quot; --Max Planck 
Nicholas F. Gier 
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho 
1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843 
<a href="http://users.moscow.com/ngier/home/index.htm" eudora="autourl">http://users.moscow.com/ngier/home/index.htm</a> 
208-883-3360/882-9212/FAX 885-8950 
President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO 
<a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/ift/index.htm" eudora="autourl">www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/ift/index.htm</a> 
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