Questions I'd like someone to ask Mel:
1. Have you ever used the phrase "f#@king Jews" before? Have you thought it? What, exactly, did you mean by it?
2. Do you think Jews have too much power in the world today? In the U.S. government? In Hollywood?
3. If you don't actually believe that Jews have been responsible for all the wars in the world, which ones have they been responsible for? And are there others for which they bear at least some degree of responsibility?
4. Do you think there are "good Jews," i.e., ones you know, and "bad Jews," i.e., ones in powerful positions who are doing bad things? Do you think there's a cabal of high-level Jews acting in concert with each other to consolidate their power?
5. Do you believe — as your movie "The Passion of the Christ" and your alleged repudiation of the Second Vatican Council seem to suggest — that Jews both in Jesus' time and today are responsible for Jesus' death? Do you believe that Jesus, being Jewish, was similar in nature to the other Jews, or was he spiritually superior? Do you think there's something about Jews that is intrinsically "bad" in a spiritual sense?
6. Your father, who you've said "never lied to me in his life," has denied that the Holocaust happened, at least to the degree that historians say. When asked if you believe the Holocaust occurred, what you said was: "Yes, of course. Atrocities happen. War is horrible. World War Two killed tens of millions of people. Some of them were Jews in concentration camps." Many people saw that statement as a non-denial denial, one that diminished the systematic extermination of an entire people as just another casualty of war. And, in fact, they can be seen as words of an antisemite who's smart enough to understand that he can't fully express his true beliefs in public — when he's sober, at least. But in light of current events, why shouldn't we see those words as a smokescreen meant to hide the fact that your own beliefs are actually much closer to those of your father?
When Mel answers these questions truthfully, I'm sure we'll all be happy to accept his claim that what he said in Malibu was, as he told Diane Sawyer, just a drunken tirade with no relation to his true beliefs. But I'm not holding my breath that it's ever going to happen.
