So Let Me Get This Straight

I normally attempt to avoid the tabloid style fascination with the goings-on in Hollywood. It is my personal conviction that if everyone focused more on their stock portfolio or their children and less on the endless litany of self-indulgent celebrity freaks, society would be much better off. It would seem that a majority of people pay these idiots to live a lavish lifestyle on their behalf.

The L.A. Times editorial Shun Mel Gibson managed, however, to catch my attention. They are calling for Hollywood to relegate Margarita Mel to celebrity z-list status:
“The stages of Gibson's well-scripted redemption — rehab, repentance, a newfound appreciation for the horrors of the Holocaust — are painfully predictable. We only wish its supporting cast would refuse to do their part, and allow Gibson to continue ranting, or make his peace with the world, off camera.”

I’m not here to defend Mel Gibson’s actions. What he did was stupid and reprehensible. My problem lies with the Champagne Socialists that make up the L.A. Times. You can never predict what is going to get them so worked up that their half-cap double milk lattes wind up getting spilled all over their beloved 7 series Bimmers. These folks are willing to send Mel Gibson, a reported alcoholic, to the woodchipper without any calls for redemption. However, Tookie Williams, one of the top guns of L.A.’s notorious Crips gets doted on by the Times with all of the accolades befitting Mother Theresa.

Notable verse from the Times on Mr. Williams include:
“Stanley Tookie Williams, whose self-described evolution from gang thug to antiviolence crusader won him an international following and nominations for a Nobel Peace Prize, was executed by lethal injection early today, hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to spare his life.”

A fawning opening paragraph with no mention of the four people he murdered or his vehement refusal right up to his execution to help the police make inroads against the Crips. Headings around the time of Tookie’s execution also include such gems as:
Austria Feels Sense of Betrayal by Native Son

When the L.A. Times takes a harder line on you than on a convicted murderer who is also one of gangland’s founding fathers, you know you are up chocolate creek without a popsicle stick.