.:: The StrongBrain Collective ::.

Mel Gibson's upcoming project The Passion has been drawing criticism lately because of its portrayal of the Jewish participants in Jesus' death. I haven't yet seen the film, but from what I've read, it lies somewhere along the lines of unremitting Christ-killers. Yet why is there criticism? Why the uproar? I've never heard, read or seen anybody denouncing the bloodthirsty Arabs as depicted in American film! Why is that?

And regardless of the most recent revisionist historical fad, Jesus was in fact Jewish, was he not? Jewish people did indeed played some direct role in Jesus' death, yes? As well as the Romans? So, why the hooplah, the hubbub, the hullabaloo? If certain dramatic license was taken, it would not be the first time. It certaintly will not be the last time. It's a frickin' movie!

It's exaggerated truth, just like all other historical dramas or "Based on a True Story" scripts that were ever put to celluloid. Certain aspects of the story are embellished, emphasized or ignored to create more theatrical tension. It -- is -- a -- movie!

So, stop complaining, whoever you are. I grant you the right to cheer loudly at the exxagerated truth in the big budget parable The Christian Inquisitions or in the re-telling of the lovely Christian New World Missionary Influences/Influenzas when they hit the big screen.

On the flip side, as to the rampant anti-semitism that has been ironically unremitting since Jesus' death, I say it should have ended at the very least 100 years after his death when Jesus would surely have been deceased anyhow. He was human! He was meant to die!

GET OVER IT!

Not to mention the fact that Christianity's foundation was poured with the suffering, death, consequent resurrection and ascension of Jesus. If the cornerstone of your religion is based on the faith that the aforementioned did indeed occur, shouldn't you be thanking those who expedited the process? Would Jesus be the Jesus we know today if he had died of prostate cancer at the ripe old age of 57? With his front teeth rotted out? Bald? Sitting on a rocking chair at the Old Jews Home, spinning a yarn recalling the good ole' days when curing blindness and raising the dead were popular?

Enough! Enough! Enough! Enough hypersensitivity to one movie. Enough blaming things that happened two thousand years ago on a race of people. It just seems, well, so truculent and counterproductive.

If you want to complain about something, direct some criticism towards the unremittingly villainous portrayal of Arabs in film over the past 25 years. This is not one movie, this is a pattern of movies. Just recently, second rate action/adventures such as The Seige, Iron Eagle, Navy Seals, G.I. Jane, The Jewel of the Nile, and True Lies, not to mention just about every movie ever made about terrorism, have been ruthless. Arabs have been absolutely destroyed in the last quarter century on film. They are the new villians of the movie industry, sliding right into the spot once so steadfastly held by the Russians. Instead of nukes, however, they employ guerrilla tactics and death cries.

I am without expert knowledge on Israel, Jewish people, Arabs, the Middle East, ancient theology, the life of Jesus, etc. But I do watch a lot of movies. And I see that Arabs get quietly ripped in the movies on a continual basis while there currently happens to be enough of an uproar over The Passion to warrant the front page of the New York Times web site. I'm not making some sweeping, epic social commentary here. I just make observations. While some people are pointlessly upset about the generalization of all the Jews as Christ-killers in one movie, not a word is uttered about the evil Arabs in numerous movies. That is my quiet complaint. Do with it what you will.