Why the Rich and Famous Are Different From You and Me
Posted on July 31st, 2006 in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
Because they get preferential treatment from the police, that’s why. First billionaire Jeffrey Epstein gets offered a sweetheart plea bargain, then he’s arrested on the relatively minor count of soliciting a prostitute when cops (as opposed to prosecutors) feel that he’s been hiring minors for sex.
Now there’s the suggestion that the LAPD tried to cover up for Mel Gibson after his arrest for drunk driving prompted Gibson to go on an anti-Semitic verbal rampage.
According to the Los Angeles Times,
On Friday, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman told reporters that Gibson had been arrested that day in Malibu “without incident.” But [TMZ.com] alleged that evening that supervisors at the Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff’s station tried to downplay the actor’s behavior by omitting his most offensive actions in an abridged version of the arresting deputy’s report, which has yet to be made public.
Just to clarify…the cop who arrested Gibson was actually ordered to re-write his report, eliminating all references to anti-Semitic remarks.
Now TMZ.com has learned that Gibson was twice before stopped for drunk driving…and the cops allowed him to leave the scene without a ticket or arrest.
(These guys are beating the MSM on this story pretty badly, by the way.)
According to the website,
We’re also told that deputies at the Sheriff’s station were star struck by Gibson and a number of them went to Gibson’s holding cell to get a look of the star. The problem for the Sheriff’s department — there’s a mounted camera in the station and the deputies can be seen fawning over the actor. Sheriff’s officials have called some of the officers who were caught on tape in and warned them they might be subject to discipline.
Of course, it’s no surprise that there are two different systems of justice in this country, one for the rich and famous and one for the rest of us. But it’s never a bad thing to be reminded of that.
7 Responses
7/31/2006 10:11 am
That last sentence sounds like a flinch. Don’t be afraid to admit it: you, like most of us, take enjoyment from the public embarassment of powerful people.
7/31/2006 11:55 am
Not inherently, no, I don’t.
7/31/2006 4:59 pm
Really? I certainly do.
7/31/2006 7:08 pm
Well, that I can understand.
8/1/2024 12:02 pm
Gibson’s full statement is below:
There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.
I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.
The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.
I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.
I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.
This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It’s about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.
8/1/2024 12:23 pm
What an interesting string this is. Our blogger denies that he takes any personal pleasure — the horror! — in the downfall of the high and mighty whose trepidations he trumpets. Then a commenter who admits he does enjoy watching the powerful fall from grace is given a pass because he’s a Jew — “that I can understand.” Then another commenter posts the actor’s apologia, which expresses remorse and shame so eloquently, and with such redemptive tone, one suspects ghostwriting. What are we to make of this? I guess the song expresses it: “What a wonderful world.”
8/2/2024 5:30 pm
According to Slate.com, Gibson is manic-depressant