None Dare Call It Judaism

Tim Cavanaugh | December 13, 2004

In the course of covering his now-standard set of "Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski; the bums lost" talking points, the great Bill Donohue fingers the shadowy group that is really responsible for the Kulturkampf:

BUCHANAN: ... Bill Donohue, what do you think about "The Passion of the Christ"? And as a practical matter, even if Hollywood hated the film, it seems to me as an artistic work of art, a smashing triumph, a film of great controversy and interest, it ought to at least be nominated for best picture. It pulled in more money than any other picture all year.

WILLIAM DONOHUE, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: I spoke to Mel a couple of weeks ago about this. And I don't think it really matters a whole lot to him. It certainly doesn't matter to me. We've already won.

Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the messiah.

Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions. I believe in traditional values and restraint. They believe in libertinism. We have nothing in common. But you know what? The culture war has been ongoing for a long time. Their side has lost.

You have got secular Jews. You have got embittered ex-Catholics, including a lot of ex-Catholic priests who hate the Catholic Church, wacko Protestants in the same group, and these people are in the margins.

Whole transcript of the five-way discussion, which is as entertaining as something Ionesco would have written if Ionesco had been retarded. (But unfortunately, there's no followup discussion on the anal sex claim.)

Comments

|12.13.04 @ 1:57AM|#

Hi, My name is Bill Berkowitz and i'm a twice-a-week columnist with Working Assets' WorkingForChange.com.Is the above comments by Buchanan and Donohue accurate. Im assuming Buchanan was hosting an MSNBC show -- can you tell me which one it was & what day?
Thanks.
Bill Berkowitz

|12.13.04 @ 1:58AM|#

As if being secular weren't bad enough,
They're Jewish on top of it!

Those monsters!

Tim Cavanaugh|12.13.04 @ 2:23AM|#

Bill, Pitchfork Pat was subbing as host of Scarborough Country, 12/8.

|12.13.04 @ 3:22AM|#

They killed Jesus!

Those bastards!

|12.13.04 @ 6:12AM|#

"secular Jews"? Is that the new "zionists"?

|12.13.04 @ 6:56AM|#

I still can't believe those squaws didn't follow up on the anal sex thing. I guess it is all about teasing to get someone to pay attention.

|12.13.04 @ 7:05AM|#

Do you type with your toes, Bill Berkowiotz?

|12.13.04 @ 8:51AM|#

So it proves that the Catholic League is crazy people. We knew that, I guess. The correct solution is for people to drop out of the Catholic League, if you're in it. It's not exactly a moral dilemma.

You're allowed to hate Jews. In the normal course of things, without political correctness and hypocrisy or anything, it should naturally lead to isolation and movement of recruiting to shortwave broker stations.

A worse solution is for the Catholic League to fire the guy, in that it only introduces hypocrisy. Nobody's bothered by White Supremicists, for instance; they're just ignored. The perfect solution. You get free speech, and everybody saying what they mean

gaius marius|12.13.04 @ 9:27AM|#

how did it happen that the public face of christianity in america consists of drooling cretins like these? amazing.

christianity, for all its prior greatness, really has been reduced to thoughtless reactionary cultism.

|12.13.04 @ 9:59AM|#

they feel victimized. and betrayed. somewhat rightfully, but rather than turn on those that burned them, they turn to the great "other" who lurks around the corner, assfucking in hand...

|12.13.04 @ 10:16AM|#

What a hateful prick.


Bill Berkowitz-

Hey Bill, follow the link and read the transcript. Holey crap, I hope WorkingForChange.com isn�t paying you.

|12.13.04 @ 10:39AM|#

Can't wait to see the sputtering Donohue's reaction when all those people "in the margins" release the new movie "The Da Vinci Code."

|12.13.04 @ 10:39AM|#

Hey, Donohue had his sound bites ready and used them in the appropriate forum. Whassa matter that?
Is anyone here going to stand up for "wacko Protestants"?

fyodor|12.13.04 @ 10:42AM|#

Well, it's good to know they won.

Hmm, now where's that anus I was about to fuck...?

|12.13.04 @ 10:43AM|#

Tim--

As an Ionesco fan, I resent your sullying his good name like this. Even retarded, and with a belly full of magic mushrooms, Ionesco would do better.

And by the way, when Jennifer Giroux says, "And we as parents would like good, clean, uplifting entertainment," is she referring to the Passion of the Christ? Because that's what she is discussing in the rest of that paragraph. Are we at the point now where graphic depictions of torture and horrible, gruesome, bloody violence are considered "good, clean, uplifting entertainment"?

|12.13.04 @ 11:04AM|#

The idea that the election was a referendum on Christian Values has been pretty well debunked among Democratic commenters. Iraq, terrorism, leadership, and "changing horses in midstream" decided the election.

Obviously, religious right activists have a self-serving reason to keep this idea alive, but how seriously is it taken by the Republican leadership?

Tim Cavanaugh|12.13.04 @ 11:34AM|#

To defend Bill Berkowitz, I initially neglected to include the link. It was Bill's comment that prompted me to correct the oversight. Don't dump on him.

|12.13.04 @ 11:56AM|#

Bill, mia culpa.

|12.13.04 @ 12:44PM|#

joe: You must see the bias in "debunked by Democrats", no? I'm sure the anti-butt-sex-with-humans-in-utero crowd was a factor, and a close election lends importance to smaller interest groups. Where's that sharp joe logic today?

|12.13.04 @ 12:58PM|#

I thought anal sex was invented by Catholic priests.

|12.13.04 @ 1:28PM|#

"how did it happen that the public face of christianity in america consists of drooling cretins like these? amazing."

"christianity, for all its prior greatness, really has been reduced to thoughtless reactionary cultism."

I disagree. The public face of Christianity is not indicative of the state of Christianity itself. Most of the Christians I know believe that Jesus sacrificed himself for the people Donohue criticized and continue to treat others as they themselves would be treated. No one speaks for these Christians publicly. I don't think anyone can.

I would add that the public face of Christianity has been worse. Martin Luther wrote some terrible things. In the New World, people did terrible things under the guise of Christianity.

In spite of this, many Christians continue to teach that treating people badly is to deny Christ's sacrifice for each and every individual.

The essence of true Christianity is alive and well in spite of what people say in the media.

|12.13.04 @ 1:31PM|#

Am I the only one who finds it funny that a dude who breathlessly talks about morality is mentioning anal sex in a nationally-televised forum?

- Josh

|12.13.04 @ 1:32PM|#

A jewish neighbor of mine commented that, "anti-semitism is hating jews more than is absolutely necessary." I guess this might cross the line.

I'd like a list of films that are not x-rated, that portray anal sex.

|12.13.04 @ 1:41PM|#

Deliverance.

Last Tango in Paris. Mmmm, fat Brando...

"Get the buttah."

|12.13.04 @ 1:58PM|#

It remains okay to hate, in public, Jews and Arabs. It remains okay to sterotype, in public, Jews and Arabs.

Check this out from Juan Cole (which I found at Michael Totten's site):

http://www.juancole.com/2004/12/press-roundup-for-sunday-guerrillas-in.html

Not only is it okay but we need to understand that they've brought it on themselves.

|12.13.04 @ 2:12PM|#

To Ken Shultz:
I interpret your comment to mean that not all those who profess Christianity publicly are of one mind. Certainly there are many Christians who treat others the way they would like to be treated. Agreed.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that Mr. Donohue engages in debate that seeks to demonize and marginalize people he disagrees with, e.g. "secular Jews," "ex-Catholic priests," "wacko Protestants", etc. In Mr. Donohue's case, it's apparent to me that he's engaging in behavior that he would not like if HE were on the receiving end.

|12.13.04 @ 2:39PM|#

Ils sont jaunes! Ils sont tres tres jaunes!

Am I the only one who finds it funny that a dude who breathlessly talks about morality is mentioning anal sex in a nationally-televised forum?

He may be cruising.

The lessons of the beatitudes are ironically all but lost on Christian conservative punditry. They want to remake society in the image of their book; conceding that real faith endures rather than reforms runs counter to that goal. A book that instructs the individual on how to live a godly life should not be generalized by man to instruct a state on how to run a godly nation.

|12.13.04 @ 2:49PM|#

Regardless of who's naughty, who's nice, who's disgusting, who deserves to be laughed at: most of us realize we need to take special care with those of us in the minority who run the greatest risk of suffering physical violence at the hands of majority mob hysteria.
Incitement is a delicate phenomenon.

|12.13.04 @ 6:16PM|#

Can't wait to see the sputtering Donohue's reaction when all those people "in the margins" release the new movie "The Da Vinci Code."

Oh, he's already gone off on that, demanding that the filmmakers place a disclaimer on the front of the movie stating that it is fiction. I guess "based on the novel by" is not sufficient for ol' Bill.

|12.13.04 @ 6:53PM|#

I'd like a list of films that are not x-rated, that portray anal sex.

There is that scene in Pulp Fiction that makes me wince. The hillbillies in the basement scene. I think you kinda see it in the back room.

Believe it or not, I am 90% sure a few years ago this very topic was the subject of an article in the magazine Film Comment. All I remember (probably the only reason I remember it) is that the article had a clever title: "House of Buggerin' ."

|12.13.04 @ 9:58PM|#

Body Heat is notorious for an anal sex scene. Me, Myself & Irene and Top Secret! both contain scenes implying a man using a sex toy anally. In Boogie Nights, William H. Macy refers to his publicly-cuckolding p0rnstar wife as being "in the driveway with an ass in her cock [sic]." Crash has a couple of backdoor scenes.

What can I say? I have a broad memory.

Ted|12.14.04 @ 2:33AM|#

Kathleen Turner memorably returns the Body Heat favor with a nightstick in Crimes of Passion. If we're including off-screen, then you can add Sideways, The Shawshank Redemption, and Bridget Jones' Diary.