The Limits of South Park Conservatism

Jonah Goldberg generally doesn't care what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their home. But he is willing to make an exception when it comes to Mel Gibson and his accountant.

The Journal also reports today that Mel Gibson stands to make between $350 and $400 million in profit from The Passion. I am not someone who thinks profits are ever "obscene" -- at least not in the way liberals use the word. However, is no one remotely troubled by this? Whether the movie is wonderful or offensive, it is still about the Crucifixion and Mel Gibson has said time and again that he made the movie out of religious and artistic passion. I take him at his word, and considering the trouble he had in making it, there's a lot of evidence on his side.

But doesn't that raise the question of what he's going to do with all the cash? If he's going to use the money to make more biblical pictures, as he's said he wants, I think that's one thing. But simply pocketing all of the cash (it's certainly fair for him to recoup his investment and then some) without doing good works with it seems, to me at least, problematic. I mean this isn't "Ernest Goes to Rehab," it's a movie about, well, we all know now what it's about -- and he's making a third of a billion dollars from it. Shouldn't he at least tithe it?

This drew a lot of emails and additional comments that enlivened the Corner all Friday afternoon.

The comments at Open Book and Justin Katz's blog were even more interesting.

One problem with the original post is that Goldberg invites us to layer speculation upon speculation. How much money will Gibson make? How should he spend it? Will he do the right thing? And note, Goldberg seems to doubt that Gibson will do the right thing. ("Shouldn't he at least tithe?") without offering a reason for his misgivings.