Twenty years ago, Mel Gibson produced and directed a movie that by all rights should have faded very quickly after its release. The Passion of Christ was shot in Aramaic and Latin, hardly a vehicle designed to attract wide audiences. Yet, it was massively successful, grossing some $600 million worldwide. What happened? Was Gibson some marketing genius who figured out the exact way to position the movie to appeal to a wide audience?
No. What happened was the Antidefamation League (ADL). The ADL went on a rampage about how the movie essentially blamed the Jews for killing Jesus, making the film inherently antisemitic. Christ killing Jews is a trope that lasted a couple of millennia. It helped fuel a level of hatred of Jews that lead to pogroms and expulsions across Europe for centuries, culminating in the Holocaust.
The ADL had a really good point. Why was Gibson feeding the foundational story that fed antisemitism for many dozens of generations? However, as soon as ADL raised the issue, it became a major story in MSM. It was the sort of publicity that you just cannot buy. People who may never have heard of the movie otherwise suddenly had to see it. A movie that may well have left people a month after release wondering, “Didn’t Mel Gibson make a movie? Whatever happened to that?” wound up grossing twenty times its cost of production. It was a fabulous commercial success.
An interesting thing happened in Florida this past couple of weeks. Florida Amendment 4, Right to Abortion Initiative is on the November ballot. This alone is sure to increase voter turnout amongst women, just as it has in every other state that has placed abortion amendments on the ballot following Dobbs v Jackson. But even with Amendment 4 on the ballot, how deep would the enthusiasm run? Probably not deep enough to threaten Republicans up and down the ballot.
And then Ron DeSantis stepped in. He instructed the General Counsel for Florida’s health department to send television stations running pro-choice ads threatening letters drafted by DeSantis’ office. In the letter, stations were threatened with criminal prosecution. Per The Miami Herald, “(The) letters said the ad was ‘categorically false’ and that it constitutes an illegal ‘sanitary nuisance’ under state law that could put women’s health and lives at risk if it continued to be broadcast.” Under state law, this constitutes a criminal violation of the law.
And with that, Amendment 4 gained national recognition, even as First Amendment suits have stayed state action. DeSantis has become the instrument that may significantly increase voter turnout to protect women’s right to choose. May we see both Scott and Trump lose Florida? Probably not, but it’s a question we probably couldn’t entertain two weeks ago. DeSantis has provided Amendment 4 a favor similar to the favor ADL gifted to Mel Gibson.
Well done, sir!
