Exhibit One: “The Passion of Christ,” Mel Gibson’s take on the
last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life, to be released nationwide later this month. It purports to be an
accurate historical depiction, complete with bloody whippings, nine-inch nails, subtitled Aramaic
dialogue and, let’s not forget, the actual soundtrack (dolorous music, portentous drums) that
accompanied the torture and crucifixion.
“This isn’t just violence for violence’s sake,”
Ron Luce, president of the Christian youth group Teen Mania, tells The New York Times. “This
is what really happened, what it would have been like to have been there in person to see Jesus
crucified.” Luce must have been listening closely to Gibson, who has himself said: “This film will
show the passion of Jesus Christ just the way it happened.”
I guess if you say it enough times and cue the mood music that makes it true. (Nah,
see the comments.)
Exhibit Two:
the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which was shown last November on the History Channel. It
purports to give evidence that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was part of a conspiracy to have
JFK killed.
Based largely on “Blood, Money and
Power,” a book by Barr Mcclellan (coincidentally the father of White
House Press Secretary Scott McClelland and Food and Drug Administration chief Mark S.
McClellan), it alleges that LBJ ordered the assassination of JFK to halt an investigation into his
dealings with a fellow Texan, the fabled con man Billy Sol Estes, as well as the imminent
disclosure of allegations that he, LBJ, had been involved in a murder.
“Simply stated, LBJ killed JFK,” McClellan
said in the documentary, repeating what he’d written. What’s more, according to McClellan, the
night before the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination, <
B>the final decision to kill Kennedy
was made at a party at the home of Clint Murchison, a Dallas businessman and owner of the
Dallas Cowboys, where LBJ discussed the plot with Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover.
Uh-huh.
Postscript: Now here at least is a movie you can
depend on for historical accuracy. Love
the soundtrack.
