I've lost count of how many times Mel Gibson has made a wreck of his life. The rants about Jews, his womanizing, his apparent mentorship of Britney Spears-and then the insane recordings where he pretty much admits to physically abusing his girlfriend. Former would-be censors of his film The Passion of the Christ have told us (rather gleefully) that the full revelation of Gibson's twisted psyche vindicates their view that his film and memory should be erased from our memory and maybe burned on a pyre.

The idea that the private faults of the artist make their work too impure is of course a nasty religious [...]