The Da Vinci Code, Idiots and Vicodin

Hello everyone. It's been a while and it will be little longer I'm sorry to say. I'm currently on vacation. :) I've only had time to do the occasional quickie movie review over at Now On Video. But don't fret, I have something for you. As some of you regular readers may know, I have been blogging for around 7 or 8 years now so I have compiled quite a collection. Most of them are lost forever on random websites. Luckily (for me, for you, I'm not quite sure) I still have access to some. I will be transferring a few of my favorites here to blogger on slow days like these. Some may still even make sense. Enjoy my very first blog on MySpace and MSN Live Spaces entitled;

"The Da Vinci Code, Idiots and Vicodin" (Originally posted on MSN Spaces and MySpace March 18th, 2005.)

There was a book I read many years ago titled, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. I found it very thought provoking. Neil wrote about how he believed that entertainment and education do not go hand in hand and that he feared that the line dividing those two would become irreversibly blurred in the near future.

Well, I think he's right but feel it's already too late to do anything about it.

There have always been movies that cover historical events and take a vew liberties with the artistic license in order to make it interesting. In an educated society this wouldn't be an issue. I think though, that it is safe to say that we do not live in an "educated society." How many idiots don't you meet everyday? How many people don't you speak to on a daily basis that massacre the English language? How many morons don't you hear argue that Marijuana isn't "really a drug" and doesn't do any damage?

These films and novels are released to consenting and supposedly "intelligent" adults that are supposed to find it easy to tell the difference between fact and fiction. The problem with this is that the retelling of certain events through entertainment media has replaced the actual facts within those idiot minds with a complete disregard for research into historical accuracy.

Don't tag me as a religious freak but Cardinal Bertone made a great point about Dan Brown's "the Da Vinci Code."

“I ask myself if a similar book was written, full of lies about Buddha, Mohammed, or even, for example, if a novel came out which manipulated all the history of the Holocaust or of the Shoah, what would have happened?”

Even the Holiest of followers does not have faith in the general intellectual capability of the social mass. Then again, historically religious groups have shown a great amount of skepticism when it comes to their own followers freedom of thought. In response to the Cardinal's complaint the book publisher Doubleday released this statement;

“The ideas put forth in ’The Da Vinci Code’ have been circulating for centuries; this novel explores them in an accessible work of fiction. Doubleday certainly respects Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican and their desire to clarify any factual errors they feel may have been made in ’The Da Vinci Code’.”

Everyday I hear more about people getting defensive when you wish them a Merry Christmas or say "Bless You" when they sneeze. It’s funny, foreign religions are coming into this country more “Typically American” then American’s themselves. “I have a religion, you better respect it and restructure your language and educational system to abide by it.”

Remember in old movies how they used to inform the viewer right at the beginning that it was loosely based on actual events in big bold letters? They don't even bother doing that anymore do they? Now it takes a Cardinal’s public complaint to get a week little letter a little over a week later. Would that disclaimer have made a difference?

Well, I'm almost done reading "Honeymoon" by James Patterson and while I'm recovering from my wisdom tooth extraction I will be reading the Da Vinci Code.

After all I am just another in the flock of Idiot Minds even worse off all jacked up on Vicodin. _______________

Turns out the dentist never gave me that Vicodin after all. My wonderful wife let me by myself a PSP though to keep myself entertained/distracted during the recovery. What do you think of the blog? A little out of touch and a bit spastic wouldn't you agree?