The Da Vinci Coup
I used to get all worked up over people who choose (yes, I believe it is a choice) to see things from one and only one perspective. Now I only feel sadness bordering on pity for them. It must be so hard to live an existence where everything is pure black and white - where things are uni-dimensional. It is such a pity because there is just so much diversity in this world, there is absolute wonder to be had from being able to see things from various perspectives, there is breathtaking beauty and awesome possibilities in appreciating differences.
A case in point is all this madness over The Da Vinci Code. If we are to go by the froth and hysterics that has accompanied the showing of the film, Dan Brown is The Anti-Christ and the novel and film have rewritten history.
The main criticism about the book and the film is that it makes one question his or her faith, but the critics are quick to say that this did not happen to them, supposedly because they are made of harder stuff. Oh please, if this is not pure and arrant pedantry I do not know what else is. Why should it always be presumed that others are less able to make the same wise judgment that they are capable of? I still have to meet someone whose faith has been shattered to smithereens after reading the book or watching the movie, so this argument just does not fly.
It is a fact that the one book that has made more people leave the Catholic faith is the Bible itself. It is a fact that many people have switched religions or joined other faiths because of disagreements with specific versions and interpretations of the Bible. If people want to protest against something that makes people reconsider their beliefs and their faith, I suggest they look no further.
What is ironic is that the hysterics only serve one purpose - to entice more and more people to sit up and notice and troop to National Bookstore to buy the book or line up at moviehouses to watch the movie. If people want to stop the few remaining Filipinos from reading the book or watching the movie, there is only one quick, easy, and simple way to do it: shut up.
A case in point is all this madness over The Da Vinci Code. If we are to go by the froth and hysterics that has accompanied the showing of the film, Dan Brown is The Anti-Christ and the novel and film have rewritten history.
The main criticism about the book and the film is that it makes one question his or her faith, but the critics are quick to say that this did not happen to them, supposedly because they are made of harder stuff. Oh please, if this is not pure and arrant pedantry I do not know what else is. Why should it always be presumed that others are less able to make the same wise judgment that they are capable of? I still have to meet someone whose faith has been shattered to smithereens after reading the book or watching the movie, so this argument just does not fly.
It is a fact that the one book that has made more people leave the Catholic faith is the Bible itself. It is a fact that many people have switched religions or joined other faiths because of disagreements with specific versions and interpretations of the Bible. If people want to protest against something that makes people reconsider their beliefs and their faith, I suggest they look no further.
What is ironic is that the hysterics only serve one purpose - to entice more and more people to sit up and notice and troop to National Bookstore to buy the book or line up at moviehouses to watch the movie. If people want to stop the few remaining Filipinos from reading the book or watching the movie, there is only one quick, easy, and simple way to do it: shut up.
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