Let's Ban Stupidity

Everyone once in a while, I hear someone worrying that book burnings may make a comeback. Spongy-Poo! You would have to have a literate populace for that to happen, and judging by the uproar over The Da Vinci Code movie, literacy is way down. I mean, did none of these people read the book?

Of course illiteracy isn't the only sign of mental deficit; the ability to reason is right up there, too. Take for example Peter Jennings, spokeman for Vincent Nichols, a Catholic archbishop from England. Mr. Jennings is credited by the Washington Post with the following intellectual gems:

"Would he dare to write such a book about Islam? No, they wouldn't dare. But they view the Catholic Church as a soft touch."

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't get the memo where the Catholic Church said they wanted to be compared to radical, violent, terrorist producing Muslin factions.

Jennings seems to be aware that the book is a fictional work, however, he says it "muddles fact and fiction, upsetting people who have been Catholics all their lives who now don't know what is true and what is lies."

Whoa, hold on! I'll bet Dan Brown didn't get THAT memo. I'm pretty sure that he didn't know that he was responsible for teaching lifelong Catholics what is true and what is not. Wouldn’t that be a task best accomplished by The Catholic Church??? Either Dan Brown just got a huge new title (Pope Dan. Just rolls off the tongue.) or Jennings is confused about the Church job descriptions. If I were Catholic, I would be more concerned about the profound disrespect that Jennings and his boss seem to have for Church members.

The smell of burning celluloid is pretty bad, but not nearly as pungent as the stench of stupidity that surrounds this and most protests of literature, movies, art, etc. I'm not in agreement with all parts of the Bible and I even find some parts of the Old Testament mildly offensive, but I'm not picketing churches or aspiring to terrorism. If you see the movie and don't like it, get up and leave. If you read a review or hear something about the movie you don't like, don't buy a ticket. But, do not think that because you disagree with a movie, a book, or a CARTOON, that you need to threaten, intimate, or commit any act of violence. Even peaceful demonstration seems a bit over the top in this case. Such protests should be saved for movies like "Son of the Mask" or "Supercross: The Movie."