The Da Vinci Load.... of Crap
Hahaha, yeah, I know. 2 days in a row. I'm special. Look at me, flying free. Dancing amongst the stars and carrying moonbeams in a jar and drinking sour milk and lots of confusing alien-related sitcoms.
I'm confused about the Da Vinci Code and things that I've been hearing from people about it. Years and years ago, my friend Frank and I would talk about Jesus's son, his brothers, and his wife and all these little preppy kids in our school thought we were absolutely crazy. I got an IM today, from someone (who will remain nameless) about the book. This was one of the people that had truly thought Frank and I were totally nuts. They were talking about Dan Brown this, Dan Brown that, mystery this, wonderful that. Now, while I like the fact that this kinda stuff is getting out there, I don't really feel comfortable talking to someone who told me I was "blaspheming" when I told them this years ago. I don't want to be a hypocrite and judge them and say that a person can't learn things and find out for themselves. I think finding out for yourself is the best thing about human nature. The thing that really annoyed me is he acted as if I'd never heard this stuff before- whereas him and I had a fight for 2 months because he thought I worshiped Satan or Satan-compatible. He mentioned nothing of us ever talking about it. He was just lecturing me about how great the book was and all this stuff. I was like: Dude, we talked about this before. He kinda flipped out on me. Told me that I probably just read the book and told him about it. I think we fought in high school, like early high school- I don't remember exactly. The book wasn't out. I got my information from the other chapters of Bible verses- Book of Thomas, Book of Judas, and the complete Bible that Frank had with all the books and info that was cut from the Catholic version of the Bible because it didn't say what they wanted it to say. Granted, no one can truly trust the source of these books- they could be fabricated and made up. But we had read them and thought a lot of it made sense. This information about Jesus was ALWAYS around for people to look up and find. It just takes a book that makes the NY Times Bestseller list to get some people to actually go and find this information out.
I feel in a lot of ways, it's hard not to judge people in this manner. Are they reading and talking about The Da Vinci Code because their hipster friends are or do they really believe the stuff written to be true? Is it just a trend that people are following simply because it makes them look cultured? And I think the greatest question of all is if I'm wrong to judge people for reading a book and finding out information JUST because they want to fit in with their hipster friends? The information I wanted people to know is now more accessable and easily read- isn't that a victory for me? I really don't know. Sometimes it just vexes me that people will not listen to something at first and then once people see other people like it, they will gladly follow the leader over the edge of an uncomplete bridge a shrugging lemming failed to build.
::uses Step Mine- deals 1320 damage to the Rant::
So, I'm forced to reflect on if knowledge and ideas themselves can become trendy. Is that how the Atkins Diet started? Did we all just decide that carbs were bad or did we read lots of articles about it and then think it was okay, even though in the 80s and 90s, we were told of the risks and problems with high cholesterol associated with the diet? What makes something that no one listened to back then a big trend now? I mean, these are just questions. There's not really an answer to it I can think of. I just think it's more lemming metaphors. Someone's looking for a quick, uninformed way to fix a problem, they see an ad, they try it out.
The Da Vinci Code takes all the things I read and puts it into a nice, neat box that people can read. This is a very good thing and I wish that I had had something similar to this when I was younger. I'm not saying Dan Brown isn't a good author- because he's certainly accomplished and has many intriguing ideas. In fact, Dan Brown and this book probably aren't the main issue here. It's those people who will gladly flip-flop because something has become popular overnight. Those are the people that I feel lack a great deal of conviction and self awareness. Now, I'm not going to cast these stones from a castle rampart and hide from my own charges- I too have changed my mind many times about things and realized maybe something I was agreeing with was not exactly the best of ideas (cough my welfare solutions cough). But I try not to blindly believe what the NY Times Bestseller list tells me to believe. That would be like buying the top 10 Music CDs right now and saying these were your favorite bands. The people I'm talking about really, are those people who were Chicago Bulls fans, who then were Lakers fans, then San Antonio fans, and now Pistons fans. People who have to be on the winning side and stick with what the popular society dictates. I don't like to openly critisize them because maybe they are happy that way. It does, however, make the people who have always been Piston fans look like they are just frontrunning and just following the trends, which sadly, I was accused of when I brought up how I had mentioned these things to my friend years ago. I think the real test would be to see if any of the people who were "Yankees fans" still like the Yankees right now. Check some of them out- I'm sure they'll talk your ear off about Boston and the White Sox.
Sweet. Lemme just play a couple notes on my tuba to defeat this rant.... ... ... ... Okay, done. Let's see...
Experience points gained: 500
Steve gains a level!
Mastered "Dan Brown" Rage
Steve's Rant Level is now 2!
Found a "Lemon-shaped Rock"
I'm confused about the Da Vinci Code and things that I've been hearing from people about it. Years and years ago, my friend Frank and I would talk about Jesus's son, his brothers, and his wife and all these little preppy kids in our school thought we were absolutely crazy. I got an IM today, from someone (who will remain nameless) about the book. This was one of the people that had truly thought Frank and I were totally nuts. They were talking about Dan Brown this, Dan Brown that, mystery this, wonderful that. Now, while I like the fact that this kinda stuff is getting out there, I don't really feel comfortable talking to someone who told me I was "blaspheming" when I told them this years ago. I don't want to be a hypocrite and judge them and say that a person can't learn things and find out for themselves. I think finding out for yourself is the best thing about human nature. The thing that really annoyed me is he acted as if I'd never heard this stuff before- whereas him and I had a fight for 2 months because he thought I worshiped Satan or Satan-compatible. He mentioned nothing of us ever talking about it. He was just lecturing me about how great the book was and all this stuff. I was like: Dude, we talked about this before. He kinda flipped out on me. Told me that I probably just read the book and told him about it. I think we fought in high school, like early high school- I don't remember exactly. The book wasn't out. I got my information from the other chapters of Bible verses- Book of Thomas, Book of Judas, and the complete Bible that Frank had with all the books and info that was cut from the Catholic version of the Bible because it didn't say what they wanted it to say. Granted, no one can truly trust the source of these books- they could be fabricated and made up. But we had read them and thought a lot of it made sense. This information about Jesus was ALWAYS around for people to look up and find. It just takes a book that makes the NY Times Bestseller list to get some people to actually go and find this information out.
I feel in a lot of ways, it's hard not to judge people in this manner. Are they reading and talking about The Da Vinci Code because their hipster friends are or do they really believe the stuff written to be true? Is it just a trend that people are following simply because it makes them look cultured? And I think the greatest question of all is if I'm wrong to judge people for reading a book and finding out information JUST because they want to fit in with their hipster friends? The information I wanted people to know is now more accessable and easily read- isn't that a victory for me? I really don't know. Sometimes it just vexes me that people will not listen to something at first and then once people see other people like it, they will gladly follow the leader over the edge of an uncomplete bridge a shrugging lemming failed to build.
::uses Step Mine- deals 1320 damage to the Rant::
So, I'm forced to reflect on if knowledge and ideas themselves can become trendy. Is that how the Atkins Diet started? Did we all just decide that carbs were bad or did we read lots of articles about it and then think it was okay, even though in the 80s and 90s, we were told of the risks and problems with high cholesterol associated with the diet? What makes something that no one listened to back then a big trend now? I mean, these are just questions. There's not really an answer to it I can think of. I just think it's more lemming metaphors. Someone's looking for a quick, uninformed way to fix a problem, they see an ad, they try it out.
The Da Vinci Code takes all the things I read and puts it into a nice, neat box that people can read. This is a very good thing and I wish that I had had something similar to this when I was younger. I'm not saying Dan Brown isn't a good author- because he's certainly accomplished and has many intriguing ideas. In fact, Dan Brown and this book probably aren't the main issue here. It's those people who will gladly flip-flop because something has become popular overnight. Those are the people that I feel lack a great deal of conviction and self awareness. Now, I'm not going to cast these stones from a castle rampart and hide from my own charges- I too have changed my mind many times about things and realized maybe something I was agreeing with was not exactly the best of ideas (cough my welfare solutions cough). But I try not to blindly believe what the NY Times Bestseller list tells me to believe. That would be like buying the top 10 Music CDs right now and saying these were your favorite bands. The people I'm talking about really, are those people who were Chicago Bulls fans, who then were Lakers fans, then San Antonio fans, and now Pistons fans. People who have to be on the winning side and stick with what the popular society dictates. I don't like to openly critisize them because maybe they are happy that way. It does, however, make the people who have always been Piston fans look like they are just frontrunning and just following the trends, which sadly, I was accused of when I brought up how I had mentioned these things to my friend years ago. I think the real test would be to see if any of the people who were "Yankees fans" still like the Yankees right now. Check some of them out- I'm sure they'll talk your ear off about Boston and the White Sox.
Sweet. Lemme just play a couple notes on my tuba to defeat this rant.... ... ... ... Okay, done. Let's see...
Experience points gained: 500
Steve gains a level!
Mastered "Dan Brown" Rage
Steve's Rant Level is now 2!
Found a "Lemon-shaped Rock"