Dave Barry on The Da Vinci Code
This is funny:http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/9024288.htm?1cI really *wanted* to like The Da Vinci Code, but maybe I've been reading about paganism, Gnosticism and conspiracy theories for too long. None of the "secrets" were really all that profound to me. And I found the writing style really clumsy. It had none of the wit of Robert Anton Wilson, for example. And it took itself way too seriously. And the characters were so stock and predictable.I know some highly intelligent people who really loved this book, and in fact was outnumbered by them at a party this past Sunday. "It's really true, you know," one of them said. "You can tell the person sitting next to Jesus in The Last Supper is a woman." Oh, really? Even with much of the paint faded and worn away in the original 506-year-old painting? It could be a woman, but then again, it could just be a guy with long hair. Like Jesus'.The people I was hanging out with all seemed to believe that the pre-Christian world was matriarchal and full of goddess-worshipers, but as nice an idea as that feminist Arcadia is, it simply isn't supported by archaeological research.Sure, there were female deities, but women did not occupy positions of power then, and there was no pan-European "witch cult" as that 1970s or 80s author (whose name I can't remember at the moment and am too lazy to look up) claimed. I just can't believe how seriously people are taking this book. I mean, come on. It's fiction! Has "reality TV" warped us so much that we can no longer distinguish the difference? It seems like most of the criticism of the book has come from conservative factions who are threatened by it, as though the author is trying to prove his claims are real, rather than fancifully derived from conspiracy theories. I think conspiracy theories are fun. I enjoy folklore. That's what they are. Some may be true, but most probably aren't. (One of my professors once told me, "just because it's folklore doesn't mean it's not true). My reaction to the information overload of all this stuff is just to stay skeptical and enjoy it. If it's well-written.