Da Vinci Madness

We all knew it was coming; we all knew -- okay, maybe just those of you who read this blog with some regularity (all 2 or 3 of you not on the writing staff) -- that I would eventually write a post about The Da Vinci Code spouting off my radical, intolerant, racist, biased, sexist, unfeeling, cruel, pompous, fundamentalist viewpoints on this holy work of fiction that no one can DARE to question. So, I'm gonna pull a one up on all of you. Rather than do just one post about this excellent, infallible, sacred, GOD INSPIRED novel by Dan Brown, I will take the pleasure of mercilessly ripping it to shreds in (hopefully) daily segments! This series, however, will most likely not begin until early next week, so make sure you check back then for some updates.

As for this post, I would like to explain the purpose behind why I am doing this, as well as inject my own thoughts about the work and Dan Brown himself. To start, I recognize that The Da Vinci Code is indeed a work of fiction. I am not one who is going to go lead marches down the streets of D.C. to get the book banned, because I know that our soldiers die to protect our freedom of speech -- no matter how false, slanderous, inaccurate, historically flawed, or RETARDED that speech may be, I know that if I expect people to not silence and ban my works, then I should not do the same to them. It's a matter of freedom as well as simple politeness. So, to get on with it, why would a recognized work of literary fiction be such a hot topic of debate anyway? Up until recently, I was under the impression that the author himself only professed it to be fiction. After reading several quotes from Brown's website, however, I am now under the very evident impression that he does believe in his theory, and he does claim that the theory "may hold merit." In addition to this, he makes a statement at the beginning of the text saying that all information about art, architecture, and the like is indeed fact. After a little research, that proves to be incorrect as well, and he uses these "facts" as evidence to his theory.

The problem with The Da Vinci Code starts when uninformed, unchurched, or unschooled people pick up the novel and begin to read it. It goes from "Wow, what a page turner!" to "Whoa! I never knew that about Jesus and Christianity!" People do not realize that in addition to being bad philosophy and bad theology, it is just horrible history. Hardly anything in the novel proves to be true besides maybe the occasional "Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa." People read this book and then suddenly absorb the inaccuracies with it, thinking that an overnight success author knows all the secrets to the universe. Now before I go further, I will admit that I have not read the book. Our family has a copy, however, and I intend to read it at my earliest opportunity. In addition, I will be going to see the film sometime in the near future. However, I have read very much about the book, and fact remains fact if I read the story part or not. I specifically know of claims the book makes (in the form of actual quotations from the book) and in what context it makes them. I can comment and research the correctness of these claims without having to have read the book itself, and not having read the book makes me no less of an "expert" than if I had read it. So check back often for updates on this issue. At the most, I have about 24 posts planned out, but I may end up condensing a great deal of those for time's sake. I will also turn on the comment feature of this site so you may leave me your love letters, hate mail, and anything in between. Feel free to leave us a message if you wish. Everything you say is welcomed here, even if you are an off the deep end liberal. We will still listen to what you have to say before we laugh. So, check back often and please leave comments! I hope this subject will prove to be a valuable weapon for those who know the truth.

~Tribal~