Fiction and those who believe it

I've watched a documentary called "Loose Change: Second Edition" several times. The movie proposes the idea that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were actually perpetrated by the Bush administration, not Osama and Al Qaeda. The movie provides some interesting "facts" and raises some important questions, but is it the truth? No way. I liked it because it confirms my worst thoughts about the Bush administration.

However, a little bit of critical analysis pokes New Orleans levee-type holes in the movie's premise. But many of my friends believe this movie verbatim because it confirmed their suspicions.

While reading articles about "Loose Change," I thought of "The Da Vinci Code." The movie opened this weekend and made $77 million in the United States and more than $200 million worldwide. I discouraged as many people I could from seeing it, but unfortunately wasn't too successful.

I don't know how many times I heard the words, "It's only fiction" this week and those leading up to this weekend.

"Why are you going to see the 'Da Vinci Code'?" I'd ask. "It's a dumb story that is filled with lies."

"Gosh, don't be so sensitive, it's only fiction."

This was an actual quote in The Boston Herald: "It is just a story," Herald reader Deborah Germano wrote. "People need to remember that Dan Brown did not write this book to claim it as actual facts."

Dan Brown claimed over and over again that his book was full of facts. Many people believed him.

The NY Times reported that 25 percent of the people in this country who say that the "Da Vinci Code" led them to some spiritual growth or the 5 percent who said the book actually changed their beliefs.

A survey in London found that more than 50 percent of readers had their beliefs changed by the book:

[The Opinion Research Business] interviewed more than 1,000 adults last weekend, finding that 60 percent believed Jesus had children by Mary Magdalene - a possibility raised by the book - compared with just 30 percent of those who had not read the book.

In fact, I can guarantee that every person who actually enjoyed this book either a) had a pre-conceived bias against the Catholic Church, or b) were dumb enough to buy into a gimmick and believed it was a good book because they read it in two days. (Read my review of the book here.)

Yeah, this book is "fiction." The only thing the author got right was that the Mona Lisa is in the Louvre in France. It's too bad people don't seem to realize this.