Drenched in Dumb.

Warsaw is still not showing Golden Compass for reasons unknown. This morning I voiced my frustration and was inundated by a torrent of dumb which drown me in reminders of why I hate this town:

"Is it not coming to town because of the religious messages?"
"Aren't those books about killing god?"
"How can you kill something which is eternal?"
"You can't see that movie! The author of the books is an atheist!"
"I don't want to see it because if I go I'll want to read the books and they are about killing god."
"This movie is just like those anti-American war movies. We can't support it."

As is the case with a deluge there was no structure. Rather, these comments burst forth as if I had smashed the spigot or decimated the dam of accepted social silence which on most days keeps these thoughts happily contained in their reservoirs of idiocy.

I seem to have a water theme going today.

These critiques were not even assessments of the film itself. Rather, their understanding of the film, gleaned no doubt from a snippet from a half-read article, was subjected to their own rubric.

Atheism bad.
Golden Compass written by Atheist.
Golden Compass bad.

Forget an assessment of the thing itself. Forget the number of other movies written by super-secret atheists. Forget the content of the film (polar bears wearing armor who fight). No, stop at "an atheist wrote the book upon which the movie is based". That is apparently all one need know.

It's not even a sensible world view or life philosophy. It would be like flatly refusing to eat any food which contained or existed within proximity to vegetables; adopting the view that regardless of the entire dish that minute, inconsequential aspect somehow tarnishes the entire experience.

The film is not about atheism. Watching the film does not somehow endorse any religious view any more than viewing a movie based on a book written by someone who smokes pot is somehow an endorsement of pot. It's a movie which contains polar bears wearing armor who fight. Can't we all just focus on that so that I don't have to drive 45 minutes to a city not populated by dipshits with "head-up-ass" disease in order to see the fucking movie?

Please?