Let’s take a look at something I’ve never mentioned before. The Da Vinci Code.

For some reason this thing really upsets people.

I read the book so long ago that I barely remember it. I bought it the week it came out, before there was any hoopla or reviews or controversy. I happened to like his previous book, Angels & Demons, so I bought this one hoping it would be as good. It wasn’t, but I liked it anyway. It was a very good idea and though Brown’s not exactly Tolstoy, the story moved along and it was interesting and I read it in close to one sitting and then promptly forgot about it. I was not enraged or offended. I don’t know what I was, because it didn’t leave any impression on me other than it was a fun book and that’s swell, but I had moved on to another.

Then some months later I started hearing about outrage and it blossomed from there into some kind of full-fledged Beatlemania of hate. It got to the point where I never wanted to hear the title of the book again. And now there’s a movie and all the hype is back.

You know what? Go see it. Or don’t go see it. Because in the grand scheme of anyone’s life this means very little. It’s a fucking book. It’s a fucking movie. People need to stop acting like they’re teaching the plot of this thing in public schools.

“It’s ridiculous!” I hear from grandstanders. You know what? So is fucking Shrek. I haven’t seen Mission Impossible VII, but I’m pretty sure that plot is ridiculous.

You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to see it. Or you could revel in it. The choice is yours; unlike it would be in, say, Iran.

A lot of people key in on one a central point when they discuss this topic. “It’s fiction,” they say. “Fiction!”

And that’s pretty hard to fucking argue. It’s not a book that anyone is going to look for in the “Theology” section of Barnes & Noble. If you personally believe this book is blasphemous to your personal beliefs, that’s too fucking bad. Plenty of shit offends me and I live with it. Free speech and all that. These people have a right to tell this tale if that’s what they wish to do. And I have the right to see it if I so choose.

I saw some actor from the film say in an interview that The Bible ought to be labeled fiction as well. Heh.

I’m not touching that because I don’t care what other people believe. They can believe or not believe anything they want. I don’t wish to join forces, cause people to switch sides or anything else. I’m personally not interested in what other people believe.

I AM interested in the Christians and especially the Catholics who are able to read the book or see the movie and say they liked it or they didn’t. No big hoopla or anything, just liked it or didn’t. To me these people seem very sane. They don’t want to boycott or burn villages.

I’m also interested in people who say, I don’t think I’ll see it, or who say they will go see it--without any foaming at the mouth or quotes from Leviticus. I’m a big fan of sanity. See it. Don’t see it. Is that too fucking over simplified?

For the record, I’ll see it, even though I hear there’s no T & A.

Because I like a good story.