June 08, 2005
Why I don't read WORLD
My parents get WORLD. I read it with some regularity when I was in high school, so five plus years ago. I didn't have much to do with it in college, though the Belz family - publishers of the magazine - are involved with Covenant to the point that the dorm I lived in is named after them. Dan also has tenuous connections through friends.
Now, I'll periodically pick up the magazine just to see what's going on. And articles like this one are why I just can't stand the thing. They're praising an unmitigatedly bad movie that's as violent as anything, just because it has "spiritual themes" and features a Bible as a key prop. So not only will they condemn excellent movies for cussing, they'll laud crappy ones (with just as much cussing as ever) because there's some hackneyed moral to the story. This isn't a review. This isn't cultural engagement. This isn't even journalism, for crying out loud. This is mechanically parroting a party-line while trying to make as much of culture as possible fit into a tightly proscribed box. They're no better than any of the leftist whack-jobs they criticize, and frequently not even any more correct.
They may be Christians, and I will recognize them as my brothers and sisters in Christ, but that doesn't mean I have to like what they're doing.
That is the most incoherent thing I have ever read. Has he seen the movie? And I'm all for Christ figures, but they have to be the slightest bit true to the divine character: When the hell did Jesus start sticking time bombs in people's rectums?
Posted by: mesh at June 8, 2005 03:30 PMI think I'm dumber-er-er for reading that article. I'm just kind of...stunned. Its so bad it makes me question my sanity.
"A Bible figures prominently in the plot..."
And your point is Mr. Coffin?
Posted by: JosiahQ at June 8, 2005 03:33 PMBleargh.
Posted by: Ron at June 8, 2005 03:37 PMLet us not forget A. O. Scott's review, an opinion that seems to have at least some comprehension of Christian ethics:
"Kill them all," Pita's mother hisses when she learns of Creasy's plan. In the same scene we learn that she has been reading his Bible, a book he consults and occasionally quotes, though it may be a different version than the one I'm familiar with. I've combed through both testaments, and I can't find the verse that seems to be Creasy's favorite — the one that says: if your enemy smites you on one cheek, rig a tube full of plastic explosive to his body, tie him to the hood of a car and light the fuse.
Posted by: mesh at June 8, 2005 06:57 PMI haven't seen the movie, so I can't comment directly on the reviewer's points. I will, however, say that as Christians I think we too often evaluate popular arts simply by their level of cuss words, nudity and violence. But there are themes far more dangerous than these that pervade movies, music and television. So in a sense I can appreciate the review for looking deeper into the story (although I agree that it's poorly written).
Posted by: Scott at June 9, 2005 05:12 PM