The Da Vinci Code... don't get me started. In proper perspective, this is the title of a fiction novel. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet in some quarters and vacant mental backyards, this fiction novel has reached an odd level of authenticity.
It cannot be denied that this book (and the ideas within) has reached a high level of popularity. Some commentators have been generous with their analysis (The Individualist Code by Stephen Cox, http://mises.org/story/2232 ) explaining that the concept is popular because "people have an instinct for liberty, an instinct that urges them to rebel against institutions". Therefore, this line of thought continues, this Da Vinci Code thing supports their rebelion against an established institution.
Rubbish, I say.
My initial impression is that when a F-I-C-T-I-O-N novel takes on attributes of authenticity with the reading audience, I begin to wonder about the mental capacities of that reading audience. Sure, they can follow along with the words: "See Judy run, run Judy run". But 'comprehension' must have sprouted wings and flew right out of their butts. And does this surprise me? No. Not in a society that lags behind most all other "first world" countries in our education.
Am I wrong? No. Stand on the sidewalk and start asking passing teens: where Chile is ("in the bowl, dude, with crackers on top"), who the current Secretary of State is, is global warming real, what is the cubic space of a 10' by 18' by 20' room, what is the Sherman Act? You'll get the picture. Almost half of all college undergraduates require remedial writing classes should they go on to Graduate studies.
My final major impression is (here is where I agree with Mr. Cox) that there is a dwindling in numbers of those that understand and prescribe to Christianity. A vacuum exists and along comes The Da Vinci Code to fill in some gaps.
In my opinion, both of these impressions indicate that America has slipped on the big banana peel of life and we're heading for a painful fall. History may well remember us as going the way of the barbarians - as they gnaw at us from within.
