Inherently Different

The Frivolity of Fanaticism

Today I went to the public library here on Maui. I’ve never used the word quaint to describe something in my life. Mostly because, well, I’ve never had occasion to use it… Until now.

The library in Kihei is small, mismanaged and rather light on decent books. In fact, I’d go as far as saying there are ghetto libraries that are better equipped to disperse reading material and information.

I went there because it will probably take about 10 to 15 days before I am able to have internet access via cable or DSL. The island is stuck in 1985 or whenever it was that 56k was the cream of the proverbial crop of access.

While at the library, I managed to grab 30 minutes of computer time on one of their archaic machines that had access. It wasn’t T-3, nor even T-1. It wasn’t cable and it wasn’t DSL. There used to be this type of internet access called Frame Relay. Ever hear of it? That’s what they have. A frame cluster of about 10 nodes sharing partial fat-pipe throughput. It’s like 10 machines sharing dialup.

I waited until there was no one about and used everything they had in the way of bandwidth just so I could check my mail.

The only interesting thing, aside from the editor of the publishing company I write for complaining that I didn’t fill out my invoice correctly, was a posting from someone who reads my movie review site. The posting was in response to a review I wrote about the new movie, Saved!

The person was under the misplaced idea that I had direct contact with Brian Dannelly, the writer/director of the new film featuring Macualay Culkin, Mandy Moore, Jena Malone. She berated Dannelly because he had insulted good Christians everywhere with this film. If you click on the link above, you’ll read my review as well as her comment that she hopes gets to Dannelly.

I’ve followed the uproar this film has caused and can safely say that a good portion of the people who say the film is a derogatory statement against the Jesus Rocks movement are clearly missing the point.

Once again, from the top… I doubt Brian Dannely will read my movie review but if he did, and he caught sight of Ms. Stirman’s response, I’m thinking he’d be vindicated. Ms. Stirman is clearly among the fanatically repressed individuals who find fault with anyone that disagrees with them. Or more to the point, Ms. Stirman has a “Jesus Stick” deftly wedged into her buttocks.

She missed the point of the movie, quite obviously.

While she seems hellbent on quoting scripture to illustrate her point, I don’t think anyone will ever find a passage in the bible about persecuting someone for their beliefs. The fact that Ms. Stirman feel as though the movie was a slight against christianity as a whole and “saved” christians specifically lets me (and I would imagine) Brian Dannely know that she didn’t even watch the film. My guess is that some fanantical pastor or sunday school leader prompted all her little minions to write and protest and monger against the film and everyone involved in it.

Had Ms. Stirman’s devoutly christian parents let her outside long enough to be poisoned by this “immoral, gross, rude, and sick movie,” she would have discovered that the film is really about understanding, acceptance, perserverence and most importantly, following Gods example and loving someone despite their problems and mistakes.

Nothing on this god-forsaken rock troubles me more than fanatics of the religious order. Read my review or better yet, watch the film (Saved! is playing nationwide) and then write this sensitive human being a note letting her know what you thought of the movie. Her email address can be found next to her comments to my original post
 

2 thoughts on “The Frivolity of Fanaticism”

  1. Fundamentalists who speak (and type!) their minds before taking two seconds to research their topic are a gift to those of us who enjoy rolling our eyes.

  2. Here’s a treat for all y’all eye-rollers…

    If anyone would like to critique a rather eloquent and well-articulated commentary on the Fundamentalist underpinnings of the current war mentality, the entire script and audio demo of my one-act musical “The Church of the New Crusade” may be found at http://newcrusade.home.comcast.net. It was premiered last October in Eugene, Oregon, and I would be very interested in feedback from participants in the discussion I found at this site. Thank you.

    Scotty P.

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