October 31, 2005
I'm watching What the Bleep Do We Know right now, and less than fifteen minutes into its dramatic recreations and philosophical talking heads, I'm reminded of the words of another great philosopher:
Horseshit, Clark.
- Cousin Eddie Griswold
Now, I'd read the fantastic Salon article on the film when it first hit theatres, so I knew to expect some wackiness (such as the Tacoma housewife who heads up the School of Enlightenment and claims to be channeling a 50,000 year-old warrior spirit called Ramtha). But I'm less than fifteen minutes in, and the film makes the unqualified claim that the Native Americans literally COULD NOT see Columbus' ships arriving, because they had never seen ships before. They could see ripples on the waves but were unable to physically see the ships because it didn't match their reality.
People lauded this film? Were they asleep? Thankfully, I've read a lot about bullshit cults and seen plenty of crappy movies before, so, unlike the Native Americans with Columbus' ship, I'm able to see 'What the Bleep Do We Know" without any trouble.
Holy Nuttiness update: Thirty minutes in, and now we hear that meditation caused a 25% drop in violent crime in Washington DC in 1993, which they could predict based on "48 other studies." Not surprisingly, there's no mention of how "violent crime" was measured, nor what the 25% figure refers to, neither in terms of time period, nor comparison to a control. I'm sure the science behind that is real solid.
Oh, what the hell: Now they're saying that writing words on water bottles changed the STRUCTURE OF WATER MOLECULES in such a manner as to match THE EMOTIONS WRITTEN ON THE BOTTLE. I give up; my incredulity has been officially exasperated.
Posted by starlen at October 31, 2005 10:38 PM
Comments
Yeah, I didn't even bother. Movies like these just make me want to yell at the TV. Metaphysical BS pushed as entertainment.
Posted by: Alex at November 1, 2005 10:55 AM
I thought the concepts were interesting, although a lot of the movie was bullshit. I just lived for the moment when the brain cell starts singing Robert Palmer.... Did I say moment? I meant 15 minute sequence.
Posted by: doug at November 2, 2005 6:19 PM
Oh, man - maybe I should have stuck with it after all. But I couldn't go on for 2 more hours after that first half hour.
Also, I think I need to take Alex's route on these things - at some point consuming this much "makes me angry" media's gotta be unhealthy for me.
Posted by: starlen at November 3, 2005 8:11 AM
You missed the wedding sequence!!!???? The whole movie was worth watching just for that. You may need to re-rent it.
Posted by: doug at November 3, 2005 2:53 PM
