Monday, June 27, 2005

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

So one of the movies I have had a keen interest in of late is What The Bleep Do We Know. It synthesizes a bunch of ideas and fields that hold a particular intrigue to me, such as quantum physics, philosophy, and secular humanism.

At one point during the day, I decided I would delve deeper into the backgrounds of the "scientists" involved in the voice-overs. Most seemed valid, albeit a bit out there and new-agey, but relevant to debate in my opinion.

However, there was one woman who always kind of pissed me off during the movie, because she always seemed to be preaching more than suggesting or proposing. After researching a bit, it turns out, she has no valid scientific background, is the leader of some cult at the base of Mt. Rainier in Washington, and believes herself to be the embodiment of some mystical being named Ramtha. Furthermore, the three directors of the movie are all students of hers.

The thing that really gets me too is that none of this is overtly disclosed during the movie. Instead, the directors try to pass the movie off as based on compelling new facts and hypotheses. Perhaps it might be, but it just lost a significant amount of credibility in my book. With so many interesting ideas and perspectives, it is a shame that What The Bleep Do We Know now holds the denomination of "infomercial" in my mind.

Back to self-propelled freethought for me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Post more post more!
-Graham