It's Just Fiction .... (Really!?)
I was clicking around some of Carl Olson's sites and finally found an article I have been looking for since the James Frey, A Million Little Pieces class action lawsuits were filed.
The London trial, along with many of my blog pieces here and at Writopia, pretty well confirm that Dan and Blythe Brown fabricated the details of much of their lives, just as Frey Did.
Further, the trial and the baker's dozen of DVCode "hoax" and "debunking" books have destroyed the notion that Dan conducted any research at all (much less the "extensive" research so heavily promoted by Random House). And much of the testimony showed that Blythe's research was simply retyped pages from HBHG and other sources.
So, like the Frey case, we have fabrications galore.
But has anyone suffered?
In AMLP (also published by Brown's publisher, Random House) , we have read numerous cases of people and recovering addicts, who feel deeply distressed, betrayed, crushed at the exposure of fraudulent claims. Their emotional distress and psychological damage form the basis of the class action lawsuits.
But, according to the loud refrain of the Random House spin machine, Da Vinci Code is "just fiction."
But as we and others have pointed out, that is NOT what Brown and Random House have been telling people. They have leveraged their sales by misleading people to believe that much of it is true and that it is based on the research of two diligent scholars.
But Da Vinci Code is "just fiction." How could that possibly leave anyone emotionally distressed or feeling betrayed?
Of all the counterarguments to this, I have found Carl Olson's March 14, 2005 article, to be the most complete and persuasive.
Yes, again someone who is not Catholic might quibble with some of the few theologically oriented references, but Olson's argument stands even when those are completely gone.
The London trial, along with many of my blog pieces here and at Writopia, pretty well confirm that Dan and Blythe Brown fabricated the details of much of their lives, just as Frey Did.
Further, the trial and the baker's dozen of DVCode "hoax" and "debunking" books have destroyed the notion that Dan conducted any research at all (much less the "extensive" research so heavily promoted by Random House). And much of the testimony showed that Blythe's research was simply retyped pages from HBHG and other sources.
So, like the Frey case, we have fabrications galore.
But has anyone suffered?
In AMLP (also published by Brown's publisher, Random House) , we have read numerous cases of people and recovering addicts, who feel deeply distressed, betrayed, crushed at the exposure of fraudulent claims. Their emotional distress and psychological damage form the basis of the class action lawsuits.
But, according to the loud refrain of the Random House spin machine, Da Vinci Code is "just fiction."
But as we and others have pointed out, that is NOT what Brown and Random House have been telling people. They have leveraged their sales by misleading people to believe that much of it is true and that it is based on the research of two diligent scholars.
But Da Vinci Code is "just fiction." How could that possibly leave anyone emotionally distressed or feeling betrayed?
Of all the counterarguments to this, I have found Carl Olson's March 14, 2005 article, to be the most complete and persuasive.
Yes, again someone who is not Catholic might quibble with some of the few theologically oriented references, but Olson's argument stands even when those are completely gone.
posted by Lewis Perdue at 9:12 AM
3 Comments:
Yeah I reread it and aside from the Brown quote where he claims to "believe" the Code. I find it sadly lacking objectivity at any level. It's the tortured insulted language of an interested partisan. I think the examples of readers who beleive Code are equally sad. That real fact is none of it is believable. The real history leaves so many blanks as Erhman showed that no determination can be made as to the validity of the Christian doctrine. Exploted by DVC and others. Novels are about possibility. What if? The doctrine is a meme that gained purchase on the culture. This challenges that, and in a sloppy uninformed conspiratorial way. Anyone with a lick of sense can see that. It's a cheap murder mystery with real paintings in it. The plot and characters were stolen. That's the real news. And outrage. What if Icarus really had wings?
"What if Icarus really had wings?"
And they weren't attached with wax.
Yes. Real ones grown from the shoulder bades. They aven't found the fossil yet. That sort of posit.
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