"Life of Brian... have you seen Kumare?" my response: No I
haven't but I will; I looked at the Wikipedia for it and it
looks like something I *might* like. Although... I'm not
ethically crazy about the idea of fooling people like that. The
idea is actually kinda gross to me.... I don't like fooling
people.... or watching it happen really. But.. I _should_ watch
it I think. I have a feeling I'd feel awkward the whole time
watching it though but I should watch it. === Oh wow, I just saw
the trailer for it. Eek. I'm squeamish even thinking about
watching it. I mean, it takes advantage of people's earnest and
honest feelings. Trust is one of those things that we're in
short supply of, and while everybody _should_ learn skepticism
as a part of "watch out for charlatans.... taking -advantage- of
it... for whatever reason (making a film that will win awards..
making $$$, selling books).. it's just... wow.. I don't honestly
know if I *could* watch it. I know I wouldn't be rooting for the
guy that made it already. It's exploitation and saying "it's for
a documentary" or "it's for science" is no better than "I'm
doing it for profit".... ... ugh, well, I _should_ watch it I
think but it highlights exactly the reason why I don't get a
custom made robe and stand up in front of people. I know it's
easy. I could do it without a fake Indian accent.... known that
since I was a teenager and people said I should be a minister...
... that's why I couldn't do it. I couldn't. === wow... that
Kumare thing definitely struck at one of my core values...
ouch... there it is. == I might have to fast forward through it
to get to it. So weird: VERY few things make me squeamish. I can
handle blood, vomit, random disgusting things. I can watch any
kind of special fx (as long as I know it's special fx), no
matter what it's portraying. None of that makes me squeamish.
But exploiting ppl with a knowing wink and a grin? Yeah.. that
hits me. == I do too - and I never got used to it. You'd think
by 44 I'd be used to it. But it always bothered me. Like, I can
handle the craziest people who earnestly believe something from
top to bottom. I'm cool with that. But if the guy on the top or
anyone in the hierarchy takes advantage of people's trust, it
bothers me. For example, if Pat Robertson HONESTLY believes what
he says, I got no problem with the 700 club and all the strange
things they say/do. But if he doesn't? That changes things. Or
one of my complaints with new atheism: those that honestly
believe the people heading it, I don't fault them. But if
someone who is influential is deliberately utilizing the
fundamentalist style of convincing people simply because it
psychologically works very well on a large segment of the
population... well... that bothers me equally. I could give a
dozen examples but the gist of it is: if you're in a position of
power, you're responsible for people that look up to you.
Knowingly toying with people's minds when you're responsible for
them is, to me is high on the morally wrong scale for me. Some
professions I can sort of accept, like advertising/marketing. I
saw through them when I was 8 yrs old and I realized the kids
were midgets, they were holding the toy truck RIGHT in front of
the camera so it LOOKED bigger than it was, and yet I was amazed
that I STILL WANTED IT, even seeing the scam. Never forgot that
stupid toy truck commercial but I've seen echos of it through
the years in all sorts of places. ==
