A helping of hooey

This week's premiere of the movie version of "The Da Vinci Code" has occasioned much consternation in Church and other circles (see our three-page coverage in the May 11 issue for some examples).

Cardinals at the Vatican and theologians have railed against the novel's many falsehoods about Church history; art scholars have debunked its sections on Leonardo da Vinci; "60 Minutes" devoted a segment to refuting an element that novelist Dan Brown has labeled as "fact."

At least since the time of P.T. Barnum, many Americans have fallen for hoaxes, frauds and forgeries that were marketed as scientifically true. The slack-jawed credulity of the public is sometimes astonishing, often disconcerting and always worth setting right through the presentation of the truth.

There will always remain, however, a stubborn portion of the population that believes Barnum really had a mermaid on display, that UFOs truly abduct people from Kansas wheat fields and that Jesus actually married Mary Magdalene. The proportion of the credulous remains constant because, as Barnum noted, "there's a sucker born every minute" to take the place of those who finally ask themselves, "How could I have been so dumb as to believe that?"

The most tersely insightful comment about the novel has come from the star of the movie version, Tom Hanks, who said the plot is filled with "hooey" and "nonsense."

Indeed, it is. Maybe it's best to put aside all of the scriptural arguments and art history courses to get to the bottom line: "The Da Vinci Code" is a sizable load of baloney. If Brown wants to serve it as the truth, shame on him. If people want to consume it as the truth, shame on them.

(5/4/06)