Da Vinci Code Focus on Newest Going to the Blogs

The Joong Ang Ilbo has its latest Going to the Blogs article up. This week the focus was on the Da Vinci Code and Dokto controversies in Korea. Here is an excerpt from the Da Vinci Code portion of the article:

Calling it ?an insult and defamation? to the Bible, the Christian Council of Korea last week launched a legal bid to have the film version of Dan Brown?s ?The Da Vinci Code? barred from general release in Korea. For the host of ?Oranckay,? (http://oranckay.net/blog) the actions of the council – which ?remained silent when torture was taking place in South Korea and now only talks about human rights as it pertains to North Korea? – are bad enough.

But for the Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye to champion the council?s ?Talibanesque? cause is just rank hypocrisy, Oranckay says.
?If you?ve ever asked yourself why Korea?s traditional `democratic elements? have their doubts about the motives behind the anti-NK protests organized by the country?s conservatives, I submit that it is largely the conservatives? lack of respect for and understanding of, well, democracy.?

The whole Da Vinci Code controversy I think is just stupid because if anything the Da Vinci Code is causing more interest in religion. Look at the best sellers lists and you see many religiously themed books. The Da Vinci Code is a fiction book and should not be taken as being real. If this book of, I repeat fiction, causes people to change their religious beliefs than that just shows they did not have very strong beliefs to begin with. Maybe that is what some of these ultra-religious types that want to ban the movie are scared of. Sounds “Talibanesque” on a much smaller scale of course, to me. However, Oranckay’s comments about the Korean right is spot on.

The Going to the Blogs articles are a good idea if they are getting translated into Korean as well (anyone know?). I think it would give Koreans an interesting insight into how foreigners perceive Korea through blogs, much like foreigners depend on websites like the Marmot’s Hole to provide English translations of Korean media and websites so foreigners have a better understanding of how Koreans perceive them.