Imagine yourself riding a broken wings airplane, rushing through the clouds at 300 mph, heading straight to the ground. It would be great if you are just dreaming. Let’s pretend that you are really just dreaming.

Then you force yourself out of this bad dream.

This is how I felt when I’ve stumbled across this article about how bestseller book “Da Vinci Code” is considered to be pornography. Only thing that is different is that I couldn’t wake up after reading. I was already awake and this was reality. We are living in a world full of possibilities and yet there are some people who make you sick.

Organization behind this nonsense is “Philippine Alliance Against Pornography“. Here is the news excerpt: “Declaring that allowing “the most pornographic and blasphemous film in history” to be shown would “break” the Christian faith around the world, the Philippine Alliance Against Pornography Inc. (PAAP) said the President should order the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Customs to confiscate and destroy master copies of the film, which stars Tom Hanks.

In a statement, PAAP spokesman Aldo Filomeno said copies of Brown’s books available in bookstores and related establishments should also be destroyed. Finally, the group wants Brown to be declared persona non grata in the country.”

In addition, they compared Dan Brown to Adolf Hitler.

Bottom line is that if they do not agree with something then it should be banned.

Let’s dissect this a bit:

1. Pornographic = Blasphemous: This is very dangerous stuff. Since they need at least some arguments to ban this book, they labeled it “pornographic”. Since “Da Vinci Code” contains as much pornographic themes as a box of cereals, it’s easy for them to ban just anything they like.

2. Catholic Church support: Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), expressed through a pastoral letter that even though The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, it “shapes the imagination, stirs emotions and forms mental associations” and added that “Brown has created the impression that his fiction is historical fact.“.

Now we meet again, don’t we? It seems that Christian churches stand behind all anti-pornography groups, no matter how silly their arguments are. I have all reasons to believe that they are not just supportive bystanders.

3. Muslim support: The Moro Islamic Liberation Front Deputy Chairman Khaled Musa appealed to the MTRCB to ban the film, arguing that the film is blasphemous not only to Catholics but also to Muslims because Jesus Christ is considered one of the Prophets of Islam.

New development, but not at all surprising. When it’s time to manipulate people, Muslims and Catholics are united.

4. Government support: The City Councilors of Manila passed a resolution to ban the film, labeling it as “offensive and contrary to established religious beliefs which cannot take precedence over the right of the persons involved in the film to freedom of expression.”

In other words, you are completely free to express yourself when we like what you have to say. Otherwise shut the hell up or we’ll beat you with a stick.

Government knows they are supporting bullshit fundamentalists but they love their money and influence. If they didn’t ban the book they would loose support from powerful religious groups and consequently loose their positions.

5. Corporations support: The “SM Supermalls”, the largest chain of shopping malls in the Philippines, prohibited the showing of “The Da Vinci Code” in all of their movie theaters throughout the country. This decision is in line with their policy for not showing films that were rated by MTRCB as R-18.

“SM Supermalls” also know that if they didn’t follow the stack they would loose profit if someone in power called for boycott.

Now we have all elements in place. Every single top layer in Philippines power pyramid is united in banning one book. Government, churches, morality enforcers, corporations… We see how things work when you implement fundamentalist doctrine in everyday life.

I hope I’ll wake up someday from this nightmare.

Links: Part I, Part II, Part III