This looks to start a series of rant postings. I read in today's Salon's Fix, realize some of you can't view this link but haven't found the story elsewhere, some odd comments attributed to Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor, in a magazine called "Produced By".
Somehow Mark spouted his views on "mind control" - whether this was in reference to the participants on the show or the audience at home is anyone's guess - and credited the Catholic Church with some of the best such techniques in the world due to convincing its followers that one must speak through the priest to God and the apparent intimidation into unison created by dim lighting and candles. He then goes on to say Hitler used similar techniques.
Now I do not know how Burnett has gained his authoritative knowledge of Catholicism, but any Catholic can inform him that we do not believe that God only listens to priests. There is this thing called prayingthat one can do completely independently with no priest in sight. Also the purpose of the "dim" lighting and candles is to facilitate an atmosphere of respect and reverence, not fear and intimidation. Plus, while I am no expert on the Nazi era, I distinctly remember footage of Hitler speaking outside during the day in the bright sun and not in the middle of the night surrounding people with torches.
The only reason that I mention his views here is to help clear any misconceptions that people apparently must have of the Catholic religion. As a person who has watched every episode of Survivor, I still plan to watch Survivor since I can separate his personal views from the messages and entertainment I derive from the show.
Posted by boo at March 19, 2004 11:17 PM | TrackBack