|
Media Watch Extra:
Film Maker Sees Conspiracy: No grassy knoll, just a Red Mass
Our old friend Amy Berg is back with a brand-new conspiracy and it's a REALLY, REALLY BIG CONSPIRACY! This time it's not just the Catholic Church that's out to get her. This time it's the Catholic Church AND the judges AND the lawyers AND the police AND that well known nest of vipers…The Motion Picture Association of America.
We've told you about Ms. Berg before, in reference to her ah…reporting techniques and in reference to her cozy relationship with CNN, which she stretched to the limits in the making of her documentary "Deliver Us From Evil." Now she's back with a long rant, blogged on HuffingtonPost and elsewhere, in which she details the conspiracy that's out to get her.
And apparently the conspiracy has grown over the past several months. Initially, it was just the Church. Several months ago a Los Angeles Times reporter, in a story about the documentary, wrote that Ms. Berg was reluctant to share personal information "so as not to give the Catholic Church any ammunition." (Maybe she watched The Da Vinci Code one too many times.)
But now the conspiracy out to get Ms. Berg has grown. In her blogged rant, she complains that most theaters won't show the trailer for her documentary because it received a "red band" rating for its content - pedophila - from the rating board of the Motion Picture Association of America. She continues: "…I have discovered that two clergy members are present (and possibly involved) during the film rating process… Given the atmosphere in which these decisions are made, I can't help but fear that perhaps it was as much the idea of high-ranking Church officials as fallible and possibly even criminal that the MPAA found unacceptable as it was the idea of sexual abuse."
The near incoherence of that last sentence aside, what she seems to be saying is that the Catholic Church is involved in some sort of super-secret plot with the MPAA - the MPAA! - to do in her and her film.
Now, she has a constitutional right to indulge in any sort of worldwide conspiracy theory that warms her heart, and we hate to deprive her of the melodramatic underpinnings of her next straight-to-video venture, but a little fact checking is in order. No clergymen, priests or otherwise, are members of the MPAA's ratings board. In fact, on its website the MPAA makes a point of noting that among the qualifications of the rating board members is "shared parenthood experience."
But the conspiracy Ms. Berg sees at work does not end with just a Vatican -MPAA cabal. Her rant continues: "Along these same lines, this week Cardinal Mahony presided over a 'Red Mass' in Los Angeles for thousands of members of the judicial system - invitees spanned all the way up to members of the U. S. Supreme Court, the District Attorney and City Attorney. Police Department heads were also invited to a special law enforcement Mass the previous week."
Alright, so it's actually a vast conspiracy of the Catholic Church, the MPAA, the police, and the judicial system including the Supreme Court that's after her. (Red Mass… red band rating…)
We realize this is probably only going to fuel Ms. Berg's paranoia, but the tradition dates back to 1245 when the first Red Mass was celebrated in Paris, taking its name from the vestments worn by the celebrants. The first Red Mass in the United States was celebrated in New York in 1928 and later spread to more than 25 cities including Los Angeles where it has been celebrated annually for the past 25 years. The Mass seeks the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the conduct of government and legal affairs.
One of the better known Red Masses is celebrated in Washington D. C. each fall on the Sunday before the convening of the Supreme Court. It is attended by justices of the Supreme Court, members of Congress, the diplomatic corps, government officials including cabinet members and occasionally the President. Protestants and Jews attend alongside Catholics.
Now, that's what we call a conspiracy.
|
|
|