The Japery:

"And, in fact, many liberal editors have published the offending cartoons. Not, as Stanley Fish recently pointed out, because of a perception that the cartoons are true, but almost “by accident,” as some generic act of faith in “dialogue” and free speech in the church of liberalism. Fish argues that the liberal mind cannot understand the rage over the cartoons because they have lost the ability to rage over anything. They practice a morality of withdrawal from morality. This is close to the same thing as saying liberals tolerate everything but intolerance, but it penetrates more deeply to the root of the spiritual sickness at work in the liberal soul."

Similar confusions of will can be seen in recent pieces yearning for some mystical dialogue re: the Da Vinci Code, as Barbara Nicolosi so deftly describes (though I'd never be quite so sharp in my critique).

The almost irresistible hook for us all is that we supposedly need to see The Da Vinci Code, so that we can then tell all the other people what is wrong with it. All these Christians are being hooked in to write and speak about the film in the name of "dialogue." "How could you criticize something that you haven't seen?" And, "Everybody is going to be talking about this film! We won't be able to talk back if we haven't seen it."

Folks, there is no dialogue here. The dialogue which might have happened involved Sony and Imagen making changes in the story, that would have reflected some kind of fidelity to history or fairness. They didn't make those changes. Basically because they wanted to bash Christians. (Quick, someone assure me that Time and Newsweek and the NY Times, et al. will NOT be running reviews or ads for The Da Vinci Code because it is such an offensive caricature of the central figure of a major world religion!) Secondly, I don't agree that "everybody" is going to see this film. I found the script somewhere between idiotic and way too cute. I didn't find it half as clever as National Treasure....and that wasn't exactly a work of cinematic genius. As 80% of America is Christian, if they don't get us in, the movie basically tanks. And most of us probably weren't going to be going -- until we were told "Every Christian must!!!" All in the name of "dialogue."