Deepak Chopra and I seem to be on the same e-mail list. For months now I’ve been receiving half-put together “press releases” from a group claiming to represent Hindus, though said group offers no reason to believe they actually represent anyone. I get these on a weekly basis, and the content of them is always similar. The press release is not so much a press release as some group’s attempt to get me to publish their vague threat against Paramount Pictures, in which they promise to rain down all kinds of publicity hell if the studio doesn’t meet their demands.
In short, they’re claiming to be pissed off over the way The Love Guru portrays Hindus… even though they haven’t seen the film. Each press release demands something different. In one they demand Paramount give them free advance screenings of the film. In another they demand Paramount post Hinduism study-guides on all of their websites. To me, their motives have seemed less than pure. They seem more interested in garnering free publicity for themselves, whoever they are, than engaging in any actual outrage. So far they've failed to generate any real publicity for themselves, perhaps because everyone else who's gotten their crap has seen through it too. So I’ve ignored them.
Yesterday after I got yet another piece of email manure from them and I finally got so sick of it that I put their multiple email addresses on my blocked list. That failed, because early this morning they somehow managed to send me yet another one. Apparently I’m not the only victim of their promotional efforts, because today the guys at Cinematical stumbled on a blog post from the usually mild-mannered Chopra, in which he posted what for him, is almost a diatribe against the faux outrage groups like this are trying to cook up over the film. His message? Get a sense of humor.
Chopra has a small part in The Love Guru, and in the past Myers has said that his interest in Chopra was part of what inspired the film. Deepak proclaims his love of what he’s seen from the movie, and then, because he’s apparently seen these same press releases, calls the idiots behind them to task. He says, “The premature outcry against the movie is itself religious propaganda. Worse than that, the protestors expose the insecurity of Hindus who don't believe that their faith can stand on its own.” As I have been, he also questions the intentions of these whiners. Chopra continues, “Like the Christian right wing in America that ran to God's defense by trashing Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ," the fulmination of outraged Hindus masks a delight in gaining some free publicity. At least the director of "Last Temptation" intended to say something provocative about Jesus. But Scorcese can't be equated with Monty Python, whose "Life of Brian" was a lampoon of a messiah, not a pamphlet waved in our faces. Silliness often has wisdom hidden just beneath the surface -- perhaps "The Love Guru" will, also, since Myers laced his Austin Powers farce with a message about tolerance -- but if you can't accept silliness in the first place, you are likely to be immune to wisdom, too.”
If you’re one of these self-serving assholes who keeps sending me press releases, do yourself a favor and click over to Chopra’s Blog to read the rest of his dissertation. Then leave me the hell alone. And if you’re one of the folks working a Paramount Pictures who’s been forced to deal with these people, then you have my sympathy. Pawn them off on an assistant or something. Nobody would blame you.
