What the bleep do we know?

Scribbled down on October 30th, 2006 by she
Posted in Learning & Education

\textrm{What}\ \mbox{tH}\vec{e}\ \beta\textrm{\emph{L}}\vec{\epsilon\epsilon}\textrm{\emph{P}}\ \vec{D}\theta\ \omega\Sigma\ \textrm{(\emph{k})}\pi\textrm{ow!?}

This weekend we rented What the bleep do we know? after I’d heard a few people in the Learning & Development field discussing the movie. I should mention that we didn’t rent the original 2002 theatrical version of the film, rather the repackaged 2006 “director’s cut” titled What the bleep: Down the Rabbit Hole.

I really didn’t know what I’d be getting myself into but I was certain it couldn’t be any worse than some of the other movies we’ve rented over the past decade.

So two hours, a mini bag of popcorn, and a few beers later one thought cemented in my mind. I need to learn more about the premise behind the documentary. I also was pretty certain I’d need to watch it at least a few more times (after some time had elapsed) before I could make a judgment either way regarding how I felt about the information presented.

Strangely, while I don’t agree with the premise, I also don’t have the overwhelming urge to bemoan my loss of time spent watching it. Usually when the hubby and I watch something terrible we tend to joke about demanding the 2 hours of our lives that we spent watching a movie back from the powers that be*.

Sure, I know most of it has been debunked as pseudoscience and it’s a thinly veiled promotional piece for Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment. I also don’t see how the premise fits into my current understanding of the world and my own reality. I am, however, confused.

I’ve learned to equate my moments of confusion with the learning process. Most times when I’m confused I find I’m trying to work things out but haven’t really got a good grasp of what my final interpretation of the data is yet. Due to my current confused state, I’m having a hard time completely dismissing the film. If nothing else it’s forcing me to ask questions and seek out answers so I can build my own reality. At least that’s one thing I do feel confident about knowing. I’m firmly entrenched in the belief that anyone suggesting that we don’t built our own reality hasn’t really examined their own mental models!

For more info on the controversy surrounding this movie, read the Salon article Bleep of Faith or Annie Wagner‘s blog post David Albert: ‘What the BLEEP’ Is Wildly and Irresponsibly Wrong. Alternately, you can google the movie title to find lots of opinions (pro and con).

*We used to have a rule that we followed wherein we wouldn’t stop a movie once we’d started watching it. If we rented it, we were stuck until the end. It resulted in our seeing a large number of absolutely horrific movies over the years. We frequently wanted our 2 hours back! More recently we’ve decided that life is too short to spend watching crap. If neither of us is into a movie in the first 15-30 minutes it’s pulled out of the DVD player and we move onto something else.

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One Response to “What the bleep do we know?”

  1. She, I have to agree with you…….my time it too precious to spend on crap. The hubby &always decide (unanimously) if it gets pulled………..or if one of us just simply moves in another direction.

    It works quite well for us, Di

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