Critic Cal

[NOTE: I just stumbled on  this article  by physicist and priest  John Polkinghorne  which explains everything I'm trying to say below, but better and with all the right credentials...So go away and read that, and if you are at a loose end afterwards rejoin me for my attempts to prove that I am perfectly amenable to a spot of popular culture after all, if somewhat determined to drag it through a theological hedge backwards.] Old  Cliff 's old classic seemed creepy enough to me [1]  before I discovered (that is, was forcibly encouraged to discover) ' Dollhouse ' -- Joss Whedon's playfully poignant (prematurely cancelled) existential sci-fi about programming people to spec. The premise is pretty stirringly dark: a shady operation hiring out good-looking persons ('actives') who have been imprinted with designed-to-order psyches for all manner of purposes, ranging from romantic liaisons (of varying degrees of depravity) and complex criminal dealings (with

Angry, angry, angry! Sickened, repelled, repulsed, incensed, enraged, incandescant, disgusted, frustrated, despairing, despondent, dejected, discouraged, downhearted...[1] (and: glumly and slowly resigning myself to the fact that I share in the heinous malfeasance by which I have come to be wearied and riled...) The offending article? This television ad . Transcript: Gary's cat is missing. [sad music] Hang on, you don't know Gary, do you? [happy music] Well, don't worry then. You can forget about things that don't affect you. Like with the new Peugeot 208. You can forget car insurance -- it's covered for three years. So is all this. Only with the "Just Add Fuel" finance package… Huh?! What? WHAT??! Who got to decide this, and announce it on national TV with such cheerful assurance? It is nothing short of a statement of far-fetched faith posing as universally-accepted fact (with no attempt to provide supporting evidence). The advert takes for granted t