Burn After Reading

Not to start making anyone reading this think that my life revolves around movies, but I went to see Burn After Reading this weekend, and beyond being a hilariously bizarre film, there was a moment that stuck out and made me think of this blog.

Brad Pitt played an enthusiastic, optimistic gym employee that thought he had his hands on a sensitive piece of information accidentally dropped by a CIA agent. In an attempt to get some kind of reward out of the find, he brought it to the Russian embassy. When passing it off to a man there, he was asked something along the lines of "Are you trying to use this for an ideology?" With a look that portrayed complete ignorance and suspicion of a trick question, he replied. "I don't think so...?"

I laughed, along with much of the audience, but I had to stop and wonder. How many people in the world today don't actually know what an ideology is? I'll be honest, I didn't have a clear understanding before this course began. I had no idea that there had to be political motives involved. With ideologies being a surprisingly strong driving force in the world today, it's sad to think that there may very well be such ignorant forces in the world.