Chapter 23: The Puritans, the City on the Hill
Milo certainly wasn't capable of getting Clinton to promote his products.
But apparently, his family did.
Through some exchanges, such as during next year's general election.
Most of Massachusetts will firmly support Clinton.
This is actually very easy to do.
Because of Clinton's strong charisma, his re-election next year is almost certain.
What's more, Massachusetts is becoming increasingly blue and is gradually becoming a staunch blue camp.
Blackburn needed to do very little.
But Clinton had to pay very little.
You just need to say a few words during the interview according to the arranged process.
Clinton was happy with the benefit, which cost nothing.
What is more important is actually "The Da Vinci Code" itself.
In the United States and even around the world.
It's the same as Harry Potter, which would come out two years later.
They are almost the pioneering works that created a small genre of novels.
There have never been similar novels before, and they will definitely become popular as long as they are published.
Look at what it achieved in its previous life——
It broke the American novel sales record with a circulation of 7.5 million copies, and its cumulative global sales exceeded 65 million copies. It ranked first on the New York Times bestseller list for 76 weeks.
It has been translated into 42 languages and its sales even rival those of the Harry Potter series.
It also rekindled interest among ordinary people in the history of the Catholic Church.
The last sentence caused it to be criticized by an American Catholic bishop half a month after it was released on the market. He claimed that the novel was fabricated.
As a result, the most powerful political force behind the United States entered the scene.
Before talking about this, I have to explain that the United States is a country founded by Puritans.
It was the Puritans' city on a hill.
But remember, the “pure” in Puritan.
It is never pure in the sense of being pure in mind and having few desires.
It is the Qing of "clear".
The earliest Puritans' purpose was to eliminate the remnants of the Church of London's Bishop of Midland. In other words, they were actually radicals.
How many people in the United States belong to this group? About 57%.
In other words, of the 266 million Americans today, 150 million are Protestant Puritans.
Among the Puritans, it didn't matter whether you were Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian, or Congregationalist.
There is actually not much difference between them. The main difference lies in the organizational form and regional distribution.
The big difference actually lies in which sect of Puritans you belong to.
Protestantism is actually a general term for a number of Protestant sects.
Without considering the form of existence and organization.
In fact, it is mainly divided into three factions with three doctrines: evangelicals, Pentecostals and fundamentalists.
Evangelicals make up the vast majority, more than 100 million people, accounting for 35% of the total U.S. population.
These nearly 100 million people are the reason why other countries think that Americans are anti-intellectual.
The books written by this school of thought state that one must have firm faith in God, that the moon was created by God, that the Grand Canyon was created by God's flood, that the theory of evolution is wrong, and so on.
But what is even more outrageous is that this faction is the most open-minded of the three.
The other two are more fundamentalist than each other.
One of the evangelicals' favorite things to do is to confront the Vatican.
Day. After the bishop's criticism of the bishop.
Enter the Puritans, led by New York evangelical leader Bishop Benjamin Butcher.
Bishop Benjamin Butcher stated:
Milo must have been inspired by the Lord God to write such a novel.
There are oracles from the Lord hidden in this novel, otherwise how could it contain so many detailed religious theories.
There are many facts that even theology professors are not aware of.
It is the novel in the world that contains the most knowledge of the Lord and the most secrets of the Church.
This is when the Lord sent the gospel and oracles to the world through Milo Blackburn.
So American religious leaders rushed in panic.
The Da Vinci Code was hyped up.
Create the record mentioned by Eddie McGudrick, a well-known critic of The New York Times:
The monthly sales volume in September was 1.2 million copies, and it topped the New York Times bestseller list for five consecutive weeks starting in its second week on the market.
And it is still selling well because religious leaders still come out to talk nonsense from time to time.
The instigator of all this was Milo Blackburn, who was strongly pushed by his family.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
After making many phone calls to his family, he chose to continue staying in Los Angeles to shoot his film.
We just hired a lot of people from security companies.
They even transferred some of their own people from Massachusetts to maintain order around the crew and the set.
He is famous now, very famous.
Not only a large number of media reporters want to interview Bishop Benjamin Butcher, who is favored by the Lord as described by many leaders.
There are more evangelical believers who truly believe in God, and they also want to see what the person who can receive the gospel from the Lord looks like.
But they were all stopped and kept outside by bodyguards and security guards.
Without exception.
Until October 15, 1995.
On the road to Hollywood Park Racecourse.
"Hey, Haggis, can you please hurry up? If we delay any longer, we'll be late."
Eddie McGudrick, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said somewhat depressedly as he looked at the scenery on both sides of the street moving backwards.
"Relax, Eddie, we'll be there soon, I promise." The assistant who was driving the car said carelessly.
"You've said this eight hundred times, but we haven't even seen anyone yet."
Eddie said unhappily, then he turned and looked at his assistant with a suspicious look: "You don't know the way, do you? I remember you are from Miami?"
"How is that possible? I'm from Miami and this is my first time in Los Angeles. But before I left, I looked at the map here countless times!"
Haggis Duval immediately raised his voice, as if he was very dissatisfied, but his eyes could not hide his guilty conscience.
"Then please find the location quickly, thank you!"
Eddie was too lazy to expose him, he just covered his forehead and sighed.
At this moment, Haggis suddenly shouted, "Look, Eddie, they are there, the crew is there! There are so many people gathered around, it must be there."
Looking in the direction he pointed, outside the Hollywood Park Racecourse, there were a lot of parked cars and many people walking around.
Many of them were carrying cameras, and you could tell at a glance that they were entertainment reporters.
"Just stop here and let's walk over."
Eddie hurriedly asked his assistant to park the car on the side of the road. After packing and preparing, the two got out of the car and walked over there.
"I'm finally going to meet that amazing young man."
As they got closer to their destination, Haggis suddenly became excited. "To be honest, Eddie, I still can't believe that there is someone in the world who can receive the gospel from the Lord! How did he do it? Why does the Lord favor him so much?"
In addition to being a journalist and writer's assistant, Haggis is a devout evangelical.
"Stop chattering, Haggis. If you keep going like this, you will be the host of the interview later." Eddie said without turning his head.
"Are you serious, Eddie?!" Haggis was overjoyed.
But seeing the other person's unfriendly look, he immediately raised his hands and said, "Okay, I, I know you are joking."
The two of them quickly arrived near the periphery.
Eddie McGudrick stopped a security guard and showed his press card and a letter: "Hello, I am Eddie McGudrick, a columnist for the New York Times, and reporter Haggis Duvall. We have an appointment with Mr. Blackburn."
(End of this chapter)