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Spiritual guru and former Democratic presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson is once again turning heads online.
During a recent episode of her podcast, Williamson spoke effusively about the time she used the film Avatar to influence Israeli and Palestinian peace activists. Her comments drew no shortage of criticism and snickers.
And now, the self-styled "spiritual thought leader" is clapping back at her critics.
Williamson's flap with the so-called "pseudo-intellectuals having a hoot" began with a video clip from her podcast—The Marianne Williamson Podcast—in which she interviewed Avatar filmmaker James Cameron.
As she told Cameron, it turns out Avatar was so impactful Williamson even brought it up to a group of Middle East peace activists she met with in Israel.
In the clip, Williamson tells Cameron she told the peace activists:
"Well, you know, the Great Mother doesn't choose sides. According to Avatar, the Great Mother doesn't choose sides. She's there to protect the balance."
Like all of us probably would, Cameron asked how the activists—who are engaged in negotiating arguably the single most intractable geopolitical and religious conflict in the history of mankind—responded to Williamson's suggestion about what a CGI sci-fi film about blue aliens with electric tails might have to say about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Her answer?
"They nodded. And I think it was because some of them had seen Avatar."
But of course, it seems more like those nods might not have meant what Williamson thinks they mean.
The internet naturally had a field day dunking on her.
So Williamson fired off a Twitter thread chiding her critics for mocking her ideas when decades of establishment politicians have been unable to solve the problems in the Middle East.
She's certainly got a point there, but the idea Avatar is the key to centuries-old conflicts is, you know, a bit of a stretch.
So let's just say Williamson's clapback didn't do much to cool down the Twitter roasting.
But she was not without her boosters.
Some people thought she had a point.
Williamson is surely right about one thing.
The approaches world leaders have taken so far certainly haven't worked. Maybe they just haven't seen enough movies?