I like most of James Cameron’s movies, AVATAR notwithstanding, and think overall that he’s a very talented filmmaker, but I also kind of think he’s an egomaniac. However, on this point he and I are in total agreement:

Asked what he thought about Beck during a junket appearance in support of the “Avatar” home-video release, Cameron said: “Glenn Beck is a fucking asshole. I’ve met him. He called me the anti-Christ and not about ‘Avatar.’ He hadn’t even seen ‘Avatar’ yet. I don’t know if he has seen it.”

[. . .]

“He’s dangerous because his ideas are poisonous,” Cameron answered. “I couldn’t believe when he was on CNN. I thought, what happened to CNN? Who is this guy? Who is this madman? And then of course he wound up on Fox News, which is where he belongs, I guess.”

Asked by THR if he felt the right wing’s attacks against him were continuing, Cameron replied: “They’re not attacks. They’re just people ranting away, lost in their little bubbles of reality, steeped in their own hatred, their own fear and hatred. That’s where it all comes from. Let’s just call it out. Let’s have a public discussion. That’s what movies are supposed to do, you know, you can have a mindless entertainment film that doesn’t affect anybody. I wasn’t interested in that.”

(Emphasis added by me.)

Can’t say I agree with Cameron’s assertion that AVATAR doesn’t qualify as “mindless entertainment,” or that it’s some great cultural achievement that will change the way the world thinks about the environment. Yes, it looked pretty and was innovative and made a buttload of money, but story-wise it wasn’t anything approaching original, and it certainly isn’t the first film to be environmentally conscious, or anti-war.

But boy howdy — I would greatly like to see a live debate between James Cameron and Glenn Beck. And moderated by Jon Stewart, because — why the hell not?

Beck, because he is an idiot and batshit crazy, would lose. But he would lose in the grandest, most rabid and entertaining manner possible. It would be the stuff of legend.