ben stein's execrable "expelled"
You might have heard of the new Ben Stein "documentary" called "Expelled," which purports to uncover the "conspiracy" that is keeping "intelligent design" from being properly taught and studied at American universities.
Well, sufficient to say that it is the lowest, most foul form of anti-scientific propaganda to ever come from an allegedly respectable journalist/political figure. It isn't a documentary, it is right-wing agitprop that reaches low low low to slam anybody who doesn't kowtow to the Christianist insistence that the only explanation for life on this planet involves a Creator (and anybody who believes otherwise is going to hell).
For example, there is a long segment of "Expelled" that equates "Darwinists" to Nazis. Here is one writer's description:
"The most controversial part of the film follows Stein to the Dachau concentration camp, underlining how Darwin's theories of natural selection led to the eugenics movement, embraced by Adolf Hitler. If there is no God, but only a planetary lab waiting for scientists to perfect the human race, where can Darwinism lead? Stein insists that he isn't accusing today's Darwinists of Nazism. He points out, however, that Hitler's mad science was inspired by Darwinism."
That passage was by a writer SYMPATHETIC to Stein, right wing Christianist "media critic" Brent Bozell.
Yes, that was "controversial." The whole "Darwinism leads to genocide" thing has been used before by advocates of the mandatory teaching of Christianity by the state - which is EXACTLY what those who advocate "intelligent design" are really after. Anti-vegetarians likewise love to point out that Hitler was a vegetarian, as if that means all vegetarians are ready to mass murder every Jew on the planet if given the chance. Hitler liked airplanes too - does that mean that everybody at Boeing and United Airlines and in the US Air Force is evil?
In Expelled, Stein goes to Dachau and weeps. Dachau is a tear-inducing thing. But it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with evolution. And Darwin (and those of us who believe he was right in describing the origin of species) did NOT advocate mass executions or breeding programs, thank you very much.
Win Ben Stein's money? I think not.
Fuck Ben Stein. I am ashamed to ever admit that I ever agreed with him on anything even once, or that I ever enjoyed his "I'm so smart" schtick on TV or in a movie. This is truly vile stuff.
Returning to Bozell, he calls "Expelled" "a spotlight on the arrogance of this movement (Bozell means people who accept evolution) and its leaders, a spotlight on the choking intolerance of academia, and a spotlight on the ignorance of so many who say so much, yet know so very little."
When in fact, only the ignorant who know so very little can possibly believe the weak "proofs" of intelligent design, while ignoring or simply refusing to believe the masses of scientific evidence that overwhelmingly supports the fact of evolution.
Spend some time at this website, Expelled Exposed (courtesy of the National Center for Science Education). It gives the background on each of the people allegedly blackballed by the scientific community for believing in intelligent design, and fills you in on "what Ben Stein isn't telling you about Intelligent Design."
Well, sufficient to say that it is the lowest, most foul form of anti-scientific propaganda to ever come from an allegedly respectable journalist/political figure. It isn't a documentary, it is right-wing agitprop that reaches low low low to slam anybody who doesn't kowtow to the Christianist insistence that the only explanation for life on this planet involves a Creator (and anybody who believes otherwise is going to hell).
For example, there is a long segment of "Expelled" that equates "Darwinists" to Nazis. Here is one writer's description:
"The most controversial part of the film follows Stein to the Dachau concentration camp, underlining how Darwin's theories of natural selection led to the eugenics movement, embraced by Adolf Hitler. If there is no God, but only a planetary lab waiting for scientists to perfect the human race, where can Darwinism lead? Stein insists that he isn't accusing today's Darwinists of Nazism. He points out, however, that Hitler's mad science was inspired by Darwinism."
That passage was by a writer SYMPATHETIC to Stein, right wing Christianist "media critic" Brent Bozell.
Yes, that was "controversial." The whole "Darwinism leads to genocide" thing has been used before by advocates of the mandatory teaching of Christianity by the state - which is EXACTLY what those who advocate "intelligent design" are really after. Anti-vegetarians likewise love to point out that Hitler was a vegetarian, as if that means all vegetarians are ready to mass murder every Jew on the planet if given the chance. Hitler liked airplanes too - does that mean that everybody at Boeing and United Airlines and in the US Air Force is evil?
In Expelled, Stein goes to Dachau and weeps. Dachau is a tear-inducing thing. But it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with evolution. And Darwin (and those of us who believe he was right in describing the origin of species) did NOT advocate mass executions or breeding programs, thank you very much.
Win Ben Stein's money? I think not.
Fuck Ben Stein. I am ashamed to ever admit that I ever agreed with him on anything even once, or that I ever enjoyed his "I'm so smart" schtick on TV or in a movie. This is truly vile stuff.
Returning to Bozell, he calls "Expelled" "a spotlight on the arrogance of this movement (Bozell means people who accept evolution) and its leaders, a spotlight on the choking intolerance of academia, and a spotlight on the ignorance of so many who say so much, yet know so very little."
When in fact, only the ignorant who know so very little can possibly believe the weak "proofs" of intelligent design, while ignoring or simply refusing to believe the masses of scientific evidence that overwhelmingly supports the fact of evolution.
Spend some time at this website, Expelled Exposed (courtesy of the National Center for Science Education). It gives the background on each of the people allegedly blackballed by the scientific community for believing in intelligent design, and fills you in on "what Ben Stein isn't telling you about Intelligent Design."
posted by Don Q Blogger at 7:34 AM
2 Comments:
just saw Expelled; the fact that Ben Stein isn't trying to win any popularity contests helps to validate his message... i gather that his goal is to promote free thought, especially more thinking about the worldviews that drive American academia
Patrick my friend, you have been deluded. The intelligent design people rely on the obfuscation and suppression of free thought, because free thought in the scientific world has come to the conclusion that evolution is very well supported by the facts, and ID is not.
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