Richard Nixon's speech writer makes a stupid movie...

[The Night Owl]

No "Intelligence" evident in Stein documentary
Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:15pm EDT

By Frank Scheck

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Managing to make the films of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock look like dry, scholarly treatises by comparison, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" more than lives up to its subtitle.

...

Many of the central ideas expressed are truly offensive, such as the attempt to link Darwinism and Nazism, complete with footage of a grim-faced (not that he ever looks any different) Stein touring a Nazi concentration camp. At another point, the morose host ventures to the lair of the enemy himself, Darwin's home, and engages in a lengthy staring contest with a life-sized sculpture of the scientist.

...

Not surprisingly, there is a climactic showdown between Stein and the leading atheist of the day, Richard Dawkins (author of "The God Delusion"), that is as unenlightening as everything that has preceded it.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

http://www.reuters.com/article/reviewsNews/idUSN2036189120080421?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

[The Night Owl]

Scientific American weighs in on Ben Stein's unintentionally funny movie...

Never You Mine: Ben Stein's Selective Quoting of Darwin
One of the many egregious moments in the new Ben Stein anti-evolution film "Expelled" is the truncation of a quote from Charles Darwin so that it makes him appear to give philosophical ammunition to the Nazis. Steve Mirsky reports.

Podcast Transcript: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science.  Hi, Steve Mirsky here.  I’m going over our usual one minute.  By now, you’ve probably heard of Expelled, the new Ben Stein anti-evolution crockumentary.  It officially opens today as I speak, that’s April 18th.  Because of my job, I’ve had the misfortune of sitting through this film twice now.  As least I was getting paid.  The film tries very hard to connect Darwin with the Holocaust.

Toward the end, Stein reads the following quote from the book Descent of Man: “With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. Hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.”

That’s the end of the quote.  And when he finishes reading the quote, Ben Stein intones the guilty verdict by naming the source: Charles Darwin.  Oh my, it sounds like Darwin actually did provide a rationale to the horrific practices of the Nazis.

...

http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=61D30BEB-A65E-7583-BB264FABBD4CD879

[Flame]

heh...if it's something TNO wouldn't like I'm sure I'd love it.

[The Night Owl]

heh...if it's something TNO wouldn't like I'm sure I'd love it.

Yes, I'm sure that Mr. Stein is counting on people who uncritically accept his misrepesentations.

[delilahmused]

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

'nuff said! Oh, and one can enjoy something and find it thought provoking without the approval of Scientific American. Knee jerk reactions aren't pretty (or enlightening for that matter). From what I heard that "leading" athiest (oooh, there's something to aspire to) gets bitch-slapping pretty good.

Cindie

[franksolich]

Yes, I'm sure that Mr. Stein is counting on people who uncritically accept his misrepesentations.

Having a bad day, perhaps?

[delilahmused]

Yes, I'm sure that Mr. Stein is counting on people who uncritically accept his misrepesentations.

Having a bad day, perhaps?

I didn't think liberals were capable of having good days...seeing doom and gloom everywhere as they do.

Cindie

[The Night Owl]

Having a bad day, perhaps?

The movie Expelled only seems like it took one day to make.

[Chris_]

Almost all the posts on this thread are yours TNO.

Kinda lets you know where you stand here, eh?

[djones520]

From what I've heard of this movie so far, I believe TNO has hit the nail on the head.  It's probably a propoganda flick that counts on peoples tendancy to take what it says at face value.  In otherwords, much like a Michael Moore film, just on a topic that supports the right then the left.

We'll just have to wait to see it to find out.  But if this is true, I hope people will disavow it just as they would a Moore film.  Otherwise, we might be breaking into the realm of hypocrasy.  

[mamacags]

Night owl did you actually see the movie in person?

[The Night Owl]

Night owl did you actually see the movie in person?

No. I won't see Expelled. I've read enough about it to know that it is garbage.

[mamacags]

Oh I see.....

[djones520]

Oh I see.....

I've never seen Farhenheint 9/11.  So can I not claim it to be garbage?

[Duke Nukum]

heh...if it's something TNO wouldn't like I'm sure I'd love it.

Yes, I'm sure that Mr. Stein is counting on people who uncritically accept his misrepesentations.

Sort of like Mr. Moore and Mr. Gore?

[TheSarge]

The movie Expelled only seems like it took one day to make.

As opposed to the film school quality crap churned out by Michael Moore?
 




Spare us TNO...really.

The same people that fawn over all of the crap war bashing movies that have lost money are the same ones panning Mr. Stein's movie.

Which proves to me there's some truth in what Stein's move talks about.

[djones520]

This is what Ben Stein qouted.

With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. Hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.

This is what Charles Darwin actually said.

With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.
The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil.

[DixieBelle]

I haven't seen the movie and probably won't unless it happens to come on TV late at night during my channel surfing and I'm utterly bored to tears. I was under the impression that Mr. Stein was highly intelligent and I logically assume that he would not be associated with misrepresenations, lies or half-truths.

Granted, I am no expert on the evolution debate and it kind of bores me to tears to be honest. Either you feel strongly about it or you don't. It's kind of like aruging with a fence post. I also know that even intelligent folks can make mistakes and be clearly on the wrong side of an issue. Seems like lots of people have made up their minds about Mr. Stein's film. Not surprised to see them draw the same forgone conclusions they had before this film. Just sayin'.....

[Duke Nukum]

The last good real and true documentary was This Is Spinal Tap anyway.  Why watch any others?  Well, Left of the Dial was pretty funny but I think that was a mockumentary as it mocked Air America.

[The Night Owl]

Spare us TNO...really.

The same people that fawn over all of the crap war bashing movies that have lost money are the same ones panning Mr. Stein's movie.

Which proves to me there's some truth in what Stein's move talks about.

I'm not a fan of Michael Moore's work. He has a mean streak which I find very unappealing and I think he is manipulative in his presentation of information.

[RedTail]

Isn't there a thread here by someone who has actually SEEN the movie?

(I see you took the show on the road, Owl. . .for someone so smart, you are very transparent and willfully obtuse.)

Night.

*Red*

[Chris_]

The movie Expelled only seems like it took one day to make.

As opposed to the film school quality crap churned out by Michael Moore?
 




Spare us TNO...really.

The same people that fawn over all of the crap war bashing movies that have lost money are the same ones panning Mr. Stein's movie.

Which proves to me there's some truth in what Stein's move talks about.

There is none.  It is not possible to frame the controversy in any way that is not false.  There is no "debate" about Creationism or ID, since neither is science and cannot ever be science.  This is about allowing religion (and a particular BRAND of religion) to be taught as science. And that is unconscionable.

 

[DixieBelle]

Isn't there a thread here by someone who has actually SEEN the movie?

(I see you took the show on the road, Owl. . .for someone so smart, you are very transparent and willfully obtuse.)

Night.

*Red*

I did some searching online just to see what others were saying and to find out what the premise of the film is. FWIW -
http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/02/09/expelled-the-new-ben-stein-movie/

And -
Synopsis:

There is a nation today in which scientists are being silenced and ousted, in which teachers and professors teach a theory as indisputable fact. No, this isn’t a Third World dictatorship, it’s America, as recorded in Ben Stein’s controversial, satirical and entertaining documentary... [More]
There is a nation today in which scientists are being silenced and ousted, in which teachers and professors teach a theory as indisputable fact. No, this isn’t a Third World dictatorship, it’s America, as recorded in Ben Stein’s controversial, satirical and entertaining documentary EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed.

Stein, the well-known television personality, actor and former White House presidential speechwriter, takes a journey across America and to Europe to explore the debate between proponents of intelligent design and Darwinian evolution. What he discovers is an elitist scientific establishment that has traded in its skepticism for dogma.

Even worse, Stein uncovers a long line of scientists and philosophers who have had their reputations destroyed and their careers ruined by a scientific establishment that allows absolutely no dissent from Charles Darwin’s theory of random mutation and natural selection. What freedom-loving American wouldn’t be outraged?

“Big Science in this area has lost its way,” says Stein, who is also a lawyer, economist, author and social commentator. “Scientists are supposed to be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it may lead, no matter what the implications are. Freedom of inquiry has been greatly compromised, and this is not only anti-science, it’s anti-American.” --© Rocky Mountain Pictures

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/expelled_no_intelligence_allowed/#synopsis

[RedTail]

I read some of the rest of it, and it seems there's some mis-representation at work....

The new film, ” EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed” does not presume to bury the theory of evolution… but it declines to praise it, either.

To me it seems the film isn't to advocate a replacement for the Theory of Evolution, but to at least discuss something else. I'll confirm that when I see it, but that's the impression I'm getting so far.

Why is the idea of "Something else" pushed away so violently?

*Red*

[Chris_]

I read some of the rest of it, and it seems there's some mis-representation at work....

The new film, ” EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed” does not presume to bury the theory of evolution… but it declines to praise it, either.

To me it seems the film isn't to advocate a replacement for the Theory of Evolution, but to at least discuss something else.

Why is the idea of "Something else" pushed away so violently?

*Red*

There are lots of places to discuss "Something Else."  Philosophy, theology, comparative religion... Just not science.