I wasn’t going to get back into this and I especially don’t want to bring any publicity to the Stupidity Squad but since Variety has revealed a Christian underpinning in its review, yet more gobbledygook about “intelligent design,” which is essentially Creationism, I have no choice but to “go there.” So, dear readers, skip this post, or passionately argue, if you’re someone who agrees with Variety’s Justin Chang:
There’s an intelligent case to be made for intelligent design, which is why “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” a flimsy attempt to discredit Darwinist theory as the cornerstone of modern biology, reps such a missed opportunity. While roving interviewer Ben Stein extracts some choice soundbites from scientists on both sides of the creation-vs.-evolution debate, the film’s flippant approach undermines the seriousness of its discourse, trading less in facts than in emotional appeals. A probable punching bag for film critics and evolution proponents alike, docu will be a natural selection for Christian audiences and should spread like the gospel on homevid.
[Warning, this is a rant – don’t get in the sand box if you don’t want to play]
Sure, he pans the movie but in so doing gives props to the Stupidity Squad. Here’s the thing – believe in God all you want, people but keep it the fuck out of our schools, thank you very much. Has this country gone collectively insane? I’m not even going to argue Darwin vs. the Bible because to do so is to put them on an equal playing field – faith is faith. Science is science. The country has religious fanatics infiltrating school boards and state government, wedging their way in to force some poor teacher pander to junk science.
I don’t disrespect Christians – they have to a right to believe the world is flat and that there wasn’t really life on earth until humans magically appeared. But this “film” ought to spark outrage in critics. I was stunned to see, in Variety of all places, words for support for the Creationist movement. What we don’t understand we probably can never prove, which is why it doesn’t belong in the place of theories like evolution and does not belong in a classroom. What good can that possibly bring to our already uneducated youth? What the hell are churches for?
For the record, there are really two gods in this “debate.” There is what notorious atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins calls “Einstein’s God,” that is, something that explains the awe and the mystery of this magnificent natural world we are part of. The other God is man-made and there really isn’t an intelligent thing that can be said about this god with regard to science or evolution or biology – it is faith-based.
At any rate, I never thought I would find myself saying “thank God for Roger Friedman at Fox News” but I am saying it. At least Roger Friedman knows junk science when he sees it:
Directed by one Nathan Frankowski, “Expelled” is a sloppy, all-over-the-place, poorly made (and not just a little boring) “expose” of the scientific community. It‚Äôs not very exciting. But it does show that Stein, who‚Äôs carved out a career selling eye drops in commercials and amusing us on sitcoms, is either completely nuts or so avaricious that he‚Äôs abandoned all good sense to make a buck.
To wit: Stein, Frankowski and pals say in “Expelled” that perfectly good scientists and educators are being stigmatized for wanting to teach their students creationism and “intelligent design” ‚Äî in other words, junk science ‚Äî in addition to or instead of conventionally accepted Darwinism. You see, Stein, like some other celebrities, finally has shown his true colors and they aren‚Äôt so pretty.
[End RANT]
