Nazis! Why’d it have to be Nazis?
Maki | July 25, 2008 11:49 pm
So I was elated to read about Ben Stein‘s new documentary, Expelled this evening on the Rogue’s Gallery. Not really, I just forgot my ‘scathing sarcasm’ tag back there. I’ve been hearing about this film mostly through the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe podcast, and I haven’t been pleased with what I’ve heard. But as much as I am a fan of advocating for the devil, I can’t bring myself to try to find a theater that’s showing it and then give money to Mr. Stein to satisfy my morbid curiosity.
For those of you who don’t know, Expelled is basically high budget propaganda released by Intelligent Design proponents claiming that ‘Big Science’ is keeping them down. Headed by Ben Stein, who has hopped on my list of once neat celebrities gone loony, the movie sets out to slander Darwinism and lets face it, the scientific method, as well as push its crazy conspiracy theory. All this is part of the larger picture of getting Intelligent Design taught in schools. Not that it already isn’t, from an objective standpoint. But its proponents wouldn’t want their belief system to be subject to scrutiny, would they? While not scary at first, this Faith vs Science can of worms begins to pave the way for students to be able to ‘opt out’ of lessons that don’t follow their beliefs. Not that I can really blame them, I would’ve opted out of multiplication tables in a heartbeat! But that would be silly, right?
The best part of the movie is their claim is that Darwinism, and subsequently Atheism, were the driving forces behind eugenics and by association, the holocaust. That’s right. If you believe in evolution, you’re a Nazi. Godwin’s Law strikes again.
TL;DR:
Ben Stein makes a documentary built on misconceptions and lies. Nazi card is drawn inappropriately. Failure all around.
You can read the original blog post here.
You can read about why Expelled ‘flunks’ here.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/03/expelled.php
Not sure if you heard about all of this, but PZ Myers, who is a professor and biologist, was interviewed for the movie (under false pretense) and then not let in to the premiere, but they let in Richard Dawkins, who was with him. There are more – and better – details of the story on the link. Somewhere, I read a complete rundown of the movie so that you don’t have to show any support to His Doucheness, but you can still know what he was trying to get across.
I saw posters for the movie up last semester around campus and I wanted to just tear them all down.
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