Author Topic: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists  (Read 18607 times)

Offline Mustaine

  • Parolee
  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4139
Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« on: April 20, 2008, 09:38:50 PM »
http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20080418/cm_uc_crbbox/op_235852

Quote
I confess that when the producers of Ben Stein's new documentary "Expelled" called, offering me a private screening, I was less than excited.
ADVERTISEMENT

It is a reality of PC liberalism: There is only one credible side to an issue, and any dissent is not only rejected, it is scorned. Global warming. Gay "rights." Abortion "rights." On these and so many other issues there is enlightenment, and then there is the Idiotic Other Side. PC liberalism's power centers are the news media, the entertainment industry and academia, and all are in the clutches of an unmistakable hypocrisy: Theirs is an ideology that preaches the freedom of thought and expression at every opportunity, yet practices absolute intolerance toward dissension.

Evolution is another one of those one-sided debates. We know the concept of Intelligent Design is stifled in academic circles. An entire documentary to state the obvious? You can see my reluctance to view it.

I went into the screening bored. I came out of it stunned.

Ben Stein's extraordinary presentation documents how the worlds of science and academia not only crush debate on the origins of life, but also crush the careers of professors who dare to question the Darwinian hypothesis of evolution and natural selection.

Stein asks a simple question: What if the universe began with an intelligent designer, a designer named God? He assembles a stable of academics — experts all — who dared to question Darwinist assumptions and found themselves "expelled" from intellectual discourse as a result. They include evolutionary biologist Richard Sternberg (sandbagged at the Smithsonian), biology professor Caroline Crocker (drummed out of George Mason University), and astrophysicist Guillermo Gonzalez (blackballed at Iowa State University).

That's disturbing enough, but what Stein does next is truly shocking. He allows the principal advocates of Darwinism to speak their minds. These are experts with national reputations, regular welcomed guests on network television and the like. But the public knows them only by their careful seven-second soundbites. Stein engages them in conversation. They speak their minds. They become sputtering ranters, openly championing their sheer hatred of religion..... <read rest through link>


Anyone else really interested in seeing this film? It honestly sounds really interesting :D


wikipedia article on the film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expelled:_No_Intelligence_Allowed

at least some one is doing films that counter the michael snores of this world. :aok

Genetically engineered in a lab, and raised by wolverines -- ]V[ E G A D E T ]-[
AoM DFC ZLA BMF and a bunch of other acronyms.

Offline Captain Virgil Hilts

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 6128
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2008, 09:56:47 PM »
Yeah, I'm thinking about catching it. It's the only film I AM thinking about seeing.
"I haven't seen Berlin yet, from the ground or the air, and I plan on doing both, BEFORE the war is over."

SaVaGe


Offline bj229r

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 6732
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2008, 10:00:26 PM »
Ben Stein is a practitioner of debate, something the Moore types don't quite grasp---calling your opponent a nazi, child-killer, racist, sexist, or perhaps child killer, etal and then saying "thank ypu" to Bill Mahr's or John Stewart's adoring crowds doesn't exactly qualify as debate. 90% of them can be reduced to babbling idiots if you stretch them out beyond their rehearsed sound bytes. Used to love watching William F Buckley :aok---(ok, he lost his cool ONE time :))
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers

http://www.flamewarriors.net/forum/

Offline Xargos

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4281
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2008, 10:02:20 PM »
I plane on seeing it.
Jeffery R."Xargos" Ward

"At least I have chicken." 
Member DFC

Offline Rogue9Volt

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 723
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2008, 10:25:02 PM »
 :aok :aok   Those who claim to be Tolarant, often aren't.
InGame:  SW9volt

-Born To Lose, Live To Win-
Recruiting Officer,125th Spartan Warriors.

Offline lasersailor184

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 8938
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2008, 10:32:03 PM »
Ben Stein always impressed me.  I was a little sad when his game show died.
Punishr - N.D.M. Back in the air.
8.) Lasersailor 73 "Will lead the impending revolution from his keyboard"

Offline moot

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 16333
      • http://www.dasmuppets.com
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2008, 10:34:53 PM »
Sounds like crap.  The review mentions the usual clueless pseudo scientific 'ID' refutals of 'regular' science.  Nevermind if it also skews interviews like mentioned.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/movies/18expe.html?ref=movies
Hello ant
running very fast
I squish you

Offline lasersailor184

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 8938
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2008, 10:46:02 PM »
Sounds like crap.  The review mentions the usual clueless pseudo scientific 'ID' refutals of 'regular' science.  Nevermind if it also skews interviews like mentioned.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/movies/18expe.html?ref=movies

Sounds like someone's getting their panties in a twist.
Punishr - N.D.M. Back in the air.
8.) Lasersailor 73 "Will lead the impending revolution from his keyboard"

Offline Chairboy

  • Probation
  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 8221
      • hallert.net
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2008, 10:52:54 PM »
Staged crowds?  Deliberately misinterpreting science to push an agenda?  Nah.  Let's call a truce, you don't preach in my schools and I won't think in your church.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline JB88

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 10980
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2008, 11:00:05 PM »
Staged crowds?  Deliberately misinterpreting science to push an agenda?  Nah.  Let's call a truce, you don't preach in my schools and I won't think in your church.

a fair compromise i think.
this thread is doomed.
www.augustbach.com  

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. -Ulysses.

word.

Offline SIK1

  • AH Training Corps
  • Gold Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3718
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2008, 11:04:50 PM »
Sounds like crap.  The review mentions the usual clueless pseudo scientific 'ID' refutals of 'regular' science.  Nevermind if it also skews interviews like mentioned.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/movies/18expe.html?ref=movies

LOL, yeah the New York Times will give an impartial, and unbiased review. :aok
That I'm sure of. :rolleyes:
444th Air Mafia since Air Warrior
Proudly flying with VF-17

"Masters of the Air" Scenario - JG54

Offline Octavius

  • Skinner Team
  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 6651
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #11 on: April 20, 2008, 11:11:26 PM »
"sputtering athiests" - lol!  Time to take off the diapers, kids.  EvC debates?  Not even applicable.  You cannot debate scientific method.

A little counterbalance

For some education.

and as for the film itself:

http://richarddawkins.net/article,2394,Lying-for-Jesus,Richard-Dawkins

Quote
... The whole tone of the film is whiny, paranoid -- pathetic really. The narrator is somebody called Ben Stein. I had not heard of him, but apparently he is well known to Americans, for it is hard to see why else he would have been chosen to front the film. He certainly can't have been chosen for his knowledge of science, nor his powers of logical reasoning, nor his box office appeal (heavens, no), and his speaking voice is an irritating, nasal drawl, innocent of charm and of consonants. I suppose that makes it a good voice for conveying the whingeing paranoia that I referred to, so maybe that was qualification enough.

Now, to the film itself. What a shoddy, second-rate piece of work. ...
« Last Edit: April 20, 2008, 11:14:25 PM by Octavius »
octavius
Fat Drunk BasTards (forum)

"bastard coated bastards with bastard filling?  delicious!"
Guest of the ++Blue Knights++[/size]

Offline moot

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 16333
      • http://www.dasmuppets.com
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #12 on: April 20, 2008, 11:19:29 PM »
Sounds like someone's getting their panties in a twist.
You wish.

SIK1 there's some tell-tale hints that a review isn't making things up, and one of those is undebatable facts like skewed/spliced interview segments.  It doesn't prove the rest of the review's true, but it does tip the scales to its benefit.  This movie sounds like a stinker.  No impartial documentary maker screws with evidence..
« Last Edit: April 20, 2008, 11:21:51 PM by moot »
Hello ant
running very fast
I squish you

Offline Mustaine

  • Parolee
  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4139
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #13 on: April 20, 2008, 11:22:33 PM »
blah blah blah
I can find negative reviews of fat boy mm's film too if you'd like, I bet I could even google some conservative debunking viewpoints too, but do I even need to bother?  :rolleyes:
Genetically engineered in a lab, and raised by wolverines -- ]V[ E G A D E T ]-[
AoM DFC ZLA BMF and a bunch of other acronyms.

Offline Mustaine

  • Parolee
  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4139
Re: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists
« Reply #14 on: April 20, 2008, 11:26:16 PM »
and one of those is undebatable facts like skewed/spliced interview segments. 

ROFL! even going back to roger and me mm has "skewed/spliced interview segments" even to the point of falsifying entire comments <ahem splicing 2 different Charlton Heston speeches into 1 for the anti gun movie>

pot meet kettle m00t

Genetically engineered in a lab, and raised by wolverines -- ]V[ E G A D E T ]-[
AoM DFC ZLA BMF and a bunch of other acronyms.