Ben Stein Takes on Charles Darwin
A Review of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"
© Brian Tubbs
Apr 26, 2008
Ben Stein's documentary movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" adds fuel to the fiery debate over evolution, Intelligent Design, and our cosmic origins.
In a blistering documentary, Ben Stein attacks some of the leading proponents of Darwinian evolution as enemies of freedom. Ben Stein's movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed charges the scientific establishment (with accomplices in the media, courts, and even in the religious community) with suppressing free speech and squelching academic inquiry.
Ben Stein Outrages the Evolution Establishment
You know a documentary or propaganda film is effective, if it generates outrage on the other side. (An ineffective production elicits little response. It is simply ignored). Well, Expelled is generating a great deal of outrage!
In a review for The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis savaged Expelled as "one of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time" and "an unprincipled propaganda piece." Entertainment Weekly declares: "Expelled's heavy-handed bias...is exasperating." Evolutionists, not surprisingly, have also weighed in, calling Stein everything from "mendacious" to "dishonorable" to (well) other unprintable descriptions.
Particularly offensive to Darwinian evolutionists, Ben Stein draws a straight line between evolution and amoral atheism. Expelled essentially argues that suppressing Intelligent Design or any other alternative to evolution will lead to atheism today, eugenics tomorrow, and Nazi death chambers the day after. The movie features black-and-white clips of Nazi concentration camps and a tour of a Nazi-era mental health hospital (which butchered hundreds of patients deemed unsuitable to live) in order to make its point.
Is Expelled a Good Documentary?
One of the fairest and most accurate reviews of Ben Stein's Expelled comes from Variety. In its review, Justin Chang explains that Expelled actually misses an opportunity to make an "intelligent case" for Intelligent Design. Chung writes: "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."
Christianity Today partly agrees. In its review, Mark Moring explains that "the film succeeds in making the point that Intelligent Design should at least be on the table for discussion. But if you're looking for ammunition to argue your Darwinist friends under the table, you may want to look elsewhere."
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed succeeds in showing that there is a decided bias against the theory of Intelligent Design in mainstream academia. While some of the examples of people being censored, persecuted, or "expelled" may be disputable, Stein makes the point that there is at least some censorship taking place. And censorship has never been conducive to scientific inquiry and academic freedom.
While the linkage to Nazi concentration camps will be seen as over-the-top for some, it is a matter of historical fact that Adolf Hitler's racial obsessions were inspired by the eugenics movement, which in turn was fueled by Darwin's theory of evolution. Does this mean that all atheists and evolutionists are proponents of eugenics or Nazism? Of course not, and Stein makes this point. But it's a point lost in some of the imagery.
For those willing to set aside their emotions and preconceived notions, Expelled is a thought-provoking film. And it brings to the table an important issue for our consideration. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it's becoming ever more difficult for people to set aside emotion -- and Expelled doesn't exactly encourage the setting aside of passion in favor of purely objective analysis.
As a result, Expelled will probably do little more than rally its supporters and alienate those who disagree with its claims.
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Comments
May 7, 2008 7:42 AM
Pink
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This lined in my last post: "There is only one reason this farcical argument regarding <i>intelligent</i> design is kept alive and it is the anti-intellectual movement that supports ignorance."
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Should have read: "There is only one reason this FARSICAL argument regarding <i>intelligent</i> design is kept alive and it is the anti-intellectual movement that supports ignorance."
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May 6, 2008 10:17 PM
Guest
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i'm disappointed but not surprised that suite101 causes expelled a good documentary because it causes outrage. obviously, a documentary that actually, proudly lies will cause outrage. to me, i would not consider that a good documentary. it makes sense though that suite101 values that lying to cause a reaction. they appear to be sort of that type of person. someone who values saying something just for a reaction, not because they have anything to say.
May 6, 2008 7:06 AM
Pink
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<i>There is no "theory of intelligent design". Once again, this is ignorance of the scientific meaning of the word "theory". A theory is a well established series of facts that consistently return fruitful results when applied within the field of study.</i>
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There is only one reason this farcical argument regarding <i>intelligent</i> design is kept alive and it is the anti-intellectual movement that supports ignorance.
May 5, 2008 8:20 PM
Guest
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To the poster who writes, "I like Ben Stein as a comedian, but like so many hollywood types..." Ben Stein was born November 25, 1944 in Washington, D.C. (He is the son of the economist and writer Herbert Stein). He graduated from Columbia University in 1966 with honors in economics. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1970 as valedictorian of his class by election of his classmates. He helped to found the Journal of Law and Social Policy while at Yale. He has worked as a poverty lawyer in New Haven and Washington, D.C., a trial lawyer in the field of trade regulation at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., a university adjunct at American University in Washington, D.C., at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. He taught about the political and social content of mass culture. He taught the same subject at UCSC, as well as about political and civil rights under the Constitution. At Pepperdine, he has taught about libel law and about securities law and ethical issues since 1986.
Think again. This is no dummy.http://www.keyspeakers.com/bio.php?Ben_Stein
May 1, 2008 5:52 PM
Guest
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<i> showing that there is a decided bias against the theory of Intelligent Design in mainstream academia.</i>
There is no "theory of intelligent design". Once again, this is ignorance of the scientific meaning of the word "theory". A theory is a well established series of facts that consistently return fruitful results when applied within the field of study.
Maybe someone should actually DO some research that tells us something, ANYTHING, that we would like to know as a result of approaching the problem from an intelligent design position. But it will never happen. Why not? Because throwing up your hands and saying "this problem is so confusing that it must be the hand of god at work" is not science.
Apr 30, 2008 12:56 PM
Guest
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Daedalus:
I love Ben Stein as a comedian, but like so many Hollywood types, I doubt he is capable of any objective discourse on political, cultural or scientific issues.
In case you've missed it, there are already fact-checkers who have undercut Stein's claims of scientists and academics being punished for pushing creationism. The case of the Smithsonian researcher is the most obvious one -- Stein claims a researcher as the Smithsonian was fired for his belief in creationism -- that simply not true. The researcher was already on a temporary, unpaid assignment -- which ended as scheduled. The researcher was then offered another postion at the Smithsonian. I like Ben Stein, but that behavior is much to Limbaugh-like for my taste.
Lost in all of this is that mainstream science doesn't favor creationsim over big bang or any other theory -- they cannot be tested. Evolution can be tested, observed and recorded. I work with many scientists who are also Christians, they'll tell you that understanding evolution is very important to understanding biology and they believe (as part of their faith) that God created evolution. I'm no Christian, but I think their apporach is reasonable -- unlike Stein who just wants to cash in on a culture war.
Serious movie? No. Serious about science? No.
Just another Hollywood Hack Job.
Check out Scientific
Apr 28, 2008 8:51 AM
Pink
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If I have the opportunity to watch Ben Stein's production of <i>Expelled</i>, I most likely will.
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But, I have such little respect for Stein that I will probably start out with a negative bias against what he has to say.
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Brian's comments on an article in <i>Christianity Today</i> with, <i>Mark Moring explains that "the film succeeds in making the point that Intelligent Design should at least be on the table for discussion</i>.
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Should be on the table? I thought it is one of the most obvious issues on the table. You can barely have a discussion with an Evangelical where the issue doesn't jump in your face. Here it is one more time.
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Apr 27, 2008 5:49 AM
Shawn Landis
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I have yet to watch this film, but it's something I really don't want to pay much if anything to see. I think people on both sides are missing Mr. Stein's sarcasm which is possible because of his dry, monotone voice.
But the Creationist arguments I've seen are littered with inaccurate science and an inability to distinguish between different scientific theories. If the Creation scientists, who are losing their "intelligent design" war want to be taken seriously they must first stop lumping the Big Bang and Evolution as part of the same theory. They are not and never were.
