Review of Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

[xxConceptxx]

It seems their propaganda video has convinced this reviewer

[cmsalvagio]

There is a reason as to why Creationism is not accepted in the Science community and subsequently schools educating our children. Every argument posed is weak and unsubstantiated. I saw the movie on a black market dvd so i would be certain Stein dd not receive a penny. Crap review for a crap movie.

[NeverAloneForever]

Regardless of what Ben Stein aimed for the movie contains the worst arguments it could have possibly made. And I'm not talking about whether or not Creationism is bullshit, it's just that it uses non - sequitar bullshit for reasoning.

[joegocal]

I'm all for scientific inquiry... conducted by science, not elementary school students. which is why ben stiens entire argument which in fact IS pushing creationism(which isn't even a theory let alone a competing theory) into schools.

[metrivus]

Scientific inquiry does not and should not occur in schools with kids. The scientific community has a very refined and effective process for reviewing, inquiring into, and throwing away unsupported garbage like creationism. There is already a system, and it works. The fact that creationism is not already in schools is a perfect example of this.

[doucheandturd08]

Trying to say that Darwin created the Holocaust is obviously just freedom of inquiry.

[JayeHK]

lollygager has thoroughly explained why non-scientific criticism and religious alteratives do not belong in a science class. Noone is banning ID from the theology department. The analogy with communism only works if criticism of communism is banned from the politics department. Curtus is dreaming when he says people around the world think evolution is a belief or unsound. Around the world, we're laughing at how backward this whole debate makes the US look.

[CurtusLove]

reservoirman: Your revue is very accurate and your a mature and responsible thinker!

[CurtusLove]

Don't get me wrong, I sincerely support your right to believe in the religion of Darwinism if you choose! POKEMON is the cartoon version of Evolution, but it's much more entertaining to watch because you don't have to wait 100 million years to see it happen.

But like DARWINISM, POKEMON also leaves NO Transitional fossil records so I highly recommend it for your viewing pleasure. And don't worry about the complexity issues POKEMON is PG13 so it's well within the I.Q. range of most Darwinian's.

[CurtusLove]

At least we admit from the start that it's Supernatural, Larger than Life, Un-measurable instead worship bogus assumptions and calling it science. So lets see if you if you cop-out, How did life begin from non-living matter and what state was the universe in during the nanosecond before the Big Bang? I can't wait for your cop-out answer.

Also, talk about circular reasoning try out your 1830 Geologic Column whereas the layers date the fossils and the fossils date the layers, 100% Bogus Religion!

[CurtusLove]

What a load of crap. Thousands of Professors worldwide of all different belief systems think that Darwinism is also a belief system, or un-sound science (a Religion!). Most of the world does also.

When the Government tried to convince everyone that JFK was killed by a "Magic Bullet" that stopped & turned in mid-air - How does that saying go, "Something so ridiculous it would take an intellect to believe it!"

You guys are so GULLIBLE!

GO SEE EXPELED EVERYONE! Dawkins cameo is PRICELESS!

[lollygager3664]

Propaganda.

Not good propaganda at that.

The only people who admired the film the way you did were people who are completely ignorant of sciene.

Persecution? I'll play the world's smallest violin.

Science doesn't equal freedom of speech.

If someone pushes junk-science, they deserve to get their asses "expelled" rather than wasting the already limited scientific funds that exist for academia on tripe-nonsense.

[prschuster]

No theistic evolutionist has ever complained about censorship to my knowledge. Do you know why? It's because they don't claim to have bogus empirical evidence for their personal beliefs the way ID advocates do. You swallowed the ID party line hook, line & sinker. Let these people do the research and find the evidence first before asserting that ID deserves equal time in the science classroom. That's what the real issue is about. Rhetoric about academic freedom is one big red herring.

[CurtusLove]

Well here's one guy who hasn't seen the movie!

Ben Stein's Movie is getting Standing Ovations every show! And the audiences are falling out of their seats laughing at Richard Dawkins!

[prschuster]

"Well here's one guy who hasn't seen the movie!" .....

Yes I have seen the movie, and I noticed that it never addressed the evidence for neodarwinism, nor did it mention any evidence for ID. There were no standing ovations when I saw it and all three of us in the theater thought it was a poorly designed piece of proaganda. Gee, if there's no evidence to discuss, then how could it be an issue of academic freedom?

[reservoirman]

where did you see it? I think it depends on the demographics.

I saw it in western upstate New York, and there was polite applause at the end, but no one stood up.

[prschuster]

"where did you see it?" ...

Minneapolis.

[reservoirman]

"No theistic evolutionist has ever complained about censorship to my knowledge."

i would have to check up on that, but yes i know for one Ken Miller is one example. However, the public still has a false dichotomy of religion vs science, and so to many of us, evolution goes hand in hand with atheism. If the theistic evolutionists can realize that this inaccurate portrayal of evolution is actually very widespread, they should speak up about the true nature of evolution.

[reservoirman]

moreover, the theistic evolutionists should wake up and realize that the atheistic camp of evolutionists is hijacking this theory and steering towards atheistic trends and policies, which we've seen can have disastrous consequences on human life.

This issue is also what this movie is about, at the heart of it.

[prschuster]

"...the theistic evolutionists should wake up and realize that the atheistic camp of evolutionists is hijacking this theory..." ...

Many biologists, from Eugenie Scott to Ken Miller, have repeatedly stated that evolutionary theory is not based on the presumption of atheism whenever they have disputed attacks against evolutionary theory.

[CurtusLove]

I've never seen anyone indecently expose him self as much as Richard Dawkins did during EXPELLED! His religious hate mongering showed the Hitler type loser inside of him!

It was enough to make a newly converted atheist run out of the theatre in tears!

History will never be able to erase the devastating and catastrophic embarrassment of Darwinian's foremost GURU shaming the pseudo science establishment with what happened. The Dawkins cameo is worth the cost of admission alone! PRICELESS!

[prschuster]

"I've never seen anyone indecently expose him self as much as Richard Dawkins did during EXPELLED!" .....

You're right about that. He is arrogant and ignorant about religion & theology. But Ben Stein is every bit as ignorant about science, and even more disengenuous when he uses Dawkins to fashion a phony link between modern evolutionary theory and materialistim/atheistim. Expelled is third rate anti-evolution propaganda.

[CurtusLove]

Ben Stein Exposes Richard Dawkins

news . aol . com / newsbloggers / 2008 / 04 / 18 / ben-stein-exposes-richard-dawk­ins

but what really happens is Richard Dawkins exposes himself and agrees with Francis Cricks beliefs of Intelligent Design! The shame upon the Dawkins camp in immeasurable. Go see Expelled! Ben Stein's Movie is getting Standing Ovations every show and the audiences are falling out of their seats laughing at Dawkins!

[lollygager3664]

Funny. I didn't see a standing ovation where I live.

[jamesms4]

I believe in God & the Bible. I could give a Rat's behind as to wuther the Lord made the Universe in 4004BC or 13 Billion BC. But we should have open debate. If the Militant Neo-darwinist types believe ID is bunk then instead of censoring it simply respond to it. Stop being a bunch of whiny bitches.

[reservoirman]

word up man, i hear ya

[lollygager3664]

We HAVE responeded to that junk-science and we mopped the floor with them at every opportunity. It is the ID proponents who don't aknowlege the arguments.

If you look back to the history of ID, it becomes very clear that this is simply old-earth creationism, mixed with evolutionary theory, and topped-off with the "God of the gaps" argument. It would not even be considered in the public forum if not for lobbyists for the religious right.

Do you even know what you're talking about?

[observer1010]

Wow finally a response that has some intelligence!!! So many reviews where people argue if creationism is true or not... when the movie is using one scientific topic to show how all science's is being limited. The freedom to discuss other possibilities is no longer allowed. Darwin's THEORY is in fact just a theory! If every scientist was fired and shunned for trying to disprove a theory, we would still believe we were the center of the solar system. reservoirman show immense wisdom of thought

[reservoirman]

exactly, man. Exactly. No one's trying to push anything. Simply, the request is the freedom to question, of inquiry. If evolution still cannot fully explain why do brand new species develop for no apparent reason, what's wrong with trying to fill in that gap using scientific inquiry?

It's like if you're a political scientist who saw holes in communism but was not allowed to write about it, talk about it, or come up with an alternative to fill the holes. Y'know'm'sayin'?

[lollygager3664]

Communism? What drivel are you about now?

"God of the gaps" isn't science. It adds nothing to scientific research and progress. You see something in evolution that you don't understand, throw up your hands, and say "A designer did it." How is that supposed to be taken seriously?

[reservoirman]

reread what i said. i never said to fill in the gaps with "a designer did it". I said fill it in via scientific inquiry.  that means thinking in a frame of mind that may consider God, which many theist evolutionists do anyway, just in private without writing it in their papers.

[lollygager3664]

But that has nothing to do with science. That is a perversion of what science is intended to do.

There is nothing scientific about taking something one doesn't have a ready-made explination for and simply attribute it to a "higher power".

It can't be studied via experiments nor be peer-reviewed. Thus, it is NOT science. Only those who have not the slightest clue about how science operates would make the type of arguments you are making.

[reservoirman]

the communism analogy is no drivel. If people dared to speak out about valid criticisms of it, they would be silenced or even put to death, even if they were right. Likewise, critics of evolution face similar oppression academically.

evolution provides the "how" life began but not the "why". What's wrong with venturing into new territory and trying to fill the gaps via scientific inquiry? Just because a theory revolves around the notion of a higher power doesn't make it junk science.

[lollygager3664]

Because that is not the realm of science.

If you want that in a philosophy (even if it INDEED happens to be BAD philosophy) that is another issue. But ID is not in the realm of science because it is the "darwinist" theory with the added asterisk that what is not immediately understood must be contributed to an "intellegent designer". That isn't science. It can't be tested or peer reviewed.

[multard]

Lord have mercy. Were you awake when you viewed Ben Stein's movie? I'd expect any conscious mind to pick up on at least some of the propagandic idiocy. I.D. belongs in all the same science classrooms that teach art and music. And if there happen to be any substantial inconsistancies within evolutionary theory...don't you think Stein would have included a few? Oh, and the link between Hitler and Darwin is kind of like the one between Charles Manson and the fucking Beatles.

[reservoirman]

if they aren't being blacklisted and shunned, why are some of them too afraid to show their face on camera in the interviews?

no matter how badly distorted you think Ben Stein made it to be, you cannot deny cases such as Gonzalez at Iowa State, the journalist in the movie, that religion aside, were unjust cases.

Don't be scared to share the research money with ID scientists. Only when we collaborate can we truly make the fastest progress in science!

[IPA300]

You're right! We must pay attention to every idea that comes up! I have a theory that 2+2=3 and that 2+2=4 is wrong. I have no evidence to support my position or disprove the current model but I demand money for research! If I tried that with my Calculus teacher, she would throw my ass out. So I'm not at all surprised that scientists are thrown out for speaking bullshit. Ever heard of the Kitzmiller trial? The IDtards had their chance and failed miserably, so they're reduced to using propaganda.

[reservoirman]

how dare you attempt to belittle legit scientists.

[IPA300]

How dare you encourage bullshitters! Almost all of their evidence is an argument from incredibility. Plus "God did it" isn't a valid hypothesis because it deals with the supernatural. And they don't have any credible evidence against evolution.

Now about the movie "Expelled", the interviewers lied to the interviewees, which shows academic dishonesty. If they are willing to lie to get the results they want, why should I pay attention to anything they say? How I know they aren't lying to me now?

[neotropic9]

Don't swallow Ben Stein's bullshit.

I wonder why Ben Stein didn't prevent ANY evidence in favor of ID in the movie? It's because there is none.

ID is not being "censored" -they just don't have anything to say.

This movie is an F by any standard.

60% of American scientists believe in God. Who exactly is being persecuted here?

Please do some research on the movie before you endorse it.