I don’t get angry very easily. Most people know me as a laid back, cheerful person. I strongly believe in a “live and let live policy” and I am usually happy to let people believe whatever they want. Sometimes, however, I read or watch something that just makes me very, very angry. This is one of those times.
I recently watched one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. The only good thing about the documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” hosted by Ben Stein, is that the title is entirely accurate. You are quite literally expected to turn your brain off completely in order to have an even remote chance of accepting any of the useless points, silly arguments and false pretences that exist throughout the “documentary.”
Ben Stein attempts to frame this film as if it is an honest inquiry into Intelligent Design (ID) and its place within the scientific community. He tries to come across as someone who is just trying to understand the issues at stake in a complete, unbiased way but he not only fails spectacularly at this but also proves himself and the other creators of this film to be completely unethical and lacking even basic understanding of anything they are talking about. The creators of this film clearly started with a theory and did everything in their power to manipulate the viewer into believing it.
I am appalled by the complete lack of understanding of even basic scientific principles and the purposeful and blatant manipulation of known facts. In less than two hours, this movie managed to link “Darwinism” directly to atheism, fascism, the Holocaust, communism, abortion, eugenics and Nazism while at the same time making reputable scientists look like evil bastards without any sense of morality (some of whom believe in aliens), who are all out to suppress all academic freedom that does not align with their totalitarian, iron clad grasp on the world. Seriously.
The interviews with well-known scientists were interspersed with silly cuts to movies from the fifties, “evil guy” sound effects, the Berlin wall going up, a guillotine slamming down, cowboy shootouts, and Nazi parades. The interviews with proponents for Intelligent Design were backed up by sad, sappy music and clips of cute little children being bullied, basically establishing themselves as the poor underdogs who were being cruelly repressed by the evil atheistic “Scientific Establishment.” (Ironically, they also used a scene from Planet of the Apes - a movie based on evolution - to represent their oppression. Ha!)
The language used throughout the film is frankly childish. Ben Stein seems to believe that the more contempt he adds to his voice inflection, the stronger his argument. “Darwinism” is used over and over again as synonymous with evolution and is used with enough inflection to make it clear that it is meant to taken as profanity. Proponents of ID are described as the poor underdogs who are “feeling the Darwinist wrath” as they just try to get their voices heard in a community that is set against them.
Strangely, Ben Stein spent a whole five minutes wandering around Washington quite lost as he tried to find the Discovery Institute, a famous conservative think tank well-known for defending Intelligent Design. He seems to think that the fact that the Discovery Institute only has one floor in an office building that he had a hard time finding means that they are being repressed and therefore, they must be right. Yep. This is exactly the type of logic used throughout this film. People working in the Discovery Institute were shown peeking shyly around corners and occasionally whimpering, “All we want is a debate”. Sob stories of scientists who were seemingly unceremoniously fired after daring to attempt to study Intelligent Design were used to fuel the claim that there is a grand conspiracy to “stamp out of the competition”. It is, quite frankly, silly if you understand the basic principles of the scientific method and peer-reviewed systems.
Another reoccurring theme that they kept trying to hammer into your head throughout the movie was that Darwin was wrong. Also, he was evil. And apparently all modern scientists know this but are too scared to admit it to the public. The film spends a lot of time attempting to prove that Darwin didn’t know enough about genetics or the mechanisms of the cell or cosmology to be accurate. Apparently, Darwin was wrong about evolution because he did not state how life originated. Also, he doesn’t explain gravity and thermodynamics. Therefore, everything he does explain can’t possibly be right. I can’t imagine how anyone can actually think that this is a valid point. Darwin was a biologist who wrote a book in 1859. He was not writing cosmology nor was he explaining gravity. He was writing about natural selection, a biological process called evolution. They are different fields entirely. Just because a baseball player does not play soccer does not invalidate baseball as a sport. It’s simply a ridiculous concept. Yet this was a common theme throughout the whole movie, as if repeating it over and over again will somehow make it right.
In some respects, they actually are right. Darwin did get some details wrong and some of his ideas didn’t pan out upon further investigation. Darwin really didn’t know anything about genetics or about the Big Bang. Why is that? Because he wrote the book in 1859! Why is this a difficult concept? Believe it or not, Ben Stein, science has advanced somewhat since the mid 19th century. The idea that a theory is wrong if you defame the person who originally proposed it is an argument that frequently comes up amongst religious adherents and NEVER makes sense. It doesn’t matter that Darwin got same details wrong or that he was not omniscient and didn’t know everything in every field. He also got a lot of details right and, importantly, he inspired other people to think, to examine, to investigate his ideas and the theory of evolution through natural selection has evolved from that. It is the ideas that matter - ideas that can be tested and either upheld or falsified - not the person who came up with them. This process is known as “science” and is clearly a concept that Ben Stein completely misunderstands. Ignoring this fact along with the vast amount of evidence that has been accumulated since Darwin published his book does not make it go away. It is just a lame attempt towards vilification used by a group of people who can’t argue with the vast amount of evidence, so they try to take down the person who wrote about it 150 years ago instead. Fail.
Another consistent theme throughout the film was a heartfelt appeal to American patriotism alongside a vilification of scientists. “Darwinism” is anti-American; the scientific community is an Orwellian Big Brother bent on silencing the little guys who just want to make their voices heard in a free and democratic society. At the same time, the film describes a bizarre version of the modern approach to science - attempting to make it seem like an evil and oppressive empire that is ruthlessly taking out all potential opposition. It would be hilarious if they weren’t actually serious. They make a direct comparison of academic peer reviewed systems to the Berlin wall while whimpering plaintively that the scientific community is not willing to think, that they are limiting academic freedom. Scientists are, therefore, out to destroy anyone who disagrees with them. You can’t go against the consensus. In regards to scientific funding, one researcher actually said “If you want to have a piece of the pie, you have to be a good comrade.” So, from their strange warped view of the world, science is communism and Intelligent Design is democracy, trying to liberate the minds of the people. Ben Stein mysteriously claims that the scientific community simply does not tolerate dissent, that you “can’t question the paradigm”, and that anyone who disagrees with prevailing scientific views is instantly squashed. He actually claims that “the scientific establishment is afraid of free speech” and that the scientists all get together and talk about how they fear that close analysis will make their theories crumple and that scientists know there is a looming crisis but they are too scared to admit so to the public.
I mean….wow. It just makes no sense. I’m actually curious where Ben Stein gets his ideas and appalled that anyone would think that this is an accurate depiction of anything. Labeling science as communism and crying censorship is just plain silly. This utter lack of understanding of even the basic concept of science and the scientific method is remarkable. Science is all about dissent! New ideas constantly revise, change and often reject prevailing views. Scientific theories change ALL THE TIME as the EVIDENCE and TESTING shows different results. If you do actual testing, if you read what others have written, if you have something new to contribute and some evidence to back it up – then you are welcome within the scientific community. And more people will look at that data, to see if there is anything wrong, to see if some other idea might be more right instead. Nothing is sacred and everything is up for analysis. This is not censorship; it is the definition of openness!
But the IDres don’t want openness. They want their religion thrust upon everyone else, masqueraded as science. I laughed out loud when one poor little creationist pouted and said, “We get coverage like an outsider, like it’s not an even debate.” Well, that is because it isn’t a debate. Intelligent Design is not a science because it is not a science. Science needs research and studies, not simply a claim that everything is too complex. Denying one theory does not mean that another one is therefore correct and just because more than two people can state the same opinion does not make it scientific. Science is about inquiry and experimentation. Saying “I don’t understand science, therefore God created the universe” is not a scientific concept. Ignoring evidence, warping existing theories and simply stating that “God did it” as if that is the answer to life, the universe and everything is simply not science. Thus, it is not accepted as such. Science is based on the scientific method – a methodological approach to important questions, based on evidence and actual experimentation – not on a whimsical fantasy and explained with platitudes instead of actual data. Scientists are constantly trying to answer questions and come up with new ones. I find that to be infinitely more interesting than deciding that it is not worth the effort and claiming that we can never understand it anyways. Sorry, Ben Stein, but just wanting something to exist does not make it so. I have chosen to keep on thinking and not relying on a mythical deity to do it for me.
Eventually, the movie delves into “disturbing glimpses into where Darwinism can lead”. They actually claim that if you believe in evolution, you therefore cannot possibly have any ethics or free will and that there is absolutely no point in existing. One of his main arguments against evolution seems to be that it is eroding faith. The more you learn about science, about the natural world, the more likely you are to become an atheist. Therefore, science is evil. Their main argument for this strange fact comes from a conversation with a man who took a single course in biology and was therefore forced to become an atheist. Oh yes, and he also has a brain tumor and wants to kill himself. Therefore, Darwinism is evil. Yep.
Finally, as if all of that crap wasn’t enough, they took the inevitable step and threw in the direct comparison between believing in evolution and becoming Hitler. Ben Stein interviews a bunch of people of varying backgrounds as if this connection is inherent within the theory of evolution. If you believe it, there is no reason not to be evil. Darwinism must lead directly to eugenics. That is stupid. Even if eugenics is based on ideas of evolution, the social implications of an idea do not detract from its scientific validity. Eugenics involves very simplistic and often faulty assumptions about genetic heredity and has been argued against by most scientists since the first proposal and it vehemently condemned by the vast majority of people in the world. Again, Ben Stein is trying to ignore the science of the theory and is going for emotions appeals instead. This led into my favourite part of the documentary: Quote mining time! Ben Stein comes up with a mournfully delivered, painfully edited and utterly misrepresented quote by Darwin. I can’t believe that he thought he would get away with it.
This is Ben Stein quoting “directly” from Darwin:
“With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. Hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.”
Now, that does sound a bit depressing and feeds nicely into his ideology of Darwin = Evil. Until, of course, you read the actual paragraph in the book. I have bolded the parts that were deleted, sometimes even MID SENTENCE:
“With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.”
And then, of course, there is the next paragraph on the same page:
“The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil.”
So, Darwin was actually proposing the exact opposite of what Ben Stein was accusing. Quote mining like that is incredibly unethical. I still can’t understand why so many religious people feel the need to lie in order to make their point. And even if the first one was correctly interpreted, and Darwin had actually written that, it still says absolutely nothing about the actual scientific theory of evolution. Again, it’s the evidence that matters, not the person behind it. We simply don’t worship Darwin and thus we don’t rely every thing he said. It just goes to show that Ben Stein is wiling to blatantly lie to make his silly point, ignoring anything resembling the truth or actual evidence. It’s sad.
Ben Stein ends the movie by gleefully establishing himself as the selfless intellectual - a martyr for the cause, one of the few left with an independent mind – who is just trying to let the poor oppressed people be heard. He claims that his motivation is pure, that all he wants is for both sides of the argument be willing to talk and to listen to each other, to keep the dialogue open (a bit rich coming from him, after two hours of blatantly lying about, completely ignoring and misrepresenting the other side). As he stands in front of a huge lecture hall full of people (I would love to know if they were all paid extras), he once again delves into fake American patriotism. “It is not just scientists that are being expelled, but freedom itself, the very foundation of the American dream”. He then steps back and basks in their uproarious applause.
I just wanted to vomit.
This film is one of the worst cases of journalistic dishonesty and complete and utter disregard for actual knowledge and evidence that I have ever seen. Ben Stein attempts to portray himself as a hero who is just trying to protect the freedom of speech but instead just entrenches himself as an uneducated, unethical man who desires nothing even resembling truth and honest inquiry. I’m just sad that there are people out there who will believe him.
My only consolation about watching this travesty of a film is that I watched it for free on YouTube and thus did not give this man a single penny.
