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Expelled - Why does Ben Stein hate America?

jj said:
In short, Ben Stein acts as though he hates America and is trying to destroy it.
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Is it really not possible to advocate ideas for changing certain specific US policies without 'hating' the USA?

That argument always smacks of sheer desperation.
 
E.J.Armstrong said:
Is it really not possible to advocate ideas for changing certain specific US policies without 'hating' the USA?
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Please explain who is making this argument. If you are implying that I am making such an argument, your statement is false and ethically bankrupt, and I will thank you to uttelry capitulate and admit that you have used a straw man to attack my comments.

If you are not claiming that I am making this argument, please explain, concisely, why you bother to mention such an absurd idea.
 
I don't think Ben Stein hates America, and I am pretty sure he is not intentionally trying to destroy America (although, I could be wrong).

I think Ben Stein is paranoid delusional: He seriously believes that he is fighting against a new "Hitler-like" regime, with this movie.

He believes in Academic freedom (as do I, incidentally), but fails to realize the real reasons why Intelligent Design isn't making any progress in science: It makes no testable hypothesis, for one thing.

Until someone starts generating real science out of ID, it will continue to be kicked out of real scientific endeavors. There is no conspiracy. There is only scientific discipline.
 
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Mycroft said:
I like Ben Stein as an actor, but this does seem disappointing. I see some of the conservative blogs are spinning it as less pro-ID than pro-freedom of speech/religion, but that seems like a thin rationalization.
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Not just a thin rationalization, a complete and total straw man. ID is not suppressed by mainstream science. If anything it has had a much longer day in court than the evidence warranted.
 
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Wowbagger said:
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Also, I think we should start a whole sub-Forum called "Expelled". I am likely to start my own thread about this movie, after I somehow manage to get the opportunity to see it (legally but without paying).
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Give it about 2 weeks and it'll probably be on TV. It won't last long in the theaters.
 
Darth Rotor said:
From your quoted article.

An old adage is "follow the money." I'll put my small wager on this point, made by the article's author, being correct.

DR
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Well, you know, when it got into the Nazi stuff, that's just a TOUCH beyond the pale. I mean, his real argument, when it's understood is that "trusting the facts is a Nazi plot".
 
jj said:
Well, you know, when it got into the Nazi stuff, that's just a TOUCH beyond the pale. I mean, his real argument, when it's understood is that "trusting the facts is a Nazi plot".
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Are we to write Ben Stein off as a jewish, neo-con shill?

Should his middle name be changed to Godwin?

DR
 
Darth Rotor said:
Are we to write Ben Stein off as a jewish, neo-con shill?

Should his middle name be changed to Godwin?

DR
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Well, I can't answer that for sure, but if his movie was an internet bulletin board, it's self-Godwinning.
 
Ben Stein is just bitter because he thinks he's very smart, but all anybody remembers him from is for calling attendance in a movie that's more than twenty years old at this point. Matthew Broderick grew up and had tons of movies and made piles of cash and people still think he's handsome though personally I don't care for him, but all Ben Stein gets is people coming up to him saying "Bueller....Bueller....Bueller..." It's a wonder he doesn't slash people's faces with a razor. Crackpottery is just his way of acting out.

eta: Oh, and Visine commercials. I bet people ask him if he has dry, irritated eyes. He certainly does.
 
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"Win Ben Stein's Money" was hilarious. Odd now that I realize he probably was truly offended by all the stuff Jimmy Kimmel (and other hosts) said rather than just playing the straight man.
 
TragicMonkey said:
Ben Stein is just bitter because he thinks he's very smart, but all anybody remembers him from is for calling attendance in a movie that's more than twenty years old at this point. Matthew Broderick grew up and had tons of movies and made piles of cash and people still think he's handsome though personally I don't care for him,
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Yeah, but he also killed some people in a car accident and ended up marrying The Foot.

but all Ben Stein gets is people coming up to him saying "Bueller....Bueller....Bueller..." It's a wonder he doesn't slash people's faces with a razor. Crackpottery is just his way of acting out. eta: Oh, and Visine commercials. I bet people ask him if he has dry, irritated eyes. He certainly does.
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Not even Visine commercials.
 
TragicMonkey said:
eta: Oh, and Visine commercials. I bet people ask him if he has dry, irritated eyes. He certainly does.
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Doesn't seem like the Designer was terribly Intelligent when creating eyes that would get so dry and irritated, does it?
 
Darth Rotor said:
Are we to write Ben Stein off as a jewish, neo-con shill?

Should his middle name be changed to Godwin?
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There is no question that the Stein and the movie Godwin'ed himself/itself.

Stein is Jewish, yes. He's being a shill in this, yes. But neo-con? I don't think that's right. More like we could write him off for being a jewish, creationist shill.
 
Upchurch said:
There is no question that the Stein and the movie Godwin'ed himself/itself.

Stein is Jewish, yes. He's being a shill in this, yes. But neo-con? I don't think that's right. More like we could write him off for being a jewish, creationist shill.
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Having had emailed to me for about the past four years, from a rather hawkish cousin, any number of Ben Stein opinion pieces, Stein and neocon meet my duck test.

YMMV.

DR
 
Mycroft said:
I like Ben Stein as an actor, but this does seem disappointing. I see some of the conservative blogs are spinning it as less pro-ID than pro-freedom of speech/religion, but that seems like a thin rationalization.
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It may be a thin rationalization to you, but I'm surprised that you say so. Perhaps you have not really paid attention to the deliberate thrust of the Creationist/ID movement, which is "teach the controversy", and anyone who is prevented from "teaching" garbage will accuse the others of censorship or worse, discrimination.

http://www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.html
 
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TragicMonkey said:
Ben Stein is just bitter because he thinks he's very smart, but all anybody remembers him from is for calling attendance in a movie that's more than twenty years old at this point. Matthew Broderick grew up and had tons of movies and made piles of cash and people still think he's handsome though personally I don't care for him, but all Ben Stein gets is people coming up to him saying "Bueller....Bueller....Bueller..." It's a wonder he doesn't slash people's faces with a razor.
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Unfortunately, I've added Ben Stein to the list of famous people I once found somewhat amusing and charming, but now find incredibly uncomfortable to see anywhere. He joins Michael Richards, Jeffrey Jones (oddly, the principal in Ferris Bueller, amongst other roles), Tom Cruise, etc.
 
Elind said:
It may be a thin rationalization to you, but I'm surprised that you say so. Perhaps you have not really paid attention to the deliberate thrust of the Creationist/ID movement, which is "teach the controversy", and anyone who is prevented from "teaching" garbage will accuse the others of censorship or worse, discrimination.

http://www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.html
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Be that as it may it doesn't change Mycroft's point. It's a thin rationalization. Just because a lot of people engage in silly rationalization doesn't make it better. What do you think "thin rationalization" means?
 
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