Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
by Nathan Frankowski
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ben Stein, Christopher Hitchens, Mark Souder, Richard Dawkins, Richard SternbergDirector: Nathan Frankowski
Brand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Published: 2008-10-21
DVD Release Date: 2008-10-21
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Premise
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Color; DVD; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Movie Review: Beware the sound of one hand clapping.
Summary: 5 Stars
In my mind, one of the most maddening political debates ongoing in America today is the Intelligent Design argument. On one hand, you've got the religious right pounding their Bibles and saying Creationism should be taught in school and on the other hand you've got equally fervent and aggressive atheists who, in spite of their relatively small numbers, use their iron grip on academic institutions as a political hammer to attempt to destroy any ideas and beliefs that diverge from their own both in law and in science. Here's a terrifying question: what if one side wins? I want neither of these fanatical groups of looney toons in control. While the academic and media dominance of liberalism has seen to it that every man, woman, and child has "evolution is a fact" pounded into their skulls almost form birth, Ben Stein has put together a documentary exploring the institutional persecution being perpetuated in the scientific community who themselves often complain about being persecuted for their beliefs. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is an exemplary documentary that finally lays out the facts of the argument in a manner that is nearly impossible to dismiss by anybody with an open mind. Yes, Stein is a good little Republican soldier and a FOX News regular, but he is also a highly intelligent and analytical man so I'll not hold those things against him. The fact is he put together a great doc that I urge each and every Atheist, Agnostic, and Christian who is willing to put an ounce of thought into their beliefs (or lack thereof) to give it a shot. You'll learn a lot about the issues, and if nothing else, you'll gain a new perspective on the irony of hard-line Atheism's favorite loaded buzz-term: "freedom of thought".
Now, before you dismiss this film as a Republican droning on about God, know that the issue at hand is never about how great religion is (it is not) or whether ID should be taught in school (it should not). The issue is the systematic persecution of any scientist, no matter how accredited, who so much as mentions the words "intelligent" and "design" in the same paragraph or even appears willing to discuss the matter. If you have ever valued freedom of speech, you will be appalled by the practices. The very foundation of science is unfettered exploration. If we are to continue learning about our world, no line of thinking should be outlawed. This is basic. Unless you can demonstrably disprove something as a 100% falsehood, it should never be taken off the table. However, the debate on Darwinian evolution was closed by the academic powers-that-be before it even began and we are no longer allowed to scrutinize it. It is fact and if you even look directly at it with an open mind, you lose your job and are finished as a professional. This is not science. This is the same mindset that led to the persecution of people like Galileo and Darwin, who challenged the "scientifically" established "facts" of their own times and found some of the truth in the process. Science cannot progress meaningfully without open minds. Sadly, modern science is both a lucrative industry and political ideology now so the premise of expanding knowledge is no longer as important as beating the other team and making the most money. To do that, everybody needs to be on the same team and that means any thought-process diverging from the establishment must be branded as scientific heretics and kicked out onto the margins. Expelled interviews many of the scientists on those margins (some of whom wouldn't even show their face on camera from fear of losing their jobs) and also many of the academics who put them there, including Atheist ringleader Richard Dawkins, author of the hysterically incendiary The God Delusion. Sorry to spoil it, but before the end of this film, you will see the Atheist ringleader himself admit to the possibility of Intelligent Design while being interviewed by Ben Stein. He may have backpedaled after the fact by claiming he did not know the nature of the film he was being interviewed for, but the fact is he said it.
One more bit of groundwork here. Let me point out that ID is not in any way, shape, or form related to Creationism. Creationism is "poof, there was life!". ID acknowledges that evolution is indeed a natural part of our world, but explores the possibility that random genetic mutations over millions of years are not enough to design something as mechanically complicated as an aerodynamic flying life form, much less create life from scratch. Indeed, if a series of random simplistic events were enough to create life out of methane gas and the like, why is it we can't repeat the process? We know what the materials were to work with, so what big coincidence is going to wield a power that we can't duplicate with all our knowledge and technology after all these centuries of trying to do it on purpose? Careful. Asking that kind of question will lose you your job if you are a science professor and you'll never get a paper published again. Stein likens this academic barrier to The Berlin Wall, which was constructed by the Soviet Union to keep unwanted democratic ideas out of their side of the city. The parallel is hard to dispute, and give Stein a lot of gas going into the finale which cuts between a speech he gave and Reagan's moment of glory in Berlin. That's some bad stuff when these people start making Reagan look good in comparison.
Now, while a lot of this was preaching to the choir for me, there was a bit in Expelled that some people will think went too far and they may even invoke Godwin's Law, but I found it devastating to one of Atheism's favorite arguments: that wars are all caused by religion and Hilter was a fundamentalist Christian. While I feel the doc spent too much time on the issue, I actually learned something that had been right in front of my face the whole time so that segment alone was worth brushing up on my Atheist-flaming skills. So Hitler was hardline Christian? Well, that's funny because is his entire Master Race idea not based on Darwinian evolution? Don't Christians not believe in that stuff? Yeah. Dawkins is pretty much screwed. Stein actually tours a facility where the Nazis would evaluate the handicapped to decide whether or not they were fit to breed. If they weren't......well, you know how Hitler handled the undesirable elements under his rule. And another kicker: the idea of eugenics began here in America decades before Hitler put it into practice. And it wasn't Christians who believed in pruning the branches of humanity to push evolution forward in this way.n At one point in the doc, Stein interviews an evolutionist who he encourages to verbally follow his ideology to it's logical conclusion. Yeah, not so much with the sanity, there.
Expelled has Stein chasing this topic all over the place and I was extremely happy to finally see somebody put on film what I've been thinking for years. What cracks me up is that many of the interviewees from the Darwin camp went up in arms because they didn't realize that the film they were being interviewed for was a pro-ID film. So does that mean they didn't say what they meant? I'm not sure why that would make a difference. The film was lashed and derided by the mainstream as "lies" and "propaganda", but like the finer points of evolutionary science, no real explanation as to how is given. Having spent years discussing this issue with people on both sides online and in person, I've found that Fundamentalists and Atheists are essentially the same creature. When you face them with an argument they cannot counter, they simply ignore the questions and stick to name-calling and making outrageous claims off the top of their head. One thing I can say is that Stein did read some of Darwin's writings out of sequence to make it appear as though he was saying something he was not. That is some FOX News-style BS and the people who made this doc should be ashamed to have stooped to the same level as those they are attempting to combat by sewing disinformation. That sort of discourse assumes that we are too stupid to check facts and if your premise can't stand on it's own facts, it's time to find a new one. And this is one point of view that can stand on it's own without that garbage, so why poison the well?
The biggest problem here is not that Darwinists and religion exist, it is that they feel they can't co-exist. One is always attempting to wipe out the other politically. That is not democracy, that is fascism, and it's made even more ironic that they are both chucking the fascist label at each other like the metaphorical pot and kettle. The facts are that ID should never be taught in school, but mentioning it in class should not be forbidden either if the topic comes up. The Bible is primarily allegorical and it's pretty embarrassing to me that these supposedly brilliant minds can't grasp such a simple concept. Darwin was a brilliant biologist whose theories are as important as Newton's were to physics and Freud's were to psychology. However, nothing and nobody is above reproach. If you are afraid of examining you own beliefs, be they religious or scientific, they are probably wrong, and you probably know that deep down inside. We have yet to see any evidence better then "this bone kinda looks like that bone" to show one animal evolving into another at a level above individual species. Until we are able to witness the progress of this process firsthand, it is not any more fact then the existence of God or aliens. It's an intriguing idea and better then anything else we've got, but facts require proof and the funny thing about what passes for facts in this day and age is that the facts often change. Funny thing about learning. All I'm saying and all Expelled is saying is that scientists should be allowed to pursue any line of research they like and theorize freely without fear of losing grant money or their jobs and being blacklisted. Both sides of every issue must be explored for any rationality to exist. As reasonable people, is that too much to ask?
4 1/2 stars, rounded up for sticking it to The Man.
Summary of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Ben stein travels the world & learns an awe-inspiring truth .. That educators & scientists are being ridiculed denied tenure & even fired - for the crime of merely believing that there might be evindence of design in nature & that perhaps life is not just the result of chance. To which ben says enough!. Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 10/21/2008 Starring: Ben Stein Run time: 90 minutes Rating: PgSimilar DVD Movies
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