Constant Viewer Recommends Another Review

D.A. Ridgely on Apr 16th 2008

When Pulp Fiction was first released, Constant Viewer’s longstanding friend and Reason Magazine’s science correspondent, Ronald Bailey asked him if the Tarantino’s masterpiece was very graphically violent. “It isn’t,” CV took care to reply, “gratuitously violent.” CV has it on good authority that Mr. Bailey decided on that basis not to go and see the movie. His loss.

Much more recently, however, Mr. Bailey did go to see Ben Stein’s new documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Mr. Bailey reviews the film here and, as a result, Constant Viewer will not have to go see it. His gain, and now we’re even!

UPDATE: Hat tip to one of the Usual Suspects over at Reason’s “Hit & Run,” here’s a bit of fun for those who think Creationism has gotten a Bad Rap!

Filed in The Bijou

3 Responses to “Constant Viewer Recommends Another Review”

  1. # Ben Abbotton 16 Apr 2008 at 8:19 pm

    Mr Ridgely, I hope you, other contributers to PositiveLiberty as well as the readers will engage yourselves in this game of politics between science and the con-men who misrepresent themselves as agents for God.

    From the Reason article comes this paragraph (near the close of the article).

    At an April 15 press conference for bloggers held at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., the movie’s producers said that they plan to use the movie as part of a campaign to roll out legislation in states—so-called “freedom bills”—that would forbid anyone from “punishing” teachers and professors who question “Darwinism.” Walt Ruloff noted that the science standards of about 26 states are currently in play and that Florida was likely to pass such a “[academic] freedom bill.”

    In the event the anyone is unfamiliar with the “academic freedom” bill check out the links below.

    http://www.flascience.org/wp/?page_id=14

    http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/04/florida_evolution_academic_fre.html

    http://www.religioustolerance.org/expmovie.htm

    Here’s a link to many articles on the subject at ScienceBlogs.

    The only impressive thing about this is the slick manner by which Stein et al chummed the water with their joke of a movie, Expelled. While there is quite a bit of effort on the part of scientists to clarify the facts .

    Stein et al, have claimed a conspiracy against them, while they’ve been working on a conspiracy of their own. Of course, their version relies on distortions and politics, not on objective evidence.

    The one thing I can agree with Stein on is his comment, which I’ve snipped from the bottom of Bailey’s article in Reason Magazine.

    “What’s happening here is politics,” lamented the film’s star, Ben Stein, at Heritage. “Politics in the halls of science and that needs to be stopped.”

  2. # Frank_Aon 16 Apr 2008 at 10:29 pm

    UPDATE: Hat tip to one of the Usual Suspects over at Reason’s “Hit & Run,” here’s a bit of fun for those who think Creationism has gotten a Bad Rap!

    Scorn and shame at you sir!
    I quote the ‘96 movie, Ridicule (or at least the English translation):
    At Versailles, we call puns
    ”the death of wit.”

  3. # patrickon 23 Apr 2008 at 3:20 am

    just saw Expelled; the fact that Ben Stein isn’t trying to win any popularity contests helps to validate his message… i gather that his goal was to promote free thought, especially more thinking about motivations that drive American academia and a lot of other behind-the-scenes worldviews that we tend to take for granted.

Trackback URI |