Truth and the Devil

I thought it might be telling to keep an eye on the Expelled blog and see what’s going on there. Ben Stein has a new post which is rather cryptic [edit: the post has been inexplicably removed]. It basically is setting out to create a climate of victimization (which the film seems to be doing as well) starting out with a quote attributed to Jonny Cash.

It’s good to be hated by the right people.”

I’m not quite sure what to make of the following quote, though if it turns out to be some sort of parody, I’ll be pleasantly surprised (though I’m not holding my breath).

This film – it is going to surprise you, one and all. It’s not what you think it is. No one has seen it yet.

His next quote from Marcus Aurelius makes me think that there is really going to be no substance to this movie at all.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

Since people who believe in the special creation of humans less than 10,000 years ago are the majority in the country, you might be able to take that statement as an indictment of Intelligent Design. However, from the look of the trailer and the rest of the site, it appears more likely that the entire basis for the movie will be that evolution is the majority viewpoint (at least among scientists), there are people with a minority viewpoint who don’t have the respect of the majority, therefore the majority is wrong because they’re picking on the minority. If this is the case, don’t expect too much of an examination of the actual scientific evidence for Intelligent Design (because there isn’t any). It’ll just be whining about how science is being oppressive or ‘discriminating’ against good God-fearing Christians.

However, I was pleasantly surprised reading this post by the quality of the comments below. Not a single one is respecting the Intelligent Design position, and all are critical of Ben Stein (they all also happen to be fairly well written). Some examples:

Hmmm, er, um well… that’s not much of a response. Anyone can claim to be a rebel, to be oppressed by tyranny. Playing the victim is nothing new, even with a slick paint of coat on it.
No, we haven’t seen the film. But we can most certainly judge the rhetoric and claims already being made, and those of us quite familiar with this debate and the particular buzzwords you’ve chosen have a pretty good idea of what your portrayal will involve (and what it will conspicuously leave out).
Ben’s also words seem pretty clear: you guys want to portray methodological concerns about supernatural explanations as if they were actual bans on free inquiry, rather than boundaries of disciplines with limited scopes. You want to present this as an issue of free speech, but to do so, you are simply going to ignore and misrepresent cases like Sternberg’s, in which a lot more was going on than simply his ability to speak his mind.

Framing this as a “freedom” issue is clever, but false. No one is being oppressed or prevented from thinking anything, as Mr. Stein claims. As noted above, claiming victimhood for oneself is a standard move by these people, not to mention a time-honored Republican tradition. But when scientists criticize Intelligent Design as non-scientific, that isn’t oppression or censorship; it’s the scientific method in action. But I won’t hold my breath waiting for Mr. Stein to address the scientific facts. He’ll wrap himself in the flag and cry about being oppressed and some small subset of the public will believe him.

Watch, I know a quote, too:
“Alas, to wear the mantle of Galileo it is not enough that you be
persecuted by an unkind establishment; you must also be right.”
-Robert Park

According to this post, the majority is usually wrong. The more your ideas are ridiculed, the better they must be. Everyone should try to be hated by everyone else.
Remember, it’s good to keep an open mind; but it shouldn’t be so open that your brain falls out.
There are systems in place to keep science on the right track. All untrue claims are eventually filtered out. Science has self-correction built in. Science is not closed-minded to new ideas. Intelligent design is a very very old idea that has not withstood the demands of evidence, so it has been thrown out. Yes, creationists are sometimes ridiculed, but only because science has dealt with it long ago and bringing it up again and again is like someone today trying to prove geocentrism. It should be either ignored or laughed at.
There is no such thing as “Big Science” controlling what is being studied. If a new idea works, it will pursued. It’s just that simple. If there is any merit whatsoever to a theory, it will not be simply thrown out.
At some point, the general public has to trust that science in general works, and is moving in the right direction. Suggesting that an idea is correct simply because it is criticized is absolutely ridiculous.

Check ‘em out for yourself.

It also appears that noted Science Blogger PZ Myers will also be featured in the movie. He was interviewed for a movie about the intersection of science and religion awhile back called Crossroads, however he wasn’t informed of it’s creationist point-of-view. The deception of creationists knows no ends. It’s also interesting how it appears that all of the creationists interviewed for the film were met with personally by Ben Stein, but PZ wasn’t. Hmm…

Update:
The original post has been removed, so I’ll post the entirety of it below:

Before I thank all of you movie-going readers and posters: the thoughtful, the mortal, the Supreme Beings With Bees-in-Their-Mouths apparently among us, those with intelligence as well as those with designs… it is only fitting that we invite the late, great Johnny Cash to weigh in on the merits of free speech, science and the genius that is freedom of inquiry, in the face of tyranny.

“It’s good to be hated by the right people.”
— Attributed to Johnny Cash

Indeed. We could, I’ll wager – agree that that is perhaps the only statement that all who have visited these pages today might collectively agree upon. But please – let’s have no hatreds here. Life is too long.

Thank-you all, for sharing with us. We are overwhelmed. We had no idea…

This film – it is going to surprise you, one and all. It’s not what you think it is. No one has seen it yet.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

– Marcus Aurelius

And if we re-read Ben Stein’s words here again and again (as I have)…we may still not quite comprehend the full implications of his thoughts. But keep trying, if you misunderstood them…it’s worth it.

I do not know Mr. Stein…but I can tell you this: the man is comitted to freedom.