Nothing to Fear but PZ Myers

Just when the brouhaha over PZ Myers getting expelled from Expelled was dying down, this happens:

Some of you know that the producers of Expelled had a conference call this afternoon…a carefully controlled, closed environment in which they would spout their nonsense and only take questions by email. I listened to it for a while, and yeah, it was the usual run-around. However, I dialed in a few minutes early, and got to listen to a tiresome five minutes of Leslie and Paul chatting away, during which time they mentioned the secret code (DUNH DUNH DUNNNNH!) for the two way calls. I know. Sloppy, unprofessional, and stupid, but that's the way
they work. So … I redialed. (DUNH DUNH DUNNNNH!)

Then I listened along quietly until I could take no more.

Skepchick has the audio. It's absolutely awesome. And might I just add:



I've pointed out before the inanity - nay, the sheer fuckwittedness - of making a movie ostensibly about the silencing of scientists for their views, and then refusing to let scientists speak. They're dead intent on silencing their critics. They force folks attending their propaganda screenings to sign non-disclosure agreements, then whine that their critics aren't addressing the content of the movie. They lie, they obfuscate, they attack evolution (which in their world begins and ends with Darwin, as if there's been no developments in the field in 100+ years), they refuse to share this supposed "science" that disproves evolution (because there isn't any), and they cancel planned screenings of their schlock as soon as they discover that - gasp! - some people might attend them not to applaud, but to debunk.

Don't let the claim about "unavoidable travel plans" fool you. They didn't cancel until just after PZ Myers got ejected and the internet erupted with the hilarity. This marks the second excuse I've seen for the cancelled screenings: they've also cited "security concerns." I ask you.

I'm delighted by the fact that PZ once again threw a cart full of eggs on the Expelled crew's faces. I can't wait for the next installment: I'm having pleasant visions of them cowering in terror, wondering where PZ will strike next. Nowhere is safe from the wrath of Myer!

It's inevitable. The more they try to exclude PZ, the more they fuck up. There was the Minnesota screening, of course, wherein they placed the invitation for a supposedly "private" screening on a public website with no restrictions on who could sign up to attend. Then, when they spotted PZ in line, they were so busy expelling him that they missed Richard Dawkins - don't believe their claims that they generously allowed Sir Richard to attend because he'd come such a long way to see their movie. That's just CYA, and it's poor lying to boot. Even our very own White House spins better than that, despite the fact they've stopped trying to make said spin plausible.

Then we have this episode. They invite a variety of media sorts, including bloggers, to their carefully-controlled "conference" call (note to Expelled goons: it's only a conference if people can actually confer), pointedly not inviting PZ - only they did:

Today we sat in on a conference call with the Expelled frauds. PZ has his story up, and others will probably follow. However, some people, including the producers of Expelled, have already taken to accuse us of crashing their call, much like the lies about PZ crashing the Expelled screening.

This is false. We got an explicit invitation yesterday from Expelled‘s media relations firm to participate, note to whom the invitation is addressed.

Subject: INVITE: Live teleconference with BEN STEIN of Expelled

Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:45:24 -0400

From: Schlicht, Stacy (LAN-RCN)
<[removed]@rogersandcowan.com>

To: thecrew@pandasthumb.org

JOIN BEN STEIN TOMORROW, Friday, March 28 at 1:00 pm. PST for an exclusive, invitation-only LIVE press teleconference!

Some crew members got multiple invitations, including the one above and one at the personal site. PZ, however, was not one of them, despite the amount of (bad) press he has been able to generate for the frauds. I guess they purposely excluded his personal email from the list. However, they apparently forgot that PZ is a crew member, when they sent us our invitation. [emphasis added]

Heh heh heh whoops.

It still wouldn't have been such a disaster for them if they hadn't been blabbering the code for a two-way call when PZ called the conference line a few minutes early. Listen. Every moron knows that you don't share security codes in the same forum where said code is supposed to be used. Two basic things should have occurred to them:

1. The people calling in were going to be muted, so how the hell are you supposed to know if they're listening?

and 2. Some folks come to shindigs earlier than the time on the invite, so it might be a good idea not to share the secret stuff five minutes before the scheduled conference.

They have good reason to fear PZ. He's a lot smarter than they are. Then again, so is your common garden gnome.

Keep it up, PZ!