Catching Up with Expelled

It's been a long time since Expelled hit the theaters and failed spectacularly to deal a death-blow to evolution. It didn't give unstoppable momentum to various Academic Freedom bills. It didn't topple Michael Moore's documentary throne. Rather than further its agenda, it managed to make itself a laughing-stock amongst all but the most deluded of the IDiot crowd.

It's faded faster than a bad dye job in the Arizona sun.

But, happily, there's still a chance to have some fun at its expense.

The New Jersey Jewish News has a good question:

Stein joins an odd political/religious coalition in taking the measure of the 21st century and deciding that our biggest problem is that we have too much science and too little religion. As American children fall further behind in the classroom, and the United States relinquishes its reputation for technological innovation, perhaps only an economist like Stein can explain how it is in our country’s benefit to mock the fundamental biology upon which our understanding of the natural world relies.

Yeah, Ben. How will IDiocy benefit America? Or was this really your nefarious plan all along?

How to Ruin American Enterprise

12) Elevate mysticism, tribalism, shamanism and fundamentalism--and be sure to exclude educated, hardworking men and women--to an equal status with technology in the public mind. Make sure that, in order to pay proper (and politically correct) respect to all different ethnic groups in America, you act as if science were on an equal footing with voodoo and history with ethnic fable.

Everybody read that 2002 Forbes article as sarcasm, but in light of what he's done lately, methinks it may have been more of a roadmap.

So how are his efforts to "elevate mysticism, tribalism, shamanism and fundamentalism...to an equal status with technology in the public mind" going? Ouch:

TOTAL LIFETIME GROSSES
Domestic:
$6,906,488

Not too good for a movie that proclaimed it would make $15-20 million in the opening weekend.
But how's the theatre count? There's still a chance... isn't there?

Not in 402 theatres and falling, there's not. Especially not when Yoko Ono has opened a can of whupass and ensured you can't sneak it onto anymore screens, either.

A federal judge in Manhattan has told the makers of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed that they cannot distribute the film any further, until a copyright infringement complaint is heard in court later this month.

"Cannot distribute the film any further..." I suppose that means a swift DVD release is right out, then.

Ken Miller, one of the evolutionary biologists Expelled refused to include in their propaganda because he's also a Christian, doesn't have anything nice to say about it:

"Expelled" is a shoddy piece of propaganda that props up the failures of Intelligent Design by playing the victim card. It deceives its audiences, slanders the scientific community, and contributes mightily to a climate of hostility to science itself. Stein is doing nothing less than helping turn a generation of American youth away from science. If we actually come to believe that science leads to murder, then we deserve to lose world leadership in science. In that sense, the word "expelled" may have a different and more tragic connotation for our country than Stein intended.

Canadian Christianity ridicules it:

Matters are further confused by the fact that the film never acknowledges that some ID theorists actually believe in evolution, albeit perhaps only to a point.

Instead, the film allows the viewer to think that ID and evolution are natural enemies – an idea deepened by the film’s efforts to link Darwinism with the Holocaust.

The problem is, evolutionary theory – which is both older and newer than Darwin, by the way – is either true or it isn’t, and it doesn’t matter much whether people have abused the theory, any more than it matters whether people have abused, say, the teachings of Jesus. Within the film, Dawkins links the Bible to genocide just as surely as Stein links evolution to genocide, so what good does that tactic really do?

Reasons to Believe has even debunked its central premise:

In Reasons To Believe's interaction with professional scientists, scientific institutions, universities, and publishers of scientific journals we have encountered no significant evidence of censorship, blackballing, or disrespect. As we have persisted in publicly presenting our testable creation model in the context of the scientific method, we have witnessed an increasing openness on the part of unbelieving scientists to offer their honest and respectful critique.

Our main concern about EXPELLED is that it paints a distorted picture. It certainly doesn't match our experience. Sadly, it may do more to alienate than to engage the scientific community, and that can only harm our mission.

How fucking pathetic is it when even people peddling Biblical inerrancy and creationism don't want to be seen in Expelled's company?

All of this jabbing Expelled in the eye with their own log of stupid has been delightful, but things are slowing down to a trickle. That's why I hope Ono's suit is settled quickly, so that we can enjoy a reprise of the fuckery when the Expelled DVD is released. I'll bet you a million dollars to a donut hole their bonus features include something stolen, blatantly copied, or breathtakingly dishonest.

What, no takers?