Expelled: No Wonder They Call It "No Intelligence Allowed"

You know, it's pretty fucking pathetic when I could be blindfolded, blind stinking drunk, standing on one leg on a pilates ball, shooting a compound bow with my tongue, and still manage to hit me some stupid from Expelled & Co.


It's almost epic. It's beyond farce. We need to stop answering them with science and produce Expelled! The Musical. It's already pure fucking comedy: all we need are some catchy tunes.


I can't even do a takedown here. I just can't. Others have done the work, and what follows is a compendium. If you haven't had your daily dose of overwhelming fuckwittery, or if you just need a good reason to whack your forehead into your desk until unconscious, go follow the links, my darlings.


Valerie Tarico from the Huffington Post introduces us to a useful new word: Manufactroversy.

Scientific controversy exists only when the jury of relevant experts is out on whether a new finding meets the standard of evidence. The debate and evidence gathering still are in process. A manufactroversy is when someone motivated by profit or ideology fosters confusion in the public mind long after scientists have moved on to the next set of questions. Think tobacco and lung cancer. Think Exxon and global warming. Now think Ben Stein and evolution.

Elegant. Simple. Hits like a sledgehammer. And the whole article's like that. I especially love her list of IDiot tactics, including their newest one: whining.


I suspect, for their next trick, we'll see them falling down screaming and pounding their little fists into the floor.


Efrique over at Ecstathy has started counting the number of commandments the Expelled crew has broken:

The makers of Expelled have taken lying to the form of art, or at least artifice. They lied to obtain their interviews - lied about the film's title and purpose, lied in the film, lied in marketing it. The whole "not bearing false witness" thing is apparently only a suggestion. Certainly it doesn't carry the force of the cryptotheist's only commandment - Promoting creationism's lies shalt be the whole of the law."

But it doesn't end there. Apparently a few other biblical commandments are also mere suggestions, not, well, commandments.

It's pretty sad when they can be taken down by an atheist on the basis of their own faith, you know.


In keeping with the Biblical theme, John Lynch at Stranger Fruit makes a kindly suggestion about seeing to the log in one own's eye. I'm not going to quote from the piece. It needs to be read as a whole so you can appreciate the beautiful snap at the end.


On to plagarism and nasty legal issues. In case anyone was suffering any doubt that the animation The Inner Life of a Cell was ripped off by the Expelled crew, David Bolinsky weighs in with an open letter. I sort of get the impression that maybe he knows what he's talking about, considering, you know, he was one of the chief medical illustrators involved in creating the original:

Given the vast number of structures to be removed, and given the structures remaining "on camera", whose positioning and relationships,
both aesthetic and functional, needed to remain true to the function and beauty of molecular biology, it is inconceivable, mathematically, that the animator hired by EXPELLED's producers, independently and randomly came up with the same identical actin filament mesh XVIVO depicted in one scene, which had never before been rendered anywhere in 3D! It is astonishing that among well over a dozen functional kinesins from which an animator might choose, we both chose the
same configuration of kinesin, pulling the same protein-studded vesicle, on the same microtubule! Can YOU believe we coincidentally picked the same camera angles and left in the same specific structures in the background, positioned with the same composition?

When you put it that way, no. But do go on:

To Mr. Dembski: The only reason I am involved in this discussion is because I do not want the reputation of my company, hard-earned as
it is, to be sullied by even oblique affiliation to your sort of smarmy ethics, if only through works of ours, purloined to fit your agenda. Last year you were charging colleges thousands of dollars to give lectures showing a copy of The Inner Life of the Cell, you claimed you "found somewhere", with Harvard's and XVIVO's credits stripped out and the copyright notice removed (which is in itself a felony) and a creationist voice-over pasted on over our music (yes, I have a recording of your lecture). Harvard slapped you down for that, and yes there is a paper trail. One can only assume that had we not taken notice then,
we would be debating The Inner Life of the Cell being used in EXPELLED, instead of a copy.

I haven't any doubts on this point, either. Especially in light of what Mr. Dumbski - excuse me, Freudian slip there - Dembski had to say:

I ve gotten to know the producers quite well. As far as I can tell, they
made sure to budget for lawsuits. Also, I know for a fact that they have one of the best intellectual property attorneys in the business. I expect that the producers made their video close enough to the Harvard video to get tongues awagging (Headline: Harvard University Seeks Injunction Against Ben Stein and EXPELLED you think that might generate interest in the movie?), but different enough so that they are unexposed.

Un-fucking-believable. And I thought Behe was the world champion of shooting one's own side in the foot. I'm going to make a prediction here, but don't call me a psychic if it comes true: I expect that once this whole fiasco has wound its way through the courts, Expelled's so-called best intellectual property attorney is going to be a laughingstock. Furthermore, I predict it'll turn out Dembski was just a tad wrong about that attorney being so great to begin with. I mean, look who's making the assessment.


Abby at ERV delivers a full-course banquet in Expelled's latest dumbfuckitude. I present you the appetizer, the main coursehttp://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2008/04/anyone-want-seconds.html, and of course, dessert. Enjoy!


I just want to highlight the dumbest thing Dembski said:

BOTTOM LINE: Before you think the producers of EXPELLED are idiots, you might think that they are chess players who have seen several
moves ahead.

Chess players, William? Would these be the kind of chess players who shout "Hey, look! It's Deep Blue!" and switch the pieces on the board when their opponent looks away? Because that's the only fucking way these fuckwits are going to win at chess even against a player with massive brain damage and the palsy. Reality really doesn't have any meaning for you, does it? Getting sued for plagarism and theft of intellectual property is no way to advertise a film that asks for a seat at the academic's table. On the other hand, it's a damned good way to prove that your entire premise is dishonest bullshit.


You know, one of these days, I think I'll have to amble down to the good ol' Discovery Institute and ask William personally if he's this fucking stupid naturally or if he has to work at it. The man's a museum piece. If they ever have an exhibit of all-time dumbest bastards, he'll be a contender.