Ebert on Stein--Finally!
Roger Ebert is seldom wrong. I have always liked his work. I have said many times that his reviews are pretty reliable predictors of how I will feel about a film. More often than not, if he likes it, so will I; if not, ditto.
So now I feel vindicated, at long last. Roger has reviewed the sham documentary Expelled, starring the world's smartest idiot, Ben Stein. And he panned it. And then some. (Brief Digression: For more examples of just how wrong Stein can be, see this video. in which he pooh-poohs Peter Schiff's amazing market prescience over the last couple of years. Stein's foolishness begins at 4:00 and dribbles out until about 7:48, and remember, he's an economist. Just how did this guy get his reputation as an intellectual? Anyway, back to the blog.)
You should all go to Ebert's page at the Chicago Sun-Times web site and read the review for yourselves. You should support their advertisers for having the good sense to keep Ebert in buttered popcorn and tweed jackets. But in case you don't have time, here is the pithy part, selected by The Fool himself:
This film is cheerfully ignorant, manipulative, slanted, cherry-picks quotations, draws unwarranted conclusions, makes outrageous juxtapositions (Soviet marching troops representing opponents of ID), pussy-foots around religion (not a single identified believer among the ID people), segues between quotes that are not about the same thing, tells bald-faced lies, and makes a completely baseless association between freedom of speech and freedom to teach religion in a university class that is not about religion.
By all means, read the rest, as much for Ebert's clear writing as for his dissection of Stein's liberal use of the logical fallacy known as the excluded middle. And if you have thus far resisted seeing Expelled: The Travesty so as to avoid even the possibility of putting a singe nickle in the pockets of Stein or that pack of charlatans who identify themselves as the producers of this joke-umentary, you can rest assured you have made the right choice. Ebert called it, and he's seldom wrong.
So now I feel vindicated, at long last. Roger has reviewed the sham documentary Expelled, starring the world's smartest idiot, Ben Stein. And he panned it. And then some. (Brief Digression: For more examples of just how wrong Stein can be, see this video. in which he pooh-poohs Peter Schiff's amazing market prescience over the last couple of years. Stein's foolishness begins at 4:00 and dribbles out until about 7:48, and remember, he's an economist. Just how did this guy get his reputation as an intellectual? Anyway, back to the blog.)
You should all go to Ebert's page at the Chicago Sun-Times web site and read the review for yourselves. You should support their advertisers for having the good sense to keep Ebert in buttered popcorn and tweed jackets. But in case you don't have time, here is the pithy part, selected by The Fool himself:
This film is cheerfully ignorant, manipulative, slanted, cherry-picks quotations, draws unwarranted conclusions, makes outrageous juxtapositions (Soviet marching troops representing opponents of ID), pussy-foots around religion (not a single identified believer among the ID people), segues between quotes that are not about the same thing, tells bald-faced lies, and makes a completely baseless association between freedom of speech and freedom to teach religion in a university class that is not about religion.
By all means, read the rest, as much for Ebert's clear writing as for his dissection of Stein's liberal use of the logical fallacy known as the excluded middle. And if you have thus far resisted seeing Expelled: The Travesty so as to avoid even the possibility of putting a singe nickle in the pockets of Stein or that pack of charlatans who identify themselves as the producers of this joke-umentary, you can rest assured you have made the right choice. Ebert called it, and he's seldom wrong.
Will Ebert loved Plastic Man as a kid. This is one of the few classic comics from the 30s or 40s that aged well. Mabye you'll like that. The wit, the general lack of stereotyping, is refreshing. (The Spirit, is nice too, but has a very small bit of physical stereotyping. Eisiner was not a racist by any stretch tho and his work remains a classic.)
As for Stein's film? I don't think Ebert was needed for people to claim its a bad film. My 11 year old niece would have been fine. Even the creationists claim, "if you are looking for material to use in arguing with atheists, don't bother to see the film".
I want my money back!!! Stein spend more money on the trailer with the school of fish than the actual film. He really didn't make any argument. It was a multi-hour bitching session without any facts included.
A GOOD creationist, can at least present an argument.
As for his ambushing of Dawkins? It was OBVIOUS Dawkins was being quoted out of context!!! You'd have to be REALLY stupid to believe that Dawkins was giving the "alien theory" any serious consideration at all. Misquoted Dawkins, STILL trumped the creationist idiot.
As for the author of that paper, which I've actually read by the way, the film does not tell you what the author said or mention.
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