# Ben Stein's new movie Expelled **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 23, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482 "2008-03-23T23:44:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/141 "2008-04-17T15:37:59Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] Yet, what and where is this missing link? [/QUOTE] You seem to be about half as smart as a human. Would you like to apply for the position? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/142 "2008-04-17T15:56:47Z")
Just remember, every time you find a missing link, you give the creationists two new gaps to whinge about. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/143 "2008-04-17T16:45:37Z")
To be a Devil’s advocate, you have to have some kind of clue what it is you are advocating against. Otherwise, you’re more of a dullard’s advocate. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/144 "2008-04-17T16:48:37Z")
> [@](#): > > BTW, there are other theories on evolution, too Like…? Lamarck’s? Been there, disproved that. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/145 "2008-04-17T16:56:43Z")
[QUOTE=drm] In this link there is a round table with a few of the Scientific American people and a producer of the film. If anyone has an hour or an hour and a half to kill, give it a listen. [/QUOTE] Kind of makes you want to punch that guy in the face, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/146 "2008-04-17T17:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] You seem to be about half as smart as a human. Would you like to apply for the position? [/QUOTE] He did, but Lucy’s family rejected him for being too primitive. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/147 "2008-04-17T19:54:08Z")
[_New Scientist_’s Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptions](http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/dn13620?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=dn13620) ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/148 "2008-04-17T22:09:00Z")
Shermer talks about his encounter with Ben about the film. > [@](#): > > Actually they didn’t. The biology professors at Pepperdine assure me that their mostly Christian students fully accept the theory of evolution. So who were these people embracing Stein’s screed against science? Extras. According to Lee Kats, Associate Provost for Research and Chair of Natural Science at Pepperdine, “the production company paid for the use of the facility just as all other companies do that film on our campus” but that “the company was nervous that they would not have enough people in the audience so they brought in extras. Members of the audience had to sign in and the staff member reports that no more than two to three Pepperdine students were in attendance. Mr. Stein’s lecture on that topic was not an event sponsored by the university.” And this is one of the least dishonest parts of the film. [http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/](http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/149 "2008-04-17T23:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] [http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,2477,n,n](http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,2477,n,n) Apparently, they didn’t ask permission to use Imagine, by John Lennon, either. [/QUOTE] The use of a Lennon song is appropriate since Lennon did not believe in evolution. Of course, they should have gotten permission to use the song. > [@John Lennon](#): > > That’s another piece of garbage. What the hell’s it based on? … I don’t believe in the evolution of fish to monkeys to men. Why aren’t monkeys changing into men now? It’s absolute garbage. It’s absolutely irrational garbage, as mad as the ones who believe the world was made only four thousand years ago, the fundamentalists. That and the monkey thing are both as insane as the other. I’ve nothing to base it on; it’s only a gut feeling. They always draw that progression–these apes standing up suddenly. The early men are always drawn like apes, right? Because that fits in the theory we have been living with since Darwin. > > I don’t buy that monkey business… I don’t buy it. I’ve got no basis for it and no theory to offer, I just don’t buy it. Something other than that. Something simpler. I don’t buy anything other than “It was and ever shall be.” I can’t conceive of anything less or more. The other theories change all the time… It keeps all the old professors happy in the university… I don’t know if there’s any harm in it except they ram it down everybody’s throat… There. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/150 "2008-04-18T00:08:38Z")
He also let Ringo sing sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/151 "2008-04-18T00:32:06Z")
It should also be noted that time has not been particularly kind to Lennon’s own “all you need is love” theory. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/152 "2008-04-18T00:54:27Z")
Why the heck would someone so stupid as to randomly disbelieve in evolution, be a member of a site whose very theme is fighting ignorance? Jinx, seriously, quit the board and don’t look back. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/153 "2008-04-18T01:11:05Z")
> [@John Lennon](#): > > I’ve nothing to base it on; it’s only a gut feeling. My God, so that’s it - Jenny McCarthy is channeling John Lennon! Scary. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/154 "2008-04-18T01:21:03Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] My God, so that’s it - Jenny McCarthy is channeling John Lennon! Scary. [/QUOTE] That’s not fair. Ms.McCarthy has more than a gut feeling. She also has debunked hypotheses and misunderstood anecdotal evidence. And amazing tits - maybe we should be willing to cut her some slack? Edit - After looking at some recent photos of Ms. McCarthy, I say fuck her; she looks like an old hack. She should spend less time worrying about her autistic son and more time getting her beauty sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/155 "2008-04-18T09:27:37Z")
On a related note, [the origin of _The Origin of Species_ goes on line.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7351980.stm) > [@](#): > > The first draft of a book which changed the world’s attitude to evolution is available for the first time online. > > Papers which led to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution were previously only available to scholars at Cambridge University’s library. > > The draft notes are among 20,000 archive items created by the 19th Century naturalist during his lifetime. > > Dr John van Wyhe, a Darwin specialist at Cambridge University, said: “He changed our understanding of nature.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/156 "2008-04-18T11:15:14Z")
I just read about this movie the other day. That’s it, I’m burning my copy of _Ferris Bueller_. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/157 "2008-04-18T12:31:51Z")
[QUOTE=Snarky\_Kong] Kind of makes you want to punch that guy in the face, doesn’t it? [/QUOTE] Pretty much. What I found kind of amusing is that any time he couldn’t answer something about the movie, he said “I don’t make those kind of decisions, I’m only an associate producer” I can’t decide whether or not I want to see the movie. I usually feel that in order to say that I hate a movie, I at least need to watch it first (for example, Passion of the Christ), but in this case, I’m not really sure that’s the case. On top of that, I know I"m going to leave pissed off and it seems to me that life is too short to waste 100 minutes of my life on this piece of shit. I don’t know, maybe Ill wait until it’s on the movie network. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/158 "2008-04-18T13:53:53Z")
If I had known then what I know now, I’d have been rooting for those doofuses to win more of his money. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/159 "2008-04-19T07:53:15Z")
Stein already has a sequel in the can about the scientific communities suppression of ATT (Avian Transportation Theory). Here’s the [trailer](http://richarddawkins.net/article,2478,Sexpelled-No-Intercourse-Allowed,RichardDawkinsnet). CMC +fnord! ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482/160 "2008-04-19T13:30:50Z")
Just for laughed I scanned through the reviews of this movie on IMDb, and couldn’t believe I read this: > [@](#): > > Why do we still have monkeys? Shouldn’t they all have evolved into people by now? :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-steins-new-movie-expelled/442482.md?page=9)