Our Review
Former game show host and political speechwriter, Ben Stein, makes a natural progression with his attempt to discredit the theory of evolution in all of about 90 minutes. The premise of his new film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, involves a supposed pandemic of science professors being persecuted by school officials and bullied by colleagues if they dare to so much as to even mention ‘intelligent design’.
To support his thesis, Stein manages to find two professors who may or may not have been fired for their outspokenness towards Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, in Stein’s claiming that there is ‘no intelligence allowed’ in universities, he proves himself to be hypocritical by disallowing it in his own film as well.
‘Intelligent Design’ is couched as a free speech issue throughout the documentary, rather than what it actually is -- irresponsible, ignorant and terribly confused. At best, this is a silly movie that’s being preached to the converted and not to be taken seriously by a thoughtful population.
At worst, it’s an example of sleazy propaganda that may actually lead to conversion: convincing someone that the reason God is not allowed in the classroom is because of academic prejudice rather than a necessary dismissal of an unscientific theory.
While Stein gives the appearance that a war is being waged between evolutionary theorists and proponents of ‘intelligent design,’ his search requires him to travel to several different countries in order to find even a handful of scientists who actually support the ‘design’ theory. Demonstrating his desperation along the way in finding such a scant clan, he has to resort to including a mathematician in the ‘debate.’ Although, I guess it doesn’t take a biologist or a physicist to provide absolutely no evidence for a theory.
Stein points out the lack of peer reviewed articles on ‘intelligent design,’ insinuating some conspiracy theory blocking any publication. However, in order to submit a peer reviewed article, it must contain evidence in support of the thesis.
In an interview promoting Expelled, Stein openly admits, as if he’s proud, that there is no evidence for the theory of ‘intelligent design.’ One might think that this would not be the best way to promote a film about taking this ‘design’ thing seriously; however, he surely understands that his target audience is used to taking things on faith alone.
In the beginning of the film, Stein continuously browbeats his viewers with the fact that evolutionary theory is a dogma that is endlessly repeated in schools and without ample evidence. Then, ironically, he manages to smother us with his own dogma throughout the rest of the film. Somehow, it slipped his mind to even define what ‘intelligent design’ is along the way.
The only argument that Stein and others’ of his ilk make for ‘intelligent design’ is that the universe ‘seems’ too complex to have come from nothing. The massive black hole in their reasoning however, begins with the fact that if there is a Creator, then that Being, too, had to have been created. Unfortunately, this is not the worst of Stein’s [il]logic.
The most egregious of his offenses takes place when he manages to implicate Darwin in the genocidal murders against the Jews that took place more than fifty years after his death. He suggests that Darwin’s theory was a ‘necessary condition’ for the Holocaust. A link is proposed between Social Darwinism -- the belief in the survival of the fittest -- and the eugenics of Nazi Germany.
The problem with this inference is that Darwin never coined the term ‘survival of the fittest,’ nor did he believe in making interventions to ‘purify’ a population. Besides, none of this has anything remotely to do with the theory of evolution, nor does it have to do with supporting the theory of ‘intelligent design.’ That little fact doesn’t stop Stein from traveling to Germany to exploit some of the Nazi killing sites at Dachau and Hadamar by using them for dramatic effect.
The lunacy of Stein’s implication is so vacuous (and offensive) that it should not even be seriously considered. What is serious is the fact is that ‘intelligent design’ is the most recent attempt of Creationists for cramming religion into public schools. They will swear that their efforts have nothing to do with religion, though all one has to do to dismiss this lie is to watch as Stein goes on a witch hunt, interrogating each of the leading evolutionary advocates on their religious beliefs. The implications of his ‘Red Scare’ are to make people believe that what’s being taught by these ‘evil’ atheists is dangerous. He even goes so far to imply that if we allow evolutionary theory to persist, it may result in another Holocaust-type aggression.
Stein continues to attack Darwin throughout the film, rather than focusing his energy on the modern scientists who have made progress in the theory for the last 150 years. This is exactly what the Scientologists do when they attack psychiatry by focusing on its misuse over half a century ago -- ignoring all of the advancements the field has made.
Cinematically transposed shots of Stein and Ronald Reagan, and countless footage of the Berlin wall are used as a metaphor for Stein’s own fantasy-based Cold War. Between that and the fact that he insinuates a link between evolutionary believers and the Nazis, sadly, the most tactful part of the film is Stein’s fashion style, which consists of white tennis shoes accentuating his black business suit.
There’s no doubt that Ben Stein is intelligent, but he is in no means an intellectual match for Richard Dawkins, author of ‘The God Delusion’ when they meet in the film’s anti-climactic showdown. While Stein may be a former law professor who graduated from Yale and was the Valedictorian of his class, the only case Stein and the Creationists argue successfully, ironically, is for a type of eugenics when deciding which professors to give tenure to, as well as which type of B actors to give movies to.
By: Matt Aames
Movie Details
Though Ben Stein may be best known as the droning teacher in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF or for hosting an eponymous game show, he displays his own intellectual prowess in this documentary.
EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED finds Stein investigating the snubbing of scientists and teachers who teach the theory of intelligent design. Stein, a former presidential speech writer, goes toe to toe with Darwin's biggest fans, including THE GOD DELUSION author Richard Dawkins, in an effort to expose the widespread prejudice against those who believe in God's role in creation.
