Popdose: Lists You Didn’t Ask For: Ben Stein Edition
Jack Feerick
· 1 year ago
What a waste. Ben Stein has made a career out of being a "sensible conservative," and we always hear how smart he is, and he is, no doubt, a very bright man. But it's horrifying, really, to watch him sell out basic intellectual honesty in the name of naked ideology.
Then again, the signs have been there for a while, particularly in his continued, unreconstructed Nixon-worship. Remember the column he did a couple of years ago, when Mark Felt went public as Deep Throat, where he came right out and said that Felt had the blood of millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians on his hands? Read the whole thing: it's mind-croggling.
Neil
· 1 year ago
Admittedly, Stein's movie is off-target. But what is even more sad is the fact that the overwhelming majority of 'commentators' think Stein burst onto the scene from his Cameo in Ferris Bueller. Ben, son of Herbert (Wall Street contributor and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Richard Nixon) was a speech writer and lawyer for Richard Nixon at The White House and then for Gerald Ford. He's still crazy but he is an Ivy League educated lawyer- just like the Clintons and Obama.
eric
· 1 year ago
If the evidence of the ID crowd is really so poor, then no one should be afraid of having it presented and laughed at.
Actually, if the evidence of for Darwinism is so strong, then why is it so consistently misrepresented in textbooks? Jonathan Wells' Icons of Evolution documents this misrepresentation with devastating thoroughness.
The bottom line is that Darwinian evolution is an inference. ID is an inference. For hard core creationists and hard core Darwinists, evidence seems not to matter that much. There are any number of tough problems with Darwinism, bitter debates that rage in scientific journals constantly. Most people really would like to hear a full account of the evidence for unguided evolution, pro and con, and make up their own minds. That's the American way.
Even Michael Behe, one of the microbiologists in the ID camp, believes in common descent. Personally, I am skeptical about that for a number of reasons. But I'm willing to read his book and look at his evidence. Another book recently recommended by a friend was Your Inner Fish. Yes, people should read as much as possible. But our kids should see the evidence for and against the current models of evolution. They should understand the debates and arguments within evolution, which point up just how much of the process is really still up for debate.
Why is it that censorship is anathema, except when it comes to ideas linked to conservatives?
jefito
· 1 year ago
Who's afraid of laughing at ID? And who's talking about censorship?
Zack
· 1 year ago
I'm content to laugh at ID. You can't just throw up your hands and insist "God did it," every time something happens that you're unable to explain. Sure, there are holes in evolutionary theory, the same way that there were holes in Newtonian physics (case in point, Mercury's orbit). Theories get refined, or replaced (i.e. relativity) by ones that fill in more of the holes. That's how science works. ID has no place in a science curriculum because it's not science.
J
· 1 year ago
OK, he's an ass, but I loved "Win Ben Stein's Money". Is that wrong of me?
Johanna
· 1 year ago
"Don't eat that yellow snow " Frank Zappa "Thank you for Dumb All Over" Myself
All Comments
Then again, the signs have been there for a while, particularly in his continued, unreconstructed Nixon-worship. Remember the column he did a couple of years ago, when Mark Felt went public as Deep Throat, where he came right out and said that Felt had the blood of millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians on his hands? Read the whole thing: it's mind-croggling.
Actually, if the evidence of for Darwinism is so strong, then why is it so consistently misrepresented in textbooks? Jonathan Wells' Icons of Evolution documents this misrepresentation with devastating thoroughness.
The bottom line is that Darwinian evolution is an inference. ID is an inference.
For hard core creationists and hard core Darwinists, evidence seems not to matter that much. There are any number of tough problems with Darwinism, bitter debates that rage in scientific journals constantly. Most people really would like to hear a full account of the evidence for unguided evolution, pro and con, and make up their own minds. That's the American way.
Even Michael Behe, one of the microbiologists in the ID camp, believes in common descent. Personally, I am skeptical about that for a number of reasons. But I'm willing to read his book and look at his evidence. Another book recently recommended by a friend was Your Inner Fish. Yes, people should read as much as possible. But our kids should see the evidence for and against the current models of evolution. They should understand the debates and arguments within evolution, which point up just how much of the process is really still up for debate.
Why is it that censorship is anathema, except when it comes to ideas linked to conservatives?
"Thank you for Dumb All Over" Myself