[CitizensTruth] Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed opens on Friday, April 18th

[Jay Becker]

Thanks, Hal, very interesting that this movie is playing in a lot of theaters, since it seems to fit in so well with the precisely the program that it claims to be opposing--suppression of real, daring science! I would also add Esther Kaplan's book, "With God on Their Side," which covers the first Bush term's devastating impact on science in this country (among other areas of life). Excerpts at www.estherkaplan.com

To get a better grip on why evolution is so fundamental to modern science (and no, the 'jury is not out' on this), try to make this event with Neil Shubin at Revolution Books, 1103 N. Ashland, Chicago:

April 22 - Tuesday - 7 pm
Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. Slideshow, discussion, book signing by author.

This will be a chance to get 'up close & personal' with a groundbreaking scientist who's bringing his new synthesis of paleontology to all of us.

Jay

About the book:
"From the scientist who made the groundbreaking discovery of the 'fish with hands,' here is a lively, thoroughly engrossing chronicle of evolutionary history that unearths the often startling secrets behind why we look the way we do. What does the human hand have in common with the wing of a fly? Is there a genetic correlation among breasts, sweat glands, and scales? Can we trace the evolutionary origin of ailments as varied as cancer and hiccups? Shubin answers these and many other questions by telling the story of evolution as it has never been told before. This is science writing at its finest - enlightening, accessible, and brimming with irrepressible, infectious enthusiasm. Neil Shubin has been one of the major forces behind a new evolutionary synthesis of expeditionary paleontology, developmental genetics, and genomics. He is currently chairman of the Dept. of Organizational Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, where he also serves as associate dean of
 the medical school."
(From Artsopolis website)

Hal Snyder <hal at drxyzzy.org> wrote: Wow. I just watched the trailer.

Absolutely beautiful cinematography.


The message is not so beautiful, I think. Ben Stein, former speechwriter for Nixon and Ford, takes a bold stance defending intelligent design in the face of a vindictive scientific community that will brook no deviation from neo-Darwinism.


Why, Ben Stein asks, do we have freedom of speech in this great country in every other area but this? Maybe he missed Kristina Borjesson's book about censorship in journalism, "Into the Buzzsaw"
<http://www.freedomofthepress.net/intothebuzzsaw.htm>


or Mark Bowen's "Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming" - I encourage people to check out this segment of Democracy NOW:
<http://i2.democracynow.org/2008/3/21/censoring_science_inside_the_political_attack>


or the recent passage in the House of Jane Harman's H.R.1955, the "thought crimes" bill.


This looks like another instance of a widely-used right-wing tactic: invoke an enemy (see Naomi Wolf, step 1), then accuse that enemy of everything you are doing - terrorism, intolerance, lack of patriotism, etc. It distracts the people in the middle and puts any potential opposition on the defensive. You set up a bogus frame and lure dissenters into it. George Lakoff reminds us that negating a frame reinforces the frame. "I am not a crook."


I'm reminded of David Horowitz and his campaign on campuses across the country promoting the freedom to stamp out leftists and dissidents. See the video: 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/the-demons-of-david-horow_b_71441.html?page=6>


Getting back to Ben Stein, I think he is messing with us.


Hal



On Apr 8, 2008, at 8:05 AM, Robin Migalla wrote:
Hello Everyone,


"Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" looks like an interesting film about suppression in science:


http://www.expelledthemovie.com/home.php


I see it's playing in lots of theaters.


Cheers,
Robin


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