Ben Stein, a former Nixon aide and game-show host, probably best known for his role as a monotone teacher in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” released an anti-evolution documentary recently called, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” The premise, as I understand it, is that those who reject modern biology struggle professionally in the sciences.
Kevin Drum recently saw the movie, and reported back that towards the end, the documentary veered into the insane: “Stein spends the final half hour wandering around Dachau and telling us outright that his real motivation for attacking evolution isn’t any real flaw in the theory, but his belief that Darwinism leads directly to Nazi-ism, eugenics, atheism, the breakdown of morals, and mass slaughter. Can’t have that, so evolution needs to go too.”
Regrettably, Kevin wasn’t exaggerating. Stein recently chatted with Paul Crouch, Jr. about his film.
Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [i.e. biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.
Crouch: That’s right.
Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.
Crouch: Good word, good word.
I vaguely recall the point, not too long ago, when Stein was considered something of a mainstream figure at the intersection of politics and entertainment. He’d show up on Fox News, and then make a cameo on “Married with Children.” He seemed quirky, conservative, and harmless.
And now he’s going on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, telling a crazed televangelist that science kills, and that modern biology led to the Nazi Holocaust. It’s breathtaking.
No Trackbacks To “Ben Stein insists, ‘Science leads you to killing people’“
I don’t even know where to begin on this one. If he believes what he’s saying, he’s insane. If this is some sick ploy to make money from his movie, he’s disgusting.
“What a douche!”
stein is a delusional, condescending POS.
Wow…what a fuckin nutcase!
religion must end…it causes brain shrinkage and outright dumbassness!
One word; Crusades
Nazis/science teachers continue to be misunderstood.
What the NAZIs were hockin’ wasn’t science but pseudo-science with their Aryan race BS, which is what makes Stein’s defense of “Intelligent Design” funny because it is pseudo-science too.
the world we live in is just too much sometimes…
If he still peddles visine or whatever, I’m officially boycotting that or anything else that troglodyte sells!
Can’t we just abolish religion? I mean REALLY?!?! WTF kinda stupid shit is he talking?
This kinda stuff make LBJ (little baby jebus) cry!
Didn’t the Nazis use physics and engineering to create the V-1 and V-2 rockets? I guess those are out as well.
Guess what, if fascism is wrong (which it clearly is), you get rid of fascism, not some supposed underlying factor.
Sheesh.
Religion and Science have always shared each other’s company when in the business of killing people…it’s the only time these two agree with each other.
Of course Fear and Greed contribute to the misuse of Religion and Science anyway, so…….
I struggle every day to convince myself that I really am living in the 21st century.
“science leads you to killing people”
oh, and religion has never led to anyone killing anyone…..
*rolls eyes*
how do people take these fools seriously?
Fascists weren’t scientists. Fascism is deeply, completely anti-intellectual. Stein needs to watch a real documentarian, like Jakob Bronowski, for instance, who ended his series “The Ascent of Man” by stating that the most dangerous thing that can happen in a society is for people to become certain that they are absolutely right. And absolute rightness is not part of the scientific method, which is why it quaintly refers to even established knowledge as being part of a theory
More people have died in the name of “God”.
What a sad, pathetic, little man.
Many of the best German scientists, certainly the Jewish ones, left and ended up in the USA.
Being a republican leads to fascism.
“The general public can be lead to believe that good is bad, bad is good, success is failure and failure is success. How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think”- Adolf Hitler
how dare he invoke Galileo. I’m so angry just at that i cant even respond to the rest of that ignorance.
steve davis @ 13:
So is neoconservatism.
steve davis Says: “…absolute rightness is not part of the scientific method, which is why it quaintly refers to even established knowledge as being part of a theory.”
even Newton’s law of universal gravitation?
steve davis @ 13:
Damn! I remember that too, a scene where Bronowski is standing ankle-deep in a puddle at Auschwitz, sticks both hands down into it, comes up with two handfuls of muck made of the ashes of victims from the crematorium and cries out “THIS is what human beings are capable of when they accept absolutes!!”
Oops. There went Ben Stein’s credibility flying by my window. It was going pretty fast, too. I have a question for you Benny: What is the ration between the people killed in the name of science as compared to those killed in the name of religion? Dunderhead.
Many of the best German scientists, certainly the Jewish ones, left and ended up in the USA.
As did some of the Nazi scientists — cuz we couldn’t let the Ruskies get ‘em!
Anyone harboring any doubts as to whether or not the reich wing in this country is trying to send us back to the dark ages? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Let’s hope Stein comes down with something that only the science can cure. Then we’ll see what tune he hums.
What a Jackass.
To slam the dedication and endless sacrifice of the Scientists that have alleviated so much suffering in the world over the years is not just irresponsible, it is revolting.
Speaking of PZ Myers, he posted another youtube clip worth watching, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mIfatdNqBA
Looks like Ferris Bueller shoulda’ taken the whole semester off!
just reading the soundbite/quote from the thread, ben stein is right about science. but the same can be said about religion. it’s all about what the people that practice them use it for.
Yeah, right. And those who reject that 1+1=2 struggle in mathematics.
With any luck, at his passing Ben Stein will be remembered for this quote, both timeless and deeply meaningful:
“Bueller?”
Blaming evolution for what Hitler did. Complete idiot.
Remember when we used to see all of those “Far Side” cartoons? How they always picked on scientists. And then there would be huge riots of scientists and they would burn entire towns and threaten to kill because of those “Far Side” comics?
Science is so irrational. And violent.
woops, hit return too soon - said clip is from the Ascent of Man, as mentioned above by steve davis.
My bad: -ration, +ratio
According to Bush, God told Bush to attack Iraq. So to use Stein’s flawed logic, God lead Bush to kill. Therefore, God should be rejected.
Dr. Acula @ 22:
Einstein left, but not before the SS had him write: “I can recommend the Nazis to everyone.”
Breathtakingly idiotic. And Stein isn’t dumb. This is yet another dangerous right wing freak.
But see, the NRA backed Bush because he wasn’t going to take their guns away like Gore and Kerry were poised to do…?
Where’s the NRA now? Their whole existence was based on fear-mongering about a Fascist State led by some gun-hating Democrat!
Where is their outrage at Bush for destroying the country? Oh yeah..Bush didn’t take their guns away…yet.
Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition…
This idea that morality can not exist independent of religion leads me to believe that if someone were to absolutely, positively prove God did not exist, then the world’s formerly religious people would instantly begin an apocalyptic orgy of murder, perversion and destruction.
Stein should stop blaming science & read a book - it was religious fundies who caused the bigotry against jewish people:
“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by only a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned me to fight against them”
– Adolf Hitler (http://geneva.rutgers.edu/src/faq/hitler.html )
Darwinism leads to eugenics? Not as much as religion leads to genocide and war.
Hey Ben Stein….host of VH1’s ‘America’s most smartest model’…
http://www.expelledexposed.com/
As always I start this off with my favorite quote about science…(it nearly completely describes my thoughts on the Right wingnuts/Republican/Religious Right/Con-servative War on Science):
It is a matter of overwhelming scientific evidence. To maintain a belief in a 6,000-year-old earth requires a denial of essentially all the results of modern physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology and geology. It is to imply that airplanes and automobiles work by divine magic, rather than by empirically testable laws.
This again represents a remarkable misunderstanding of the nature of the scientific method. Many fields — including evolutionary biology, astronomy and physics — use evidence from the past in formulating hypotheses. But they do not stop there. Science is not storytelling.
These disciplines take hypotheses and subject them to further tests and experiments. This is how we distinguish theories that work, like evolution or gravitation.
As we continue to work to improve the abysmal state of science education in our schools, we will continue to battle those who feel that knowledge is a threat to faith.
But when we win minor skirmishes, as we did in Kansas, we must remember that the issue is far deeper than this. We must hold our elected school officials to certain basic standards of knowledge about the world. The battle is not against faith, but against ignorance.
Lawrence M. Krauss is a professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University.
So Stein tells me that the Holocaust wasn’t really a program of genocide of society’s “undesirables”, it was a scientific experiment to improve the human species.
To get an idea of how stupid Stein and his creationist cronies are, the Holocaust couldn’t have anything to do with Darwin’s theory of natural selection. The entire point is evolution is natural, not a process of artificial selection as occurred in the Holocaust. But since when were creationists actually concerned with facts?
Uncle_Jack @ 20:
Whoa! that’s powerful stuff!
Stein needs to choose his cave, and then live in it. And I am so damn sick of the Nazi references. Maybe Stein can find a Nazi cave to live in?
Science doesn’t kill people. People kill people.
It wasn’t scientists flying those airplanes into buildings not so long ago - it was religious nutburgers.
Does this mean he will reject medical treatment from now on? ‘Cause last time I looked science was driving medical advancements.
What does Stein do when he needs to see a doctor?
Stein is confusing Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, the foundation of modern Biology with Social Darwinism, a pseudo-scientific race theory that was a bastardization of the Theory of Evolution. Having said that, his argument that “Evolution” should be abandoned because he believes it lead to NAZIs and eugenics is like saying we should get rid of Christianity because Hitler was a Christian. His argument is also incredibly misleading because it assumes that scientific “theory” means other alternative answers have equal validity and that is simply not the case. It is a profound misunderstanding of how the concept of “theory” works in science.
Lets not forget what the SS/Gestapo/Nazi Party shouted as their battle cry…
“Gott Mit Uns”
http://www.bowness.demon.co.uk/belt.htm
I think these bozos like that moron Jonah Goldberg need to go back to History classes or stop confusing their followers…oh…my fault, that’s how they make their money…
god is a sexual voyeur. when eve ate the apple that gave her the
knowledge what god was doing is wrong (and btw way god was also
the serpent in disguise), she was disgusted with the pervert.
there are many examples of what a sexual pervert god is.
he told adam and eve to go out and begat and for their children
to begat. this so smacks of incest. with only two people to
start with, this was just one fucking incestuous act after another.
god is not pious, he’s incredibly full of the original sin.
“…Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.”
Mr. Stein seems never to have heard of:
- the Spanish Inquisition
- the Crusades
- Savonarola and the Borgia Popes
- the centuries of religious schism, Reformation, Counter-Reformation and religious wars in Europe
- the decisive role of the Catholic Church in the suppression and extermination of innumerable indigenous tribes and cultures throughout the Americas, over the course of hundreds of years (the destruction of the Inca Empire was a bloodbath fought in the name of God in order to gain the biggest hoard of gold and silver ever known)
- the Vatican’s collaboration with the Nazis during the Holocaust
- centuries of progroms, persecution and atrocities against Jews perpetrated in Catholic and Orthodox Christian countries with the active participation of these churches
- persecution, torture and murder of innocent “witches” by the Puritans in Salem, Mass.
- the ongoing sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church
- the persecution and suppression of protestant churches by the Russian Orthodox clergy in present-day Russia
And so on, and on, and on.
Stein is an idiot. No coincidence his initials are B.S.
Concerned American @ 42:
Hitler is about the only person who can even sit in the same ballpark with God, in terms of killing. And it’s a very big ball park.
Oh…and if those other links don’t do it for you….
Here’s the official STFU link for all the right wingnut trolls/con-servative morons/republican morons that buy all of that crap; hook-line-and-sinker:
http://www.nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm
My take on Intelligent Design.
Science and Religion are completely incompatible.
Science is based upon things that are observa