Wow. So I saw Expelled last night and, as I anticipated, the movie was a blatantly, unapologetically devised propaganda piece. The film is littered with images of fascism, dead bodies, the Berlin wall, kids being bullied and Ben Stein's smirking mug. The music reeks of Doomsday...the movie is an appeal to fear and uses absolutely NO reason.
I expected it to be bad, but I could actually tolerate the first 45 minutes, even though I knew that many of the sob stories about people being ostracized from the academic community were only small pieces of larger stories. It was maddening to know more than the movie revealed and watch the silhouetted audience nod solemnly in disgust at the terrible things being done to those poor people who stood up to the evil Darwinists. I made it through with minimal sighing, fore-head slapping and scoffing...just barely.
But then came the part where Ben Stein visited the gas chambers and mass grave sights...the remnants of the Holocaust. And that was where I stopped paying any attention...that was where I lost the will to look at the movie as objectively as possible (which was not anywhere near objective...but I tried).
I was outraged at the accusations made in the movie. Every time Ben Stein shook his head in disgust at the wrongs commited during the Holocaust...every time he put on a show to communicate how sad he was, how tragic it was...those poor people being killed off because of Darwin. What a disgusting thing to do...to use the Holocaust in such a way...to exploit what happened to all those people. Ben Stein is a jerk. The Holocaust was terrible, absolutely disgusting and terrible...and it should never be used in such a way...as a propaganda device.
I didn't expect the tears of rage. I expected rage, oh yes, but not the sick, hot eye-burning rage.
I'm glad my money went to boosting Happy People's ticket sales, instead of putting money in the hands of disgusting filth like the people behind Expelled.
*Side Note* The theater was pretty packed, considering its usually attendance. I'm pretty sure there was a church group there, as many of the people were parents with their children and some elderly folks who all seemed to know one another. They all laughed at lot when, at the end, Stein interviewed Dawkins. I guess it was funny to them that Ben Stein had to repeatedly ask Dawkins if he believed in one god or another. And that Dawkins couldn't explain the origin of life. Honestly, my heart swelled a bit with pride at his ability to be okay with not knowing and his response to the god question: "why would you even ask me that?"
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Yeah, the Holocaust thing is a LOW BLOW. I'm pretty sure actual Holocaust survivers would look down on such an exploitation. I simply refuse to see the film, even though it's being show in the city. I've heard enough, frankly, and I have no desire to torture myself in a theater packed with idiots and happily ignorant church-goers.
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