More Recent Comments

Saturday, March 22, 2008

The Spin Begins

 
The misreporting of the evolution issue is one key reason for this site. Unfortunately, much of the news coverage has been sloppy, inaccurate, and in some cases, overtly biased. Evolution News & Views presents analysis of that coverage, as well as original reporting that accurately delivers information about the current state of the debate over Darwinian evolution.

Evolution News & Views
The Discovery Institute website has skirted around the obvious hypocrisy and attacked Dawkins and Myers. Bruce Chapman has posted an article on Evoluton News & Views about the expulsion of PZ Myers from a viewing of EXPELLED [Richard Dawkins, World’s Most Famous Darwinist, Stoops to Gate-crashing Expelled].
Amazingly, the best selling Oxford scientist/author Richard Dawkins also crashed a showing of Expelled in Minnesota last night and he not only was let in, but introduced at the end of the showing.

Dawkins apparently acknowledged that he had not been invited and did not have a ticket. A sophomoric side to his ideological campaign is thus revealed.

Dawkins, understandably is nervous about this film, among other reasons because Ben Stein has him on camera acknowledging that life on Earth may, indeed, have been intelligently designed, but that it had to have been accomplished by space aliens! This is hilarious, of course, because Dawkins is death on intelligent design. But it turns out that that view applies only if it includes the possibility that the designer might be God.

Myers, of course, relished being expelled from Expelled, but objective observers know that Myers is the most vociferous advocate of expelling Darwin critics from academia. Not from movie pre-screenings where he wasn’t invited, mind you, but from their jobs. Too bad the film doesn’t show (and I wish it had), his promotion of advice to attack teachers and professors who dare question Darwin’s theory. The whole point of Myers is that he is a take-no-prisoners, crusading atheist scientist who has made it his purpose in life to harass people who disagree with him. Dawkins turns out to be his buddy and mutual admirer.
Those of you who have been following the issue on the various blogs, and in newspaper articles, know full well that Dawkins did not "crash" the movie. People did not have to be invited and there were no tickets. Chapman and his friends must know this too. Therefore, he is lying.

I'm not surprised that most of the IDiots are behaving this way. What will surprise me is that all of them might behave like Bruce Chapman. I expect at least one prominent IDiot to admit that expelling PZ Myers was a mistake and to admit that he should have been allowed to see a movie that featured him.

Let's see if there's at least one IDiot with the guts to speak the truth. Bill Dembski is not going to be that person (suprise!) because he has just posted the Chapman piece on his blog [Discovery News Release on Richard Dawkins Crashing EXPELLED Screening]. I'm hoping that Denyse O'Leary will be the one with the gumption. Or maybe Michael Behe. I expect Jonathan Wells to weigh in with even more lies about the incident.


11 comments :

Anonymous said...

I'm always amused by the Discovery Institute bleating about the need for open discussion and debate from behind the wall of a blog that doesn't allow comments.
The DI creeps aren't stupid, they are just lying propagandists for Jeebus who depend on their followers to be stupid.

Eamon Knight said...

....but introduced at the end of the showing.

"introduced"?
I was under the impression that Dawkins just stood up during the Q&A. This makes it sound like Mathis treated him as a guest.

These clowns are spinning so fast, you could use them for a centrifuge....

Anonymous said...

Why didn't they want Dawkins and Myers to crash the screening? Here was their chance to convince two vocal Darwinists. Why are they so nervous about scientists seeing this movie?

Unknown said...

Epic PR fail. They should have invited both scientists (assuming they recognized Dawkins, which they didn't) to sit in front, make the first Q&A, et cetera.

Think of how intimidated D&M would have been by, you know, creationists acting like they actually know how to do stuff outside low level spinning.

Martin said...

"Stoops to gatecrashing..." ROFLMAO.

Anonymous said...

Denyse O'Leary chimed in over at Uncommon Descent . . . she's her usual loopy, dingbatty self.

Anonymous said...

Yes, looks like O'Leary has blogged on this and the title is "But why does PZ Myers NEED to see the Expelled film?"

Well, Denyse, if you were in a movie, wouldn't you want to see it? Her stupidity at times simply takes your breath away doesn't it? But the IDiots couldn't have a better spokesperso

Anonymous said...

As might be expected, Mr. Chris Mooney has a post on his blog criticizing Prof. Myers and Prof. Dawkins for showing up at the preview. It's rather sad, Mr. Mooney used to okay. Then he met Prof. Nesbitt and was brainwashed into supporting this framing nonsense. If only he had moved to Los Angeles in 2006.

Unknown said...

PZ is the "most vociferous advocate" for denying ID people tenure? Do these people really think that tenure committees are influenced what gets written on Pharyngula?

PZ is absolutely right, such people shouldn't get tenure, but, unfortunately for the ID crew, their problems are deeper than opposition in the blogosphere: most science tenure committees are determined not to reward pseudoscience anyway.

Anonymous said...

I don't know Dr. RC Metcalf. Dr. RC Metcalf is not a friend of mine. Dr. RC Metcalf appears to be a religious wacko. But anyway, try to keep an open mind on the cell animation video for a while until things get sorted out.

truti said...

Even assuming it's gatecrashing - unfounded though - what's wrong? That's the way scientists work - never taking no for an answer. Everything in hte public sphere is to be explored, questioned, analysed etc. But gatecrashng for the distilled IDiots of dishonesty institute is a no no, because they are guded by dogma and doctrine. Scientists being humble folk are out to find out what they don't know. Glad that Chapman - an insufferable prigish IDiot if there was one - and the dishonesty gang are now left wiping the muck off their face after their "Oh-I-am-so-clever-I-am-so-powerful-I-can-kick-anyone-out-of-movie" gambit blew up in their faces! Expelling a scientist who's come to watch the movie. Expelled seems aptly titled