I've Been Expelled

I granted Scott Nehring an exclusive on my "Expelled" review. You can find it here. Short take: disappointment.

Many are hyping this film as a skirmish in the culture wars and are therefore tracking theatre attendance closely. For what it's worth, the 7:20pm showing in Oakdale, MN was nearly sold out last night.

March of the Scientismists

Have a moral or ethical problem with a particular line of scientific inquiry? Just get out of the way. That according to the "Hinxton Consortium", an international group of medical researchers and ethicists. Here is what they say?

Societies have the authority to regulate science, and scientists have a responsibility to obey the law. However, policy-makers should refrain from interfering with scientific inquiry unless there is a substantial justification for doing so that reaches beyond disagreements based solely on divergent moral convictions.

Anyone see any problems with that?

Darwin and Hitler

The Expelled movie has roused evolutionists to fury because it links Darwinism with Nazism. Put this down as another reservation I have about this film. Not that there wasn't a link. It's really funny to watch the materialists tie themselves into knots trying to deny and explain away the obvious. I was just at the National Holocaust Museum's traveling exhibit titled "Nazi Medicine." One of the first pictures you see when you enter is a big picture of Darwin. One of the last things you read as you leave is about Dr. Mengele's later writings while in Brazilian exile. They concerned Darwinism. It's not a great leap to connect the stuff in between with Darwinism.

That said, I question the strategy here. No Darwinist today advocates genocide (euthanasia is a trickier question). More importantly neither of the following are true:

* Without Darwinism, the Holocaust would not have happened.
* Given Darwinism, the Holocaust was inevitable.

So what's the point? It's a variety of the genetic fallacy (the cousin of your theory undergirded Nazism!). Again, I wish a high profile vehicle for education and communication like this one would stick to more straightforward arguments in favor of design in science.

Reservations for Expelled

The title's a cheap pun. I fully intend to be at a theatre on opening and it won't be for Harold and Kumar, as much as those two lovable mugs warm my heart, lift my spirits, and tickle my funny bone.* But from what little I know of "Expelled", I'm a little uneasy. I understand that at least some of the film will take up the issue of academic censorship of Intelligent Design.

I believe that whining about persecution is a weak kind of persuasion. I hope the film concentrates on the science and avoids trying to gin up sympathy. This argument will be won on its merits, and appeals to "fairness" are going to play right into the Scientismists** hands.

Whatever the content, this movie is an utterly polarizing Rorschach test. The reactions I've read have been either "Sleazy but ameteurish propaganda" or "Even better than The King of Kong". My promise to you: my review will be honest, even brutally honest. Because brutality and honesty are two great tastes that taste great together.

* Cheap sarcasm.
** Cheap neologism.

Red in Tooth and Claw

This is the funniest thing I'll read all day: the world famous polar bear Knut has committed grave icthi-cide. He has wantonly murdered ten carp in full view of his sensitive admirers at the Berlin Zoo. Schrecklich! "There is speculation that hand-reared Knut killed the carp just for fun."

Build Your Own Tank

I have lots of questions about this story: a college student builds 1/2 scale German tank for use playing paintball.

1. College students have $10k laying around to build tanks?
2. Why the dickens did he build a Tiger I when he could have built a Tiger II?
3. What's the best way to make sure none of my sons build a tank when they're supposed to be doing college-y kinds of things?
4. What kind of clearance does it need? Because my paintball field has a lot of stumps...

Beyond Fitna

Work is already underway on a tu coque* response to Fitna,** a great short film documenting the Koranic inspiration for Muslim terrorism around the world. An Iranian organization is making "Beyond Fitna" in reply. Here is what they want to accomplish:

'Beyond Fitna' focuses on the orders given to worldwide Christians in the (distorted version of) Bible for stoking violence, committing genocide, attacking others, beheading and burning women and children who have been taken into captivity. The documentary recycles film clips from crimes committed by extremist Christians under the inspirations of the said Bible teachings, and aims to provide a response to the allegations made by Pope Benedict XVI, who called Islam a religion of violence after misunderstanding certain Organic verses.

I think the translation from Farsi suffers a bit. I think they are responding to putative insults to Islam, not Whole Foods (but I'm happy to supply both!) I'm looking forward to this film. I am genuinely interested in learning about these extremist Christians. I thought I was familiar with most expressions of Christianity around the world, but I guess I can always learn more.

My hope is that they get the release date out quickly so I can reserve that day. I need time to make some signs and come up with some catchy death threats for the insulters and blasphemers of Chistianity.

* Roughly translated: "Yeah? Well so's your mother!"

** Warning: it's not for the faint of heart, but I highly recommend it.

Giving It Away

I am a great believer in the new distribution mechanisms for creative content that are ripping through the old-line media conglomerates. Everyone younger than 55 understands how this is affecting music and even movies. For books, print-on-demand outfits like lulu are changing the game (but look out, here comes the 800 pound gorilla).

Another avenue authors are using to bypass the traditional publishing game is free podcasts. Check out this site. Some writers have developed such a following this way that the dead tree guys are now knocking at their doors.

About halfway through writing my book, I thought it would be cool to record my story as an audiobook and post it on my website. Looks like I'll be doing something like something like that, but using more tested infrastructure. This should be fun!

Moral Quandary - Help Needed!

Is this ethical? Not legal, but ethical?

I would really like to do it, because I hate waste, and junk mail waste drives me crazy. As usual, I fret about the moral implications.

Please comment.

Almost Fooled

My blood was starting to boil as I read this, until I got about halfway down. What a chump I am.