Contest: Set Ben Straight

Posted 18 April 2008 by PvM

ExpelledExposed.com has announced a contest to "Set Ben Straight

In promoting the creationist propaganda film Expelled, Ben Stein managed to stick his foot in his mouth over and over again, issuing what seemed to be a ceaseless stream of ignorant, offensive, and just plain daffy claims. Here’s your chance to set Ben straight. Send your favorite claim to setbenstraight@ncseweb.org along with a refutation. We’ll post the best for all the world to see. And five lucky entrants will receive a year’s subscription to Reports of the NCSE along with their choice of a book from NCSE’s shelf – including such useful books as Mark Isaak’s The Counter-Creationism Handbook, Eugenie C. Scott’s Evolution vs. Creationism, and the AAAS’s The Evolution Dialogues: Science, Christianity, and the Quest for Understanding. But you only have ten days, and a wealth of silliness to examine, so act now!

16 Comments

Russell · 18 April 2008

Do we have to watch the stupid movie to find a claim to debunk?

Andrea Bottaro · 18 April 2008

Russell: Do we have to watch the stupid movie to find a claim to debunk?

No. The contest focuses on all the inanities and non-sense Stein uttered while doing the media rounds promoting the movie. Those weren't scripted, and there are some real gems of self-important buffoonish ignorance in there.

Andrea Bottaro · 18 April 2008

BTW, this should be clear from the rules of the contest:

2. Entries must include: * the full name and postal address of the entrant; * the text or transcript of a claim made by Ben Stein in promoting Expelled (not in the movie itself); * a reference, ideally a URL, showing where the claim was made; * a refutation, no more than 250 words.

Julie Stahlhut · 18 April 2008

I think the top entrant should win Ben Stein's money.

MattusMaximus · 18 April 2008

Julie Stahlhut: I think the top entrant should win Ben Stein's money.

After the copyright lawsuits from Harvard/XVIVO and Yoko Ono, I don't think Stein et al will have much money left. Ben Stein has definitely jumped-the-couch.

MattusMaximus · 18 April 2008

Go post your own review of the movie at Yahoo.com...

http://movies.yahoo.com/mvc/drv?mid=1809995068

So far the average is a C+... must be lots of gaming. lets
see if we can drag the numbers down to F-.

Stacy S. · 18 April 2008

Julie Stahlhut: I think the top entrant should win Ben Stein's money.

You win! :-)

Andrea Bottaro · 18 April 2008

Julie Stahlhut: I think the top entrant should win Ben Stein's money.

I think there may not be much left after Yoko Ono is done with him.

Andrea Bottaro · 18 April 2008

Bah, nothing worse than being late with a joke. Should have read the thread, sorry.

Stacy S. · 18 April 2008

I'm not a very good at any of this stuff, but I think I can help some of you out.

Here are some links to newspaper articles that ran down here in Florida a couple of months ago :-)

http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/8548.article

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080312/BREAKINGNEWS/80312037

http://news.dumblaws.com/florida-you-can-win-ben-steins-respect/

http://fromtheduke.blogspot.com/2008/03/ben-stein-in-tallahassee-to-support.html

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=19802 (this is a GOOD ONE - hint)

http://beta.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080312/CAPITOLNEWS/803120359/-1/ARCHIVE (more good quotes in this one)

Done for now... hope this helps!

Stacy

eric · 18 April 2008

I have a poll idea. Given that practically every professional film critic in the nation - conservative or liberal - has panned the movie, I'd like to invite everyone to vote on "What excuse will Ben use?"

#1: "Tools of the Man." Ben could complain that film critics are under the control of Big Science, and that their overlords commanded them to give bad reviews. Paranoia never goes out of style.

#2: "Misunderstood Artist." Ben could complain that his movie is such a work of genius that no one understands just how amazing it is. Not as wacky as #1, but this excuse has been a fave with bad producers since the beginning of the film era.

#3: "None of the above." Feel free to suggest your own excuse. I still think the above two are the most probable.

I'll start by giving my own vote. I'm going with #1, because i think the broken "help, I'm being repressed!" record of Expelled will keep skipping.

James F · 18 April 2008

I vote for #1 as well. It's a little hard to justify how BeliefNet is in the pocket of the "Darwinists," but that's the beauty of paranoid delusion.

Tupelo · 19 April 2008

This may be fun, but is of course a useless exercise. B.S. is so crooked he cuts his bread with a corkscrew.

PvM · 20 April 2008

National Review Online

The National Council for Science Education's Expelled Exposed website is running a competition in which you can win fabulous prizes by pointing out errors in Ben Stein's silly movie (errors, that is, in addition to the dozens already logged on that site). Meanwhile, for all you guilt-by-association fans, here are some fervent anti-Darwinists on parade. None of that beastly, God-denying science'n'rationalism stuff for these bold lads!
— John Derbyshire

Mr_P · 21 April 2008

Heh,

My mind must be in the gutter. When I read the title, I thought you were implying that Ben Stein had caught teh GAY and was going to one of the religous brainwashing...errrr sexual orientation reassignemt camps.

Nigel D · 28 April 2008

Tupelo said: This may be fun, but is of course a useless exercise. B.S. is so crooked he cuts his bread with a corkscrew.

And never was a set of initials more apt.