Ethically Challenged Ben Stein Fired from NYT

The irony here is a bit thick. Perhaps he'll blame Darwinism for his moral lapse.

Jack Krebs said: The irony here is a bit thick. Perhaps he'll blame Darwinism for his moral lapse.

Yeah, it's hard not to be inappropriately gleeful about this, isn't it.

Expelled!

Thought I'd get the obvious one in before anyone else.

Reminds me of Emo Philips "My principal said 'I'm going to expel you!', I said 'You'll have to catch me and eat me first!"

bdump.

i use to listen to him on radio and agreed with so much of his opinions,
when Expelled was announced, i just though, 'what the heck happened?'

i dont even know if its just an act....
how does someone who seems so wise do so stupid?

In case anyone thinks the headline is too strong, you should know that Ben Stein's parents were very foresightful, and the name on his birth certificate is actually Ethically Challenged Ben Stein. He normally uses his 2nd middle name.

Paging Dr. Freud, Dr. Shaden Freud... call your office.

Note that he didn't get fired for being a liar about science or a dreadful economist, but for a money-grubbing lapse of judgement.

Obviously he doesn't waste any effort on researching the products he promotes.

Ha! Sneak attack on ID...

OD said: Obviously he doesn't waste any effort on researching the products he promotes. Ha! Sneak attack on ID...

Yes, that Free Score is just as bad as Free Credit Report, same scam. Maybe it's the same people? But Stein has become spokesman for a number of places, e.g., ComCast, and I've seen him elsewhere as well. He's capable of duping people.

A very nice summary of "Mr." Ben Stein can be found in wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein

Yes, he only has a BA in economy, but like Stephen Meyers (only a BA in physics) and calls himself a geologist 'cause he worked for an oil company for a couple of years, Stein has similar low qualifications as an economist. As wiki points out, he dismissed the credit crunch that precipitated the recession as bullcrap while advising people to invest, invest, invest.

His speech at a Liberty college graduation was interesting along with his other anti-science paranoia.

I think the real ethics violation here comes from pitching for such a rip-off company at all. This is like the time I saw Mr. T hawking for a title loans company, except I had respect for Mr. T.

How wd I ethically challenge Ben Stein? A bit late, since he's been sacked anyway.

Not surprised in the least. Stein is a salesman first. Take that S word in the most negative connotation possible. That he has not responded to this constructive criticism ought to make anyone doubt his integrity.

I do hope this episode motivates more discussion about the similarities between today's anti-evolution strategies and financial scams. While the former is not strictly motivated by money, the strategy is identical: tell gullible people what they want to hear regardless of how misleading, and evade "the rest of the story" at all cost.

He probably did more than Ann Coulter did before writing the anti-evolution chapters of “Godless.”

— KP

Frank J said: Coulter admitted up front that she did not write those chapters. At best she rephrased some of the parts written by Dembski et. al. She even admitted on talk radio that she was an "idiot" about science. Not that any of that matters to her target audience of course.

Now can he be fired from CBS "Sunday Morning", where he is introduced as a CBS commentator?

Write to sundays@cbsnews.com and suggest that Stein might not be what they're looking for as an image.

Frank J said: I do hope this episode motivates more discussion about the similarities between today's anti-evolution strategies and financial scams. While the former is not strictly motivated by money, the strategy is identical: tell gullible people what they want to hear regardless of how misleading, and evade "the rest of the story" at all cost.

Re: Writing to CBS "Sunday Morning"

They seem to have a crude spam filter that bounces back anything with a link starting with http://. Removing the http appears to let the message through.

To her credit, the “unfortunate creature” language when describing the transitional fossils sounded more like her own work than that of a DI “salesman.”

— KP

Obviously the DI is aiming at the same market.

— Mike Elzinga

Frank J said: I do hope this episode motivates more discussion about the similarities between today's anti-evolution strategies and financial scams. While the former is not strictly motivated by money, the strategy is identical: tell gullible people what they want to hear regardless of how misleading, and evade "the rest of the story" at all cost.

I am glad people are pointing out that he is not really an economist. I do not understand why peple take his advice and why people hire him, there are so many other real economists out there who actually know something.

NYT made a good move here, but I do wish they had realised everything else he said was tripe as well.

I read a column on yahoo years ago about the financial markets that was so stupid, the author was noted. Ben stein someone I hadn't heard of before.

His sstock market advice during the recession/crash was completely wrong and anyone who followed it lost huge amounts of money. He even admitted it at one point.

He knows as much about financial markets as he does about science. Basically zero.

Homeschooling might be on the downslide.

Read some statistics in my area the other day. From the peak, it might be down 40%.

As to how accurate that info is, got me.

Frank J said: And they have no more intention of turning it down than someone selling a worthless "miracle" diet to those desperate to lose weight.

Though probably not as directly. The DI’s primary target seems to be those at least already partly in on the scam, and understand why a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach is needed - both to avoid legal issues and to cover up the fatal flaws and contradictions among the various creationist positions.

Raven wrote:

"His sstock market advice during the recession/crash was completely wrong and anyone who followed it lost huge amounts of money. He even admitted it at one point."

Well if he took his own advice, that might explain why he turned into such a whore. If he didn't, that just makes him a hypocrite. Shaquenstein indeed.

Fame and glory motivate some people as much as money.
It's said Stein is independently wealthy because his father actually was an important economist/money man.
Or his motivations are seriously screwed up irrational stuff. But he said on a radio show that "scientists are killers." and he said the last "person his relatives saw before going into the gas chamber was a scientist".
I can't feature why the NYTimes would ever work with a guy like this. And Comcast will never get my business after using this guy in an ad. Can't newspapers and ad agencies google to find out who they are working with?

test

But he said on a radio show that “scientists are killers.” and he said the last “person his relatives saw before going into the gas chamber was a scientist”.

— veritas36

Well his career might be on the skids.

I never heard of him until that very stupid column of his on yahoo about the financial markets.

He used to do movies and television cable shows. Now it is internet ads for some dubious companies.

Frank J said: Not surprised in the least. Stein is a salesman first. Take that S word in the most negative connotation possible. That he has not responded to this constructive criticism ought to make anyone doubt his integrity. I do hope this episode motivates more discussion about the similarities between today's anti-evolution strategies and financial scams. While the former is not strictly motivated by money, the strategy is identical: tell gullible people what they want to hear regardless of how misleading, and evade "the rest of the story" at all cost.

Stein himself is commemorating the event with a Whine and Cheez affair at the Spectator.

Dave

Dave Thomas said: Stein himself is commemorating the event with a Whine and Cheez affair at the Spectator. Dave

This is my subsequent read on your weblog. Thanks for not turning me down.