GetExpelled RSVP

What happened? I see nothing!

Syntax Error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line 7, column 165, byte 940 at /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/mach/XML/Parser.pm line 187 Categories:

PvM: That is not true, you saw

Syntax Error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line 7, column 165, byte 940 at /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/mach/XML/Parser.pm line 187 Categories:

Pardon my dry sense of humor.

PvM: Pardon my dry sense of humor.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/03/still_straining_to_find_an_exc.php Category: Creationism Posted on: March 21, 2008 11:46 PM, by PZ Myers The New York Times has weighed in, and they contacted the producers of Expelled…and what do you know, they're still scrambling to find a credible story. They haven't succeeded yet. Mark Mathis, a producer of the film who attended the screening, said that "of course" he had recognized Dr. Dawkins, but allowed him to attend because "he has handled himself fairly honorably, he is a guest in our country and I had to presume he had flown a long way to see the film." Unbelievable. So basically it's a baseless implication that I would be a troublemaker, and the arrogant and absurd assumption that Dawkins flew to Minneapolis from Oxford to see their preview of the movie. Lying is just a reflex for them at this point. He also claims that he made Dawkins "shrink" in the Q&A, which is total nonsense. Mathis is a shrill and frightened man when he's confronted; back in November, I called in to a radio interview he was doing, and he practically broke down in hysterics. He ended the "debate" by yelling into the phone, "Go to his website! Myers is an atheist! He's an atheist!", classic ad hominem. I wouldn't go so far as to claim Mathis was afraid of me — he was on home ground yesterday with a friendly audience — but it's clear that he really, really dislikes me. The simple explanation for what happened at the screening is that he spotted me in the line, let his irrational venom get the better of him, and he had me evicted while he retreated back into the theater, and therefore missed spotting Dawkins. Everything else now is transparent spin to hide the fact that they were hypocritical about expelling me, and screwed up big time in allowing a more prominent critic slip by.

The Expelled publicists have a mailing list for educators to which they send periodic e-mails encouraging us to schedule field trips to see the movie during the first week of release. We're supposed to help them pump up the box-office numbers during the first days so that they can brag that the movie is a success. Earlier this month they sent out a fawningly positive review so that we would know how wonderful the movie is ("arguably the smartest and most sophisticated documentary ever produced on the right side of the cultural divide, on any subject, ever"). You know, somehow I'm still not persuaded.

[Link]

You are invited to a FREE PRIVATE SCREENING of Ben Stein’s upcoming, history-making film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Opening in theaters April 2008). Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed follows Ben Stein on his journey around the globe where he discovers that scientists, educators and philosophers are being persecuted in a modern day witch hunt because they dare to go against the theory of evolution. These pillars of education are being fired, ridiculed and ostracized for merely challenging Darwin’s theory; proposing that life on this planet could be a part of some intelligent design and not random chance. This movie provides a rare opportunity to educate everyone on issues that deeply affect our families, schools, churches, courts and the progress of science and medicine. This film truly has the potential to have a positive impact on our society. The private screening details are as follows: Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Time: 7:00PM Location: AMC Lowes Streets of Woodfield 20, 601 N. Martingale Rd., Suite 185, Schaumburg, IL 60173 RSVP: http://rsvp.getexpelled.com/events/special/expelled Please let us know if you are able to attend. You can RSVP now and provide us with how many guests you’d like to bring with you to this screening.

Zeno: The Expelled publicists have a mailing list for educators to which they send periodic e-mails encouraging us to schedule field trips to see the movie during the first week of release.

Only Christian web browswers are supposed to be able to access that site. They must have forgotten to set the "Christians_only" switch in .htaccess.

They are encouraging private Christian schools to make mandatory field trips, and offering kickbacks as incentive.

Hi Wes,

I wonder what might happen if we got a bunch of honest-to-goodness genuine Klingon warriors attending one of these private screenings. After all, as I have noted elsewhere, at Amazon.com, there is more proof supporting Klingon Cosmology than there is for the mendacious intellectual pornography known as Intelligent Design. Moreover, I think that the Discovery Institute IDiot Borg drones working on behalf of "EXPELLED" would have a much tougher time trying to expell Klingon warriors than they did in expelling PZ a few nights ago (I still wonder how Dawkins got in. I suppose it's because he was protected by a Gallifreyan Time Lord; after all, his wife did portray one on "Doctor Who".).

Cheers,

John

As an interesting addition to this debate, Will Provine and I were interviewed by Mark Mathis and his crew last year. Like PZ myers, Richard Dawkins, Eugenie Scott and others, we were lied to about both the title of the film (they said it was “Crossroads”, not “Expelled”, for which a website domain listing was acquired several months before our interview) and the purpose of the film, which they said was to present an even-handed look at both sides of the debate.

However, unlike PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins, the interviews with Will and I were not included in the film. Why not? Because (as many posters at this site are well aware), we regularly invite ID proponents (such as Michael Behe, John Sanford, Hannah Maxson, and Phillip Johnson, among many others) to make presentations in our evolution courses at Cornell. But this fact would clash in an unfortunate way with the premise of the film, which is that “Darwinists” unfairly discriminate against ID supporters and creationists.

In other words, “Expelled” is a propaganda piece, pure and simple, as are virtually all of the public pronouncements of the Discovery Institute and their supporters. Scientists don’t make propaganda movies (although we are sometimes invited to participate in them under fraudulent pretenses). No, we go out into the field and the laboratory and investigate nature.

This fascination with the way the universe works is the heart and soul of science, not a desire to undermine religion. If that were the case, why were many of the founders of the science of evolutionary biology (including Ronald Aylmer Fisher, Sewall Wright, Theodosius Dobzhansky) and so many current evolutionary biologists (including Ken Miller and myself, among others) members of various religious traditions?

Treating people with whom you disagree as “enemies” is the antithesis of the intellectual tradition. Just because you happen to agree with one “enemies” list and therefore eagerly participate in demonizing those with whom you disagree doesn’t absolve you of committing a heinous sin against the ancient and honorable traditions of the academy. Just the opposite, in fact. And using ad hominem arguments (not to mention resorting to agumentum ad hitleram, as did the producers of “Expelled”) are the tactics of propagandists, not scholars.

Shame on Ben Stein, Mark Mathis, and their supporters, and shame on anyone who resorts to character assassination, mendacity, and subterfuge in the pursuit of what should be an argument based on reason and evidence.

Earlier this month they sent out a fawningly positive review so that we would know how wonderful the movie is (“arguably the smartest and most sophisticated documentary ever produced on the right side of the cultural divide, on any subject, ever”).

Think about that real hard for a moment :)

— dhogaza

Private Screening You are invited to a FREE PRIVATE SCREENING of Ben Stein’s upcoming, history-making film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Opening in theaters April 2008). Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed follows Ben Stein on his journey around the globe where he discovers that scientists, educators and philosophers are being persecuted in a modern day witch hunt because they dare to go against the theory of evolution. These pillars of education are being fired, ridiculed and ostracized for merely challenging Darwin’s theory; proposing that life on this planet could be a part of some intelligent design and not random chance. This movie provides a rare opportunity to educate everyone on issues that deeply affect our families, schools, churches, courts and the progress of science and medicine. This film truly has the potential to have a positive impact on our society. The private screening details are as follows: Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Time: 7:00PM Location: AMC Lowes Streets of Woodfield 20, 601 N. Martingale Rd., Suite 185, Schaumburg, IL 60173 RSVP: ...rsvp.getexpelled.com/events/special/expelled Please let us know if you are able to attend. You can RSVP now and provide us with how many guests you’d like to bring with you to this screening. Questions, please contact Jessica at: .../ 310-721-7293Below I have included information about the film and some endorsements the film has already received. You can also learn more about the movie by visiting our EXPELLED Movie Resource site at: www.GetEXPELLED.com. Thanks, and I hope you will be able to make it! This is a very important project! onegreatcityblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/private-screening.html

I'm surprised the invitation does not included a statement of faith for invitees to sign.

Denialism mentions a Facebook group protesting Expelled.

I’m surprised the invitation does not included a statement of faith for invitees to sign.

— mark

Gee, all the dates after March 19 have evaporated. It looks as if they're running scared!

I asked Motive Entertainment what the story was. They send me an email saying the forthcoming private screenings had to rescheduled to accommodate recent changes in the producers' "travel plans." Those who RSVP'd should get news about the new dates.

I wonder. My local theater said they had no record for a private showing of anything on the date indicated on the now-missing Expelled webpage. Did someone forget to reserve the theaters? Are the producers on the lam? Are they broke?

Or is this all a media ploy to drum up publicity? Mark Mathis is a consummate PR hack.