I decided after I came home from work this morning that it would be interesting to watch the Ben Stein flick “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”. I know that it received it’s spotlight when it first came out and has been ridiculed and completely chastised by anyone who wasn’t retarded since it’s release. Despite this, I still felt a desire to actually watch it. The reason I decided on doing this was partially so that I could see this idiocy for myself. The other reason is due to the fact that I finished a paper on Evolution vs. Creationism a couple weeks ago and I wanted to see what the arguments presented in this film were. Let me tell you of my experience with this film.
I knew that watching this would require some form of medication, so I went to the refrigerator and grabbed myself a bottle of beer. After opening it, I sat down and started the movie. At first, I was confused about how in the fluttering fuck the Berlin Wall had anything to do with the Evolution vs. Creationism debate, but I let it slide. I’d give them this based on artistic merit because personally, I quite liked the faux-Cyrillic lettering of the opening credits.
As the film went on, however, I was completely baffled by Stein’s first argument that Creationism (so beautifully dressed up in the moniker of “Intelligent Design”) should be taught in schools solely because “this is ‘Merica, goddammit and we have the freedom to talk about this”. As compelling as this argument is, it’s still bullshit. We don’t teach the viewpoint of the Holocaust deniers. Just because we have freedom of speech in America, doesn’t mean I want my tax dollars to go to the nation’s youth being taught every bat-shit insane idea that think it deserves class time.
At about this time, 10 minutes had rolled by and I was already in need of another beer to wash down the bad taste this movie had left in my mouth. After finishing it within as much as 5 minutes, I heard Johnny Cash’s version of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”. It was about then that I decided, “Fuck this movie”, got my guitar and went and learned how to play “Personal Jesus”.
