Ben Stein Assails The Intelligentsia
By Carol Devine-Molin
April 22, 2008
Ben Stein's new do***entary "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" is a
riveting expose of the intolerant academic community that systematically
declares war on anyone or any institution [i.e. Seattle's Discovery
Institute] that dares to question liberal Darwinian orthodoxy. "Correct
speak" and "correct think" are de rigueur among scholars, who are expected
to toe the line that "evolution" and "natural selection" are the be all
and
end all when it comes to deciphering the origins of mankind.
Thankfully, a few brave scholars have had the intestinal fortitude to
challenge Darwinian theory, which cannot properly account for the creation
of complex biological mechanisms. These academicians have underscored that
the statistical odds are infinitesimal that human DNA could have emerged
by
evolutionary means as posited by Darwin. By raising the specter of
"Intelligent Design", these renegade scholars have been subjected to
terrible smears and utter ruination of their scientific careers. But
should
anyone be astonished? The modus operandi of the Leftist intelligentsia has
always been to protect and perpetuate the big propaganda machine and
destroy
anyone at variance with dogma.
The keepers of the flame of scholarly "knowledge" are march-in-lockstep
secular progressives that view "Intelligent Design" as nothing short of
watered-down "Creationism" derived from the Bible. In response, the
dissenters maintain that their challenge to the Darwinian framework has
nothing to do with religiosity or Christianity. Rather, they find the
concept of evolution intrinsically flawed, and they simply want the
op****tunity to examine a competing theory -- Intelligent Design -- without
fear of being impugned or ostracized. And why shouldn't these scholars be
able to contemplate their navels and debate theories without fear of
reprisal? Isn't that what scholars are supposed to do?
Academic freedom is the vital issue at stake. The intelligentsia's
strong-arm tactics to enforce ideological purity are anti-American,
immoral
and simply not conducive to good science. What is to be done? Ben Stein
did
his part by a bit of consciousness raising and sounding the clarion call
on
behalf of the beleaguered scholars that have come up against the Leftist
elites. Now it's up to Americans to look beyond the guise of "happy face
liberalism" to see the real tyranny posed by the political Left that has a
virtual stranglehold on academia.
Ben Stein is a controversial guy and not surprisingly, "Expelled" has
raised
the ire of some in the mainstream media by linking Darwinian theory with
atheistic Nazism. Journalist Jeffrey Kluger of Time magazine noted that:
"Stein argues that there is a clear line from Darwinism to euthanasia,
abortion, eugenics and--wait for it--Nazism. Theories of natural
selection,
it's claimed, were a necessary if not sufficient condition for Hitler's
killing machine to get started. The truth, of course, is that the only
necessary and sufficient condition for human beings to murder one another
is
the simple fact of being human. We've always been a lustily fratricidal
species, one that needed no Charles Darwin to goad us into millenniums of
self-slaughter."
Mr. Kluger is cynical, yes, but a real hoot. So we are to believe that
mankind is thoroughly rancid and easily transformed into a bunch of
homicidal maniacs? From that perspective, we might as well ditch the
fields
of social psychology, forensic psychology and criminology, and stop
sorting
out and examining the twisted ideas and sick societal agendas that give
rise
to mass murder and genocide. I mean, according to Kluger, we're not going
to
be able to prevent the slaughter anyway. The truth of the matter is that
when the Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust, they were indeed influenced by
Darwin, eugenics and the concept of "natural selection" in efforts to
create
their "master race". At the very least, Darwinian theory provided the
Nazis
with the rationale to enact their heinous ethnic cleansing for the
"greater
good".
Ben Stein has provided his audience with incisive analysis -- The Nazis
were
dyed-in-the-wool atheists who fancied themselves as mini-gods poised to
develop their man-made utopia. Part and parcel of that plan was to rid the
gene pool of all so-called "undesirables" including the Jews, gypsies,
handicapped and political dissenters. Darwinian theory, which takes God
out
of the equation in man's creation, facilitated an atmosphere that devalued
human life in Nazi Germany. And let there be no mistake, the Nazis were
not
conservatives or right-wingers, but ardent socialists and fascists, as
adeptly delineated by Jonah Goldberg in his bestseller, "Liberal Fascism",
which chronicles the history of the political Left.
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