Slight backstory: There is a movie currently being screened for very select crowds called EXPELLED!, hosted by Ben Stein. It is, essentially, creationist propaganda about how colleges and universities are evil for promoting science and not religious dogma in their classes (here’s a trailer, if you have 8 minutes to sacrifice). It has, predictably, come under intense criticism from actual scientists for what it is; creationism dressed up as victimization. Yah know, the classical view that evolution is, as they say, the view that life is simply “mud animated by lightening.” The trailer even Godwin’s itself.
Anyway, as I said, they are screening this movie for very select audiences to build good grass-roots support for it. This basically means they hand-pick audiences of the Faithful to view the film or go to churches and show it there. They have been very wary of allowing anyone not on The List to see the film, which should send up red flags everywhere.
Last night, PZ Meyers, a biologist, associate professor at the University of Minnesota, and vocal critic of the creationist agenda, tried to see the film with his family. According to his blog, he registered for the event (as did everyone else attending), but was thrown out of line and then the theater property altogether before being able to enter the movie at the request of the producer.
The funny bit is who the producer (Mark Mathis) missed. You’d think that if one were so averse to allowing any potential critic into one’s movie, one would know all the major players to bar from one’s film. You’d be wrong because, although the producer knew Meyers, he didn’t know his friend, a friend who was able to enter and view the film. The friend? Richard Dawkins.
Yeah, good one guys. I bet your film is utter crap and I can’t wait for its vivisection.
