Posted on 06/08/2007 7:56:31 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
As NewsBuster Geoffrey Dickens has noted, Ben Affleck appeared on yesterday evening's edition of Hardball. And while it's true that the actor/director/Dem activist offered a generally innocuous analysis, he did manage to engage in a bit of religious bigotry.
Affleck's foul foray arose in the course of his discussion of the way the various Republican candidates have dealt with the issue of evolution and creationism. Talk turned to the former governor of Arkansas.
BEN AFFLECK: I think Huckabee actually framed his position in a much less dramatic way than had been made out. Which was he said it could be six days, or it could be six epochs, which I thought was much more along the kind of intelligent design lines than his position had been cast. In other words, he had been made out to a little bit of a kind of like a real sort of Neanderthal about it, a literalist.
View video here.
For the record, "Neanderthal," used as a slang term as by Affleck, is defined to mean "crude, boorish, or slow-witted."
I wonder if Affleck realizes how many millions of his fans he's insulting as "Neanderthals"? According to a 2004 study reported here, "61 percent of Americans believe the account of creation in the Bible's book of Genesis is literally true rather than a story meant as a lesson." Did Affleck intentionally add insult to injury by using what evolutionists see as one of homo sapiens' evolutionary ancestors to describe believers in creationism?
By the way: what are the odds Affleck would ever use such a disparaging term in describing Muslims who take the Koran literally?
ASIDE: Someone tell Ben to lay off the self-deprecating, aw-shucks routine. Repeatedly during the interview he downplayed the worth of his opinions, saying, for example that he was speaking "from my point of view, not an expert but just a kind of everyday fellow." If Affleck doesn't feel he has worthwhile opinions to offer, why accept an invitation to offer them?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
Hey Ben, how’s your movie career been lately? HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!!
Thank y’all.
Oops! That should have been plural.
Thank all y'all.
Not in "Hollywoodland" he wasn't. He actually did a respectable job as TV's Superman, and I was hoping that he maybe hired some new agents who told him to knock off the politics and focus on your career.
"Not this $@&* again!"
Girl from Kashmir, India.
Agents & politics don't make a performance. He just plain sucks, IMHO.
or are the cavemen (TM) cro-magnons?
i tend to agree ... those skeletons they found REALLY ARE non-evolved proto-humans descended from apes ... (whispering) we call ‘em liberals.
Hey, it’s so easy a Neanderthal could do it!
I don’t like Ben Affleck.
Other than his role in Dogma (which was birlliant) he seems largely a creation of his relationships with Matt Damon and Jennifer Lopez. And I don’t really care what he thinks.
But, for the current discussion...
If one believes in a literal creation 6,000 years ago with no new species since then, then by logic the various species that scientists claim were early proto-humans would have to in fact be human. Meaning the Neanderthals who only died out in Europe 24,000 years ago were human and thus young earth creationists would logically be the same species as Neanderthals.
Now, I’m sure Affleck meant it as an insult but I think his statement would be technically correct, from a young earth creationist (YEC view).
Hey, Ben. Have they started filming Gigli II yet?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.