A Blood Libel on Our Civilization. Can I expell Expelled?

National Review Online ^ | April 28, 2008 | John Derbyshire

[Delacon]

I think Mr. Derbyshire is being way too harsh(I am a big Ben Stein fan) but yeah, what he said.

[DoughtyOne]

Wow, such a negative reaction. I think I’ll go see the movie.

[Alright_on_the_LeftCoast]

Great, go ahead and believe Dawkins then...that makes you an “Alien Seed”...fricken’ moron...where did the aliens come from?????

[Soliton]

Wow, he even took my barbarians at the gates statement. Nice article though

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

So what’s going on here with this stupid Expelled movie? No, I haven’t seen the dang thing.

I haven't seen it either.

Of course, I also didn't write a big article bragging about how ignorant I was concerning a documentary right before trashing it.

[wideawake]

Derbyshire has basically revealed over the past year or so that he doesn't believe in God and finds religious belief rather quaint and pointless, that he considers any patriotism that is what academics would call "uncritical" to be impossible for him, and that he essentially finds the mindset of a working-class Evangelical conservative to be embarrassing.

He is the GOP version of an Obama/Kerry elitist.

[Soliton]

If you are going to see it, you better hurry. It’s tanking at the box office.

[rockrr]

That was as far as I got as well. I had to scroll a bunch, so I know he had a lot to opine about something he hasn’t seen, and that just strikes me as.....funny.

Oh well, back to Obeyme and his mentor...;’}

[lesser_satan]

ITT: >9000 replies, hundreds of comments removed, several bans, and epic trolling.

[Lexington Green]

‘’No, I haven’t seen the dang thing.’’

Then his words are hollow.

[Cicero]

What on earth has gotten into Nation Review and John Derbyshire? Maybe it’s just as well that Bill Buckley died when he did, so he didn’t live to see this.

Ben Stein is NOT attacking Darwin. He is taking the totalitarian intolerance of the ignorant fools who run our universities. He is not even saying that Intelligent Design theory is right, if I understand him.

He is saying that academics have gotten so bigoted and intolerant that they simply will not allow any diversity of opinion or arguments with their beliefs. And if National Review is so committed to the Darwinist theology that it thinks all discussion of the matter should be banned from our schools and universities, than I say it’s time to close NRO down. They made perfect fools of themselves during the presidential campaign, and here they are doing it again.

[xjcsa]

Derb is willing to accuse Stein of “blood libel against Western civilization” without even watching the movie? That takes some kind of balls.

[Coyoteman]

Oooooh! That’s gonna leave a mark—placemarker!

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

If you are going to see it, you better hurry. It’s tanking at the box office.

$5.3 million so far, a week's run in the top 10, and number 6 overall for political documentaries in 9 days reported.

Tanking.

Thanks for your movie expertise there, I'll let Brandon know what a great analyst you are.

[darkangel82]

In other words, he’s a huge RINO.

[aruanan]

So what’s going on here with this stupid Expelled movie? No, I haven’t seen the dang thing. I’ve been reading about it steadily for weeks now though, both pro (including the pieces by David Klinghoffer and Dave Berg on National Review Online) and con, and I can’t believe it would yield up many surprises on an actual viewing. It’s pretty plain that the thing is creationist porn, propaganda for ignorance and obscurantism. How could a guy like this do a thing like that?

If Expelled was creationist porn, John Derbyshire's piece was plainly intellectual masturbation.

[xjcsa]

And if National Review is so committed to the Darwinist theology that it thinks all discussion of the matter should be banned from our schools and universities, than I say it’s time to close NRO down.

This isn't an NR editorial; it's a column by *one* of their regulars. Derb's opinions on this are not in the majority at NR.

[Non-Sequitur]

Wow, such a negative reaction. I think I’ll go see the movie.

Judging from the box office receipts I don't think you'll be fighting anyone for a seat.

[xjcsa]

That’s gonna leave a mark...

Ignorantly lobbing bombs is going to leave a mark, but not on the target. Derb looks stupid for writing this without even having seen the film he's trashing. But at least he spends half the column complaining that Creationists aren't "nice."

[dmz]

so where did the frickin’ designer come from?