Ruloff's claims are not credible

The second part of the DI's interview with Ruloff, producer of the movie Expelled, is now available. He's claiming now that there will be no hacking and chopping of the interview footage, which is, of course, complete nonsense. I was interviewed for something close to two hours; we know that that will be extensively cut for the movie, and I fully expect my part will be notably brief. The question is one of what context will be removed to make their point.

But OK, since he promises that the movie will make no distortions, here's the challenge: send me a copy of the unedited footage. Likewise, send copies of their interviews to Eugenie Scott and Richard Dawkins. That's an easy resolution that any confident, reasonable person should consider perfectly fair.

I'll look forward to receiving the tape in my mail.

More like this

When do you sleep?

Do you sleep?

SCIENCE DOESN'T SLEEP!
Regardless, it's starting to get sad what's going on with this. It's just a pissing contest now, except that the other side never runs out of piss...ever. They just keep pissing and pissing and pissing. We pee, and then we stop, because we run out of pee when it's reasonable, and we think they've stopped peeing. But no, they just keep fucking pissing.

This might sound insane, but it is almost 5AM...and what kind of a person reads a blog like this at 5AM?

By TheBelgian (not verified) on 29 Aug 2007 #permalink

I think you're wrong, Valhar2000. These people have faith. If evolution becomes essential to the weapons industry, they'll believe in both evolution and literal 6-day creationism. Their faith grants them the ability to believe a blatant contradiction when necessary.

...by the way, PZ, if you're having trouble sleeping, I can recommend my homeopathic cure for insomnia. It won't work, so I'll get to keep reading Pharyngula at all hours of the night!

Yes.

That offer sounds eminently fair, since it would violate no privacy or confidentiality, and cost them nothing.

Doing so would be a show of good faith on their part.

I'm hoping to be surprised, but not expecting it.

By John Morales (not verified) on 29 Aug 2007 #permalink

This might sound insane, but it is almost 5AM...and what kind of a person reads a blog like this at 5AM?

People who are not in your timezone.

I'm in France, where at the moment it's c.11h20. I've no idea what the timezone is for the timestamps on this blog, but if it's the east coast of the USA (EST/EDT), where I think Seed is based, that means the timestamp for this posting will be c.6:20am. But am I reading this at 6 in the morning? No, I'm reading it just before lunchtime.

I believe PZ can pre-schedule postings. Hence, whilst this may have appeared "early in the morning" (presumed Seed time), that doesn't mean he wrote or edited or posted it then (which would be even earlier for him, since he is further to the West).

(Preview indicates the timestamp will be c.5:20am, suggesting the timezone is CST/CDT, which I think is PZ's?)

Maybe there's a homeopathic cure for tiredness - you just sleep for an infinitesimal amount of time.

it's actually good that PeeZed updates at random times like that. it means that, whilst you Yanks are sleeping, insomniac Europeans such as yours truly can get the updates. and then, of course, he updates in the night too, so i get them in what's the day for me.

i wonder if he's actually a robot.

Lepht

Yh, thr S hckng nd chppng.

Tgh.

Y chrd whn Rndy lsn dd t y whng hypcrt.

By Kansas Troll King (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

By th wy, PZ, lsn ddn't snd cps f hs ftg t Jhn Clvrt r nyn ls tht h trshd.

Wh y kddn?

Bsds yrslf?

By Kansas Troll King (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

So there Kansas Troll King sits, thinking "There - *that* will get 'em hopping mad!"

Sad.

So at least you know that next time you will be having a tape of your own running along while you are being interviewed, saves a lot of headaches I would think.
Just a thought...

Whing hypocrite?

Out, dungheap! If that is the best a Kansas Troll King can summon from this language of ours, I should hate to read th'impoverished numbers of a Kansas Troll Knave. Get thee to a nunnery, for more of your conversation would infect my brain, thou deboshed fish, thou.

(All insults courtesy of Wm Shakepeare, except whing hypocrite.)

What about Pater Atkins?
I saw him in the trailer, and he has to be equally irked as you and Dawkins. Yet no mention!

Man oh man. Troll, that was cut because it's a pretty stupid argument. Even I realize it's patently stupid, and I'm no scientist, just a hotel front desk clerk. And not even a fancy hotel, just a small one. So god is not the same as Santa Claus because some people start believing in god in adulthood?

Well, would you be happier if it was said that god is rather like flat-earth theory? Maybe flat-earthers even are smarter, since no children believe in flat-earth theory, only adults. Many people discover flat-earth theory decades after they have ceased believing in god.

It's stupid either way. Most of the people that start believing as adults have had childhood indoctrination, but then got lazy, and only come back to it when the going gets tough; others discover god after heavy drug addiction. No adult who has never been indoctrinated as a child, and is educated and with a healthy brain starts believing as an adult. For one, which freaking god to choose? Any rational adult with a clean brain free of childhood indoctrination asking him/herself that question will quickly arrive to the conclusion that it's all bullshit.

By Oh, fishy, fis… (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

This one makes the youtube trolls look intellectual.

lunartalks: I've always been inordinately fond of "son and heir of a mongrel bitch", see if you can work that in next time.

"This might sound insane, but it is almost 5AM...and what kind of a person reads a blog like this at 5AM?" - TheBelgian @ #2

It's just about 5am local and I'm reading it. What else do you do while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing? I'm kept awake by the sheer stupid of the likes of Pivar, Little, Ruloff, et al. until The Glorious Brown Elixer of Life and All Good Things is ready.

But OK, since he promises that the movie will make no distortions, here's the challenge: send me a copy of the unedited footage. Likewise, send copies of their interviews to Eugenie Scott and Richard Dawkins. That's an easy resolution that any confident, reasonable person should consider perfectly fair.

I'm thinking this might have been a sensible condition to write into the original contract; that you or your university get to keep a copy of all original interview footage. You'll know next time.

By Reginald Selkirk (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

The footage won't be cut and misrepresented to oblivion.

PZ will either play a Roman soldier wannabe who nails creos onto crosses and has a very strange looking collection of garden sculptures and some pet vultures. OR

PZ stars as a Zombie with an insatiable appetite for creationist brains. It is insatiable because those brains are tiny.

It is all good. Deconstructing the lies of so called Xian cultists will be amusing. And they will once again show the world that their cult nonsense is morally and intellectually bankrupt.

I was just wondering if stock for the "Big Science Corporation" was available yet, sounds like a really good investment.
Ohh and also... If this movie does well then they should expose the fascism and exclusion of these 'Plate Tectonics' guys. You know, I offered them my theory on the Earth's crust actually resting on the dead bodies of all the angels who died when Satan attacked heaven (turns out earthquakes and volcanoes are actually caused by escaping gases from the rotting corpses); needless to say, they wouldn't publish my article in any of their magazines. Someone should do a movie about that too.

For future reference and speaking as a journalist, interview subjects should always record any interviews themselves for situations such as this or even minor debates about context and so on.

By Ginger Yellow (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

I don't really want to listen to the footage, so what does Ruloff say is the reason that the interviews were not deceptive?

It [homeopathy] won't work

I beg to differ, Maronan. When that "Head-On" series of product commercials finally pushes me over the edge and triggers my killing spree, *then* we'll talk about outcomes of homeopathy...

send me a copy of the unedited footage.

I have to agree with Reginald Selkirk that this should be part of your agreement with future interviews: a full copy of the original interview in the format of your choice, and the rights to use that footage however you please without payment. Plus, your agreement to be in the video/film whatever, should be null and void if the footage is not delivered in an unlocked format of your choice.

Production companies hate having to give footage to people. It is a logistical pain and it adds to their expenses to have to knock out a dub from the masters, but they will do it if you make your involvement contingent on it.

BTW, this Creation Science movie should make a great homeopathic preparation.

If like cures like, then ignorance should cure ignorance! And a think a trial will show that viewing Expelled will cause "symptoms" of ignorance in a normal healthy person. So, we just need to take a drop of Expelled (from the tape or a press release?) and dilute it 30c and we have a potent treatment for ignorance...of course for that matter, if we take a drop of homeopathy (the Materia Medica?) we could make an even more powerful cure :-)

Maybe there's a homeopathic cure for tiredness - you just sleep for an infinitesimal amount of time.

Like cures like, so a vanishingly tiny dose of sleep would just make you tireder. What you need is an infinitesimal dose of something that at full strength causes tiredness. Myself, I like to dip Michael Behe in a tub of water, dilute to about 80X, and take a sip at what would otherwise be bedtime. And may I say, anecdotally, that it works like a charm.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

By noncarborundum (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

I'm taking a tip from Reasonable Kansan and explicitly stating my superiour smartitude in my name, rather than risk it getting lost in my comments (as is the 'reasonable' in Reasonable Kansan's comments.)

What do you guys think?

(Wait a minute, why do I care? I'm smarter than all y'all. My name says so.)

PZ should get himself a video camera of his own. That way, he's got a bit of proof when quoted out of context.

this is what is called an "own goal".

Wow! Americans understand footballsoccer-based metaphors! Not all is lost!

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

Two, at least. But who's counting?

By noncarborundum (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink

PZ: I'm glad to see that you're at least publicly calling them out, instead of shrugging your shoulders at them. I would still like to see you tap into any offers of pro bono legal aid and bring some kind of action against these LIARS.

(baiting) I guess you really are nice and cuddly at heart, one of those moderates who enable the misbehavior of the god-besotten, instead of the relentless rogue of reason so oft reported. I imagine you even see something positive coming out of it, ya hyper-optimistic crazy, ya.....:)

this is what is called an "own goal".

Wow! Americans understand footballsoccer-based metaphors! Not all is lost!

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 30 Aug 2007 #permalink