...to see Expelled!
In perhaps the funniest incident I can recall involving a fellow ScienceBlogger since there has been ScienceBlogs, earlier this evening scourges of "intelligent design" creationism P. Z. Myers and Richard Dawkins went to see a screening of the antievolution pro-ID creationism movie Expelled! in the Minneapolis area. The guards recognized P.Z. and wouldn't let them in the movie.
They apparently didn't recognize Richard Dawkins and did let him in to see the movie.
Let's get this straight. The producers scheduled a screening in the Minneapolis area on the same weekend that the 34th Annual National Conference of American Atheists was being held there. Not only that, but Richard Dawkins had been invited as a speaker and just so happened to be in town. The producers apparently somehow got wind that Myers might show up or just made a lucky guess that because he was within a few hours' drive from Minneapolis he might want to see the film. Consequently they appear to have circulated a picture of P.Z. Myers to the guards and theater employees and told them not to let him in. P.Z. was stopped, but no one recognized Richard Dawkins, and he passed unmolested--the one person in the whole world that they probably least wanted to see the movie before it is released to the general public! Even better, they demonstrated their hypocrisy in an unmistakable way: Making a whole movie that is in essence nothing more than a whine about scientists' fearing to debate ID advocates and even going so far as to "expel" them, and then the producers themselves go to great lengths to expel any skeptics they find going to their screening.
Truly, the producers' incompetence and hypocrisy know no bounds. I can't wait to read what Dawkins has to write about the movie.
There's actually a screening in my area next week. I'm seriously tempted to see if I can manage to get my name on the list and get in to see the film (that is, if I can get off work early enough; the screening's at 7 PM). I'm just worried that the top of my head might explode, as in Scanners. But, heck, if Richard Dawkins can take it, I should be able to as well.
ADDENDUM:
1. Update from P.Z. here.
2. Desperate and gut-wrenchingly funny and pathetic spin from one of the writers here.
3. An account from a fundamentalist named Stu Blessman posted here.
Dawkins is used to it...i'm sure you know some good neuro-surgeons, but head-asploding is serious business.
Irony meters are reverberating across the solar system.
At the rate it is going, the IDiots are going to do the job for us.
What a bunch of theistards.
*snicker*
At first I though hyperbole was being used, then I read the entire post. Deeply amusing.
Oh, wow. That is so hilarious. Just make sure it doesn't go to PZ's head... next thing you know he'll be going around in a leather jacket with "More Dangerous Than Dawkins" stitched on the back.
I have faith in your ability to sit through Expelled. Anyone who can face down the brain eating Hitler Zombies can sit through a mere film. Bur I suppose I will allow for a couple of shrieks of horror.
I just read through more than 650 comments on Pharyngula, and am still laughing.
From what I gather, they knew PZ was coming because part of the process was an on-line reservation he filled out, which of course included his name. His reservation included several unnamed guests, one of whom was Richard Dawkins. So Richard slipped under the radar. Way to go!
Following on MJKelleher- Orac, you could register under the name PZ Myers and they will go nuts looking for him.
Must. Stop. Laughing.
Actually, it's more a problem of time and location. The screening starts at 7 PM and is some 25+ miles from where I work. Getting there on time could be problematic, given that I couldn't go there directly from work. I'd have to stop at home first to rescue our dog from bladder explosion because my wife happens to be scheduled to work late that night and I have to be at work by 7 AM for a conference. (Even though I do a lot of research, I am still part of the Department of Surgery, remember.)
I'm thinking about it.
While I'm cautious to use the IDiots moniker it fist here. How ragingly stupid do you have to be to interview someone for a movie then not let them in. How can the more effectively point out the weakness of their argument.
P.S. I never thought Ben Stein was funny now I know my fait is not strong enough to fell his humor :)
Joe suggested that "...you could register under the name PZ Myers and they will go nuts looking for him...."
What a wonderful idea. If I was in the midwest, I would park across the street and use surveillance video to record the entire affair. Too bad no one in PZ's crowd had a video cellphone.
That video would have been an award winner.
We have to get an award for these idiots. I like the "Back to the Stone Age Award" and have Orac, PZ, et al vote on the winner every year.
Of course, the competition is over for this year.
The problem with the idea of registering as P.Z. Myers is that I wouldn't actually be able to get in. They check IDs at the door. On the other hand, if I can't go it would be a fun idea to drive them nuts.
The problem with the idea of registering as P.Z. Myers is that I wouldn't actually be able to get in. They check IDs at the door. On the other hand, if I can't go it would be a fun idea to drive them nuts.
Register as both PZ and yourself.
"I'm Sparta--I mean PZ!"
"No, I'm PZ!"
"I'm PZ!"
"No, it's me!"
Heh.
I particularly enjoyed this idea from "The Flying Trilobite":
Right, we need to borrow an idea from the "Anonymous" folks: make PZ Myers masks, and show up en masse to screenings of Excreted (by which title I think I shall be referring to this flick from now on. Seems juvenile, but....damn. These people have already lowered the debate well below the domain of adult dialog).
While I have no problem calling the Cdesign proponentsists "IDiots" this like you said is a calculated move. Although the fact the Richard "Nosferatu" Dawkins got in just highlights their Keystone Cops like ineptitude.
Orac, while I understand your personal conflicts, you of all people should go seeing how they toss the Darwin = Hitler = Nazism = Evolution bullshit around the entire movie (or so at least I've heard).
What do you expect from the toweringly Bensteinian intellects behind Expelled?
Did you catch how Stuart Blessman was caught lying his ass off and was spanked for it by PZ and other folks who were there and could quote chapter and verse from the confirmation e-mails? I swear, wingnuts lie like the rest of us breathe.
Did you catch how Stuart Blessman was caught lying his ass off and was spanked for it by PZ and other folks who were there and could quote chapter and verse from the confirmation e-mails? I swear, wingnuts lie like the rest of us breathe.
Uh. Mah. Gawd.
Christianity Today's fallen for Blessman's lies:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2008/03/dawkins_c…
You know what to do.
Orac, while I understand your personal conflicts, you of all people should go seeing how they toss the Darwin = Hitler = Nazism = Evolution bullshit around the entire movie
Don't do it! The Hitler zombie is sure to show at one of the screenings and might eat your brain too if you pick the wrong one. Gehiiiirrrnnne!
P.Z. Meyers and the I.D. NAZI
NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!
Umm.. Orac? I think I found a use for those colon cleanses you've got lying around. At the very least, it's a job for Eneman.