Dawkins on Ben Stein:
The narrator is somebody called Ben Stein. I had not heard of him, but apparently he is well known to Americans, for it is hard to see why else he would have been chosen to front the film. He certainly can’t have been chosen for his knowledge of science, nor his powers of logical reasoning, nor his box office appeal (heavens, no), and his speaking voice is an irritating, nasal drawl, innocent of charm and of consonants. I suppose that makes it a good voice for conveying the whingeing paranoia that I referred to, so maybe that was qualification enough.
Read more of Dawkins’ review of Expelled here.
More like this
Does anyone remember a few months ago, when I wrote about Ben Stein? No? Here, then, I'll jog your memory.
The culture wars are proceeding as expected, and Ben Stein's reputation is following a predictable trajectory.
Or so it seems.
Donald Trump won the 2016 election with 306 votes to Hillary Clinton's 232 votes. That is a spread of 74 votes.
As Ben Stein's egregiously bad Expelled opens in Canada, the Canadian press is getting a taste of the offensive bile
This is the line I liked most:
"If we look at more recent history, the closest representatives you'll find to Darwinian politics are uncompassionate conservatives like Margaret Thatcher, George W Bush, or Ben Stein's own hero, Richard Nixon."
IDiots are Darwinists :-)
I've informally focused grouped the clip with college students in two states now. College students like Ben Stein and are most familiar with him from Comedy Central. In the Dawkins-PZ clip from Expelled, as soon as students hear Stein's voice come on they immediately start to chuckle positively.
Of course that positive affect for Stein turns to a very negative emotional reaction towards scientists when they hear Dawkins and PZ discuss how science killed off their faith and compare religion to knitting.
From Dawkins' frame of reference, Stein's voice is an "irritating, nasal drawl, innocent of charm and of consonants." From the movie's target demographic frame of reference, his manner is funny and entertaining.