CT Blue

Regular readers of the excellent blog Pharyngula can stop right here. For the rest of you folks, I must bring you up to date on a controversy brewing in the ongoing wars between scientists and crackpots over evolution. It has been covered extensively at Pharyngula, whose blogmeister, PZ Meyers, world renowned atheist and biologist, was among the many evolutionary scientists who were tricked into being interviewed for a movie, the premises of which was to be, unbeknownst to them, that “scientific” views opposed to evolution were being persecuted. Among other things the scientists were told that the movie was to be called “Crossroads”, when in fact it was to be called “Expelled”, a reference to the alleged expulsion of “creation science” from the garden of academia. Their views were artfully edited for the movie, which was, for reasons unclear, recently premiered in Minneapolis, which happens to be Meyers’ stomping grounds.

Meyers’ obtained an invitation to attend the screening through the film’s website, but was threatened with arrest by the producers, who for some reason were reluctant to let him see the movie in which he appeared. The full story is contained on several recent posts at his blog, which the curious should have no trouble finding. Rather than court arrest, Meyers left, but his guests, who also had passes, were allowed to attend. Unfortunately for the producers, who should really take better care, one of those guests was Richard Dawkins, a more high profile voice of the godless (and also among the duped scientists) than Meyers. His review of the film can be read here.

Of interest is the fact that the film is fronted by Ben Stein, a true 21st century Renaissance man. Ben writes a column for the New York Times, and is billed as a “lawyer, writer, actor and economist”. That’s right, Ben has no talent across a broad range of activities. Given the present state of our culture, in which only those who are consistently wrong are accorded respect, he is a true giant, since he presumes to speak on a wide range of subjects, and is wrong about all of them.

Here he is last September, giving us the word on high about the subprime crisis, which was just breaking into the news at that point:

Yes, there are real problems: housing, mortgage defaults, losses at financial firms, rot in hedge funds. But over all, things will be fine. Unless there is a genuine dollar crisis or a devastating recession (very unlikely), things will work out. This economy is very big and very solid. It cannot be derailed for long by anything we have seen lately.

If I were the editor of the business section for just one day, I would run one immense headline: “Everything Is Going to Be Fine. Go Back to Work.”

Ben is still writing for the Times. About economics. Really.