The Observer, November 30, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 12
Political Connection: Expelled objects to science's "suppression" of Intelligent Design
Have you heard? We are living in a country where every day, thousands of people are persecuted for their personal beliefs in inquiry, intelligence, and freedom. Did you know that Big Science, the influential elite caste of evolutionary biologists, are hell-bent on brainwashing our nation's youth into believing "just a theory" in order to convert our Christian, freedom-loving country to a bleak, atheistic, materialistic, Darwinist intellectual wasteland?
Me neither. That is, until actor/economist Ben Stein told me in a press release for his new movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a film to be released this February, that dares to take on the evils of extremist Darwinists and their suppression of perfectly reasonable objections from those First Amendment-lovin' Intelligent Design advocates:
"It's a movie that Ferris Bueller would take the day off to go see. What freedom-loving student wouldn't be outraged to discover that his high school science teacher is teaching a theory as indisputable fact, and that university professors unmercifully crush any fellow scientists who dare question the prevailing system of belief? This isn't the latest Hollywood comedy; it's a disturbing new documentary that will shock anyone who thinks all scientists are free to follow the evidence wherever it may lead."
The film also paints Intelligent Design (ID) as a cool, rebellious social movement to overthrow The Man – oops, I mean Big Science. Big Science Academy (which, according to the Expelled website is led by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, physical anthropologist Eugenie Scott, journalist Christopher Hitchens, and author Sam Harris) actively discriminates against any criticism of the evolution 'dogma' by "expelling" them from the scientific community. But luckily we have Stein to fight the power. And with all the rabble-rousing revolution-raising, why bother including any trace of reality in the docudrama at all? Too much effort, I suppose. What's most important after all is the 'unfair exclusion' of any alternative scientific theories to stale, old Darwinism. Never mind the small predicament that Intelligent Design has yet to acquire any scientific credence to legitimize it in the first place. Let's also overlook the tiny inconsistency that science is based on evidence and falsifiable, testable claims, neither of which fall under the criteria for ID. More to the point, it is the height of arrogance to whine about the lack of acceptance into the scientific community and public-school curriculum based on criteria which have not yet been fulfilled.
As much as Expelled desires to victimize the Intelligent Design movement in the eyes of the public in a pathetic ploy for sympathy, Stein still doesn't understand that there is a reason for the existence of the "exclusion" in the first place. The fact of the matter is that ID is blatantly wrong on nearly all fronts. It is no wonder then why no legitimate scientific organization actually takes it seriously: ID's "I'm too unimaginative to postulate how this biological system could have come about through natural means, so let's just say God, er, a Creator, did it" stance is not scientific in the least. It is no wonder why ID is banned from public school classroom settings: it clearly violates the separation of church and state (see the Kitzmiller v. Dover case). And it is no wonder why biology professors' careers suffer when they choose to preach ID in their lectures: it brings into question their mental faculties for teaching – at best – pseudoscientific nonsense instead of real science. Additionally, Intelligent Design has made no positive contribution at all to technology, biology, medicine, engineering, or any other field of study. The ID advocates lose their jobs, not to a vast Darwinist conspiracy trying to bring them down, but because of the simple fact that ID has no actual results to reward. Publish or perish, as the university saying goes.
Yes, "Big Science" is suppressing Intelligent Design, if by "suppressing" one means "demanding demonstrable proof." Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence, after all. As Dawkins, 'class president' of Big Science Academy, once put it, "If you are in possession of this revolutionary secret of science, why not prove it and be hailed as the new Newton? Of course, we know the answer. You can't do it. You are a fake." Expelled is one more example of the desperation, not the suppression, of the religiously and politically motivated movement to frantically paint itself as a victim of this terrible 'discrimination.'
Here's the truth: There is no controversy over the validity of evolution versus watered-down creationism. Intelligent Design cannot even produce a scientific, falsifiable theory, make any prediction, or generate any data. And because it is not science, "Big Science Academy" has no real reason to see it as anything more than a tragic display of cognitive malfunction in the first place. ID will never be taken seriously because its supporters believe that they have the right to claim the authority of science while refusing to submit to the very rules that allow that authority to exist.
What's the remedy for this pseudoscientific drivel? Like the best revolutions, it can start with just one person. Perhaps Stein should just stop fighting the power and start reading a textbook instead.
Tulsi Roy is a second-year biology/HPS major.
