Ben Stein's day off from UVM

[dcsmart]

Amy Khaled explains why Ben Stein decided to decline a speaking invitation from the University of Vermont.

February 17, 2009

ACTOR AND right-wing ideologue Ben Stein withdrew from an invitation to speak at the University of Vermont's (UVM) commencement in the face of swelling opposition.

UVM President Daniel Fogel had selected him to give a speech and receive an honorary degree. But Stein declined the invitation after discovering that there was widespread opposition to him among students and faculty.

Stein is best known as a comic actor, including a bit part as a dull-witted teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but he has also been a lawyer, a speechwriter for Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and a conservative author and filmmaker.

One of his favorite causes is opposition to evolution. In 2008, Stein wrote and directed the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which, to put it simply, is a hit piece against evolutionary biology. Stein casts "Darwinists" as responsible for most of the world's evils--which include, according to him, the rise of totalitarian governments, racism and eugenics, opposition to religion and abortion.
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Stein's own words show how biased and distorted his views of actual science really are. As he said in an interview with the Trinity Broadcasting Network:

When we just saw that man...talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do, they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed...That was horrifying beyond words, and that's where science--in my opinion, this is just an opinion--leads you...

Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.
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FULL ARTICLE
http://socialistworker.org/2009/02/17/ben-steins-day-off

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. Ben Stein is an idiot

[YOY]

2. 2nded

n/t

[rfranklin]

3. The Nazi SS slogan was "Gott mit uns" which they proudly wore...

on their belt buckles as they led 6 million to the slaughter (too often forgotten are the handicapped, the gypsies and the gays.)

[YOY]

4. and just about anyone else who opposed them.

n.t.

[DRoseDARs]

5. As great as Einstein was, I'll never forgive him for pushing Anne Frank into the pit of acid spikes.

What in the fuck is Ben Stein talking about?

[DCKit]

6. Science teachers are mass murders!!!! I KNEW IT!!

It's a shame that even science doesn't have a pill for what ails Ben Stein. I'm not even sure a steady regimen of bong hits would work - but he might be less inclined to run around giving interviews like this one.

[Olney Blue]

7. No money for Ben Stein.

[Seldona]

8. "No Intelligence Allowed?"

Hey, at least he admits it.

lol