Ben Stein assails the intelligentsia
By Carol Devine-Molin
web posted April 28, 2008
Ben Stein's new documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a riveting exposé of the intolerant academic community that systematically declares war on anyone or any institution [i.e. Seattle's Discovery Institute] that dares to question liberal Darwinian orthodoxy. "Correct speak" and "correct think" are de rigueur among scholars, who are expected to tow the line that "evolution" and "natural selection" are the be all and end all when it comes to deciphering the origins of mankind.
Thankfully, a few brave scholars have had the intestinal fortitude to challenge Darwinian theory, which cannot properly account for the creation of complex biological mechanisms. These academicians have underscored that the statistical odds are infinitesimal that human DNA could have emerged by evolutionary means as posited by Darwin. By raising the specter of "Intelligent Design", these renegade scholars have been subjected to terrible smears and utter ruination of their scientific careers. But should anyone be astonished? The modus operandi of the Leftist intelligentsia has always been to protect and perpetuate the big propaganda machine and destroy anyone at variance with dogma.
The keepers of the flame of scholarly "knowledge" are march-in-lockstep secular progressives that view "Intelligent Design" as nothing short of watered-down "Creationism" derived from the Bible. In response, the dissenters maintain that their challenge to the Darwinian framework has nothing to do with religiosity or Christianity. Rather, they find the concept of evolution intrinsically flawed, and they simply want the opportunity to examine a competing theory – Intelligent Design – without fear of being impugned or ostracized. And why shouldn't these scholars be able to contemplate their navels and debate theories without fear of reprisal? Isn't that what scholars are supposed to do?
Academic freedom is the vital issue at stake. The intelligentsia's strong-arm tactics to enforce ideological purity are anti-American, immoral and simply not conducive to good science. What is to be done? Ben Stein did his part by a bit of consciousness raising and sounding the clarion call on behalf of the beleaguered scholars that have come up against the Leftist elites. Now it's up to Americans to look beyond the guise of "happy face liberalism" to see the real tyranny posed by the political Left that has a virtual stranglehold on academia.
Ben Stein is a controversial guy and not surprisingly, Expelled has raised the ire of some in the mainstream media by linking Darwinian theory with atheistic Nazism. Journalist Jeffrey Kluger of Time magazine noted that: "Stein argues that there is a clear line from Darwinism to euthanasia, abortion, eugenics and--wait for it--Nazism. Theories of natural selection, it's claimed, were a necessary if not sufficient condition for Hitler's killing machine to get started. The truth, of course, is that the only necessary and sufficient condition for human beings to murder one another is the simple fact of being human. We've always been a lustily fratricidal species, one that needed no Charles Darwin to goad us into millenniums of self-slaughter."
Mr. Kluger is cynical, yes, but a real hoot. So we are to believe that mankind is thoroughly rancid and easily transformed into a bunch of homicidal maniacs? From that perspective, we might as well ditch the fields of social psychology, forensic psychology and criminology, and stop sorting out and examining the twisted ideas and sick societal agendas that give rise to mass murder and genocide. I mean, according to Kluger, we're not going to be able to prevent the slaughter anyway. The truth of the matter is that when the Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust, they were indeed influenced by Darwin, eugenics and the concept of "natural selection" in efforts to create their "master race". At the very least, Darwinian theory provided the Nazis with the rationale to enact their heinous ethnic cleansing for the "greater good".
Ben Stein has provided his audience with incisive analysis – The Nazis were dyed-in-the-wool atheists who fancied themselves as mini-gods poised to develop their man-made utopia. Part and parcel of that plan was to rid the gene pool of all so-called "undesirables" including the Jews, gypsies, handicapped and political dissenters. Darwinian theory, which takes God out of the equation in man's creation, facilitated an atmosphere that devalued human life in Nazi Germany. And let there be no mistake, the Nazis were not conservatives or right-wingers, but ardent socialists and fascists, as adeptly delineated by Jonah Goldberg in his bestseller, Liberal Fascism, which chronicles the history of the political Left. 
Carol Devine-Molin is a regular contributor to several online magazines.