Review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) by Jake W — 12 Aug 2010

I kind of forced myself to watch this just so I could say I'd given the the opposition a fair hearing. I can't say anything about the supposed sackings of scientists and journalists because of them talking about ID as I do not know enough about the circumstances surrounding them, but overall the film did not give me much to think about.

The arguments that Darwinism led to the Holocaust and other such atrocities have already been comprehensively dealt with by Dawkins and others, and Darwin was egregiously misquoted in the film. I would highly recommend anyone to look up the full unedited passage, but here is the most glaringly obvious missing piece, which was lopped off the end of the film quotation - "The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil.".

Frankly I couldn't help but whoop whenever someone with some reason (PZ Myers, Dawkins or Dennet) came on the screen.