Given that Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is coming out tomorrow, I thought it would be appropriate to devote an entry to the film. I've actually been contemplating whether or not I should go see the movie in the theaters.
Despite my position, I was still willing to go to stuff like Kent Hovind's talk at my university. Granted, I saw him as a comedian, but I still felt it was only fair to at least listen to the other side. Which brings me to this film. I feel like I should watch the film, but I have some issues with Expelled:
1) They are bribing schools to go watch the movie to inflate their numbers.
2) Plagiarizing and infringing the copyrights of XVIVO, John Lennon/Yoko Ono, and The Killers. And then having the gall of countersuing XVIVO?! WTF. It's a SLAPP (A lawsuit filed to intimidate or silence opponents). Guess where they filed it? Texas, a state without anti-SLAPP laws.
3) Typical documentary style of tricking people by pretending they are being interviewed for something else, and then distorting their statements. Yes, many other documentaries do that, but that doesn't make it right. But it's especially stupid when it comes from people who often claim to have the moral high ground. We call this lying for God.
4) The above isn't so bad except they only interviewed atheist scientists. What about all the Christian scientists over at the American Scientific Affiliation who have no problem with not getting "expelled" from their jobs? In particular, why no Kenneth Miller, a devout Roman Catholic who's a professor of biology at Brown University? Here's what Mathis, one of the producers of Expelled had to say:
"But I would tell you from a, my personal standpoint as somebody who’s worked on this project, that Ken Miller would have confused the film unnecessarily. I don’t agree with Ken Miller. I think that you, I think that when you look at this issue and this debate, that really there’s, there’s one side of the line or the other, and you, it’s, it’s hard to stay, I don’t think you can intellectually, honestly, honestly intellectually stand on a line that I don’t think exists—"
Gee, I wonder why? Is it because Ken Miller is living proof that the premise of the film is false, that Christianity is NOT incompatible with evolution, and that religious scientists can indeed exist in academia? Is it because Ken Miller has even gone and given a wonderful talk on why Intelligent Design is wrong?
But that's not all Mathis said, he then had the following to say about Ken:
"No, I don’t think so, because, uh, the form of Catholicism that Ken Miller accepts and practices is, is nowhere near the form of Catholicism that is followed by Catholics who are members of the Catholic church, who believe in Catholic doctrine. What he believes is certainly out of—"
Ok, just WTF. Who does Mathis, a non-Catholic, think he is to define Catholicism for Catholics? This quote is just overflowing with ignorance. The form of Catholicism Ken Miller accepts is also the one the Pope accepts (at least the previous one). Catholics generally believe in Theistic Evolution (which is the same as naturalistic evolution as far as the science goes). NOT Creationism. NOT Intelligent Design. Because even the popes have stated several times that evolution is compatible with the Catholic faith. So where does Mathis get off on implying the Pope isn't Catholic?
In light of all this stuff, I have decided that I cannot, in good faith, give my money to these people for no reason. I'd love to see audience reactions at the theater, and I'd still like to see the film to see how bad it is. I will probably go if a friend of mine wants to go see Expelled so I can at least protect them from the deliberate lies and misinformation of the film, especially if they're also a Creationist. But for now, I have decided to give my money to a better cause. I went and bought a copy of Ken Miller's Finding Darwin's God instead.
Currently feeling thoughtful
Yeah, I couldn't quite watch the films while eating dinner, but other than grimacing occasionally, they aren't exactly horrifying films. But I like this sort of film. It reminds me a lot of the Cube series what with all the trap-like situations and trying to get out. But it's also interesting from a human nature standpoint. Especially the third movie. Reminds me a lot of the choices people had to make in Jigoku Shoujo about whether to pull the red string or not, and their choice ultimately damning or saving them. The twists have generally been pretty well done as well, though the ending of the fourth movie was a little more confusing and not as enjoyable as the first three. Unlike a lot of horror movies, each movie also fits very neatly with the rest, which is another great thing. Most horror movies tend to have continuity problems.
Watching 6 horror movies in 3 days... yeah it's affected my dreams, but they aren't exactly nightmares either. Which is nice. I used to have trouble sleeping as a kid from watching horror movies. All those horrible things were lurking beneath the bed, just waiting for my feet.
Currently feeling entertained
Temperamental weather is annoying. It was really hot during the weekend, and today it was windy and cold. >_<
...
In the next week or so my life will be completely up to God, fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it. There's about an 80% chance I will finally be able to feel pretty stable in my life for once, which will let me do some things I need to do. But there's also a 20% chance for everything to be completely turned upside down and become extremely stressful.
I don't know. The 20% will definitely represent a great upheaval, and I will need to give up a lot of things and completely shift my priorities around. But to be honest though, the thing I truly want right now, I don't have. And unless something happens, it doesn't look like I will be able to get any closer to it any time soon. If anything, the moments of clarity I've received seem to reveal it to be an empty promise.
So unless I receive a sign of some sort, if it really comes to having to abandon everything and start over, it may not be so bad...
Currently feeling pensive
One of the complaints I've seen a lot is that the Olympics is not a political event. And I agree, it shouldn't be. The problem is, it already is one. You cannot complain when you yourself are the one doing it too.
Even if nobody else did anything, even if there was no Tibet, everyone knows that it is nothing more than a tool for the host country to boost its international reputation and gain acceptance by the rest of the world. However, China is certainly not the only one who has already made it a political event. The rest of the IOC who let China host the Olympics were also doing it for political reasons. They were hoping that by doing this, China would actually clean up its act. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. So I am certainly bewildered by all the Chinese people asking why did they let China host the Olympic games then? All I can say is you are right, you did not deserve the great amount of hope and faith that was placed on you.
One of my friends said to me "I always support our government." I think this statement pretty sums up the difference between Chinese people and the rest of the world and why there is such a large disconnect about Tibet. What's worse is that they also ask why aren't Westerners criticizing their governments. Uh, hello? Have you been living under a rock for the past 7-8 years? Just look at how many Americans have criticized the US over Iraq and other stuff. But as soon as someone says anything about China, they circle the wagons and claim conspiracy, bias, victimization. This level of nationalism is just stupid.
Oh, sure some of them say they criticize their Chinese government too. Uh, when? It's very easy to give this sort of lip service, but actions speak louder than words. If anything, any time China is caught doing something, they just make excuses for it. Never criticizing it. In their eyes, their government can do no wrong.
It's very simple. Look at how many Americans (and even non-Americans here) have protested against the US government here without the government intervening. Now look at how many times Chinese people have protested in China without their government intervening. Ok sure, maybe not everyone's into protesting. So let's try something simpler. Have you even signed a petition against something your Chinese government did? If not, that's all I need to say about this.
It's like censorship. It's amazing how many Chinese people I've talked to say they never noticed it while there. I think that just speaks volumes at how effective the censorship is when we KNOW that the Chinese government is engaged in the censorship of many high-traffic sites.
Then there's this whole "Well at least Chinese people/Tibetans will have food." WTF. Yeah, all those African slaves in America also had food too. You think food is the end-all and be-all to problems? Sheesh.
Currently feeling annoyed
I woke up bright and early, hoping to go to work early so i could have an extended lunch break.
It was not to be.
Spent a good hour or so trying to find my wallet before I finally gave up. It just wasn't here. I knew then I must've lost it on the Muni last night when I was going home, most likely because of the unexpected transfer. Had to go borrow some money from downstairs so I could get to work.
I did manage to take a lot of pictures during my lunch break, and I also went to the bank to cancel my card, where I learned it had already been blocked because someone had turned in my wallet with everything still in it.
I tried to look for the PSL group from yesterday, but couldn't find them. I guess it wasn't meant to be...
Anyway. The torch didn't actually go through Embarcadero as planned, it went through Van Ness. I got text updates on my phone all through the day so I knew what had happened. To be honest, I think all the Chinese waiting there were probably the ones hurt the most by this act, not the protesters who had people following the torch the entire time. I think the coolest thing that happened was that one of the torch bearers actually unfurled a Tibetan flag, and had the torch promptly confiscated from her. You can read more about it here.
After that, I just checked for my wallet status every so often. It was turned in to Civic Center Station, but was moved to the Dispatch Office at Balboa Park (much further away), but there was no one in the department with my stuff until just before work ended. Rushed over there after work and got my wallet back. Much thanks to one Janasha.
Currently feeling relieved
Unrelated to the title, but today there was free Jamba Juice breakfast. I actually got there after 10 but stood in line with everyone else. Some other people joined later and an employee came up and said that it was too late, and asked the people if they'd ordered already. They had. I didn't even know I was supposed to have ordered first. But she asked me if I had waited long. The people who were in front of me gave me support and nodded their head, so the employee gave me a coupon for the breakfast good for a week. Yay!
Also had an impromptu Crepe lunch with Cat since the person she was supposed to have lunch with forgot.
Anyway, back to the protest. So I actually ended up staying longer than I expected.
Ironically the first flyer I received was an anti-anti-China flyer which I didn't realize till a bit later when I saw some people arguing. But I'll get to it later.
There was a pretty decent crowd there, most with Tibetan flags. Took pictures of the majority of them. There was also a really cool art piece someone did on the floor. But it was pretty much what I expected. I kinda expected a group of Chinese people to counter-protest though but they were nowhere to be found.
Somewhere along the way, I saw two people arguing, there was one girl passing out anti-protest flyers vs. a guy who was supporting the protest (who was Tibetan). What caught my attention was when she said that "It's not my government". Somewhere along the way, an American guy who was also passing out the anti-protest flyers joined in.
Meanwhile, another older Tibetan guy kinda talked to me but all he really had to say was Tibet good, China bad. Well, not that simple, but he didn't really try to answer my questions. I talked to that American guy afterwards (name's Daniel) and he and the rest of the people there were part of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Mainly they're anti-Iraq war and just generally anti-US involvement in other countries. From what I overheard in his earlier argument, he's also supposed to be a historian. He did clear up some of the questions I had unlike the Tibetan guy.
Sometime later, saw him and a woman arguing. Well more like the woman was complaining about how their sign was provocative and they shouldn't be there, etc. =/ That's not cool (free speech applies to all sides). That's the kinda thing that I saw back at Cal that made me annoyed at the liberals in general (how they'd often try to censor the speech of the conservatives there)
Talked to the girl later, whose name is Tara. Asked her about that comment she made. So she's originally from HK but left before 1997 so that's why she doesn't really consider CCP to be her government. Found out she's actually an urban farmer so she won't have to pay taxes to the government which then can't be used for the Iraq war. There's apparently a Permaculture Guild in SF for urban farmers. Didn't get any other info besides her name but she said she'd probably be at the torch relay tomorrow so might see me there. Wasn't originally planning on going to that since it's during work hours (though close enough to lunch that it might be doable). She is kinda cute. She also reminds me a bit of BST...
Also picked up an Amnesty International flyer from a guy who didn't want it anymore 'cause he was passing out some magazines. Flyer had English and Simplified (ick) Chinese. It said "Freedom from censorship" in English, but the Chinese said "Respect Human Rights" instead.
Overall though, I have to say that what the anti-protest people seemed to be a little more fair and willing to look at both sides instead of just going ra-ra I'm right.
Currently feeling cold
She also reminds me a bit of 
