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Penn & Teller ignorant of Ben Stein's movie

dansam

New Blood
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Joined
Mar 25, 2004
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3
I wanted to ask Penn & Teller if they knew Ben Stein and what they thought of him and his movie.... but was unable to get my question in before time ran out.

But I was able to ask them privately.
UNBELIEVABLY, neither of them seemed to have any idea what I was talking about!
In addition, Penn was his usual obnoxious self.
The following is our exchange:

Me: Penn, I wanted to get your opinion of Ben Stein's movie.
Penn: Uh... I don't know about that.... what movie?
Me: He made an anti-evolution pro-creationist movie!
Penn: Well... I've met him & he's a really smart guy.
Me: Well... in this movie it he sounds like he's lost his mind and had some kind of mental breakdown!
Penn: I've met him... he's a smart guy! He's smarter than you!
Me: Uh.... I'm a pretty smart guy too.
Penn: He's smarter tan you!
Me: Uh huh....Go see the movie!

Penn is amusing, but for all of his opinionated banter... he's ultimately an intellectual lightweight (although I hesitate to use the term "lightweight" in a sentence describing anything about Penn).

Teller was much nicer but also professed ignorance on this topic.

I must say that I'm shocked that they knew nothing of this.
I'd bet that 90% of the audience knew all about it! I can only imagine what would have happened if Penn had said anything positive about Ben Stein from the stage! The crowd might have chased him out of the building with lighted torches! ;-)

Dan
 
"Douche" seems to be the appropriate description. Entertaining at a distance and with the aid of the remote control, and otherwise unbearable?

Remember, though, that Ben Stein is politically and economically stupid in ways that suit Penn & Teller just fine. So, the ignorance could have been feigned in order to avoid insulting a fellow wooster.
 
It sounds as though people at TAM were demanding pseudoskeptic orthodoxy from Penn. We've already had global warming, now Ben Stein. What will be next?
BTW, when he sets himself up as some sort of arbiter of reality I'm no fan of Penn's. I thought the BS series was just laughably bad. (As a magician he's decent enough)
But he does have a right to be skeptical of the pseudoskeptic orthodoxy, without having to be the subject of some kind of witch-hunt.
 
I like the BS series and have actually done further reading and research on topics they've covered, in particular the obesity "epidemic." I listened to Penn Radio when it was on and that's where I first heard Phil Plait take on that whack job Joe 'the moon landing was a hoax" Rogan.

Like many people I agree with some of Penn's views but the idea of no government involvement in education scares the **** out of me. Can you imagine what kind of curricula the churches would create (pun intended) for their schools? Oh, wait, they already do that!

P&T are fun and occasionally pique my interest in new things. That's good enough for me.
 
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plumjam said:
It sounds as though people at TAM were demanding pseudoskeptic orthodoxy from Penn. We've already had global warming, now Ben Stein. What will be next?
BTW, when he sets himself up as some sort of arbiter of reality I'm no fan of Penn's. I thought the BS series was just laughably bad. (As a magician he's decent enough)
But he does have a right to be skeptical of the pseudoskeptic orthodoxy, without having to be the subject of some kind of witch-hunt.
Click to expand...

So, since you believe the same stupid things that Ben Stein believes, you are blind to the fact that he is a liar, and his lies are directed straight at you and people like you. I'd be angry at you, or laugh at you, except I mostly feel sorry for you. Unlike you, some of us demand honesty and intelligence from everyone, even the people we generally agree with. Most of us here agree with Penn & Teller on a large number of subjects, but we won't support them when they are wrong.
 
First of all, congratulations on your first post; if the numbers are accurate, must be some sort of record, over four years between joining and posting! :)

dansam said:
I must say that I'm shocked that they knew nothing of this.
I'd bet that 90% of the audience knew all about it! I can only imagine what would have happened if Penn had said anything positive about Ben Stein from the stage! The crowd might have chased him out of the building with lighted torches! ;-)
Click to expand...

While Plumjam maybe goes a little too far talking about pseudoskeptic orthodoxy, he might be on the right track. I have no idea who Ben Stein is; I think I've seen his name here but not really taken in what he does. From reading these forums, I've heard of a number of people that I wouldn't have heard of otherwise, so unless Penn and Teller hang out here or somewhere similar, why would they be expected to know about all the crackpots out there?

ETA: To continue the point; even though they do know of him, and have met him, must they be expected to have a dossier on everyone and know what they've been doing? And finally, is it all possible they misunderstood who you were talking about?
 
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Welcome to the forum, dansam.

:welcome2

That's the July 4th 1st post welcome. ;)

And thank you for sharing your exchange with Penn. It illustrates the fact some skeptics are not as interested in the problems that lack of critical thinking imposes on society. We are not necessarily all required to care about skeptical causes while still considering ourselves skeptics. But still, for Penn to defend Stein without any knowledge of the movie is not consistent with critical thinking.
 
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dansam said:
I wanted to ask Penn & Teller if they knew Ben Stein and what they thought of him and his movie.... but was unable to get my question in before time ran out.

But I was able to ask them privately.
UNBELIEVABLY, neither of them seemed to have any idea what I was talking about!
In addition, Penn was his usual obnoxious self.
The following is our exchange:

Me: Penn, I wanted to get your opinion of Ben Stein's movie.
Penn: Uh... I don't know about that.... what movie?
Me: He made an anti-evolution pro-creationist movie!
Penn: Well... I've met him & he's a really smart guy.
Me: Well... in this movie it he sounds like he's lost his mind and had some kind of mental breakdown!
Penn: I've met him... he's a smart guy! He's smarter than you!
Me: Uh.... I'm a pretty smart guy too.
Penn: He's smarter tan you!
Me: Uh huh....Go see the movie!

Penn is amusing, but for all of his opinionated banter... he's ultimately an intellectual lightweight (although I hesitate to use the term "lightweight" in a sentence describing anything about Penn).

Teller was much nicer but also professed ignorance on this topic.

I must say that I'm shocked that they knew nothing of this.
I'd bet that 90% of the audience knew all about it! I can only imagine what would have happened if Penn had said anything positive about Ben Stein from the stage! The crowd might have chased him out of the building with lighted torches! ;-)

Dan
Click to expand...


Sounds like you rubbed the big guy the wrong way, Dan.
 
dansam said:
I wanted to ask Penn & Teller if they knew Ben Stein and what they thought of him and his movie.... but was unable to get my question in before time ran out.

Me: Penn, I wanted to get your opinion of Ben Stein's movie.
Me: He made an anti-evolution pro-creationist movie!
Me: Well... in this movie it he sounds like he's lost his mind and had some kind of mental breakdown!
Me: Uh.... I'm a pretty smart guy too.
Me: Uh huh....Go see the movie!

Dan
Click to expand...
So were you
a. start-struck with Penn?
b. suffering a momentary lapse of memory?
c. being coy?

The movie *did* have a title. Note for future reference: you might want to pronounce the title of the film in question. Referring to stars, plot lines, directors, and/or producers is all well and good. But nothing cuts to the chase of such an inquiry like an explicit enunciation of the actual title of the film. Just a thought.

Second note: Telling Penn that you're a pretty smart guy is like telling an angry boxer you've never been punched in the nose.
 
skeptigirl said:
And thank you for sharing your exchange with Penn. It illustrates the fact some skeptics are not as interested in the problems that lack of critical thinking imposes on society. We are not necessarily all required to care about skeptical causes while still considering ourselves skeptics. But still, for Penn to defend Stein without any knowledge of the movie is not consistent with critical thinking.
Click to expand...

Where did Penn defend Stein? All he said was that he thought Stein was a nice guy - and that he thought Stein was smart, and smarter than Dan.

You don't even know if Penn knew what movie Dan was talking about.
 
skeptigirl said:
Welcome to the forum, dansam.

...snip... But still, for Penn to defend Stein without any knowledge of the movie is not consistent with critical thinking.
Click to expand...

Have to disagree, he wasn't defending Stein, he was just making a comment on the information he apparently had i.e. personal knowledge of Stein.
 
Maybe it plays out like so for Penn:
No on global warming. It can't be right because Al Gore is the spokesman for it!

Yes on Intelligent Design. It has to be right because smart guy Ben Stein is the spokesman for it.

Plumjam's "pseudoskeptic orthodoxy" is thus evaded, I mean avoided. For $5, you can buy Penn's Baloney Detection Kit.
 
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phyz said:
Maybe it plays out like so for Penn:
No on global warming. It can't be right because Al Gore is the spokesman for it!

Yes on Intelligent Design. It has to be right because smart guy Ben Stein is the spokesman for it.

Plumjam's "pseudoskeptic orthodoxy" is thus evaded, I mean avoided. For $5, you can buy Penn's Baloney Detection Kit.
Click to expand...

Just can't follow your post, what's the point you want to make?
 
Penn told us at TAM6 that he couldn't get behind GW because Al Gore was out in front of it.

Penn does not think Al Gore is smart. Al Gore believes in Global Warming. So Penn concludes that Global Warming isn't real.

Hence, by similar ad hominem "reasoning":
Penn thinks Ben Stein is smart. Ben Stein believes in Intelligent Design. So Penn concludes that Intelligent Design is real.

Hope that clears it up.
 
phyz said:
Penn told us at TAM6 that he couldn't get behind GW because Al Gore was out in front of it.

Penn does not think Al Gore is smart. Al Gore believes in Global Warming. So Penn concludes that Global Warming isn't real.

...snip...
Click to expand...

Other reports of the event do not support what you are saying.

phyz said:
Hence, by similar ad hominem "reasoning":
Penn thinks Ben Stein is smart. Ben Stein believes in Intelligent Design. So Penn concludes that Intelligent Design is real.

Hope that clears it up.
Click to expand...

Your point is that Penn believes in intelligent design? Have you any evidence to support that?
 
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