The "Expelled" Syndrome - Common Anti-Science Tactic

In yesterday's #4 SFP post, at about 8:50, Gundersen commits a variant of what I call the "Expelled" syndrome.  He claims that he know lots of scientists who can't get their research published due to the influence of the nuclear industry.   It's money versus the populists!

What a crock!

Naturally, he doesn't tell us their names nor the names of the journals they tried to publish in.

He doesn't give us any financial data to show that the nuclear industry is somehow tied to scientific journal publishing companies.

"That which is claimed without evidence, can also be dismissed without evidence"...Christopher Hitchens.

You are dismissed Arnie.

"Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" was a 2008 pseudo-documentary, which featured some scientists who did bad science.  They were criticized by their peers (that's how science works everyday).  Rather than accept the criticisms and refine their work, some of these scientists just whine.

In particular, "Expelled" is about the science of evolutionary biology versus the pseudo-science of intelligent design (ID).  It's about a fantasized conspiracy of academia versus IDiots.  Here's a trailer:

I hope you see the similarity between what Gundersen does and what Ben Stein did.


A parody of "Expelled" was put together and is hilarious (stork theory vs. sex theory):