Trolling for dollars (more on Expelled!)

As predicted, the Expelled! movie blog looks to be a rich man’s Uncommon Descent: incoherently discursive responses to criticism coupled with an embarrassing amount of self-congratulation. That said, the suspicions of folks like Orac and Elsberry that the comment section will model UD’s insofar as the aburdly heavy moderation and random vanishings of embarrassing material are probably missing the sheer grandiosity of this particular production. Don’t forget, these guys are champions of free speech, man!

Instead, I predict that comments will be by and large unmoderated, but on issues of substance pretty much ignored. Their true purpose will be to serve as a source for “nutpicking” so as to spice up their complaints of persecution and periodically provide a tsk tsk to “science” for being so close-minded and emotional. This is an on message promotional vehicle after all.

The latest missive from the film’s blog (now apparently deleted!) fits this pattern, albeit somewhat cryptically. But it does manage to lay out at least one goal pretty plainly:

“It’s good to be hated by the right people.”
— Attributed to Johnny Cash

To which someone or something named “Deacon Blue” (a Steely Dan song? a Scottish pop band?) gives a hearty “Indeed”

So, let’s see: setting out to be hated? Isn’t that sort of behavior ordinarily called, well, trolling?

And then there’s this gem of aforementioned back-patting:

And if we re-read Ben Stein’s words here again and again (as I have)…we may still not quite comprehend the full implications of his thoughts. But keep trying, if you misunderstood them…it’s worth it. (emphasis, amazingly, in the original)

Oh boy…

Update: Oh crap. Score one for Orac and Elsberry. It seems that the somewhat loopy post I referenced has fallen down the memory hole, along with all its comments. Additionally, the movie’s associated production company Rampant Films is looking decidedly curious. After someone tried to stop by their offices, only to find residential apartments, their address vanished from the contact section of their website.

Update2: Walt Ruloff, the movie’s executive producer, has done an interview with Intelligent Design the Future. Another producer, Mark Mathis, is curiously mum about the issue of misrepresenting himself and his production during interviews.

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