My question:
What is the movie's main point?
My comments:
As for the question of firing somebody for dissenting views, in an amoral
capitalist economy the value of labor is measured by perceived supply and
demand (just like everything else).
So in the case of an employee expressing a dissenting opinion against the
opinions of those in positions of authority over employees and/or other
employees, those in positions of authority will often weigh the following
aspects (among other unmentioned factors) in deciding whether to take
action.
If the employee's opinion is considered 'offensive' then:
- Does the employee's value to the organization exceed the socio-political
'liability' of the offending opinion expressed?
- Does the employee's expressed opinion offend employees considered
valuable
to the organization, and if so then how many employees are offended?
- Does the employee's expressed opinion create a hostile working
environment
for others?
- Does the employee express offending opinion in a disruptive manner to
the
productivity of the organization?
All of the above are considered legal and proper grounds for dismissal.
If the employee's opinion is considered 'offensive' to one or more
employees
with the authority to fire employees, and does not fall under the above
laundry list of legal and proper grounds for dismissal, then are those
employees offended by the employee's 'offensive' opinion, with authority
to
fire employees, dismissing the offending employee:
- for strictly personal reasons?
- even if the offending employee is an otherwise valuable asset to the
organization and his or her dismissal can be proven to financially harm
the
organization?
- for reasons violating labor laws pertaining to race, *** or other
unlawful
reasons for termination?
Note that if the employee's opinion is considered 'offensive' and is
proven
to meet one of the criteria in the first list of legitimate business
reasons
for firing, but just so happens to also meet the criteria in the second
list
of illegitimate reasons for firing, then the firing is usually lawful.
Example #1: A woman cannot claim firing for reasons of *** if the reason
for
firing is legitimate, just because she happens to be a member of a
protected
class by reason of ***.
Example #2: A black individual or individual of a minority cannot claim
firing for reasons of race or other minority status if the reason for
firing
is legitimate, just because he or she happens to be a member of said
protected racial or minority class.
My comments demonstrate there must be more to 'Expelled' than meets the
eye,
which is why I ask what is the film's main point?
"Shrike" <baboon@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:0NyWj.10027$mc1.2528@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "Should I be worried about the Crips and the Bloods up here?" These
> were the first words out of the mouth of Ben Stein as he entered my
> office at Skeptic magazine, located in the racially mixed
> neighborhood of Altadena, Calif. I cringed and hoped that the two
> African-American women in my employ were out of earshot of what was
> perhaps merely Stein's ham-handed attempt at humor before he began
> interviewing me for what I was told was a film on the intersection of
> science and religion entitled Crossroads.
> That is not what the interview was about. And neither is the film,
> now called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The subtitle exposes
> its motif-intelligent design has been expelled from classrooms and
> culture, and Ben Stein sees a sinister conspiracy at work. This
> supercilious financial columnist and ersatz actor and game show host
> proceeded to grill me on whether or not I think someone should be
> fired for expressing dissenting views. My answer: it depends. Who is
> being fired for what, when and where? People are usually fired for
> reasons having to do with budgetary constraints, incompetence or
> failure to fulfill the terms of a contract. If you are hired to teach
> biology according to the curriculum standards of your school district
> but instead spend the semester telling students that science has no
> definitive explanation for DNA, wings, eyes, brains and that mystery
> of mysteries-bacteria flagella-then, yes, you should be fired
> posthaste. But I know of no instance in which this has happened, and
> the film's examples of such alleged abuses have reasonable
> explanations detailed at www.expelledexposed.com, where Eugenie Scott
> and her tireless crew at the National Center for Science Education
> have tracked down the specifics of each case.
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