EMA honors Stein with Freedom of Expression
By Cheryl Cheng -- Video Business,06/10/2008
JUNE 10 | Known for his outspoken economic and political beliefs, writer, actor, filmmaker, economist and lawyer Ben Stein will be honored with the Freedom of Expression Award at the Entertainment Merchants Assn.’s Home Entertainment Awards on June 24.
Stein
The Freedom of Expression Award, whose past recipients include George Carlin and the Smothers Brothers, recognizes those in the home entertainment industry who have spoken out on political, social and cultural issues.
Stein recently hosted documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which examines the conflict between intelligent design and evolutionists. Vivendi Entertainment will release the film on DVD on Oct. 21.
“Just being a conservative in Hollywood categorizes Ben Stein as courageous,” said Bo Andersen, EMA president. “But more, he has fearlessly articulated, as only he can, views that would be considered provocative by many and established himself a leading conservative voice in the nation. In his latest cinematic work, Ben Stein boldly and without equivocation, embraces a free speech stance and a different world view in the discussion of intelligent design versus evolution. He has made a profound impact on free public discourse, and EMA is honored to present him with our Freedom of Expression Award.”
Other Home Entertainment Award honorees include independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom, who will receive the Independent Career Achievement award; actor Cam Gigandet, with the Rising Male Star of the Year Award; and Happy Days duo Don Most and Anson Williams, with the Legendary Television Duo Award. Actor Ed Begley Jr. will receive the Humanitarian Award, and comedian Pauly Shore has been named Comedy Entertainer of the Year. In a salute to classic TV, EMA will honor Paul Petersen, who starred as Donna Reed’s son in the popular ’50s and ’60 series The Donna Reed Show, with the Legendary Television Son Award.
The awards show will be held during EMA’s Home Media Expo, which will take place June 24-26 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
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| Submitted by: | Chris Watson (Chris@TheBicyclingGuitarist.net) 6/11/2008 1:06:34 AM PT |
| Location: | Roseburg, Oregon |
| Occupation: | The Bicycling Guitarist |
I agree completely with Paul Burnett's comment. It shames your organization to praise Ben Stein for this film. I admire the Smothers Brothers and George Carlin. Some of their comedy as social satire may have helped improve our world. Ben Stein's film, on the other hand, is anti-American, anti-humanity, and in my opinion, anti-God. Shame on you for honoring this guy. I used to think Ben Stein had some brains. Either I was wrong all along, or perhaps he has suffered some type of brain damage.
| Submitted by: | Paul Burnett 6/10/2008 9:02:48 PM PT |
| Location: | Alameda, CA (an island in San Francisco Bay) |
| Occupation: | Retired Federal Employee |
Did anybody on the nominating committee check out www.expelledexposed.com, which proves that essentially every sentence spoken in Stein's movie is untrue? Did anybody check with any actual science organizations (AAAS, NAS, etc) on the scientific vacuity of intelligent design creationism?
So Ben exercised his right to Freedom of Expression to slander evolution, but he could as easily have chosen to slander astronomy and "prove" that astrology is true, or that believers in the demonic-possession theory of disease are being persecuted by believers in the germ theory of disease, or that believers in geocentrism are being persecuted by believers of heliocentrism - but what if it's just an exercise in propaganda which happens not to be true?
The box office returns alone tell the story - the movie made about half what the producers predicted, and was seen by about one-third of one per cent of Americans, and those mostly anti-science fundamentalists. (Look at the pre-release marketing to see who the movie was aimed at.)
From the content, it's hard to tell if this some sort of parody. But parody or not, somebody has been scammed.
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