Censorship of IMAX Films Threatens Integrity of Science, Leader Says

[question everything]

Censorship of IMAX Films Threatens Integrity of Science, Leader Says

Tue Mar 29,12:42 PM ET

The leader of the world's largest organization of scientists said the suppression of some IMAX films because they run counter to religion threatens the integrity of science and public education.

Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and executive publisher of the journal Science, sent a letter Monday to 410 members of the Association of Science-Technology Centers. The letter prompted by recent reports that Imax theaters in at least a dozen U.S. cities have declined to show films that endorse the science of evolution.

"We are writing now to express strong concerns about increasing threats to science that endanger our shared missions and to offer our support and partnership in dealing with them," Leshner's article said.

Some IMAX theatres have refused to show movies that mention evolution or the Big Bang because the ideas contradict the Bible, according to a March 19 article in The New York Times. The protests involve a dozen or fewer theaters, but the effect could be significant because only a few dozen IMAX theatres exhibit science documentaries.

(snip)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&e=8&u=/space/20050329/sc_space/censorshipofimaxfilmsthreatensintegrityofscienceleadersays

[silverweb]

1. Good.

This needs as much circulation and publicity as it can get. I've ranked the article a 5.

Allowing any amount of control to end up in the hands of the fundie fascists is very, very dangerous.

[tubbacheez]

2. Goodness, the country's getting dumber by the week. n/t

[westcor]

3. Man..

You guys are very right, if they dont believe in Science I dont know what to tell them. They might think the planet is 6,000 years old or whatever, but science goes against that. Once Bush turns off gravity, maybe then I will believe them...

[Selteri]

13. We should do what we've always done to these

non thinking individuals who only parrot things.

Give them a cracker and put a blanket over them so they go to sleep because it's dark.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Thanks for posting, question -- nt

[ninty]

5. I agree with the article

It's really a shame, because in this instance, the film is about volcanoes, not evolution. It bothers me when people decide to overlook facts and insert their own.

I don't have any real problems with religion, both religion and science can coincide, but when we have evangelicals dictating to others what is right and wrong, what they can watch, it angers me.

Another story on this topic can be found here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/uspoliticsreligion

[mainer]

6. Check out the cool "Live Science" links at the bottom of the article

has articles on evolution vs creationism and the "top ten" vestigial limbs!

[jojo54]

7. The MSM contol is getting tighter and tighter by the day

It's a disgrace. Pretty soon we won't be allowed to think for ourselves.........oh wait a minute, that's already happening!


Welcome Westcor!

[w13rd0]

8. The Wisconsin Wahabbists...

...have let out the clarion call. They've been told it's "war", and there are "good patriotic christian republicans" and then there are the "terrorists, liberals and judges".

It's pretty damned frightening.

[SnowGoose]

9. And who exactly is forcing people to go to these theaters?

As proponents of RW hate radio like to say, "why don't you just change the channel?" I don't understand why someone's desire not to hear about a particular scientific theory or discovery should preclude *me* from the opportunity to hear about it.

I've been a vegetarian for many years, but I've never said that no one else should be allowed to eat meat.

And what about all the violence and "filth" (to borrow a term) in the *regular* theaters? If hearing that scientists think the earth is older than you believe is so terrible, how is it that these communities can tolerate all the crap that mainstream movies offer?

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

10. In conflict with the Bible, hunh? Are slavery & death for work on Sun. ok

There's plenty of backwards-assed shit in the Bible that would NOW BE CONSIDERED CRIMINAL, so why do creationism myths share some sort of special protection from REALITY?

I'm so sick of Xtian fundies! Bring on the rapture, please...

JB

[Kimber Scott]

11. I just had to edit the boobs out of my Venus de Milo depiction in a wall

mural. Why is it these people can just waltz around, say they don't like something, or are offended by something, or don't believe something and everybody just bows down to them? What are we afraid of - their godly power?

The religious right is bound and determined to send us back to the dark ages, along with the Middle East. We have got to stop molly-coddling them. The only power they have is that we give them.

I could not fight for my Venus. I don't own the wall she's painted on, but this inordinate fear of the religious fundamentalists is going to cost us so much in the way of our democracy, it is truly frightening. More frightening than their wrath, to be sure.

[WindRavenX]

12. The IMAX executives have GOT to stop catering to the fundies

You know what? They should just tell them to piss off.
Science is quickly becoming viewed as witchcraft in this country, and it's DAMNED scary.

[Logiola]

14. It is not IMAx that is doing the complaining,

it is the theatres that rent imax systems off of Imax corp

[Zorra]

15. The fundies are as crazy as Charlie Manson and equally as dangerous.n/t

[daleo]

16. Will Microsoft be boycotted by 6000 year old earthers?

In my area, they have rolled out a series of ads talking about the evolution of software, featuring business people with dinosaur masks on their heads. Fundamentalists should boycott Microsoft, to be consistent. Although they might have too much trouble sending mailouts of begging letters if they did.