I was reading this news article today. It discusses the fact that “Creation”, the new movie about the life of Charles Darwin has failed to secure a US distributor, as his theory of evolution has been deemed “too controversial” for American audiences. When I was done weeping over that particular extreme fact of Fail (which probably deserves an isabigot.com post of its own–though “American movie audiences” feels like too broad a target for one), I decided to investigate the assertion the article made concerning Movieguide.org. Specifically:
Christian review website Movieguide.org has branded Darwin as “a racist, a bigot and a 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder”.
After a little searching on Movieguide.org, I found the reference, here. It’s illustrative to reprint the referenced paragraph in its entirety:
DARWIN’S RACISTS – YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW exposes the real Charles Darwin: a racist, a bigot and 1800′s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder. This well written book shows that Adolf Hitler, along with other genocidal mass murderers, was influenced by Darwin’s half-baked Theory of Evolution. This book exposes Darwin’s Theory of Evolution for what it is: an elitist and racist dogma that has infiltrated our every area of culture thereby undermining sense and sensibility.
See, this was one of those cases where I had figured the article was making inflated claims, or decontextualizing a statement inappropriately. Nope. Turns out the source material is being referenced euphemistically, if anything. So what the fuck is Movieguide.org’s deal? Originally a biweekly journal, it was founded by M. Robert E. Theodore Baehr, a manifestly insane right-wing fundamentalist Christian nutjob if ever there were one. He currently serves as its publisher and Editor-in-Chief. While the site’s stated mission is “helping parents use informed judgment when deciding what entertainment products are suitable for their families’ enjoyment” (noxious enough), its real job is, as evidenced, the dissemination of right wing Christian hate speech.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Baehr’s public relations company, “Kairos Marketing”, is apparently in the business of accepting payment for “consulting and promotional activities” on behalf of movies “reviewed” in Movieguide. Movies for which payment are accepted are always reviewed positively. If Kairos is not strictly speaking part of Good News Communications (the non-profit that publishes Movieguide), Kairos does “donate” to Good News Communications, and both organizations have the same face on the flag. It’s a clear example of Baehr using the site’s popularity with vagina farm Bible-hugging lunatics to feather his own nest. A hilariously familiar story that grows even more comical when you realize that Movieguide.org is desperately attempting to portray itself as some morally righteous “Hollywood watchdog.” When Baehr got totally busted in 2004 for his two-faced shilling (by a fellow Christian rag, no less), his response served as testimony to the lawyer he once was:
“We’ve lent our expertise to many movies – gratis, for the sake of helping God’s kingdom advance in this industry. In a few cases, after we approve of and review the movie according to our stringent criteria, we have been remunerated for our services through a sister organization set up for this purpose to help underwrite the extra time these promotional efforts required.”
Nice job, Doctor Goebbels. I mean Baehr. Drop us a line if you ever want to stop lying, being a greedy shill, poisoning people’s minds with filth, and publishing slanderous attacks on brilliant scientists who happen to be long dead. We’ll give you a job in our legal department.
Shining shoes.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for that, Einstein.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Baehr is a complete idiot. Apparently he is also a closetted homosexual but I dont know if that is true or not.
October 27th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Ted Baehr is doing a great job. I am glad to see he is stirring up the stew, it shows there is a little life left in the pot.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Nice to see someone so comfortable openly celebrating facism and slander.
July 11th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
I’m sorry JAYE, but you are a brainwashed idiotic conservative. Ted Dickface must be stopped before he possesses the world with his christian, rascist, anti-gay, anti-EVERYTHING, pro-palin bullshit. He said “The Last Airbender” was more inapproiate than “Predators” because, of reincarnation or some shit. Jesus Christ.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:11 am
I know someone who used to work for Ted Baehr. He requires his employees to call him “Dr.” Baehr, even though he is neither an MD nor a Ph.D. Baehr bullies his employees and even threatens them with violence. He’s a charlatan and an egomaniac. It’s a shame he misguides so many sincere, well-meaning Christians with messages of hate and self-righteousness.
November 8th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Ted graduated summa cum laude in Comparative Literature and as a Rufus Choate Scholar from Dartmouth College. He then received a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law, where he served as Editor of the NYU Law School newspaper. I think calling him Dr. is appropriate.
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I love Movieguide.org it has helped me decide what movies to allow my children to see and what was not appropriate. I would like to know who decides the age allowed to see the content in certain movies, that decision should be up to the parents not Hollywood, that is why Ted Baehr’s input is VERY IMPORTANT to me!!
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Is Ted Baehr the parent of your children? It sounds to me like you’re giving him the same power you claim it’s wrong to give Hollywood. You should probably be aware, if you’re not already, the Hollywood doesn’t rate its own movies- people do. The selection for a ratings board works similarly to a jury selection.
Instead of relying on someone else to decide what’s good for your children, why not pay attention to the things they want to watch or read, watch it yourself, then decide if it’s appropriate.
July 11th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Exactly.
July 11th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Lady, think. If your children see “The Last Airbender” which got a -4 on shitguide.org, they’re not gonna die, or WORSE, turn into black people (which I know you hate since you like that site.)
January 13th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Yes, “Ted Baehr is a vampire, he eats kids hearts, he’s actually Hitler who snuck in the US from Brazil after escaping from Germany.” Come on lots of ad hominems. Is this the best we can do? You guys are disgrace to us freethinkers everywhere. The xian fundy’s are going to crucify us with this sort of logic. If you dont like Baehrs private website dont use it. Stop whining for crying out loud. Or deal with the real arguments about why Darwin was not responsible for Hitler. That’s where I spend my energy, not whining like some imbeccillic vain frustrated prima donna teenager.
January 13th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
This comment would have merited a response were it produced by someone using a less obvious-troll pseudonym.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
How is Ad Hominem an obvious pseudonym ?
January 15th, 2010 at 5:57 am
*pat head*
July 11th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
It’s not my fault he’s destroying the universe.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:59 am
I am a Christian, and I love this article. So don’t led Ted Baehr and the rest of those fundamentalist bigots mask the truth underneath the religious institution. Any belief that becomes an organized pseudo-corporation is a religion. Jesus stood for a way of living and never advocated any “religion” whatsoever. In fact – he lived his life against the establishment – so Ted Baehr smells more like a pharisee than anything else.
February 5th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
I agree with Hville. I am a Christian, but I bear no resemblance to Ted Baehr. So many “christians” who are judgemental these days, give us a bad name, and distract everyone from the True Jesus. You are right , he is a Pharisee, stay away from him. Fundamentalists like Baehr, and the “religious right” are a cancer on the true followers of Jesus. so sad
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I just stumbled across Baehr’s website, and thought it was okay until I noticed that, in the ‘News’, there’s an article about how ‘homosexuals are more likely to be rapists’. Then I Googled him, and it was a never-ending stream of crazy.
It isn’t fair that he should be allowed to maintain his site while posting such bizarrely unnecessary and obviously bigoted articles.
My favourite thing about the generation I’m growing up in is that there are so many people from different religions, genders and sexualities who accept each other without question, and recognise that views like Baehr’s are wrong almost automatically.
July 11th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Are you serious about that article? I…unbelievable…what an ass.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Screw giving contributions to restore Balbwin. Unlike Baldwin I am a good Christine man that rarely drinks and has never done drugs. I became my mother’s caretaker the last five years of her life until she passed away last April. During this time I took care of her through a broken shoulder, lung cancer, congestive heart failure, heart attack, stroke, and finally a compression fracture that ended her life. While taking care of her I lost my small business, spent all my savings, cashed in my retirement funds, and had two heart attacks myself, the last one just two months ago. Now I can’t seem to find work, my car broke down and doesn’t run, have no health insurance, and the bills are building. Nobody is rushing to help me!!!!!
July 11th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
PRIME DIRECTIVE 1.: DESTROY TED BAEHR BEFORE HE BRAINWASHES THE WORLD WITH HIS CONSERVATIVE BULLSHIT.
PRIME DIRECTIVE 2.: STOP GLOBAL WARMING.
Yeah, it’s that important.
October 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 pm
You people haven’t a clue. Thanks Ted for a job well done. And try to come up with a new word. It seems everyone is a bigot these days . . .
October 27th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Fuck racisme !
January 21st, 2011 at 12:46 pm
I was doing a search on Ted Baehr and stumbled on this post.
What a total lack of actually stating “facts” to establish a case.
January 24th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I know. Isn’t Ted shocking.
October 23rd, 2011 at 2:17 am
It is great that we have so much freedom that you can rant and rant about Ted Baehr without producing anything but an obviously nastier set of beliefs than what you have accused him of having… The good news is I’ll support you in your wacked out beliefs because you are entitled to them. Just don’t think you’re fooling anyone… Hey here’s a newsflash – Ted Baehr isn’t perfect, and he doesn’t pretend to be. He’s trying to keep kids from watching the trash that Hollywood puts out.. Another news flash – Hollywood puts out more TRASH than they do family friendly movies, tv’s or websites. Give him a break, and beware of glass houses.
October 28th, 2011 at 9:31 am
As I once said to Charles, “Charles, with this book (Origin of Species) you have killed God.”
However, as doggedly as I pursued this quest to eliminate God from all that exists, we were never able to find a satisfactory answer to explain how anything could possibly come from nothing. And when we begin with nature only, any personality ascribed to man would essentially be meaningless. Man would always remain a zero, like everything else for that matter, nothing would have any meaning or purpose.
We worked to rationalize our claims of natural selection as the driving force of Evolution, but ultimately we found nothing could explain everything, nor for anything that could explain Man sufficiently. Charles was apoplectic til his death over this.
Every possible philosophical avenue was traveled and examined. The findings were startling. For if man is the result of nature only(natural selection, Evolution), then there is nothing in his behavior that is not the continual results of being naturally selected- nature evolving ever higher!
The results of this natural determination toward the perfection of man, and even beyond, left us realizing that any socio-cultural advance is only the product of intergroup conflict and competition and the socially elect classes, those possessing wealth and power, possess a biological superiority in the struggle for our existence.
We did not consider that someone like Chancellor Hitler could be such an enthusiastic and literal follower of these concepts. But under close inspection of Charles’ theory of natural selection, we had no way to determine right from wrong, and Heir Hitler was just as natural a rational result as anything else might be.
Crazy world, huh?
November 18th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Are you serious ? Racism again…