What are the odds Ben Affleck would refer to Muslims who believe literally in the Koran as "Neanderthals?" But when it comes to Christians . . .
As NewsBuster Geoffrey Dickens has noted, Affleck appeared on yesterday evening's edition of Hardball. And while it's true that the actor/director/Dem activist offered a generally innocuous analysis, he did manage to engage in a bit of religious bigotry.
Affleck's foul foray arose in the course of his discussion of the way the various Republican candidates have dealt with the issue of evolution and creationism. Talk turned to the former governor of Arkansas.
BEN AFFLECK: I think Huckabee actually framed his position in a much less dramatic way than had been made out. Which was he said it could be six days, or it could be six epochs, which I thought was much more along the kind of intelligent design lines than his position had been cast. In other words, he had been made out to a little bit of a kind of like a real sort of Neanderthal about it, a literalist.
View video here.
For the record, "Neanderthal," used as a slang term as by Affleck, is defined to mean "crude, boorish, or slow-witted."
I wonder if Affleck realizes how many millions of his fans he's insulting as "Neanderthals"? According to a 2004 study reported here, "61 percent of Americans believe the account of creation in the Bible's book of Genesis is literally true rather than a story meant as a lesson." Did Affleck intentionally add insult to injury by using what evolutionists see as one of homo sapiens' evolutionary ancestors to describe believers in creationism?
ASIDE:Someone tell Ben to lay off the self-deprecating, aw-shucks routine. Repeatedly during the interview he downplayed the worth of his opinions, saying, for example that he was speaking "from my point of view, not an expert but just a kind of everyday fellow." If Affleck doesn't feel he has worthwhile opinions to offer, why accept an invitation to offer them?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
