“Imagine”: Stanford Law School group takes on Yoko Ono
The Fair Use Project of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society has signed on to defend a film producer’s right to use a clip of John Lennon’s song “Imagine” in its documentary “Expelled:No Intelligence Allowed” for the purposes of commentary and criticism.
The film, released last month, “is about alleged discrimination against people who supportalternative theories of evolution such as intelligent design. The song is played for roughly15 seconds to illustrate and criticize the ideas suggested in it – that the world might be a better place without religion,” according to a press release put out by Stanford today.
Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono Lennon and sons Sean and Julian, along with EMI Blackwood Music, have filed suit claiming that Premise Media’s unauthorized use of the song violates copyright and trademark law.
“The right to quote from copyrighted works in order to criticize them and discuss the views they may represent lies at the heart of the fair use doctrine,” said Anthony Falzone,executive director of the Fair Use Project, in a statement with the release. “These rights are under attack here, and we plan to defend them.”
Among the interviews in the documentary is University of Minnesota biology professor P.Z.Myers, who does not support alternative theories of evolution. The excerpt of Lennon’s hit song, which is said to be audible for approximately 15 seconds (we haven’t seen the film), “is used in a segment of the documentary in which the film’s narrator and author Ben Stein comments on statements made by Myers and others about the place of religion. In the documentary Stein says: ‘Dr. Myers would like you to think that he’s being original but he’s merely lifting a page out of John Lennon’s songbook.’ ” Stein’s comment is followed by an audio clip of Lennon’s song, including the lyrics “Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too.”
Interesting, but Stein’s comment begs the question, did the professor actually get his idea from Lennon’s song, and was John Lennon the first one to express it?
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Ben Stein is a joke, but not the kind that makes you laugh.
Stein is pandering and presents only misinformation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgdvdDXZog4
Ben Stein is an intelligent financial economist with multiple dimensions to his personality. One of those dimensions is an important role that religion plays at the core of who he is. To dismiss him out of hand is to make childish accusations that does no one any good. I respect Ben Stein and appreciate his views on many topics - including intelligent design. I look forward to seeing his movie soon.
Mike, Steins conclusion that the evolution theory led to Hitler’s holocaust is ignorant and reckless. Google Martin Luther’s “On the Jews and their Lies” to understand how antisemitism was cooking for 400 years before Hitler ever arrived on the scene (if you have the stomach, it is a vile diatribe against the jews). The catholics were just as bad in the same time frame with their Inquisitioned forced conversions etc. Before you call someone else childish, look around in your own crib.
“Ben Stein is an intelligent financial economist with multiple dimensions to his personality. One of those dimensions is an important role that religion plays at the core of who he is.” Let us actually look at Stein’s outlook on religion. When interviewed by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Stein stated “Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.” This is the type of remark one would expect from a religious fundamentalist, who thinks that science (which has caused many to question religious stories about our origins) is intrinsically bad. In fact, the official Wedge document of the Intelligent Design movement is based upon the notion that science has caused people to lose faith, and we must therefore overturn science and replace it with a Christian theological world view. This was all discussed at the Dover, PA trial of Intelligent Design (an event never mentioned, as far as I can see, in Stein’s film).