Ben stone

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ben Stein speaks at a national summit on retirement reserves (2006)

Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein (born November 25, 1944 in Washington, DC ) is an American actor , author , lawyer and commentator on political and economic topics. He used to be a successful speechwriter for Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford . He later moved into the entertainment industry and became an actor, comedian, and Emmy Award- winning game show host.

Stein often wrote comments on economic, political and social issues, as well as financial advice for individual investors. He is the son of Herbert Stein , an economist who worked in the White House under President Nixon. His sister Rachel is also a writer.

Life

Ben Stein speaks at Miami University in 2003

Ben Stein is the son of Mildred (nee Fishman), a housewife, and Herbert Stein, a writer, economist, and adviser to the President. He is of Jewish descent and grew up in the Woodside Forest neighborhood of Silver Spring , Maryland . He graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in 1961 ; one of his classmates was the future journalist Carl Bernstein , the future actress Goldie Hawn was two years behind them. He then majored in economics at Columbia College, Columbia University and became a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and the Philolexian Society, a literary society. After graduating with honors from Columbia in 1966, he went to Yale Law School , completed his studies there in 1970 and was finally elected valedictorian by his class .

Political career

Stein became a speechwriter and legal advisor to Richard Nixon and later President Gerald Ford. Even after the Watergate scandal, he stood by Nixon and publicly condemned the revelers Mark Felt and Bob Woodward . He hopes these will be punished in this life or in a later life.

In a 2005 interview with the American Spectator , Stein said :

Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam , brought home the POWs, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Administration . Does anyone remember what he did that was bad? Oh, now I remember. Hey song. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office and keep his agenda of peace going. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace. And he succeeded. That is his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, conniving, covering up peacemaker. He was not a lying, conniving drug addict like JFK , a lying, conniving war starter like LBJ , a lying, conniving seducer like Clinton —a lying, conniving peacemaker.

“Can anyone remember what Nixon is supposed to have done so terrible? He ended the Vietnam War , brought the prisoners of war home, and ended the war in the Middle East. He forged ties with China and began implementing the first nuclear disarmament treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, and founded the US Environmental Protection Agency. Was that so bad? Oh now I remember He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates, who exposed a ridiculous break-in that no one knew what purpose it was used for. He lied to stay in office and so on to serve peace. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to create a world where a generation would live in peace and he succeeded. That's his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, scheming, disguising peacemaker. He wasn't lying to cover up drug addiction like JFK , he wasn't a lying war starter like LBJ , a lying seducer like Clinton - (but) a lying peacemaker. "

- Ben Stein

In an interview he gave in 2008 to the right-wing radio presenter Glenn Beck , Stein compared Barack Obama's election campaign in Invesco Field with Adolf Hitler's Nazi party rally in Nuremberg.

Career in show business

Ben Stein initially worked as a consultant for several Hollywood films. In 1986 director John Hughes gave him a supporting role in the hit teen comedy Ferris Makes Blue . As an economics teacher who speaks in a monotonous voice, Stein gives a lecture on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act , with which he bores his class to death. Stein improvised his lines entirely in this scene. Since then, Stein has regularly completed supporting roles or cameos in American films and television series, with the monotonous voice becoming his constant trademark. Among other things, he played the psychologist Dr. Neuman in The Mask (1994) and the sequel The Mask 2: The Next Generation (2006); he was also seen in the comedies Ein Ticket für Zwei (1987) and Ghostbusters II (1989). He also appeared in series such as Seinfeld , Full House , MacGyver and Family Guy . He also played in several television commercials.

From 1997 to 2003 he hosted the quiz show Win Ben Stein's Money , which ran on Comedy Central and for which he won several Emmy Awards . Jimmy Kimmel impersonated his assistant. In 2007 he also hosted the reality show America's Most Smartest Model . Occasionally he also works as a screenwriter, for example for the television series America or the television film Murder in Mississippi .

Views on evolution and science

Stein has publicly condemned the theory of evolution , which he and other intelligent design proponents call "Darwinism" and which, in his opinion, represents "a painful, bloody chapter in the history of ideologies"; in addition, it is "currently the most compelling argument for imperialism " and was the inspiration for the Holocaust . Stein believes that the theory of evolution alone does not lead to genocide, but that scientific materialism is an important part. He is co-writer and cast member of the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed , which tries to convince viewers that Darwin's theory was crucial to the rise of eugenics , the Third Reich and ultimately the Holocaust and portrays intelligent design advocates as victims of intellectual discrimination by the scientific community, which rejects intelligent design as a creationist pseudoscience.

The general media reaction to Stein's film was largely negative. The reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website resulted in an overall rating of 9%; many reviews described the film as propaganda .

The Anti-Defamation League was very critical of the film and accused Stein of abusing the Holocaust:

"Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry."

"Using the Holocaust to defame those who advocate the theory of evolution is unheard of and trivializes the complexity of the factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry."

- Anti-Defamation League

In an interview on Christian TV station Trinity Broadcasting Network between Ben Stein and spokesman Paul Crouch Jr. regarding Stein's controversial documentary, he made the following statement about science and religion:

“When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers, talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relative saw scientists telling them what to do [,] they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed [...] that was horrifying beyond words, and that's where science - in my opinion, this is just an opinion - that's where science leads you. "

“When we just saw this man, I think it was Mr. Myers , talking about how great scientists are, I thought about each of my relatives seeing a scientist one last time, telling them what they were should do: they told them to go to the showers to be gassed [...] that was horrific, beyond words, and that's where science - in my opinion, it's just an opinion, is that where science leads you. "

Private life

Stein is married for the second time to media law attorney Alexandra Denman, with whom he has an adopted son. He lives with her in Beverly Hills and Malibu , California ; He also owns a summer home in Sandpoint , Idaho , and an apartment in the Watergate complex in Washington DC that he inherited from his parents.

Filmography

Web links

Commons : Ben Stein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Ben Stein  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stein, Ben: " Deep Throat and Genocide ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. " , "The American Spectator," June 1, 2005 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spectator.org
  2. ↑ Deep Throat and Genocide ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spectator.org
  3. ↑ The Truth About eSStonia . In: The Economist , October 16, 2007. 
  4. ↑ Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008). Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved March 3, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust , Anti-Defamation League . April 29, 2008. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved April 30, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.adl.org 
  6. ^ Science Equals Murder
personal data
SURNAME Stone, ben
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stein, Benjamin Jeremy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, writer, and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH November 25, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, DC