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Originally Posted by aberkok
O.K., your point is basically a good one, but I have a couple of my own to make. Firstly, the way you answered Stein's questions was great. Open minded and thoughtful, but his way of questioning was not designed to get those kind of answers. They are questions that lead one to certain responses which back up the agenda of the person asking - "leading" questions.
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First, thanks for the compliment.
Second, the way I answered the questions indicates they weren't quite as leading as Stein wanted. Let someone like Thomas Sowell or George Will fashion the questions, and I suspect there will be less "wiggle room".
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Keep in mind that Socrates and Jesus were both characters in books/philosophical writings. So, if they were asking questions, there was definitely an agenda being pushed by the authors.
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We disagree about the existence of both, I see.
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In both cases, there was never a list of leading questions being asked. There was always a full context to the question. In the case of the dialogues, Socrates would ask many questions in the way a computer tech support person does: trying to arrive at the truth by the process of elimination. This is far from what Ben Stein is doing.
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I agree, Stein didn't do a good job in what I think he set out to do.
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Questions maybe an effective method of teaching, but I've never been convinced that Ben Stein could be a person I could learn from. Maybe he should stick to trivia.
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I'm convinced that Stein is more of a Republican than a conservative, and the two are not always in harmony with each other. At the same time, he is unquestionably bright in many areas, including the economy, so to dismiss him completely is an underestimation. He doesn't try to disguise his bias, and I always appreciate that from someone that is giving an opinion.