The FARMS Membership "Upgrade"

[_moksha]

In the spirit of the Liahona Class Membership, I think a secret decoder ring, to receive special messages for Dr. Peterson is in order.

[_Boaz & Lidia]

Once again, we have the anonymous smear. I was the one who brought GoodK's public humiliation of his then-dying sister and of his father to the attention of his father, who is a good friend. Smear me, you boor.

And I'd suppose you are also good friends with Daniel. Do you have any automatic weapons which you regret stashing in a neighbor's gun cabinet?

Explain to me why you are here? Folks like you and DCP are a great curiosity of mine. You and he regard us and this board as nothing but a bunch of lying deceitful apostates swimming in a cesspool of filth, YET you remain and attempt to defend that which we know is not defensible.

[_rcrocket]

"lying deceitful apostates swimming in a cesspool of filth"

I've never said that. I think this board has its share of lies, but I think those who inhabit this board suffer from lack of knowledge. Hence, they really can't lie about Mormon doctrine of history -- they just don't know.

Those who really know, and thus whom could lie (Metcalf, Vogel, Ashment) aren't here. I would characterize this place as a confederacy of dunces.

I'd suppose you are also good friends with Daniel

No I'm not. I was forced out of lds-apologetics when I disagreed with him. Not forced out by him, but by his friends.

Do you have any automatic weapons which you regret stashing in a neighbor's gun cabinet?

I don't believe in guns, well, not much.

[_Gadianton]

No I'm not. I was forced out of lds-apologetics when I disagreed with him. Not forced out by him, but by his friends.

This confirms so much of what I've already suspected. I know it might make me unpopular among some of my fellow critics, but even though rcrocket has pulled his fair share of WTFs and been cruel at times to posters I don't think should have been on the receiving end, I've always maintained he's a good man.

I'm not surprised at all that he became unpopular amongst the apologists. I'm not surprised at all to find out that once again, Dr. Peterson's behavior is "chaotically neutral" and that he gave in to peer pressure.

And I'm really, really not surprised to find out that Peterson's friends burned a fellow Latter-Day Saint out of the canyon so to speak.

In the end I can't see it as anything but positive, I think rcrocket is better off without those negative influences in his life.

[_rcrocket]

No I'm not. I was forced out of lds-apologetics when I disagreed with him. Not forced out by him, but by his friends.

This confirms so much of what I've already suspected. I know it might make me unpopular among some of my fellow critics, but even though rcrocket has pulled his fair share of WTFs and been cruel at times to posters I don't think should have been on the receiving end, I've always maintained he's a good man.

I'm not surprised at all that he became unpopular amongst the apologists. I'm not surprised at all to find out that once again, Dr. Peterson's behavior is "chaotically neutral" and that he gave in to peer pressure.

And I'm really, really not surprised to find out that Peterson's friends burned a fellow Latter-Day Saint out of the canyon so to speak.

In the end I can't see it as anything but positive, I think rcrocket is better off without those negative influences in his life.

Don't overstate things.

Apologia is rather pluralistic. Dr. Peterson does not have a cadre of sycophants who do all his bidding, implicit or otherwise. Those who are loyal to the Church and who post with their real names don't always agree with each other in private list settings.

And, could it be that I am pretending to be on the "outs" just to gain credibility you have benighted me with here?

[_Gadianton]

Even more curious, "Liahona"-level donors get "All Printed Publications." To this, is say: What??!?

Scratch,

Given how tired I was last night, I knew I could not unravel the sheer complexity of the FARMS pricing structure, I didn't even try. I'm trying to get underneath it this morning, a little exhausting.

As I look carefully at that chart I begin to feel sick from the jarring twists and turns down in that dark rabbit hole. But I think I have it. I believe I've cracked the code. I too was dizzyed over the big-dollar upgrade to "Liahona" and as all I could see was the shadow of the fundraiser behind that chart, I almost felt too uneasy to concentrate.

But here's what I think's going on. And you'd better be sitting in a comfortable chair because this is quite shocking, and I had not anticipated it.

On a slide I created showing some of the business flows of apologetics a few weeks ago, I noted that the work MI does to translate mundane medical texts from Arabic and so on is a diversionary tactic to bolster the credibility of the MI. But now I see it serves another purpose.

What I'm about to reveal is even more surreal when you ponder: Who in their right mind has a demand for both hardcore smear attacks on church critics and obscure Arabic medical texts from the middle ages, so much so that they shop for the two as a complete package?

You'd think they were complimentary goods everyone is into considering that when you load the pricing page, the "liahona" level of membership has already been selected for you.

It just wouldn't make sense if you didn't have that last column. You see, the secondary work of FARMS, the obscure translations and so on, are obviously considered real scholarship and are therefore support for this scholarship is tax deductable. The staple of FARMS, the heated polemics against critics, is not tax deductable as it's not scholarship.

In order to milk as much as possible out of potential marks, the tax deduction becomes a big selling point. How can you put a monetary value on the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls? You can't. It can be worth whatever make up, it's intangible.

To get the biggest donations then, you need to offer the tax breaks. So, we'll just say the translation of this or that scroll that the buyer will probably never read is worth 900$ and he'll get a tax break on that, throw it in the box. That way he can, under the table more or less, contribute financially to apologetics in a large sum under the guise of a tax deductable donation for legitimate scholarship.

Pretty sneaky, if you ask me.

[_GoodK]

I was the one who brought GoodK's public humiliation of his then-dying sister and of his father to the attention of his father, who is a good friend.

Liar liar pants on fire. Daniel C Peterson did.

I've had just about enough of you.

Are you trying to get a FARMS upgrade by stepping up to be the whipping boy?

You are a pathetic, little man and I can't believe your foul genes produced a lovely and beautiful specimen such as [name deleted].

If I hear you falsely accuse me of humiliating my little sister (whom you don't even know) again, either in print or in person, you will be very sorry. Consider yourself on notice. Shortstack.

[_Gadianton]

Apologia is rather pluralistic. Dr. Peterson does not have a cadre of sycophants who do all his bidding, implicit or otherwise.

I think what I said would make it the other way around. The "Front man" for the band doesn't always write the music.

Those who are loyal to the Church and who post with their real names don't always agree with each other in private list settings.

Private list? Like the one that starts with an "S"?

And, could it be that I am pretending to be on the "outs" just to gain credibility you have benighted me with here?

Absolutely. That kind of game-playing would be just what I'd expect from Skinny-L. But you've been posting a long time here and I think it would be unlikely. And I prefer to look for the good in people, even if that means I'm wrong on occasion.

[_Mister Scratch]

There's something I neglected to take note of in my OP. Elsewhere on the donation page, there is a tidbit which states:

You can help the Institute continue its work by donating to the Institute or to one of its departments. Please contact Ed Snow at 800-327-6715 to discuss your options. Thank you for your support.

Now, this is significant. Ed Snow is one of the people whom DCP identified as being a professional LDS "fundraiser." My question is: Why would his name be mentioned on this page? Just so "big spenders" would know who to contact? That is obviously nonsense, as anyone who's had any contact with fundraising would know. rcrocket correctly points out that the typical route to collecting funds is to butter up the donor, i.e., by plying him/her with freebies and flattery, etc., and not to just "hope they come to you." Further, we know that Mr. Snow is sent to the homes of wealthy LDS with DCP in tow. So, again: Why is it necessary to include his name on the donation page? If the Maxwell Institute really is as diverse and egalitarian as DCP has suggested, then there would be no need to mention Snow on this page. We would expect the donors to make their donations, and for the MI people to sort out how the money gets spent. But, clearly this is not the case. Instead, we seem to have a scenario by which Ed Snow can persuade donors to kick money directly into Mopologetic coffers. Sure, the apologist "fundraisers" already have their "little list" of wealthy LDS whom they try to hit up for cash, but this Ed Snow tidbit on the website would seem to suggest that they are attempting to sneakily fish is bigger waters.

[_Mister Scratch]

.

I'd suppose you are also good friends with Daniel

No I'm not. I was forced out of lds-apologetics when I disagreed with him. Not forced out by him, but by his friends.

Oh, really? On what did you disagree? And which "friends" forced you out?