Peterson libels(?) an opinion writer called Bob Lockwood

[Moksha]

... so what does DCP do? Does he engage with the guy's arguments? No. Instead, he does an Internet search, finds out what the guy looks like, and then proceeds to ridicule the guy's appearance: "Ha, ha, ha! He looks like a hick!" And per Midgley, it seems that DCP may even have been making fun of the wrong person altogether?

Couldn't they send out teams of missionaries to find the right Bob Lockwood to attack?

[drumdude]

The way DCP starts out his attack says a lot about DCP’s subconscious worries.

“Everyone is laughing at your misunderstanding of Mormonism, Bob!”

Really, Dan? Everyone is laughing at him?

Classic DCP lolcow lack of self awareness.

[dastardly stem]

Luckily this Lockwood character seems to be the type who deserves to be libeled.

Possibly, but what the apologists don't seem to get is that all the anti-science libertarianism that grounds themselves is the platform leveraged by this new wave of republicans. These people are a stones throw away from where DCP is now. Is there much difference between water witching and holistic medicine?

Senator Mike Lee who presumably reflects the Mormon majority in Utah supported Trump's stolen election gimmick. It's something a lot of Mormons believe. Midgley and DCP fuel the engines that produce the toxic exhaust.

Yeah...well, what do we do? We're all wrong about plenty of stuff, I guess. Is Mormon toxic exhaust any worse than Evangelical toxic exhaust? Trump is an easy target for the rational, but that's not stopping Trump supporters (far more are evangelical than Mormon...far more are the nones than Mormon too). I enjoy hearing DCP and Midgley condemn Trump. That's a something. I can't help they're not consistent though. I imagine most of us aren't consistent in too many ways to count. Sometimes its all more like, what more can we do than hash things out hoping a few of us catch onto something useful or good? Much like Trump supporters, DCP and Midgley have heard it enough they aren't changing their minds through reasoned discourse. No matter how much we say, they be like "my worldview has a God in it and he's definitely Mormon, so all these annoying habits from critics are the problem."

[huckelberry]

For the word libel Peterson's words are pretty ho hum. But EV anti Mormons can be ho hum even if there was treasure digging nonsense preparing the way for the Book of Mormon.

I am ok with people criticizing ev trumpers pretty much any way that fits. I do not know the most "Christian" way to describe the phenomenon.
#!%%%%$$### heresy

I was struck by the image ,thanks Gadianton, for the focused image of engines producing toxic exhaust. EV culture is supersaturated with anti science anti reality fantasy. The fruit is ripening.I found myself thinking of late 60s 70 counterculture which was a mix of all sorts of stuff. There was nonscience, fantasy, fear of government , fear of traditional understandings some of which may well congeal into an engine with the same sort of toxic gas. Yes I know the movement was supposed to be liberal but there was a shadow side in the opposite direction.

[Gadianton]

And there's more.

DCP refers to leftists as "the anointed" and "elites". Trump may be corrupt and a fool in his world, he might be rich, but he's not an elite. Only liberals are "elites". In other words, whatever Trump is, he's an outlier. He doesn't represent a systematic problem, in DCPs world. The systematic problem comes from "liberal elites". And that kind of systematic problem, a coordinated effort stretching back for decades and longer, might also be called "the deep state". And so QAnon really is built on all of DCPs most fundamental beliefs about the world.

[Kishkumen]

And there's more.

DCP refers to leftists as "the anointed" and "elites". Trump may be corrupt and a fool in his world, he might be rich, but he's not an elite. Only liberals are "elites". In other words, whatever Trump is, he's an outlier. He doesn't represent a systematic problem, in DCPs world. The systematic problem comes from "liberal elites". And that kind of systematic problem, a coordinated effort stretching back for decades and longer, might also be called "the deep state". And so QAnon really is built on all of DCPs most fundamental beliefs about the world.

I would say that the rot that is Trump is a byproduct of the greed and arrogance of elites. He also has elite supporters. You can’t separate Trump from the elites. I would say that everyone in the American elite owns a little bit of Trump because they are part of the system, be it financial, legal, or moral, that produced him. The Clintons own a bit of Trump. The majority of Republicans definitely own Trump now. And he owns them right back. And that has become the most dangerous, substantive threat to American politics since the Civil War.

[Alphus and Omegus]

Peterson is such a busy fellow that he took the time to respond to an essay posted on an obscure Wichita radio station's website that not more than 50 people ever likely will read.

No one cares about anything Bob Lockwood has to say about the Book of Mormon except for Dan Peterson. But even he doesn't appear to care very much since he didn't bother to actually address Lockwood's arguments. Instead, it was just a laundry list sales pitch for his little-watched website and DVDs.

[Alphus and Omegus]

And there's more.

DCP refers to leftists as "the anointed" and "elites". Trump may be corrupt and a fool in his world, he might be rich, but he's not an elite. Only liberals are "elites". In other words, whatever Trump is, he's an outlier. He doesn't represent a systematic problem, in DCPs world. The systematic problem comes from "liberal elites". And that kind of systematic problem, a coordinated effort stretching back for decades and longer, might also be called "the deep state". And so QAnon really is built on all of DCPs most fundamental beliefs about the world.

QAnon is what Mormonism and Evangelical Christianity are merging into. It is a new religion that the old fundamentalisms are powerless to attack because it's better at all the mental gymnastics than they are. To correctly criticize QAnon is to implicitly undermine the conspiracy theories on which Mormonism was founded. The Book of Mormon is an anti-Mason conspiracy tract that was turned into a religion as an afterthought.

[Gadianton]

Brilliant points Alphus and Omegus. Especially this:

It is a new religion that the old fundamentalisms are powerless to attack because it's better at all the mental gymnastics than they are

One of Kotkin's points If I recall correctly was that you don't have to control information if you can sell the right narrative. If only the enthusiasm for Mormonism online could get anywhere near what goes on at the .win site. All the plays DCP pulls on his readers are hardcoded into Q disciples already.

[Alphus and Omegus]

Brilliant points Alphus and Omegus. Especially this:

It is a new religion that the old fundamentalisms are powerless to attack because it's better at all the mental gymnastics than they are

One of Kotkin's points If I recall correctly was that you don't have to control information if you can sell the right narrative. If only the enthusiasm for Mormonism online could get anywhere near what goes on at the .win site. All the plays DCP pulls on his readers are hardcoded into Q disciples already.

Thanks for the kind words. Your point is so obviously correct when one considers how the "center" of reconstructed fundamentalism which Peterson occupies has utterly collapsed within Mormonism. All of the growth is on the side of the old school fundamentalists such as the DezNats or Meldrum or it is on the side of the non-fundamentalists, such as those who work in academic Mormon studies.

I'm guessing that Peterson is so emotionally committed to his sinking ship that he cannot perceive these very obvious social trends. Or if he could, he would not publicly admit they were real.