Introducing The John Adams Center!

The catch-all forum for general topics and debates. Minimal moderation. Rated PG to PG-13.
_Doctor Scratch
_Emeritus
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Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:44 pm

Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _Doctor Scratch »

Kishkumen wrote:It seems this blog's authors have a real fixation on Joanna Brooks. Who knew that a female Mormon writer could be so threatening?


You know, I hadn't noticed that at first, but you're right. They seem to be comparing her to some kind of "witch" who reads "tea leaves":

Joanna Brooks is back to reading tea leaves at her Religion Dispatches column, indulging speculations that J. Willard Marriott and Jon Huntsman Sr. were released from their callings as general authorities as part of “the Church’s desire to underscore its non-involvement in the Huntsman and Romney campaigns.” After all, Brooks points out, the former candidate is Jon Huntsman Sr.’s son and the latter’s first name is Willard.


It's strange that they would lambaste Brooks like this. Wasn't she a contributor to MST, after all?

I also noticed what seems to be a lot of butt-kissing going on in regards to Elder Oaks. Once again, I have to wonder if my "informant's" tidbits about Oaks were true...
"[I]f, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14
_Kishkumen
_Emeritus
Posts: 21373
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:00 pm

Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _Kishkumen »

Doctor Scratch wrote:It's strange that they would lambaste Brooks like this. Wasn't she a contributor to MST, after all?


Maybe one of the all-male crew of contributors, say, Ralph Hancock, didn't care for her uppity attitude when she was editor of the Student Review at BYU.

Doctor Scratch wrote:I also noticed what seems to be a lot of butt-kissing going on in regards to Elder Oaks. Once again, I have to wonder if my "informant's" tidbits about Oaks were true...


Well, Oaks is politically conservative. This could be a fence-mending operation to recapture Oaks' patronage. Who knows?
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_moksha
_Emeritus
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Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _moksha »

So a bunch of right-wing Mormon thinkers have formed their own nominal center and even added the name of an American President. So what?

This has no more power to bind the souls of all those who participate than did the triumvirate of Cleon Skousen, Ezra Taft Benson and Elder John Birch. It focused their sound and fury but could not draw glory.
Cry Heaven and let loose the Penguins of Peace
_Drifting
_Emeritus
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Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _Drifting »

I think I have spotted a bizarre coincidence.

The leadership of The John Adams Center consists of....wait for it....

Twelve White Males

Brant Bishop
Ralph Hancock
Peter Lawler
Daniel Mahoney
David Leavitt
Louis A Horton
Paul Seaton
Marc Guerra
James Ceaser
Richard Sherlock
Denial Peterson
Mathew Holland

Not a woman nor a black in sight, makes you wonder...
“We look to not only the spiritual but also the temporal, and we believe that a person who is impoverished temporally cannot blossom spiritually.”
Keith McMullin - Counsellor in Presiding Bishopric

"One, two, three...let's go shopping!"
Thomas S Monson - Prophet, Seer, Revelator
_ludwigm
_Emeritus
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Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _ludwigm »

What?

Or is this again some american specialty? Or utahn one?

Anyway, I understand all of the words. And no sentences.
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco
- To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
_Buffalo
_Emeritus
Posts: 12064
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 10:33 pm

Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _Buffalo »

Drifting wrote:I think I have spotted a bizarre coincidence.

The leadership of The John Adams Center consists of....wait for it....

Twelve White Males

Brant Bishop
Ralph Hancock
Peter Lawler
Daniel Mahoney
David Leavitt
Louis A Horton
Paul Seaton
Marc Guerra
James Ceaser
Richard Sherlock
Denial Peterson
Mathew Holland

Not a woman nor a black in sight, makes you wonder...


Mormon men have nothing but contempt for blacks and women.
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.

B.R. McConkie, © Intellectual Reserve wrote:There are those who say that revealed religion and organic evolution can be harmonized. This is both false and devilish.
_Molok
_Emeritus
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Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 4:31 am

Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _Molok »

ludwigm wrote:What?

Or is this again some american specialty? Or utahn one?

Anyway, I understand all of the words. And no sentences.

I'm right there with you, ludwigm.
_Gadianton
_Emeritus
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Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _Gadianton »

quark,

You are right to be confused. Something else that should be confusing is how will the JAC decide if they're succeeding or failing?

According to Stak's original quote, we need to know roughly how many people of faith are allowed to defend their views in the public square, roughly whether that number is increasing or decreasing, project how many people would have been enabled to defend their views in the public square absent the JAC, and then compare that number in the future to the actual number of people enabled to defend their faith. Since this data is going to be hard to obtain, the JAC has set themselves up with an unfalsifiable mission goal and will likely declare victory no matter what happens.
_sock puppet
_Emeritus
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Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _sock puppet »

Gadianton wrote:quark,

You are right to be confused. Something else that should be confusing is how will the JAC decide if they're succeeding or failing?

According to Stak's original quote, we need to know roughly how many people of faith are allowed to defend their views in the public square, roughly whether that number is increasing or decreasing, project how many people would have been enabled to defend their views in the public square absent the JAC, and then compare that number in the future to the actual number of people enabled to defend their faith. Since this data is going to be hard to obtain, the JAC has set themselves up with an unfalsifiable mission goal and will likely declare victory no matter what happens.

Yes, victory will be trumpeted regardless of the outcome. That is because victory was declared when they decided to form the JAC.
_MrStakhanovite
_Emeritus
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Re: Introducing The John Adams Center!

Post by _MrStakhanovite »

Check out this little nugget of inspired commentary:

Moral relativism, as Harry Jaffa has written, is a very troubling but defining part of American higher education. The university today, in theory and practice, wholeheartedly believes, teaches, and preaches, that there are no absolute and fundamental truths.



SAUCE

Terrible.
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