Online Apologetics and "Collateral Damage"

[_Brent Metcalfe]

Hi Dr. Shades,

Why did you call Scott Faulring right away and ask about the acrostic? Wouldn't it have been better to wait a week or two until all the copies had been bound, distributed, and otherwise mailed out of the warehouse?

Because despite his "Vogel and Metcalfe are [sic] the Beavis and Butthead of Mormon Studies" "essay," I naïvely believed that Hamblin wouldn't actually go through with his acrostic "joke." I was wrong, and the recall began in haste.

Best regards,

</brent>


http://mormonscripturestudies.com
(© 2008 Brent Lee Metcalfe. All rights reserved.)
——————————
The thesis of inspiration may not be invoked to guarantee historicity, for a divinely inspired story is not necessarily history.
—Raymond E. Brown

[_LifeOnaPlate]

Scratch is male. Would you enjoy being referred to as a "she" after making it clear time and again that you are a "he"?

I'll take your word for it, liz. Scratch has never clarified either way when I have asked.

[_Brent Metcalfe]

Hi Dan,

But who?

Not me. I have no idea who did. I don't even care who did. Do you?

Goodnight, Dan.

</brent>


http://mormonscripturestudies.com
(© 2008 Brent Lee Metcalfe. All rights reserved.)
——————————
The thesis of inspiration may not be invoked to guarantee historicity, for a divinely inspired story is not necessarily history.
—Raymond E. Brown

[_LifeOnaPlate]

LoP,

That statement did not imply he would contact your ecclesiastical leader. He didn't threaten you. He was trying to get you to take a gander at your own wrong doings, and ask yourself if your church leadership would be proud of them.

What wrong doings? Though I do wrong, I do not the wrongs I am charged with.

Funny, your last statement. We see the white-hot rage behind those words, rest assured. And no one believed for a second you had brotherly concern for Mister Scratch when you stooped to charging him with mental illness in a cruel personal attack.

I can assure you that I am concerned with Mister Scratch's behavior. I am not putting anyone on about that. Others on the board have likewise expressed their belief that Scratch may have some sort of problem that needs help.

[_MAsh]

Hi Mike,

Great to hear from you (and congrats on your first published book!).

Thanks, Brent

[_beastie]

Wow, Brent. That was fascinating.

Maybe I'll read it all the way through sometime.

(Good grief! Fifteen years, and you're still so very exercised about this bit of trivia?)

Incidentally, Scott Faulring would have gotten an early copy because he was working on a project connected with (and largely funded by) FARMS and was in and out of the FARMS office. His having a copy simply doesn't prove that there was a vast press run and wide distribution of The Horrible Acrostic.

If it wasn't you, Brent, who went to the media, it was, I suspect, one of your crowd, who saw it as a potential ad hominem bonanza -- and so it has proven, within certain narrow circles, for a decade and a half. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a certain someone at a Salt Lake City publishing concern. We certainly never had any reason to go to the press. And we didn't. Moreover, the press didn't really come to us, much, either. Article after article appeared without having questioned us. Finally, as you certainly realize, if our intent had been to publicly insult you, we were and are entirely capable of doing so directly and openly. An essentially invisible acrostic isn't a very efficient vehicle for conveying an insult.

Heh. Just have to point out that this is vintage DCP, and helps to clarify why people react to him the way they tend to.

[_Gadianton]

What wrong doings? Though I do wrong, I do not the wrongs I am charged with.

That's beside the point. I was explaining what I think clearly constituted Scratch's position. I wasn't agreeing or disagreeing with the "charges" themselves.

I can assure you that I am concerned with Mister Scratch's behavior. I am not putting anyone on about that

.

Were you sincere on the supposed stalking thread when you crassly told him to "go get counseling." Note, this is one of the favorite "hardy har hars" of at least one of your guiding senior apologists.

Others on the board have likewise expressed their belief that Scratch may have some sort of problem that needs help

Who? Based soley on message board posts alone, there are many, many posters I can think of who are more likely to have some kind of neurosis than Scratch. I think you are a far more likely candidate, for instance. I base that on pure internet addiction alone. I also think I am a more likely candidate. Actually, I'm a crazy-ass mother idiot so, yeah, I'm far more likely.

But, given you never could have judged Wade appropriately by his donwright insane internet behavior, it's odd you think you can pick out Scratch, especially when he's an arch-enemy.

[_Gadianton]

Oh, one more thing LoP. It's not Scratch or the critics you need to fear real-world acts of revenge from, especially threats involving discussions with your SP. As far as you know, given the amount of posting you've done, you could have a file at the SCMC. I would wager most of the apologists do, even and especially the key players who seem unshakeable. And that for the most part would simply be to have control over the situation, just in case future needs of the church require it.

If any critic that I generally support were to report your sins to your Stake President, it would significantly damage my view of them and probably severe my relationship with them. But you have to understand that it is your own church that supports this kind of behavior. If something you do online is contrary to the aims of the church, your tithing money would pay for someone to make note of it, bundle the activity into a file, and mail to your SP.

[_Daniel Peterson]

Were you sincere on the supposed stalking thread when you crassly told him to "go get counseling." Note, this is one of the favorite "hardy har hars" of at least one of your guiding senior apologists.

When I suggest that, I'm not joking.

I think there is a very real possibility that Scartch is mentally or emotionally disturbed.

His obsessive hatred for me -- we've never met, to my knowledge, and I have literally no idea where his undying personal hostility comes from -- strikes me more and more as psychologically problematic.

[_Daniel Peterson]

Heh. Just have to point out that this is vintage DCP, and helps to clarify why people react to him the way they tend to.

Sound reasoning and lucidity.

As Goethe observed, "Es ärgert die Menschen, dass die Wahrheit so einfach ist."