I guess that would be the difference between Mormon Studies and Mormon Apologetics. I’m certainly not against Mormon Studies.Kishkumen wrote: ↑Mon Aug 07, 2023 7:32 pmGood scholarship is usually interested in what makes phenomena like QAnon happen in the first place. What is this stuff? How does it work? What are its causes? What can we know about the particulars of this case? Are there other, similar phenomena? How are they related? How are they different?drumdude wrote: ↑Mon Aug 07, 2023 7:27 pmCompel is a high bar, let’s set it slightly lower. What about work that causes people to doubt that QAnon is a conspiracy theory? Tucker Carlson “just asking questions” for example.
There is a lot of effort being put into casting doubt on the results of the 2020 election. It doesn’t compel people to believe the election was rigged, but it causes many people to question.
I think Mormon apologetics is attempting to utilize the same tactics, for the same goals. You could call that cynical, but I don’t see a real difference there.
I don't think this kind of effort has much of anything to do with affirming these things or disproving them. It is about understanding a human phenomenon.
I guess you could divide the space into three, because currently there is a small war between the Interpreter apologetics and the Maxwell Institute apologetics. Because it seems that the MI is more closely aligned with doing good scholarly Mormon Studies work.