The discomfort with what was by all accounts incredible rudeness, aggressiveness, mean spiritedness, and prejudice, racism, misogyny, and a litany of other negative traits was very real, but not spoken about publicly because of the tribal affiliation.
Not by all accounts.
I was kicked off the FAIR E-list after Rene Olson started gossiping to folks at FAIR about me being a racist. What had happened was that one day I posted something about my Step-Father's upbringing in a Baptist Church. He was taught that all black people came from monkeys, because the Bible said Cain was banished to the land of Nod where he then procreated. Well, procreated with
what, is what his minister asked? According to his minister only Cain was banished, and the Land of Nod was south of Mesopotamia, likely Africa. Hence, black people are the spawn of Cain and monkeys. The doctrine was completely reprehensible to me, as I thought I had made clear in my post on the E-list. My point was apologetic in nature: this racist doctrine didn't originate with Mormonism and Protestants can believe some truly stupid things.
Well, Rene Olson, who was black, was completely appalled that I would tell this story at all. I tried to explain to her that I didn't know she was black and that I didn't agree with that doctrine something like three or four times but it didn't seem to matter to her. She was pissed off at me for "suggesting a possible correlation" between Negros and monkeys and thought it was inappropriate for me to mention it even in an apologetic context. He irrational behavior made me wonder if she was a teenager or even younger. I thought she was being ridiculous, as did a few others, but I just dropped the discussion and moved on.
So, shortly after this incident the FAIR conference took place and I heard from a friend that that there was more than one person who was glad that I didn't attend. All because of this completely misinterpreted exchange that took place on the E-list. I wasn't happy about that, and so I took my case to the E-list about how gossip is killing the Church, and I cited several LDS authorities to make my point. I also pointed out this incident at the conference, without naming names.
My post was long and detailed, and welcomed with an applause by almost every contributor who responded, not least of which was Scott Gordon, who immediately thanked me for a well thought out post, and he advised the group to heed the counsel and refrain from gossiping. Juliann Reynolds was the only person who objected to what I said. She only posted,"Kevin, you're over the line."
Less than an hour after thanking me for what I had said, Gordon emailed me privately to inform me that I would no longer be able to participate on the E-list because he had received phone calls from several "women," who were absolutely livid about what I wrote. He said I failed to understand the unwritten rule of "know your audience."
The decision was a stunner for most apologists, and so for the next few days or so there were arguments made by several others who were opposed to having me banned from the forum. Ben McGuire was leading the charge and he relayed to me some of the thoughtful comments made by some of my friends there. Edward Jones and Marc Schindler (now deceased) were other friends who couldn't fathom why my post would warrant being banned. But the decision stood. And then, as I understood it, some of the most respected contributors started to cut back on their participation on the forum altogether. Based on how some of the higher ups were responding to me, they got the sense that it was becoming too political anyway.
Aside from the "cackling hens", there was an incident with Allen Wyatt just a few months prior. I commented that we needed to make a decision one way or the other as to whether or not we're going to stick by our apologetic arguments regarding "white and delightsome" scripture. I pointed out that Spencer Kimball clearly explained that it had to do with skin color, and this he did in conference. Wyatt objected to this, saying I was taking Kimball out of context. So I supplied the entire talk in a post and proved quite conclusively that Kimball believed Church affiliation would lighten the color of an Indian's skin color. That pissed him off. It even made Scott Gordon email me on teh side warning me that I was begining to "sound like a fundie."
So my point here is that you're wrong to separate me from the entire group as if I was a loner who was talked about by everyone else. The people who were suspicious of me at first were a minority like Juliann Reynolds and Allen Wyatt. You're also wrong to suggest it was a consensus that I just liked to fight. The reason I have issues "getting along" with some folks has nothing to do with me looking for fights and everything to do with the way some people respond to someone like me who is willing to be very frank and honest. Not everyone can handle that. Rene wasn't prepared to hear what I had to say, and neither was Wyatt. Nothing in my posts could be interpreted as an attempt to "pick a fight." The "fights" ensued because of the way they reacted to what I said and I'm the kind of guy who doesn't lay down when being attacked.
Likewise, my "fights" with Dan Peterson almost always begin in the same way. I'll state some fact that he doesn't like to acknowledge, and so he proceeds to attack me by suggesting to his loyal flock that I'm uncivil, I only call people liars, that I hate Muslims, that I'm akin to a racist, etc, etc. It is standard protocol from the FARMS folks. They never deal in actual arguments because they know they can't win them.
But it was talked about.
Well no crap. That doesn't mean their gossiping was based in fact.
And when it was talked about, it was with some vehemence I understand. A good friend of mine said that Kevin seemed to be more interested in fighting than in the Gospel of love, tolerance, growth, and salvation.
You obviously don't know what you're talking about and neither does your "good friend."