A reality check for all the Kevin Graham haters out there
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:19 am
Dear MA&D moderators and MA&D sympathizers:
Allow me to tell you a true story about something that happened a few years ago.
On the now all-but-defunct Zion's Lighthouse Message Board, a discussion took place about the LDS church's membership statistical-tallying practices. I have a website about this, which you can read here.
Part of my assumption was that "increase in children of record" referred to 8-year olds being baptized. Along with other people, Kevin Graham asserted that this was not so, that "children of record" referred to babies being blessed in Sacrament Meeting.
We argued back and forth about this. Now, if Kevin was correct, then a lot of the wind would be taken out of my sails and my criticism of the church would be blunted considerably (because the stats wouldn't look so fudged). So we argued head-to-head for several posts.
Eventually, Kevin made a phone call to the Church Office Building and spoke to the Member Records Department. They confirmed that he was correct (and that, by implication, I was incorrect), and that "children of record" did indeed refer to children being blessed in Sacrament Meeting.
I started to defend myself, but I took a deep breath and realized how stupid I was beginning to sound. There was nothing else I could do: I had no choice but to eat crow, lick my wounds, then slink off with my tail between my legs. I also had to completely revamp my website to deal with the information he had uncovered.
NOW, READ CAREFULLY: How many people do you think accused Kevin of "stirring the pot" for making that phone call? How many people do you think accused Kevin of "hiding the contents of that phone call" after making a critic (me) look like a fool? How many people do you think accused Kevin of trying to slander or otherwise destroy the reputation of a critic (me) for making that phone call? How many people do you think accused Kevin of lying about the contents of that phone call?
That's right. ZIP. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. NONE. Not even I did.
Thus we see that Kevin didn't wake up one morning and decide to stick it to some apologist. Thus we see that for several years now he's had no problems with making phone calls or sending e-mails in order to verify some point of contention or other. Thus we see that this whole Gee/Ritner thing isn't just some isolated incident.
Thus we also see that if you have no problem with Kevin making a critic look bad, then it's the height of hypocrisy to all of a sudden do an about-face and cry foul when Kevin makes an apologist look bad.
Now take that back to MA&D, why don't you?
Allow me to tell you a true story about something that happened a few years ago.
On the now all-but-defunct Zion's Lighthouse Message Board, a discussion took place about the LDS church's membership statistical-tallying practices. I have a website about this, which you can read here.
Part of my assumption was that "increase in children of record" referred to 8-year olds being baptized. Along with other people, Kevin Graham asserted that this was not so, that "children of record" referred to babies being blessed in Sacrament Meeting.
We argued back and forth about this. Now, if Kevin was correct, then a lot of the wind would be taken out of my sails and my criticism of the church would be blunted considerably (because the stats wouldn't look so fudged). So we argued head-to-head for several posts.
Eventually, Kevin made a phone call to the Church Office Building and spoke to the Member Records Department. They confirmed that he was correct (and that, by implication, I was incorrect), and that "children of record" did indeed refer to children being blessed in Sacrament Meeting.
I started to defend myself, but I took a deep breath and realized how stupid I was beginning to sound. There was nothing else I could do: I had no choice but to eat crow, lick my wounds, then slink off with my tail between my legs. I also had to completely revamp my website to deal with the information he had uncovered.
NOW, READ CAREFULLY: How many people do you think accused Kevin of "stirring the pot" for making that phone call? How many people do you think accused Kevin of "hiding the contents of that phone call" after making a critic (me) look like a fool? How many people do you think accused Kevin of trying to slander or otherwise destroy the reputation of a critic (me) for making that phone call? How many people do you think accused Kevin of lying about the contents of that phone call?
That's right. ZIP. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. NONE. Not even I did.
Thus we see that Kevin didn't wake up one morning and decide to stick it to some apologist. Thus we see that for several years now he's had no problems with making phone calls or sending e-mails in order to verify some point of contention or other. Thus we see that this whole Gee/Ritner thing isn't just some isolated incident.
Thus we also see that if you have no problem with Kevin making a critic look bad, then it's the height of hypocrisy to all of a sudden do an about-face and cry foul when Kevin makes an apologist look bad.
Now take that back to MA&D, why don't you?