The Interpreter Radio Show

[_Doctor Scratch]

Friends and Colleagues:

Have you heard any episodes of the Interpreter Radio Show? While most Mormons spend their Sundays in worship, reading the scriptures, spending time with family, and thinking about their covenants with God, the Mopologists--namely, Allen "The Slug" Wyatt, Dan Peterson, and John Gee--are busy hosting The Interpreter Radio Show. What kind of program is this, you might wonder? Well, I urge you to listen for yourself. As for me, my attention was drawn to the show thanks to an anonymous "informant," some of whose observations and notes I shall rely upon here.

In any event, were you to have tuned in last Sunday evening, you would have been welcomed by a trumpet fanfare, and a woman saying, "Now, the Interpreter Show!" A male voice says, "We welcome you to the Interpreter Show" and "I think that, uh, I'm on the air here." He adds, "In the studio tonight, we have Dr. John Gee and Dr. Dan Peterson," who responds, "Hi!" The original voice says, "We're trying to figure out if the microphones work here," which elicits a chuckle from Peterson. A moment later, DCP interrupts: "Who are you??" and the voice replies, "Oh! And I'm Allen Wyatt!" The evening's program, then, it would seem, will be hosted by none other than "The Slug" himself.

A few minutes into the show, they begin to discuss the publication record of the blog known as Mormon Interpreter. DCP notes that "as of [last] Friday, it's been 316 weeks in a row" that they have published an article. Peterson adds that he "worries sometimes that we've created a monster." He goes on: "Some of the critics--oh, and we have them--uh, who watch us like hawks, uh, if we ever miss a week, they'll say, "Ha! We knew! We knew they'd fail!" Well, it is bound to happen at some point, right? For whatever reason, DCP's point reminds Wyatt of a personal story: "About 22 years ago, I uh, if it's possible to do, I overdosed on chocolate." Wyatt says that his brother gave him eleven (11) pounds (!) of M&Ms for Christmas--"Greatest Christmas present ever," Wyatt adds, as DCP chuckles in the background--and Wyatt reveals that he "ate it in two days." He says that doing this made him "sick as a dog" and he vowed to never let anything "control" him that way again, and, indeed, he notes that he hasn't eaten any chocolate since--well done, Brother Wyatt. Congratulations aside, though, this is quite an odd metaphor, don't you think? In what way is Mormon Interpreter's publication record similar to binge-eating M&Ms? It may be that we will never know.

At around the 4:00 minute mark, DCP says that he has "a critic who's been stalking me for about a decade and a half" who "insists on, y'know, I can do nothing right, nothing I've ever connected with is anything right or good or decent or worthwhile, and he loves to denounce Interpreter as 'just a blog.'" Fundamentally, Mormon Interpreter *is* a blog! But Peterson continues: "Well, it's a blog that publishes books [not *on* the blog however...], does movies, has a radio program. That's an odd blog." Maybe so, but it's still a "blog." No need to deny the truth!

Later, Allen Wyatt states that *he* is the "editor" of the Interpreter journal.... So what is DCP's role, then? Quite an interesting revelation!

What ensues from this point is a rather extended discussion on the nature of article publishing, with Gee (whose voice sounds disembodied and who seems like he's in some kind of a stupor) noting that Interpreter has "the same peer review as an academic journal." (Yeah, right.) They note how long it usually takes articles to be published in typical journals, and cite Mormon Interpreter as a model that's superior in terms of turnover.

At around 8:40, DCP says that he sometimes calls Wyatt to "check in" on how the Editor is doing. Bizarrely, Peterson does what appears to be a mocking, high-pitched imitation of Wyatt's speaking voice: "I'm fine! I'm fine!"

At around 9:40, Peterson says that "This fellow I mentioned earlier has claimed that he has sources that indicate that I get a 7-figure for apologetics." Wow! That's certainly news to me! I don't doubt that the top Mopologists have profited from their work in the field, but I sincerely doubt that any of them have raked in that kind of money. Later, DCP says, "If we are in this to get rich, we are really, really not very clever."

At roughly the 20-minute mark, they begin to discussion the so-called "Ghost committee" work of Skousen and Carmack. At 25:20, DCP says, "It's easy to mock." Yes, indeed.

Well, the show goes on for another hour or so, if you can bear to sit through it. I wonder if--one day--we will have 300+ weeks in a row of this program? Tough to predict. Perhaps they should begin bragging about future episodes along the lines of the so-called "M&M Metaphor."

Quite an intriguing entry into the annals of Mopologetic lore, in any case.

[_Philo Sofee]

Thanks Scratch. It sounds like a complete waste of time and a bore.... it's ego driven, obviously. I will profit far greater by spending that time in a book of Alan Watts which is vastly superior and remarkably spiritually uplifting than Interpreter can ever possibly hope of being.Having just finished "Be What You Are" I would suggest it for Dr. Gee, but his ego will be the rock wall stopping him from becoming enlightened. Of course, the same for Dr. Peterson.

[_candygal]

They should be in church like the other sheep in their fold...!

[_Philo Sofee]

They should be in church like the other sheep in their fold...!

Nooooo, egotistical celestial glory is vastly more important to them than church! I mean come on! Think of how so much greater their souls are because they are doing so much to build the kingdom of god and THEY are doing it! My hell they will be lauded by the angels on the millions of souls they convince to join the church through their own efforts without any help from the brethren or the Holy Ghost. I mean they are stellar and their logic just shines! They are the 1,000,000,000 candle power light for all to see what magnificence they have attained and continue to do so uninterrupted in many moons! I mean the track record! Good Lord they put Jesus to shame himself! Just think...... when Dan becomes a God, he too can send revelation down to his very own prophet and inspire him to emphasize, to pronounce correctly, and to very often speak about his own holy name of salvation and exaltation for all who obey him instead of do any actual good for his own children on their earth!

Behold, oh inhabitants of mine kingdom, I am Dan Peterson, even Dan C. Peterson himself, who has researched for you, who has typed hundreds of papers for your benefits, and who has spoken on radio more times in a running continuation of well over 23,456,578,786,567 millenia, a universal record which mine enemies has not matched, therefor showing the vast superiority of mine own achievements of godhood and consistency, yea even by mine own hand have I prevailed, amen! Therefor, it must needs be, for mine own enjoyment, and for thine own salvation that the inhabitants of the earth speak respectfully of mine holy name, yeah remember mine name daily in thy prayers, in thy schoolings, in thine very conversations. I would instruct thee all to always end every sentence thou speakest in mine holy and accomplished name, verily, verily, this is mine commandment, and thou shalt hold out not! Thou shalt open thine mouths, and I shall fill them... with mine own name for mine own glory, yeah in the name of the Dan, of the C. and of the Peterson, I speak these things.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Unbelievable!

About a month ago I tuned in and listened to the show just for kicks. I could only handle about 10 minutes. It’s a terrible show. AM radio at its worst.

The most interesting topic DCP discussed was that his “obsessed stalker” was following his family on Amazon.com or something like that.

It sounds like Dr. Scratch is still one of the main topics of the show. DCP should change the name of the show to “The Dr. Scratch Hour.”

The show is kookier than Alex Jones. It wouldn’t have surprised me if DCP had started promoting the flat earth theory.

[_Philo Sofee]

Unbelievable!

About a month ago I tuned in and listened to the show just for kicks. I could only handle about 10 minutes. It’s a terrible show. AM radio at its worst.

The most interesting topic DCP discussed was that his “obsessed stalker” was following his family on Amazon.com or something like that.

It sounds like Dr. Scratch is still one of the main topics of the show. DCP should change the name of the show to “The Dr. Scratch Hour.”

The show is kookier than Alex Jones. It wouldn’t have surprised me if DCP had started promoting the flat earth theory.

But he has done something just as kooky, he has promoted and is promoting "Scientific Creationism."

[_Gadianton]

Has he ever considered the alternative that his "stalker", whoever that is, is using reverse psychology?

The stalker baits him by saying, "Your blog is dying on the vine!" and the Interpreter Staff push for heavy output and greater variety of output, including BS sessions they call a "radio show" where they spend most of the time saying "nervous guy on air" stuff. They run faster than they have strength and fall on their face, as it were, and the stalker wins because the stalker is the one who goaded them into the foolhardy assault?

[_Philo Sofee]

Has he ever considered the alternative that his "stalker", whoever that is, is using reverse psychology?

The stalker baits him by saying, "Your blog is dying on the vine!" and the Interpreter Staff push for heavy output and greater variety of output, including BS sessions they call a "radio show" where they spend most of the time saying "nervous guy on air" stuff. They run faster than they have strength and fall on their face, as it were, and the stalker wins because the stalker is the one who goaded them into the foolhardy assault?

Ha! I just started a thread on this very topic! Why are Critics considered so rude and blasphemous? viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49732 It's attempting to give them by their own petard a reducto absurdum..... and they can't see it. But they simply must somehow some day be able to see it, hence the nonstop of the game.

[_Doctor Scratch]

the Interpreter Staff push for heavy output and greater variety of output, including BS sessions they call a "radio show" where they spend most of the time saying "nervous guy on air" stuff.

I think that they ought to be embarrassed over the poor quality of this: it is completely aimless, without any real point or structure. Was there an actual theme for this latest episode? I'm not going to predict that the radio show will fail, because it's already a failure. Apart from ceasing to broadcast, they can't really do any worse that this. Though the Mopologists boast about having this "radio show," they really probably shouldn't.

Then again, there's still time to retool the show. What if they set it up as pure attack? For example, they could invite some of the Mormon Transhumanists onto the show, along with Greg Smith and perhaps a couple of other "attack dogs." Pahoran could phone in, even. Then they just all go for the jugular, just like the good ol' days. They could have episodes devoted to Meldrum and John Dehlin and Mormon feminists. There could be a Jeremy Runnels episode. There are really lots of possibilities here. Just imagine that opening trumpet fanfare leading into a radio version of something like "Text and Context"..... Or what if DCP were to read his email to Bradford aloud, on the air? (Has anyone in the Mormon podcasting universe done that, by the way?)

Or what if certain episodes were devoted to malicious gossip? There are all sorts of directions they could take this.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Has he ever considered the alternative that his "stalker", whoever that is, is using reverse psychology?

The stalker baits him by saying, "Your blog is dying on the vine!" and the Interpreter Staff push for heavy output and greater variety of output, including BS sessions they call a "radio show" where they spend most of the time saying "nervous guy on air" stuff. They run faster than they have strength and fall on their face, as it were, and the stalker wins because the stalker is the one who goaded them into the foolhardy assault?

Very interesting. Everyone remembers Ronald Reagan goading the Russians into a fake space arm's race which ultimately bankrupted the Soviet Empire and caused its demise.

As many people have previously observed, Dr. Scratch plays chess while the Mopologists play checkers. If history is any indication, Dr. Scratch has a master plan and is several steps ahead of the Mopologists. It wouldn't surprise me if Dr. Scratch is still playing puppet master and the Mopologists are still falling right into Dr. Scratch's trap.

All I know is that I would hate to have Dr. Scratch as an adversary. Nobody knows the psychological makeup and individual characteristics of the Mopologists better than Dr. Scratch. Whenever the Mopologists have tried to engage Dr. Scratch in psychological warfare it has always ended in a massacre.

For many years, I've been amazed and impressed at how well Dr. Scratch has been able to play the Mopologists just like a fiddle. Much respect to Dr. Scratch.