Another Racially Insensitive MLK Day Weekend at "SeN"

[_Bret Ripley]

I have no doubt that Professor Midgley genuinely does care and love these people and their culture. But there is some selfishness in this relationship he was also appropriating their bodies, culture and beliefs, as a faith promoting experience for his own beliefs. This is where his latent racism sits.

Take heart, Dr. Midgley!

"Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!"

(That's from a poem by Rudyard Kipling. I forget the title.)

[_kairos]

I had to chuckle at the way Philip Jenkins proposed that if, by “naïve,” Bill Hamblin meant to say “ competent, rigorous, professional historian.”

In a similar spirit, I suggest that by “hate filled,” Dr. Midgley means to say “honest, open minded, and truth seeking.”

Nice find Dr M! Jenkins and Midgely- i can't even fathom a debate much less civility from Woody's side in a conversation.

[Guest]

SeN is disgusting. Daniel C. Peterson has a long and well-documented record of racism. Here are just a few examples:

--DCP has published lynching photos with "amusing" commentary. DCP was forced to retract the photos and issue a public apology.

--DCP has publicly stated that slavery was a blessing because the descendants of slaves now get to live in the United States.

--DCP has publicly criticized Martin Luther King on several occasions.

--DCP has publicly mocked Jewish wedding ceremonies.

--DCP has publicly defended the Priesthood Ban as coming directly from God.

--DCP has publicly praised the book "Added Upon" that explains skin color is based upon how valiant and righteous one was in the pre-existence.

[_Shulem]

--DCP has publicly stated that slavery was a blessing because the descendants of slaves now get to live in the United States.

DCP is a racist and nationalist FAT pig. Oink!

The Book of Abraham and the Facsimile Explanations are utter garbage. Nobody on God's green earth believes that crap other than the Mormons who have their heads in the sand.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

It will be especially popular with the right-wing culture of the day. And as noted, I'm keeping an eye on Interpreter, as it appears to have taken a strange turn into Alt Right territory.

Dean,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I've also noticed the Interpreter's shift to the Alt Right. I guess it was just a matter of time until DCP's racist attitudes and his Alt Right politics found their way to the forefront.

[_Philo Sofee]

It will be especially popular with the right-wing culture of the day. And as noted, I'm keeping an eye on Interpreter, as it appears to have taken a strange turn into Alt Right territory.

Dean,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I've also noticed the Interpreter's shift to the Alt Right. I guess it was just a matter of time until DCP's racist attitudes and his Alt Right politics found their way to the forefront.

Well, I mean.........Jesus is Republican isn't he?

[_Doctor Scratch]

I hope you were expecting an interesting response from Dr. Peterson. I know I was. And you know what? The man delivers:

Dan, yikes!

I wonder if writing this article was uncomfortable for you. It made me feel a little uneasy reading it. Often, serious introspection and confronting previously held misguided beliefs and attitudes can be very difficult.

If I could hop into a time machine and go back to talk to the young Dan, I would try to impart the importance of respecting others different than us and the evils of pride, cultural insensitivity and racism.

I appreciate you having the courage to share the attitudes and beliefs of the younger Dan, warts and all. I know that couldn't have been easy for you.

Thanks again.

Demento: "I wonder if writing this article was uncomfortable for you."

Nope. It wasn't.

Demento: "It made me feel a little uneasy reading."

Sure it did.

You were drooling with excitement as you saw a possible way to attempt to misrepresent and defame me, again. You LOVED it.

But it won't work.

Demento: "Often, serious introspection and confronting previously held misguided beliefs and attitudes can be very difficult."

LOL. One of the lines of my little ditty that you and your pals chose in order, as you hoped, to illustrate my arrogant racial insensitivity and ethnocentric chauvinism was "A's for Abu Fu‘ad slinging slop."

I doubt that your board cronies are really so totally lacking in a sense of humor that they really failed to recognize the time-honored traditiion of mocking the food in dormitories and mess halls.

But the food at the Vienna Hotel was, by any reasonable standard, genuinely mediocre. Not because we disdained Abu Fu’ad. We liked him. And not, as you and your boardmates pretend, because it was Middle Eastern food that I loathed because it was foreign -- I LIKE Middle Eastern food and often eat in Middle Eastern restaurants, even when not in the Middle East -- but because it was cheap, high-starch, mass-produced, imitation Western cafeteria slop.

Demento: "If I could hop into a time machine and go back to talk to the young Dan, I would try to impart the importance of respecting others different than us and the evils of pride, cultural insensitivity and racism."

Your pretense of superior multiculturalism works, I suppose, over at the Malevolent Stalker Board. They might even swallow your risible pose of "respect for others different than us."

It won't work here. Attempting to portray me -- ME, of all people -- as an anti-Arab racist who despises cultural difference and loathes foreign cultures is a bridge too far, even for you and the dedicated cadre of obsessive loons on your completely bizarre board.

Demento: "I appreciate you having the courage to share the attitudes and beliefs of the younger Dan, warts and all. I know that couldn't have been easy for you."

Your acting skills aren't likely to earn you an Oscar any time soon.

Sheesh! Calm down! I mean, just look at the indignant outrage here: "Attempting to portray me -- ME, of all people -- as an anti-Arab racist who despises cultural difference and loathes foreign cultures is a bridge too far, even for you and the dedicated cadre of obsessive loons on your completely bizarre board."

Right--I mean, think about how much he blogs about his travels abroad! He couldn't possibly be the type of person who "loathes foreign cultures"! Heck: he could not have been that way even when he was a kid!!. Does he just skim the posts over here, or what? Does a phrase like "youthful infelicities" just sail over his head? (Does he not know what "infelicities" are?)

And surely he can see that the title of the thread mentions a scare-quoted "Blackface." Surely Dr. Peterson knows what that means. It *is* the MLK, Jr. holiday weekend. Perhaps a shot at redemption is in order? Some piety and penitence? It's never to late to admit that one was wrong....

But Dr. Peterson's outrage isn't finished yet.

What a weird, paranoid and sad response.

Dan: "It won't work here. Attempting to portray me -- of all people -- as an anti-Arab racist who despises cultural difference and loathes foreign cultures."

You don't need my help. Your article did an excellent job portraying just that. Sadly, it appears the younger Dan is not much different from the older Dan.

I can't even begin to imagine the personal demons that must haunt you and the hate you carry. I pray you will be able to find some peace. Have a good night Dan.

Demento: "What a weird, paranoid and sad response."

What a lunatic angle of attack.

Demento: "You don't need my help. Your article did an excellent job portraying just that. Sadly, it appears the younger Dan is not much different from the older Dan."

My decades of studying, teaching, and writing -- sympathetically and with appreciation -- about Arabs and Muslims, and about Islam, and about Arabo-Persian culture and civilization, and about world religions and foreign cultures generally, testify quite clearly to the respect that I have for them.

Your disingenuousness and mendacity won't erase my lifetime of work.

Demento: "Have a good night Dan."

Oh, you can rely on it. I will.

And you can, too. You have a whole message board devoted to this sort of idiotic nonsense. Enjoy it! Revel in it! Wallow in it! Just don't bring it over here.

"[M]y lifetime of work"? What on earth is he talking about? Why is this the thing he's latching onto? No one has made a peep about his work life. The post in question was dealing with his behavior when he was a youth.

Yikes! What a violent and angry response. Take care of yourself Dan. I hope and pray you'll find peace one day. Good night.

Demento: "What a violent and angry response."

There was no violence and, although it would have entirely justified, no anger.

But I feel no obligation at all to be patient with insulting poseurs.

Demento: "I hope and pray you'll find peace one day."

There's the signature condescending disingenuousness again.

I'm entirely at peace.

Accusations that contain an element of truth bother me. Those, like yours, that are completely baseless and insincere don't bother me a bit.

Oh, man! This may very well be the quote of the year! First, notice the "rage typo": "There was no violence and, although it would have entirely justified, no anger."

LOL! "I'm not mad at all! And if I was, it would have entirely justified!" If it were any more amusing, I would have laughing harder!

But this....This.... *This* is solid gold:

Accusations that contain an element of truth bother me.

As they should, Dr. Peterson; as they should. A number of very true things have been said (such as getting paid more than $20,000 for serving as "Chair of FARMS"), and indeed some people have been "bothered." Perhaps being more honest would help the "bother"-some feelings to go away.

[_moksha]

Well, I mean.........Jesus is Republican isn't he?

No diamonds on the bottoms of his sandals!

[_Dr Moore]

I can empathize with the justifiable rage Dr. Peterson must feel at finding a thread with "Blackface" in the title, in which his longtime nemesis attempts to connect various strained data points to an unfortunate theory of lifelong racism. Dan has spent his entire career engaged in Arabic studies, one of very few Mormon scholars to do so. Indeed, let's be gracious and appreciate that the data does not support a conclusion that somehow the young man, however insensitive, never grew up. Perhaps Doctor Scratch may wish to consider the possibility that he crossed a line here and should retread the data to limit the scope of the theory to his "youthful infelicities" observation.

Leaving that aside for Doctor Scratch and Dr. Peterson to resolve, I cannot help but observe that growing abundance of data over at SeN unfortunately points to another problem.

The repartee with Demento over at SeN reminds me of last year, when every questioner or critic found themselves facing an accusation of being part of the "hate board" or a denizen of the "swamp" over at MDB. Why is that the first line of attack on Demento? Near as I can tell, the only board Demento mentioned in his comment was SeN.

And that is just one example. Of late, exchanges between Dr. Peterson and various commentators over at SeN show that Dr. Peterson has chosen to re-broaden his anger at a few harsh critics back into the same old tired, contemptuous insults directed at the entire population on MDB. What a shame. Back to name-calling already, Dan?

It is a shame to me because those insults serve no good purpose. And they fog what could otherwise be a richer and more uplifting dialogue, which was the very thing that prompted me to issue the $10k challenge in the first place.

And in fact, just 3 1/2 months ago, in exchange for a parting gift donation to Interpreter, I closed out that failed $10k civility experiment in return for one and only one thing: Dan's good word that he would continue showing respect and civility towards the many participants of MDB. Not just for a week or a month, but in a long term vision.

That's all I asked. I was very specific about it. And he agreed.

It was a private agreement that I enjoyed making. I held high hopes that this one small improvement might become a durable example, raise the bar.

In an abundance of clarity, I further highlighted, very specifically, to Dr. Peterson the risk I was taking -- that by trusting Dr. Peterson's commitment to adopt our joint exercise for lasting change, he could just change his mind and make me look the fool once the money was sent.

In other words, I showed good faith in return for a promise of good faith.

Dr. Peterson's response: "I would be happy with this, if you're willing. I keep promises."

Do you, Dan?

You have not kept this promise. Not even close.

And before you go ballistic and accuse me, as you may be inclined, of bearing some kind of false witness, please remember that emails last forever. As you well know.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

You know, Dr. Moore. This is a university most noted for the study of Mopologetics. I'd like to formally request you publish those emails in the interest of public education and, this goes withouit saying, for collaboration with Cassius scholars. Remember, it's the work of brave and serious scholars who've successfully laid bare the mechanisms, motivations, techniques, and intersectionality of BYU departments with regards to Mormon apologia. Please consider this humble request.

Respectfully,

Dr. Cameron, North Carolina for Me