Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

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drumdude
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Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by drumdude »

Our favorite auteur, writer and director Daniel Corndog Peterson recently remarked, "I really am serious about my commitment to trying to grasp why various worldviews appeal to people."

He wants us, especially his critics, to know that he has no sympathy for the fringe political views of the perpetrator of the hate crime massacre in Buffalo. A brave stance to take, especially knowing how many Mormons do have sympathy with these fringe views.

But Dan just can't understand why his fellow Mormons are so taken in by these conspiracy theories promoted by people like Tucker Carlson. I'm inclined to agree with Peterson. I can't understand it either:
  • Why would a group of people that banned black people from full fellowship until 1978 be predisposed to be racist? It's a mystery.
  • Why would a group of people who were told the civil rights movement was probably a communist ploy by their church leaders be predisposed to believe similar racist conspiracy theories? It's a mystery.
  • Why would a group of people who are constantly reminded to keep food storage, ammunition, and weapons in the event of a widespread collapse of government and society be predisposed to believe in and even yearn for a global great reset? It's a mystery.
  • Why would a group of people who have spent decades hearing about how wicked the world is be predisposed to believe that politicians like Hillary Clinton are running underground pedophile rings in pizzerias? It's a mystery.
  • Why would readers of a book that calls white people "delightsome" and black people "cursed" be predisposed to believe that whites are superior to other races? It's a mystery.
I'm 100% with Peterson on this one. I simply can't understand why in the world Mormons are so taken in by white supremacist ideas. Nothing in Mormon history, culture, or talks given by church leaders has EVER created an environment in which white supremacist ideals can flourish and thrive.
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by toon »

The deep state is another secret combination, just like the new world order.

But when Laminates accept the Gospel and turn white, will that be white replacement, or the opposite?
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by drumdude »

toon wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 6:03 pm
The deep state is another secret combination, just like the new world order.

But when Laminates accept the Gospel and turn white, will that be white replacement, or the opposite?
The Great White Restoration. White has all the colors, so it can't be racist!
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by Res Ipsa »

Good for Dan. I don't find it puzzling, as having scriptures that predict "secret combinations" almost guarantees that believers will create latch onto conspiracy theories.
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by Doctor Scratch »

Wow, he really stepped in it with that post. First, he opens by saying:
it’s probably as good an occasion as any to inflame some of my more obsessive critics again, and to give them an opportunity to slander me and to distort what I say. So I think that I’ll take up the notion of “Great Replacement” theory.
I can't really say it surprises me that his interest is piqued by a white supremacist idea that fueled the recent mass shooting in Buffalo. But he elaborates:
I hadn’t actually heard very much about “Great Replacement” theory until the shootings in Buffalo, New York — I pay no attention at all to Tucker Carlson — so, when it began being emphasized in news coverage and commentary about the Buffalo incident, I decided to look it up. I really am serious about my commitment to trying to grasp why various worldviews appeal to people. (See my recent blog entry “An important part of my approach to other faiths and worldviews.”) I didn’t spend a lot of time on the topic, and I make no pretense of being a particularly informed amateur on it, let alone an expert, but I thought that I would perhaps try to figure out whether or not there might be at least a kernel of truth in it that appealed to me or seemed reasonable to me.
You have to wonder how much time he's spent "figuring" out whether there's "at least a kernel of truth" in Nazism, say, or the ideologies of the Khmer Rouge. And what about atheism? Despite how much time he spends discussing it, I don't think I've ever seen him seriously grappling with the reasons why it might "appeal to people." He always just says he doesn't understand it, or that he thinks it's "unbearably depressing," or he makes fun of it, or of atheist people like Gemli.

In any case, the rest of that blog entry is flat-out bonkers. He does his usual thing of mentioning some irrelevant travel as an excuse to engage in name-dropping, and then he takes a swipe at an Australian Mufti. Where does this all lead? It leads to a weirdly distorted interpretation of the "Great Replacement" theory:
And this, I think is where “Great Replacement” theory might have unwittingly stumbled upon a germ of truth — while at almost the same time rendering it toxic or radioactive by bigoted, racist association:

I do really think that there is a discernible if imprecise core of values and attitudes, descending in a rough and difficult line from Magna Carta, that deserves to be cultivated and defended and preserved. It has, though, nothing whatsoever to do with “Whiteness.” It is a complex of beliefs affirming liberty and representative government and the rule of law and, yes, voluntary exchanges (economic and otherwise).

Although it has nothing intrinsically to do with “Whiteness” or ethnicity or genetics or even with Christianity — some of my heroes in this regard are Black (e.g., Justice Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, and the late Walter Williams), some are Jewish (e.g., the great Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, with whom I once had the opportunity to spend some time in Scotland), and some of whom (e.g., the late Justice Antonin Scalia and Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley Jr. and, at least once upon a time, prior to the 2016 presidential election, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio) come from such formerly despised immigrant groups as Italians, the Irish, and Hispanics — the core social-political values to which I refer are, broadly but in my opinion pretty definitively, associated with the “English tradition.”
So, in the end, this is a bizarre apologetics for the 'Great Replacement' theory. He is modifying what it normally means, though: instead of actual white people being "replaced," it's instead a set of values--the "English tradition"--that might be replaced. (Despite his efforts, he still winds up tying all of these values to "whiteness.") Weirdly, by the end of the entry, it's clear that he's drawing a clear connection between the "Great Replacement" theory and ideas like liberty, representative government, and democracy: advocates of the "Great Replacement" theory, in his bizarre apologetics, are right to be worried because the influx of immigrants and non-white people is a threat to things like liberty, rule of law, and democracy. I kid you not: this is actually what he wrote.

It's strange to think that he can so effortless find something to admire in the "Great Replacement" theory, and yet any positive attributes of atheism are completely elusive for him.
"If, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by KevinSim »

Doctor Scratch wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 7:08 pm
Wow, [url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... -note.html]
It's strange to think that he can so effortless find something to admire in the "Great Replacement" theory, and yet any positive attributes of atheism are completely elusive for him.
First off, I totally reject Great Replacement Theory. Secondly, what are the positive attributes of atheism?
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by sock puppet »

KevinSim wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 10:07 pm
I totally reject Great Replacement Theory.
Me too.
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by drumdude »

KevinSim wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 10:07 pm
Doctor Scratch wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 7:08 pm
Wow, [url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... -note.html]
It's strange to think that he can so effortless find something to admire in the "Great Replacement" theory, and yet any positive attributes of atheism are completely elusive for him.
First off, I totally reject Great Replacement Theory. Secondly, what are the positive attributes of atheism?
Im sure there aren’t any at all.
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by Chap »

KevinSim wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 10:07 pm
... what are the positive attributes of atheism?
Oooh .... that's a hard one!

Well, for a start, atheists are pretty well invulnerable to attacks on their financial stability by people who say stuff like:

"Hey! Our deity promises that if you write a regular cheque for 10% of your pre-tax income payable to his humble and obedient servants (yup, that's us!) he will rain down wonderful benefits upon you. Oh, and you won't get burned up at the End Of Days either. What's not to like?"

So there is that.
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Re: Why the "Great Replacement" theory appeals to Mormons

Post by slskipper »

Back in the mid sixties, the director of the U of Utah Institute of Religion (a family friend) boasted pf his firearms stash he had compiled for when the "coloreds" came to attack the Mormons.

Every Mormon at the just knew that the Black Panthers had maps of every Mormon household all over America.

As you say, it is a mystery.
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