“My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

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Doctor Scratch
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“My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Doctor Scratch »

Hello, friend and colleagues. I hope you’re all having a nice Pride Month.

For my part, I couldn’t help but notice that the President of the Interpreter Foundation has posted a familiar story for the umpteenth time. Seriously: I think he’s posted this close to a dozen times. For those who don’t feel like clicking on the link, the story goes like this: DCP is in high school and runs for student body president and wins. The catch, though, is that he just breezes through to this victory:
I won. Rather handily, if I’m not mistaken. And, candidly, that gave me a pretty good feeling.
The thing is, he didn’t run uncontested. Check it out:
The votes were counted in the evening, after dark, and I remember walking along one of the outdoor campus hallways after hearing the news, heading toward my car with considerable self-satisfaction. Then I turned a corner. There, to my uncomfortable surprise, I saw SB sitting on a bench with his head in his hands, sobbing.
Was he really “uncomfortable,” though? He continues:
But I’ve never forgotten the image. It’s stayed with me for more than half a century now.

SB had badly, desperately, wanted to be student body president. Moreover, he had assumed, like everybody else on campus, that he would be. It wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.

By contrast, I hadn’t cared all that much. It was ego-gratifying to be elected, and I’m sure that being able to put “student body president” down on the forms didn’t hurt my college applications. But I wouldn’t have been devastated, I certainly wouldn’t have cried, had I lost.
DCP has posted this same narrative multiple times—so many times, in fact, that I daresay it would be correct to characterize it as a legitimate, defining Mopologetic myth. What does the myth mean, then? It’s simple: this is a reassurance of the Mopologists power. DCP barely cared about this election, and yet he handily defeated his opponent—and not only that, the poor sap was crumpled up in a heap—utterly humiliated!—and sobbing over his loss! DCP goes on to say that he “felt bad” (yeah right), and that he “grew up” after this incident. I don’t doubt that the latter part is true: he matured into someone who felt empowered by humiliating and crushing other people. Seeing his opponent sobbing that night was as much of a peer trip for him as Midgley socking his classmate was for him.

Make no mistake: the Mopologists enjoy seeing others in pain, and they especially like it if it makes them seem “superior” in some way. If DCP had legitimately cared about his opponent’s plight, he could have conceded—but no; instead he’s mined it repeatedly for his blog.

So, as we continue to celebrate Pride Month, it may be helpful to remember *why* the Mopologists do what they do. Following the example set by the Interpreter Foundation’s President, they’ll happily do what they can to hurt other people, because you know what? It just helps them to know how awesome they really are. How delightful the Celestial Kingdom is going to be!
"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
Marcus
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Marcus »

I don’t think I’ve ever read an uglier humble-brag.

This too, was ridiculously offensive.
… We also visited the famous Hofbräuhaus, probably the most renowned beer tavern in the world…. Given my paternal family’s history and my own enjoyment of cold beverages (particularly spring water and chocolate milk), who knows what would have happened if I weren’t a Latter-day Saint? I might have spent much of my life under a bridge, relaxing with a bottle in a brown paper bag.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... tones.html
It never ceases to amaze me all the terrible things Mormons suppose they might have done with their lives, if they hadn’t been lds. Good thing the vast majority of the world isn’t filled with such weak-minded and morally deficient natural character that seems to plague these Mormons. :roll:
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Dr Moore
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Dr Moore »

Doctor, do you believe Mopogetics is like being a loyal Russian foot soldier in Ukraine? Nonsensical orders, together with declarations of rightness and “enemy” narratives come down from Moscow. You know most of it is bull, but you know damn well what happens to soldiers with tall necks.

The equipment is rusty and the bread is crusty. The whole world labels you one of the villains. It pretty much sucks, but the situation is what it is and you’re the dummy who joined up years ago instead of finding a real job. You would rather be doing something else, but you’re kind of stuck now. So you look for ways to have fun. Maybe it starts with stealing. Blowing up cars. Then buildings. That gets old quick. But torturing people, now that never gets old. And guess what. Moscow defends its own - there are no consequences.
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by drumdude »

It’s a verbatim copy of a 2019 blog entry here


https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... egret.html


I guess DCP can actually run out of yawn inducing personal tales. Who knew.
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Doctor Scratch
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Doctor Scratch »

Dr. Moore: yes, I think that’s an apt analogy.

And Marcus: your citation of that tidbit reminded me of another snippet of Petersonian/Mopologetic Mythology—I.e., the time during his mission when he “mopped the floor” with some Christian minister. He’s told the story countless times—how he was out in the mission field, and some of the younger elders were getting their clocks cleaned by some Christian guy, and I struts DCP, with his academic training in Greek, and he “humiliates” this guy (that was the exact word Peterson used: “humiliate.”). He goes on to say that he “felt bad,” but who believes that? Is the point of the story that Daniel Peterson is sensitive and that he cares about whether he hurts anti-Mormons or not, or whether he’s a kick-ass Mopologist who can dole out a heap of punishment when necessary?

I can tell you this: I seriously doubt that Michael Jordan ever “felt bad” about dunking on Dan Majerle’s head. Just watch The Last Dance. Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time and yet he comes across as very human, honest, and ultimately humble. He never has to qualify any of his victories by saying that he “felt bad.”
"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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Doctor Scratch
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Doctor Scratch »

Look: I think there are myriad ways that Dr. Peterson could demonstrate his sincerity and show that he really does feel badly about hurting others, and that this anecdote about the sobbing class president runner-up isn’t just a “power play.” For starters, he could apologize to Everybody Wang Chung for abusing his Church connections in an effort to doxx Everybody Wang Chung. Daniel could just admit that he was frustrated and angry over Everybody Wang Chung’s criticism and that, in a moment of weakness, he lashed out in the hopes of exposing and “humiliating” (his descriptor, mind you) a troublesome critic.

I think that would be a really positive step in the right direction.
"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: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Moksha »

Dr. Peterson wrote:Truth be told, to some degree at least the sight of him crying ruined my evening. It blunted my pleasure in my own victory to know that it had caused pain to someone — and, particularly, to someone whom I actually rather liked. He wasn’t a bad guy.
This shows Dr. Peterson is not a monster. He knows he is supposed to show empathy in this situation. His memory shows his election was more significant to him than he is letting on. Nothing wrong with that. It has not made him as obstreperous as Dr. Midgley.
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Doctor CamNC4Me »

Is there any way to fact check his claim he was the student body President? He’s lied so much and so often throughout his ‘career’ I wouldn’t be surprised if this is just another whopper. Plus, Dan Peterson winning a HS popularity contest? Mmmmm, color me skeptical.

- Doc
Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Everybody Wang Chung »

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 12:48 pm
Is there any way to fact check his claim he was the student body President? He’s lied so much and so often throughout his ‘career’ I wouldn’t be surprised if this is just another whopper. Plus, Dan Peterson winning a HS popularity contest? Mmmmm, color me skeptical.

- Doc
Mormon apologist Kerry Muhlestein wrote: “I start out with an assumption that anything Daniel C. Peterson says or writes and anything we get from the Interpreter, is a lie. Therefore, anything I hear from DCP or the Interpreter, I will try to fit into that paradigm."

https://www.deseret.com/2014/8/12/20546 ... d-in-egypt
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Re: “My nonchalant awesomeness hurt you?? Bummer.”: A Mopologetic Myth Deepens

Post by Marcus »

Doc is concerned with the truth because DCP has a documented problem with being honest in his blog entries. The actual quote from KM, according to Everybody Wang Chung’s link, is far more problematic:
Muhlestein said as humans, the natural assumptions that we make determine what kind of evidence we believe and what kind of evidence we discard. But he said that if we recognize each other’s beginning assumptions, we can begin to better understand each other despite our different beliefs.

“I start out with an assumption that the Book of Abraham and the Book of Mormon, and anything else that we get from the restored gospel, is true,” he said. “Therefore, any evidence I find, I will try to fit into that paradigm. …There are those who will assume that it’s not true, and on these points we’ll just have to agree to disagree. But we will understand one another better when we understand how our beginning assumptions color the way we filter all of the evidence that we find.”
Ok, that’s why many here are willing to allow a testimony of beliefs to stand, but not a litany of “facts” that start from those assumptions.
Muhlestein said the assumption that causes the most doubt about the Book of Abraham is regarding its source.

According to LDS Church and secular history, a group of mummies and scrolls of papyrus were discovered in Egypt in the early 1800s by French archaeologist Antonio Lebolo. One of these mummies and scrolls found its way to the United States and was bought by Joseph Smith, who began translating it in 1835. Unfortunately, Muhlestein said there is not much record on the process or details of which pieces Joseph was translating.

Joseph’s family sold the mummy and papyrus to a museum in Chicago after his death, and it was later burned in a museum fire. One piece that survived, and was later returned to the LDS Church, is the piece containing Facsimile 1, which was included in the Book of Abraham. The immediate assumption was made that the content of the Book of Abraham came from the text on the papyrus directly adjacent to the facsimile.

Later, Egyptian historians were able to translate text next to the original facsimile and found that it was not related to the Book of Abraham in any way.

“This seemed like game over to many people,” Muhlestein said. “But what we really should do is we should check these assumptions.”
:roll:
He said a study was conducted on other ancient Egyptian texts, and found that text is only associated with its adjacent picture 53 percent of the time. Thus, it is likely that Joseph Smith was not translating the text next to the picture after all, and his translation cannot be disproven.
Ok. I’d need to see the actual documentation for this because in my reading, KM has a problem with adequately documenting statements like this. He tends to play fast and loose with actual meaning.
“I want to be clear: It’s not making assumptions that is problematic,” Muhlestein said.

For an academic researcher? I beg to differ.
“…We just have to test those assumptions. And that’s where the process failed early on.”
another twist that bypasses the actual events.
He emphasized the importance of the assumption that revelation is a valid source of knowledge for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He urged them to use revelation to study the text of the Book of Abraham and learn of its truthfulness, rather than trying to find problems that cause doubt of its authenticity.
Seriously?
“We would be mistaken to assume that what (we) know is safe. (This knowledge) works best when we realize its limitations,” he said.

As a professor of ancient studies, he said his text books are constantly changing and many of the things he was teaching as truth 10 years ago have since been confounded.

“But revelation is a source of knowledge that can be trusted over the years," he said. "It is a safe source of knowledge.
”safe source of knowledge.” This is purportedly an academic researcher. And it’s just laughable.
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