Brigham Young doesn’t deserve his online criticism

[Everybody Wang Chung]

As LDS historian Will Bagley once said on Radio West, it's almost impossible not to directly implicate Brigham Young in the Mountain Meadow Massacre because he was so intimately involved in directing and ordering so many other massacres.

It's like DCP feigning ignorance about his constant plagiarizing, when all one needs to do is look at his hundreds of examples of past plagiarizing.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Criticism of historical figures is a practically irresistible pastime. Brigham can take it, I’d wager. He’s tough.

So can Hitler.

[drumdude]

Maybe Brigham was a prophet after all.

I’m telling you, they all had a massive masturbation problem. Satan slipped right in!

[yellowstone123]

"In racial matters, Brigham Young said some things that jar us today, and that we cannot endorse. There’s no denying this. He was, as we all are — even the prophets among us — a man of his time and culture and background."

Good grief, Charlie Brown here we go again: Brigham Young was born in Vermont in 1801.

"In response to abolitionists' calls across the colonies to end slavery, Vermont became the first colony to ban it outright. Not only did Vermont's legislature agree to abolish slavery entirely, it also moved to provide full voting rights for African American males."

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/v ... an%20males.

[drumdude]

As LDS historian Will Bagley once said on Radio West, it's almost impossible not to directly implicate Brigham Young in the Mountain Meadow Massacre because he was so intimately involved in directing and ordering so many other massacres.

It's like DCP feigning ignorance about his constant plagiarizing, when all one needs to do is look at his hundred's of examples of past plagiarizing.

I expect that in 10 or 20 years, Billy Shears, Axel, gemli, Doctor Shades, Otto Erickson, Jerald & Sandra Tanner, Daniel Peterson and myself will all have something that we've said that we will then regret. In 100 to 200 years, probably 100% of us will absolutely regret many things which we take as everyday morally normal in the daily lives of people today as opposed to what those people of that far-future era shall experience as their new "normal."

I suppose that what I am trying to say is that those who brand people of the past with a broad paintbrush had better get used to the idea that they're going to be branded the same way in that far distant future...that is if any of us are important enough by that time to even remember, anyway... (Dr. Peterson, a resounding "yes," but the rest of us probably a big fat zero...

Who of us hasn’t ordered a massacre or two, I mean really? We have all strayed from perfection.

[Gadianton]

In an attempt to take the times into consideration, I'd start by asking what other "strong leaders" of new religious movements in modern times, movements that are often considered as cults by the wisdom of the day, might be regarded as people of great character and wisdom?

A non-religious example, to show I'm not just picking on religion: a home owners association has a similar problem. It's not worth it in any normal sense to get on the HOA board. Therefore, the incentive is skewed toward people who like having power over other people or are prone to corruption. I can think of so many examples here, from the first HOA president I had in my first community, who put all his time into restructuring parking rules because he had six cars parked in front of his 1500 sq foot house (people with fewer cars weren't allowed to park on the street so that people with many cars had it easier), to a friend of mine who became HOA president to change rules and get all the property upgrades he wanted done, to a young woman who drove a car around worth twice her salary, who would put the Supreme Court of Arizona to shame resurrecting old rules and sending out mass violation notices to people because she was so uppity and bothered. The list goes on.

If you're talking about a small religious community with conventions falling outside the norm that put it at odds with the rest of society and causes the community to physically isolate itself from everyone else, and then you ask, what kind of leaders does such establishment attract, is it often the case that it attracts well-rounded, decent and right-thinking folk?

Perhaps not very often, but maybe it does sometimes, and so who aside from Brigham Young would fit the bill as such a great individual? What other NRM leaders does Dan have overflowing great respect for? Someone other than Martin Luther. Someone who isolated his people from the evil world.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Who of us hasn’t ordered a massacre or two, I mean really? We have all strayed from perfection.

You're right. I know I certainly wouldn't want to be judged solely by my massacres. It's probably time to give brother Brigham a break.

[Imwashingmypirate]

Brigham young is dead. He doesn't know of any criticism.

[Doctor Steuss]

Wild how people who have direct access to eternal truths, and divine morals and ethics tend to reliably just end up being products of their time.

[toon]

"He wasn't perfect" has to be among the most meaningless arguments you could make in defense of someone, especially since no one has perfection as a standard.

But I guess this puts Brigham Young in the same group as Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, DP, and believe or not, me, as well as the countless others who weren't perfect.

To paraphrase or steal from Louis C.K., Brigham Young has at least killed way fewer people than Hitler, Pol Pot, and Stalin. Don't know about the Clintons, as I understand they have quite the kill list. Maybe ahead of DP and me; if so, perhaps only slightly. But I really can't speak for Dan.

I don’t recall the Clintons ordering the massacre of 120 men, women, and children, but then I haven’t been listening to enough Trump Truth lately. I’m sure he will lock’er’up during his next term, God willing.

The Clinton part was tongue-in-cheek. A lame attempt to catch Schryver's attention.