Mister Scratch wrote: Why do you think there has been such a big hullabaloo over this Keyes episode? It's precisely because Keyes is terrified of having his doubts "outed" to his wife and so forth.
You are right. Tal was clearly out of line when he shared something he realized could be damaging to someone he considered a friend.
guy sajer wrote:.... what kind of persons the staunch defenders of the Mormon faith would be were the restraints of the rule of law removed, a la some kind of Mormon Theocracy. Would Midgley willingly become an enforcer of the "truth," would Peterson become a snitch, would Schryver actively engage in ferreting out nonbelievers and bringing them to "justice" and so on? .....
As far as I can tell ... Lou Midgley, Daniel Peterson and other apologists have had plenty of opportunities to "out" plenty of critics, and have not done so. It seems like their policy is that the critics should self-report themselves. Several times while living in Utah I had lunch with a successful businessman in his 40's that lived in the Salt Lake area that posted online under the nickname SLDrone. He exchanged plenty of barbs with Peterson on ZLMB. I'm pretty sure that Peterson figured out exactly who he was. And if Peterson had reported him then SLDrone would've certainly been excommunicated. Instead SLDrone's eventual termination to church membership came in the office of M. Russell Ballard when SLDrone pulled out his resignation letter during one of their regular interviews that took place a couple years AFTER SLDrone started posting on RfM.
Holy cow... You know SLDrone? That guy is a legend in Internet Mormonism! I noticed that he registered to this board some time ago. I'd like to see him validate your report.
Anyways, DCP and his pals have definitely engaged in "outing" of critics. (As has the Church itself.) A key example of this would be The Good Professor's tattling on GoodK to Goodk's father. Also, unless I'm mistaken, the poster called Hellmut (sp?) had his posting behavior "outed" to his SP, who then proceeded to threaten him with disciplinary action. Ray A (who is "sort of" an apologist) has said that he would like to "out" me, as have DCP, Coggins7, and rcrocket. The ill-tempered poster named "Opie Rockwell" said that he wanted to see Harmony face ecclesiastical punishment, and that he hoped she'd be excommunicated.
I don't prefer to see anyone excommunicated, for what it's worth.
I believe Good K's father already knew Good K's standing, and that DCP informed him that Good K was mocking him online, not that Good K was being "outed" as a disbeliever.
DCP also tattled to my father because he thought I was criticizing him under the name Chap. I hope DCP includes you on his Christmas card list for all of your die-hard devotion.