Kwaku El - the Young/Dumb state of Mormon apologetics

[_Doctor Scratch]

Kwaku doesn't have good examples to look up to. I mean, unless I'm mistaken, Dr. Peterson is taking his *second* vacation during the pandemic--he keeps signing his posts, "Posted from Seaside, OR." I guess that explains why he had to record his FAIR talk early: he was too busy traveling, satisfying his own gluttony and self-interests, and pissing all over health officials' recommendations just because he feels like it. This guy really is human garbage--completely self-centered, with zero regard for other people.

But he'll let you know he has traveled more miles than you ever have, thank you, so he is always right.

In a separate post, this is what he said:

(We’re trying to be very careful about the COVID-19 virus, not least out of concern for a father-on-law in his 94th year, a 90+-year-old woman that my wife regularly visits, and a good friend who is fighting a serious cancer.).

Well, he doesn't care that much! Because if he did, then why is he taking another vacation? Do you think he and Mrs. P. are going to quarantine for 14 days once they get back? Of course they aren't. Because at the end of the day, you only get one life, and they sure as hell aren't going to blow it on other people. Which is weird, if you think about it, because Midgley is constantly carrying on about life being a "probation," so you would think that DCP would be okay with the concept of sacrifice. (I mean, he allegedly worships Jesus for sacrificing himself, no?) But, no: the coronavirus is being grossly unfair! How dare it take away a man's summer vacation!

Like I said: he only cares about himself.

[_Shulem]

he was too busy traveling, satisfying his own gluttony and self-interests, and pissing all over health officials' recommendations just because he feels like it. This guy really is human garbage--completely self-centered, with zero regard for other people.

You know, I wonder how many people are going to die because of his wanton neglect and setting such a horrible example in which others will follow. People are going to die as a result of the virus he may be carrying or due to his inciting others to follow his example of going about and breathing the deadly virus on innocent people.

Daniel C Peterson is teetering on the edge of committing murder.

Murderer!

He deserves to be excommunicated from the Church. Just wait till President NelSatan finds out!

[_Philo Sofee]

Howling laughter!!!!!! Kwaku gets Memed!!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comme ... _BYU_can't/

[_moksha]

I really don't care if the lap dances were real or not, If someone is going to get dinged by covid and possibly spread to their family, at least make the reward worth the risk.

Excellent point. These so-called "lap dances" would be no more harmful than the BYU practice of soaking. Kwaku did get rather nasty with Consiglieri.

[_Most High]

Kwaku doesn't have good examples to look up to. I mean, unless I'm mistaken, Dr. Peterson is taking his *second* vacation during the pandemic--he keeps signing his posts, "Posted from Seaside, Oregon." I guess that explains why he had to record his FAIR talk early: he was too busy traveling, satisfying his own gluttony and self-interests, and pissing all over health officials' recommendations just because he feels like it. This guy really is human garbage--completely self-centered, with zero regard for other people.

While I disagree with the apologetical tactics of Dr.Peterson, I struggle to understand your characterization of him as "human garbage" and your comments about "gluttony" and "self-interests". By denigrating him, you denigrate the potential value in your critisisms of his apologetics. Dr. Peterson is as any human, complicated and partially selfcontradictory, but from his own perspective he is genuine.

There is enough to criticize with respect to apologetics, whithout having to retort to childrens games.

[Guest]

While I disagree with the apologetical tactics of Dr.Peterson, I struggle to understand your characterization of him as "human garbage" and your comments about "gluttony" and "self-interests". By denigrating him, you denigrate the potential value in your critisisms of his apologetics. Dr. Peterson is as any human, complicated and partially selfcontradictory, but from his own perspective he is genuine.

There is enough to criticize with respect to apologetics, whithout having to retort to childrens games.

Yes.

All this completely over-the-top abuse of Daniel Peterson is first of all just cruel. He can be insensitive himself, but I think I have an outside viewpoint on this, and he gets comments here that are out of proportion to whatever he might deserve. They're well into the cyber-bullying range. Constantly harping on his weight? Seriously? What the hell is this but taunting the fat kid? Why the hell have we been tolerating this so long without even batting our eyes?

Secondly all the abuse is pointless. So even if this means could be justified by serving some end, it doesn't serve any end. I've never seen Peterson claiming to be an example of asceticism, so exposing hypocrisy or something is no excuse here, even if it ever were for this kind of crap. This isn't even an ad hominem fallacy because it isn't even trying to be an argument. It's pure insult for the sake of insult.

And finally, even if somebody wants to eradicate Mormonism and crush everything that Daniel Peterson holds dear, this absurd abuse of the man personally actually works against that goal. It makes otherwise disinterested readers spontaneously sympathize with Peterson as an obvious victim, and it lets Peterson himself duck warranted criticism by playing the victim card that people here have voluntarily dealt him. For example he once posted some pretty rotten things somewhere about somebody who had posted about feeling suicidal during a faith crisis, and I wrote an outraged post about him doing that on MDDB. He replied there by sarcastically admitting to being a horrible person. It got him off scot free, because he was able to lump that genuine objection in with all the bogus excoriation that he really does constantly get.

I'm not out to defend Daniel Peterson in general. I think it's legitimate to call him out for plagiarism or for the outrageous remarks that he does sometimes make. Constantly smearing him with over-the-top abuse is clearly different. It's vicious and the only thing it actually accomplishes is to support Peterson's views by winning him sympathy and giving him excuses.

[_Physics Guy]

Double post.

[_huckelberry]

Physics Guy, thank you for the thoughtful post.

[_Doctor Scratch]

I appreciate the commentary, and after reflecting on this matter, I have reached the following conclusion: I still think that Dr. Peterson is human garbage. I once called him a "dung heap," and he lavished in that for months. Doubtless he will once again be grateful to me for this. Meanwhile, since we're all in pearl-clutching mode, did you see this, said in reference to Kamala Harris?

I was very disappointed, in that light, when it became apparent that Mr. Biden had limited his list of possible vice presidential running mates to black women. Not because, as my more deranged critics will hasten to declare, I’m a misogynist who is also opposed to uppity black people daring to exit the plantation.

[Guest]

I was very disappointed, in that light, when it became apparent that Mr. Biden had limited his list of possible vice presidential running mates to black women. Not because, as my more deranged critics will hasten to declare, I’m a misogynist who is also opposed to uppity black people daring to exit the plantation.

Just because Peterson utters words like "uppity black people" doesn't mean he's as bad as that sounds. He's mocking his critics for making him out to be that bad.

Of course it's clueless and childishly self-centered of him to think that he can utter phrases like that just to mock his critics. It's not as bad as Midgley's "up the stack" quips, but it's in that direction. Midgley isn't a Nazi and Peterson isn't a white supremacist, but by tossing around blood-drenched phrases so casually, just to make some snarky point about how they are not really Nazis or Klansmen, they betray how grotesquely they fail to appreciate what slavery and the Holocaust were.

And it's especially despicable that they do this as Mormons who will scream sacrilege if anyone dare make light mention of their Temple rituals. They insist on solemn reverence for their Mormon symbols and yet they blithely blaspheme against basic humanity merely to score their little personal points.

Nevertheless. It doesn't make that point, but instead it muffles that point, to castigate Peterson or Midgley in broad terms as "garbage", or cite them in ways that make it sound as if one is dully mistaking their subtler hypocrisy for slavering racism. It helps them get away with what they do—maybe even eggs them on to do it—to play the troll part that they've written for us.

As Most High said, there's enough to criticize. Toning it down—and getting it right—will make the real charges stick better.