Kishkumen wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 11:38 am
Doctor Scratch wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 5:12 am
Some interesting observations, but I need to (slightly) disagree. I think that the Brethren—some of them, anyhow—*do* care about what the Mopologists are up to. The very fact that they were booted out of the Maxwell Institute would seem to be evidence of that. And prior to the purge, there were rumors swirling about BKP intervening in the Mopologists’ attacks on Rodney Meldrum. Meanwhile, when it suits them, the Mopologists will boast about their “connections” with the Brethren, and they will simultaneously try to discredit other LDS (such as Meldrum) who do the same.
I still think their conflict with the Heartlanders is a powder keg. Loyalty can be an asset—sure. But at the expense of destroying other Latter-day Saints’ faith? One gets the sense that the Interpreter Mopologists are trying to prove that they are *more loyal* than the Heartlanders, but this is proving to be a difficult and deeply problematic task.
Hmmm. Well, individually interested? Sure! Collectively supportive or even aware? I am much less sure of that. In fact, I am doubtful. You bring up BKP, and I am reminded of the times we know he was meddling in things on his own initiative.
Yes: good points. I suppose I was responding primarily to Dr. Moore's remark about the "loyalty box." The Mopologists, I think it's fair to say, have a complicated relationship with the GAs. Back during the MI heydays, they used to invite Oaks and others from the Twelve to talk at the annual FARMS dinner around the holidays, and they certainly had a "cozy" relationship with some of the Brethren. Meanwhile, they were engaged in what can legitimately be called full-blown insubordination in regards to other of the Brethren--e.g., Midgley's remark that they were waiting for Elder Mark E. Petersen *to die* so that they could publish on the LGT. And then there is Skousen's project, and the fact that he thumbed his nose at the Brethren when they told him to ditch his critical text project--and the Mopologists have supported him all along. So "loyalty" is not quite the right word, though it's not wrong, either.
I imagine that the Mopologists' relationship with the GAs has a certain level of
Game of Thrones-esque political intrigue, backstabbing, gossip, and so on. If you caught the recent season of
House of the Dragon, there was a scene towards the end (without giving too much away) where Rhaenyra dispatches envoys to make sure that certain houses are "loyal to the cause," and I imagine that it's sort of like that. But there are other "causes," too. Sure: the Interpreter crowd managed to get Elder Gay to come talk at their yearly celebration, but the Heartlanders have had GAs on their side, too. (And Midgley got in the face of one of these guys, as I recall.) I guess, then, that I wouldn't say that the Mopologists get a "free pass" on account of loyalty, but, instead, that they aren't brought to heel because enough of the Brethren consider them to be "useful," even if they are causing damage in various ways.
"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