These are some fascinating inquiries, and I felt that they merited a more in-depth response, and a thread of their own. Indeed: What the heck is up with Interpreter's fixation on Brigham Young? For many years, it seemed that the Interpreter Powers That Be really only cared about Joseph Smith and the Witnesses, but at some point, there was something of a "pivot" to what now seems like a full-blown obsession with Brigham Young. So, what's up with this?Doctor Robbers wrote:I guess I thought Six Days was a one-off thing. I suppose the Netflix series was a good excuse to stir up righteous indignation. But hasn't everyone forgotten about that? Was there a trip to London recently? Did that have anything to do with Brigham?
Do you think he will write a book about Brigham and publish it?
Do you think that the Afore and the Brethren have had secret meetings to discuss Brigham?
Is this more of an internal or external thing?
Here's where I'm going with this. it seems like an excuse to fund Interpreter. Look, the world is attacking Brigham! We're the last defense! Easy to explain.
But, the internal dynamics could be more interesting. Conservative and liberal Mormons have both had issues with Brigham. Denver Snuffer basically said the whole thing ends with Joseph. That current has pulled the typical conservative Mormon even deeper into Smith worship and ignored Brigham. And then I'd imagine the new MI and liberal scholars are uncomfortable with Brigham for all the authoritarian stuff. So if Interpreter can launch a new purity test, whereby members are vetted based on their testimonies of Brigham, and given Interpreter controls the talking points, then they are back in the saddle, holding the salvation of every member in their hands.
what do you think the whole thing might be about?
To address the Dean's specific questions:
--No, there will be no book. Only movies.
--Yes: I do think it's possible that there were secret meetings, though I think it's more likely that these clandestine meetings were kept within the "inner circle" of Interpreter. What I mean to say is: I think it's more likely that Interpreter's motives with these BY projects is very likely in defiance of the Brethren's preferences. To be clear: I don't mean to suggest that I think that Becoming BY or 6DIA are meant as a direct "middle finger" to the General Authorities or anything like that. Rather, I think that Interpreter's leadership has decided that they are going to pursue these BY projects, and they do not care what anyone thinks or says.
--Is it "internal" or "external"? Which I interpret to mean: Is this about satisfying some inner psychological need on the part of the Afore? Or is this a more calculated move aimed at maintaining Interpreter's status in the hierarchy of Mopologetics? Well, my answer is, by necessity, speculative, but I would think that the appropriate answer here is "both." As I noted in a previous response, I could see this being a kind of vicarious "rehab" effort. DCP believes that *he* has been "unfairly" maligned by critics, and so no he's going to try and achieve a sort of "by proxy" redemption by resuscitating BY's problematic reputation. And the goal, I guess, is to accomplish this via these heavily whitewashed short films.
But you raise an important point about audience. The problem with BY's reputation is that he is strongly disliked both within and outside the Church. Both groups can point to all kinds of problematic things: his authoritarianism; his polygamy; his attitudes towards race; his battles with the US government; his ordering up of extreme punishments, such as castrations; and so on. Meanwhile, there are his various embarrassing doctrinal teachings, such as the thing about people living on the sun, or the Adam-God doctrine (which the Afore himself has said is a "false doctrine"!), or the bit about Heavenly Father having physical sex with Mary.
So, is this a kind of "power-grab," then, with Interpreter trying to establish a "litmus test" of sorts, that they can use to continue waging war on Chapel Mormons, and, arguably, liberal/progressive Mormons? I think that this is a very insightful reading of the situation. I think the reality of the situation is likely multi-layered. I do think there is some element of the psychological "vicarious rehabbing the reputation" thing going on. I also think there is a bit of just base selfishness: this is another project that can be pointed to as a reason for dodging a senior mission.
But it may be that your political reading has even more merit. We have observed in the not-too-distant past that Interpreter was getting left in the dust by FAIR And Scripture Central. Can Interpreter seize a bigger slice of the pie by cornering the market on BY material? To me, this seems like a risky move, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Meanwhile, I think we also have to think about the sheer glee the Interpreter Mopologists have expressed about the re-taking of the Kirtland Temple from the CoC. I mean, the gloating and chest-thumping was over-the-top, even for them. And since BY is the primary figure who separates Utah Mormonism from the CoC, it would seem to be a part of this gloating. Mopologetics cannot exist without enemies, schadenfreude, inflicting pain on others, and general bullying, so this could be a key aspect of the project(s) as well.
In any case, this is an evolving situation, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. I, for one, am interested in seeing the extent to which they scrub out all the problematic aspects of BY's past from the films. I'm going to bet right now that the bit about HF physically going to "pound town" with Mary is not going to make it into the movies. I defy the Mopologists to prove me wrong.
