Neti neti.

Sigh.  A few folks have gone wild at my post about renouncing political comments here.  It’s difficult to tell whether they’re being sincere or are merely feigning incomprehension — these are people who, for years, have earnestly striven to misunderstand just about everything I say and do — but, in order to avoid any misunderstanding among folks who aren’t trying to get it wrong, I offer some additional notes.  They’re as clear as I know how to make them, and I make them (as the federal oath goes) without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion:

• I wasn’t “pressured” or “strong-armed” by those two apostles into withdrawing from participation in Sunstone.  Their friendly counsel came at the conclusion of a meeting about something entirely unrelated, as we were preparing to say goodbye.  I had an excellent relationship with both of them, and I still have an excellent relationship with the one of them who is still living.  I saw their point, and I agreed with it.  And I’ve valued the advice ever since.  It was clearly communicated to me that, if I chose to continue my participation, there would be no “punishment” or ill consequences for me.
• No Interpreter Foundation donor has threatened me.
• No Interpreter Foundation donor has demanded that I cease political comments.
• Nobody at all has demanded that I cease political comments.
• Nobody has asked that I cease political comments.
• Nobody has advised me to cease political comments.
• Nobody has manipulated me.
• A friend mentioned to me that someone who has been a supporter of the Interpreter Foundation in the past has declared his unwillingness to support the Foundation in the future because of my politics.  (I have no idea about the substance of his objections, or whether his concerns come from the Left or the Right, in defense of the present occupant of the Oval Office or in support of the presumptive challenger.). I have since learned of two or three other supporters who have expressed concern about my political views.  And my reaction to those cases is my own, coming at my own initiative.
• I’m not angry with the person or persons who expressed alienation from the Interpreter Foundation because of my political views.  Not even slightly.  I’ll admit, though, that the news distressed me very much and that it surprised and discouraged and saddened me.
• No Interpreter Foundation board members have said a single thing to me about my politics or my blog.
• Sic et Non has no relationship to the Interpreter Foundation except for the trivially obvious one that it’s my personal blog and that I’m the president of the Foundation.
• No Interpreter Foundation donors have expressed any concern to me about the comments section on Sic et Non or, for that matter, about anything else.
• Nobody has asked me to stop posting on Sic et Non.
• Nobody has asked me to shut down the comments on Sic et Non.
• Nobody at Cruise Lady has expressed any concern — or any opinion whatever — about my blogging.
• I have no reason to anticipate being “fired” from the Interpreter Foundation.
• I have no reason to believe that my tenure at Interpreter is coming to an end.
• I have no reason to believe that Interpreter is on its last legs.  Quite the contrary, in fact.
• If there is “dissent” within the Foundation, I’m completely unaware of it — and I think it unlikely that those critics who claim to have heard about such “dissent” are more aware of what’s going on at Interpreter than I am.
• I’m certainly under no threat of “excommunication” from the Church.
• Although there probably ought to be a coup at Interpreter on the grounds of my monumental and well-documented incompetence — I’ve been a leader in just about every organization in which I’ve been seriously involved (senior patrol leader in the Scouts, student body president in high school, zone leader and mission home on my mission, captain of my high school swim team, board member of FairMormon, president of several other organizations, chairman of the FARMS board, bishop, president of Interpreter, etc.) and I’ve done a mediocre to genuinely bad job each time; I deeply dislike administrative positions and I am (no false modesty here) not good at them — no coup appears to be brewing as of yet.
• One critic suggests that my readiness to trim my political sails in order to avoid offending supporters of Interpreter shows that my real love is money.  I didn’t actually mention donors, of course, but, as a matter of fact, I don’t believe that I should allow my expressing my political views to damage Interpreter’s fundraising.  But please permit me to be very clear about something:  I earn no money whatever from Interpreter.  Our by-laws permit me to draw up to $500 annually as compensation for my services.  But I’ve never drawn a cent of that compensation.  Nor has any other officer of the Foundation.  (We have some contract workers who are paid; the Foundation’s officers are not paid.). Instead, my wife and I have been donors every year.  But what about the Witnesses films?  There is nothing in any of the legal work or the contracts pertaining to the Witnesses films that provides even a dime of compensation for me — nor (I know how certain critics’ minds work) for my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my cousins, my present or future pets, my estate, my heirs and assigns, or any shell company or secret bank account in the Cayman Islands.  Neither in cash nor in kind nor in gold bullion nor in doubloons nor in corvée labor.  Whether the film project breaks even or earns $500 million, my share of the earnings will remain unchanged at $0.00.

Posted from Seaside, Oregon