{"id":106494,"date":"2024-08-10T23:38:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T05:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=106494"},"modified":"2024-08-10T23:39:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T05:39:19","slug":"106494","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/08\/106494.html","title":{"rendered":"Prevention and Possible Cure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nA new Interpreter Foundation video short has once again gone up: \u00a0\u201cMartin Harris Returns.\u201d \u00a0I hope that you enjoy it. \u00a0And I hope that you will share it, along with<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@TheInterpreterFoundation\/shorts\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> its increasingly numerous siblings<\/a>.<\/p>\nThese video shorts are taken from the Interpreter Foundation docudrama <a href=\"https:\/\/witnessesundaunted.com\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0We want people to eventually take a look at the entire docudrama, if they haven\u2019t already watched it; we think that it will be rewarding and well worth their time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_106497\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-106497\" style=\"width: 597px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2024\/08\/28732835-scaled.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-106497\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2024\/08\/28732835-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"dkflsfal;sjoiefewnfoinownvoenvononvoeineo\" width=\"597\" height=\"336\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-106497\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most of the presentations given at the just-concluded annual FAIR conference were held in the main assembly hall of the American Heritage School in downtown Salt Lake City, which occupies a former Latter-day Saint chapel. Unfortunately, the screen that was needed for PowerPoint presentation often concealed this magnificent stained glass depiction of the First Vision. I\u2019ve borrowed this image from KSL.com (https:\/\/www.ksl.com\/article\/50345059\/historic-church-building-to-become-downtown-salt-lake-citys-newest-school), and I hope that they will have no objection. I haven\u2019t found any other images that were nearly as good \u2014 but I\u2019ll remove the image if KSL objects.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe past three days have been very busy. \u00a0Thursday and Friday were largely filled with the 2024 FAIR Latter-day Saints conference, and by dinners with conference-attending friends. \u00a0(I\u2019ll try to report on the conference on Sunday or Monday or thereabouts, when I finally get a chance to take a breath.) \u00a0Today was centered on the celebration, sponsored by BYU Studies and the Interpreter Foundation, of the completion of Royal Skousen\u2019s Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. \u00a0After the reception, which was followed by lectures by Royal Skousen and Stan Carmack, we went to the Riverside Country Club for a private dinner for members of the Skousen family as well as for friends, donors and supporters, and volunteers. \u00a0Then we caught the tail-end of a party celebrating the retirement of a longtime family friend, a brigadier general, from his career of military service. \u00a0He is now pursuing advanced training in biblical Greek and Hebrew and related subjects, working toward service as a chaplain. \u00a0This is a very good man.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_65226\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65226\" style=\"width: 596px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/09\/1920px-BYU_Hinckley_Building.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-65226\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/09\/1920px-BYU_Hinckley_Building.jpg\" alt=\"GBH Bldg. BYU Provo\" width=\"596\" height=\"447\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65226\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Today\u2019s public celebration of the winding down of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project was held in the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni Center on the campus of Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. \u00a0However, there wasn\u2019t much snow on the ground today. \u00a0August in Utah is generally not very cold. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA person who wishes to remain anonymous kindly passed a pair of quotations on to me that he found \u201cvery relevant to church members encountering new information about the past.\u201d \u00a0Especially, he said, the highlighted portions.<\/p>\nThe quotations come from the famous\u00a0psychologist and psycholinguist Steven Pinker:<\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote>The other way in which I do agree with my fellow panelists that political correctness has done an enormous amount of harm in the sliver of the population that might be, I wouldn\u2019t want to say persuadable, but certainly whose affiliation might be up for grabs, comes from the often highly literate, highly intelligent people who gravitate to the alt-right, internet savvy, media savvy, who often are radicalized in that way, who swallow the red pill, as the saying goes, the allusion from The Matrix.\u00a0When they are exposed the first time to true statements that have never been voiced in college campuses or in The New York Times<\/em> or in respectable media, that are almost like a bacillus to which they have no immunity, and they\u2019re immediately infected with both the feeling of outrage that these truths are unsayable, and no defense against taking them to what we might consider to be rather repellent conclusions<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHe then lists a few uncomfortable statistics and continues . . .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>Now let\u2019s say that you have never even heard anyone mention these facts. The first time you hear them, you\u2019re apt to say, number one, the truth has been withheld from me by universities, by mainstream media, and, moreover, you will be vindicated when people who voice these truths are suppressed, shouted down, assaulted, all the more reason to believe that the Left, that the mainstream media, that universities can\u2019t handle the truth. So, you get vindicated over and over again, but, worst of all, you\u2019re never exposed to the ways of putting these facts into context so that they don\u2019t lead to racism and sexism and extreme forms of Anarcho-Libertarianism. So, the politically correct Left is doing itself an enormous disservice when it renders certain topics undiscussable, especially when the facts are clearly behind them\u00a0because they leave people defenseless the first time they hear them against the most extreme and indefensible conclusions possible. If they were exposed, then the rationale for putting them into proper political and moral context could also be articulated, and I don\u2019t think you would have quite the extreme backlash.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\nI think that, by analogy, these comments point to the need for frank teaching on and discussion of \u201cdifficult issues\u201d among faithful members of the Church. \u00a0I\u2019m confident that there are intellectually honest ways for\u00a0believing Latter-day Saints to take such issues in their stride and to remain deeply committed to the restored Gospel. \u00a0(If I didn\u2019t think so, I myself wouldn\u2019t be an active believer.)<\/p>\nWith that in mind, I might add that I\u2019m really looking forward to the continuing rollout of the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cesletters.org\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CES Letters<\/em><\/a> website. \u00a0I wish it had been launched ten years ago \u2014 as Mark Twain probably didn\u2019t actually say, \u201cA lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on\u201d \u2014 but I hope that, even now, it can do much good. \u00a0Too many people have been misled and injured by the original \u201cCES Letter.\u201d Maybe some of them can still be helped. \u00a0And maybe others can be inoculated against falling victim to it in the first place.<\/p>\nBy the way, more of Steven Pinker\u2019s comments can be found in the very interesting 2018 Daily Wire<\/em> article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/25730\/harvard-professor-steven-pinker-point-out-how-ben-shapiro#\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cHarvard Professor Steven Pinker Points Out How Political Correctness Drives The Alt-Right. The Idiot Left Responds By Using Political Correctness To Rip Him.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_18724\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18724\" style=\"width: 596px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/03\/RiversideCC-011914.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18724\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/03\/RiversideCC-011914.jpg\" alt=\"Riverside CC in Provo\" width=\"596\" height=\"393\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18724\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the Riverside Country Club, where the celebratory dinner fir invitees was held this evening. \u00a0Once again, though, the snow was, umm, minimal. \u00a0(From the Country Club\u2019s website.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHere are two more items that I\u2019ve located for you in the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122. \u00a0Warning: They are horrific and infuriating. \u00a0Read them at your own (considerable) risk:<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org\/article\/caritas-project-receives-church-donation-for-344-scholarships-in-argentina\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cC\u00e1ritas Project Receives Church Donation for 344 Scholarships in Argentina:\u00a0Funds will benefit thousands of students and their families striving to improve living conditions\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org\/article\/muuchi-xiimbal-foundation-and-church-of-jesus-christ-combating-malnutrition-in-mexico\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cMuuchi Xiimbal Foundation and Church of Jesus Christ Combating Malnutrition in Mexico: The Church is donating food supplements and nutrition education activities for 250 families\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nAnd here, one of the world\u2019s most egregious perpetrators of theistic depravities shamelessly invites others to join in them: \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org\/article\/service-missionaries-needed-teach-institute-online-byu-pathway-worldwide\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cService Missionaries Needed to Teach Institute Online Through BYU\u2013Pathway Worldwide:\u00a0Temple-worthy members 26 years and older are invited to facilitate and lead online institute courses with students from all over the world\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 A new Interpreter Foundation video short has once again gone up: \u00a0\u201cMartin Harris Returns.\u201d \u00a0I hope that you enjoy it. \u00a0And I hope that you will share it, along with its increasingly numerous siblings. These video shorts are taken from the Interpreter Foundation docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. \u00a0We want people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":65229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,473,37857,1570,37860,4003],"class_list":["post-106494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-ces-letter","tag-ces-letters","tag-martin-harris","tag-steven-pinker","tag-witness"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Prevention and Possible Cure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Khbw33ejZ7k A new Interpreter Foundation video short has once again gone up: \u00a0"Martin Harris Returns." \u00a0I hope that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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