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I delivered relatively brief remarks at the August 2024 FAIR conference under the title \u201cAppreciating Brother Brigham.\u201d \u00a0(Including the short Q&A session that followed, they lasted just slightly more than thirty-three minutes.) \u00a0A video of my presentation has now been posted on the FAIR website, where you can watch and listen to those remarks if you\u2019re brave enough to do it: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bE_zYtiKB_4<\/a><\/p>\n And, speaking of FAIR, they have put a very useful collection of links up on their website that I commend to your attention: \u00a0\u201cFact-Checking American Primeval<\/em>: What\u2019s Real and What\u2019s Fiction?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I continue to share items with you about American Primeval<\/em> that float across my radar screen. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because I think that at least some of you will find them interesting. \u00a0Here\u2019s one, for instance, from MovieWeb<\/em> (emphasis in the original):<\/p>\n American Primeval<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, <\/em>a six-part miniseries on Netflix . . . explores the gritty and harsh life on the American frontier. The Western is based in part on real events that took place in Utah during the 1850s<\/strong> and incorporates many of the same brutality and fortitude exhibited by the people who lived through them. . . .<\/p>\n During the Utah War of 1857 and 1858, Mormons<\/a> Attacked Other Mormons to Try to Preserve Their Way of Life . . .<\/p>\n By September 1857, Lee and his fellow militia leader Isaac C. Haight recruited members of the Southern Paiute tribe to attack a group of Mormons called the Baker-Fancher party passing through Mountain Meadows. . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not entirely clear whether Young ordered the attack on the group at Mountain Meadows . . .<\/p>\n The Nauvoo Legion attacked the group of Mormon settlers at Mountain Meadows <\/strong>and, after five days, the survivors attempted to surrender. After the remaining members of the Baker-Fancher party were disarmed, they were led away \u2014 only to be attacked once again, by \u201cIndians, among whom were Mormons in disguise.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lindsay Hansen Park was evidently the Mormon-history consultant for American Primeval<\/em>. \u00a0I wonder how she would rate the summary given above.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s a piece from Men\u2019s Health<\/em> (of all things!) entitled \u201cKim Coates Makes American Primeval<\/em>\u2018s Brigham Young Into a Chilling Western Villain: It\u2019s another great role for an actor you\u2019ve likely seen a few times before\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n One of the main threads and depictions in American Primeval <\/em>is how the Mormons\u2014the early Church of Latter Day Saints\u2014are expanding their grasp on Utah at any cost. In the very first episode, that is realized in the form of the excruciatingly bloody Mountain Meadows Massacre<\/a>, a real event that the Church of Latter Day Saints has in the time since accepted responsibility for; we see murders, scalpings, and all sorts of horrible violence in this grueling long scene that sets the tone for the remainder of the limited series.<\/p>\n American Primeval <\/em>early on establishes the Mormons as the show\u2019s relentless antagonists, but it\u2019s only once Brigham Young is properly introduced, as both their political and religious leader, that the threat feels even more real. Young is a gifted orator, a calm speaker whose words actually suggest a violent, terrifying future of violence and brutality at the benefit of his church and to the detriment of everyone in their path.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Forbes<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cIs Netflix\u2019s \u2018American Primeval\u2019 Based On A True Story? What\u2019s Fact Vs. Fiction\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Netflix\u2019s new limited series American Primeval<\/em> debuted this week<\/a> and quickly claimed the top spot as the streamer\u2019s most popular show. . . . Brigham Young<\/strong> (portrayed by Coates), the leader of the Mormon Church<\/a> at the time, commanded his army known as the Nauvoo Legion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n People<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cIs American Primeval<\/em> a True Story? All About the Deadly Utah Massacre That Inspired the Netflix Miniseries (and Its Connection to 2015\u2019s The Revenant<\/em>): In 1857, a Mormon army murdered over 120 settlers \u2014 and covered up their involvement for decades\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 If you read Eric Newman\u2019s comment with any degree of attention, you may detect a certain political vibe: Everything good about America\u2019s history is a lie:<\/p>\n The only thing more horrific than the violent story of American Primeval<\/a><\/em>is that it\u2019s based on true events. . . .<\/p>\n the Utah War, a confrontation between the Mormon people and the U.S. government over land ownership [?] . . .<\/p>\n Executive producer Eric Newman described the retelling as \u201can anti-nostalgic, truthful look at our history.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese rose-colored glasses in which we view the past, from the first Thanksgiving onward, is a lie,\u201d he told Tudum. \u201cIt\u2019s a lie meant to make us feel good about this really rugged, brutal path that we\u2019ve taken. I think we do a disservice to ourselves by looking at it in that way because it prevents us from seeing it [happening] again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Barbara Jones Brown, co-author (with Richard Turley) of the excellent 2023 Oxford University Press volume Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath<\/em>, offers an interesting and historically-informed take on American Primeval<\/em> in a Facebook entry here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding another recent angle of attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> and its fascistic and oppressive attempt to ensure that Brigham Young University remains faithful to the doctrines and teachings of the religious organization that sponsors it, here are two recent articles in the Deseret News<\/em> that I like very much:<\/p>\n Jeffrey Thayne<\/a> and Steve Moody<\/a>, \u201cTeaching at BYU gives us freedom we would not have at other universities:\u00a0Where others see freedom in academia at large, we see restrictions. And where others see constraint at Brigham Young University campuses, we see freedom \u2014 an uncommon liberty to take faith commitments seriously in our teaching and research\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Professor Thayne, by the way, was with a participant with our group in G\u00f6teborg, Sweden, \u00a0for last summer\u2019s FAIR presentations there, and Steve Moody is a member of the BYU Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, where I myself spent my long and sordid career:<\/p>\n Shima Baradaran Baughman<\/a>, \u201cPerspective: Why I returned to teach at BYU:\u00a0Being able to expand my faith alongside academic questions and classroom teaching has been nothing less than life-changing\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Posted from Bountiful, Utah<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 I delivered relatively brief remarks at the August 2024 FAIR conference under the title \u201cAppreciating Brother Brigham.\u201d \u00a0(Including the short Q&A session that followed, they lasted just slightly more than thirty-three minutes.) \u00a0A video of my presentation has now been posted on the FAIR website, where you can watch and listen to those remarks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":101900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38372,292,2905,788,28586,782],"class_list":["post-108704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-primeval","tag-brigham-young","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormon","tag-mountain-meadows","tag-utah"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>\n
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