As I’ve been online I’ve started to notice certain behaviors. After reading religious, sports, and political discussion boards I see the same behavior over and over again. I wrote about my deal breakers some time ago. I’ve also discussed the way that words can be abused and manipulated. My research has taken me into robbers, terrorists, warmonger, neocon, and on this blog neo apologist.
I bring those points up because of the minor tempest that occurred between Jonathan Neville and Stephen Smoot last week. The latter wrote an article assessing, critiquing, and essentially debunking the use of a letter by Heartlanders, or those that believe in a strictly North American setting. Instead of focusing so much on the use of the letter in question, or even larger issues of geography’s role in Book of Mormon historicity, this post examines the rhetoric of Neville and its application in striving towards productive dialogue.
First, a couple of caveats. Much like Smoot I don’t have a problem with those that believe the geography of the Book of Mormon takes place in North America, a limited setting, and even a hemispheric model or one that believes the Book of Mormon is some kind of fiction. What does bother me is when some people claim, as Neville does, that if you disagree with his position than you are fundamentally in error and disagreeing with the prophets. I also get annoyed, as I discussed with churchistrue last week, when people critique or scoff at other positions while showing the same negative qualities they critique. These individuals call others dogmatic, simplistic, weird, and literal, even as they are vague, simplistic, weirdly literal and dogmatic in their own positions.
With that introduction I wanted to use Neville’s response to Smoot as an example of the way that loaded terms and nicknames and other terms can be used to shape the discussion and really detract from the discussion. To save space you may assume that all quotes are from Neville’s response and I invite you to read his whole article for context.
M2C intellectuals terrified of Letter VII
This is the title, and it reads like a headline from a rag magazine, so I think it’s great (or really bad) example of his editorializing.
No-wise
Book of Mormon central writes a series of articles called KnoWhys, which are accessible articles written for a general audience that summarize past research on the matter and connect it to larger issues in Mormon scripture study. Neville uses this bastardized version of the term 12 times in his short article including in the second sentence. Just two sentences in Neville displayed two of the most childish ways to engage a discussion.
M2C intellectuals feel threatened
This is editorializing and mind reading. He can’t know exactly what they feel, but he can interpret their actions in the most sinister way possible. I call this the Judge Judy test. I’m a writer that works from home (except for my third job driving for uber on nights and weekends, Viva Las Vegas.) As a result I watch Judge Judy every day, and she does an excellent job of finding out what people say, not the interpretation of what people say. If a witness says they “feel threatened” she would immediately say something like, “No, no, no. I don’t want to know how you felt or your editorializing, what did they actually say and do?” And writing an article, even one as bare knuckle as Smoots, still doesn’t warrant that editorial.
[Like] Ephesian sellers of idols who tried to silence the Apostle Paul.
The second half of the sentence where he said the intellectuals were threatened. This is poisoning the well. A long time ago I wrote a paper that won me the George C Marshall award. In discussing isolationists my roommate wrote: Morgan, I can tell you don’t like these guys. Ever since that point I’ve tried hard, even if I disagree with somebody, to avoid poisoning the well.
I also found that people often use analogies to carry their arguments. Instead of specifically describing the congruities between apologists and idol sellers, Neville makes an allusion and expects his readers to fill in the blanks based on the negative comparison. Thus in a sentence that is painfully short of details and specific arguments, and just the third one in his article, he makes as many as 5 childish and tendentious errors (for the same of brevity I skipped over explaining several of them): mind reading, editorializing, poisoning the well, and two short hand insults.
I could stop now but there are even more egregious examples that demand inclusion:
This [deletion of his article] is typical of the way the M2C citation cartel censors any information that contradicts the M2C dogma.
There is so much in this sentence but the biggest offender is “citation cartel” with dogma coming in second. He explains it later, but he’s upset that other material is quoted and not his. And he is upset that places like Meridian, FairMormon, and church correlation materials will repeat what he sees as unrighteous and pernicious research. Like the word robber in the Book of Mormon, or terrorist in modern discourse, cartel is used for its pejorative and shock value more than its clinical definition and explanatory power. In plain language, he is tossing bombs and insults at people he doesn’t like, and not making a serious and substantive argument.
The Mormon research world is small, but as somebody who is a part of it, I’ve never gone to the meetings of the cartel and with a secret handshake decided to exclude Neville. I ignore his work because I find his behavior odious and his professional work is a joke. My work stands on the strength of my research and arguments, and not because I’m with a certain faction. In fact, I don’t go to Deseret Book because I’m shocked and appalled they carry his crap instead of so many other good books out there. So either the cartel fell down on that one, or he has a vital outlet that many Mesoamerican scholars don’t have and there is no cartel. I can’t speak for Book of Mormon Central and the rest of the cartel but after reading posts like this [start sarcasm voice] I can’t imagine they have any reason to dislike Neville or maybe not use his work.
This title [of the KnoWhy] demonstrates the unrelenting arrogance of these intellectuals.
Playing fallacy cop is on my list of deal breakers especially because debates usually descend into mutual accusations of ad hominem. (It also leads to what I have named Deane’s Dagger: Any critique of a person’s tone automatically invites the same accusations against that writer.) That being said, this is a pretty blatant example of ad hominem that should be identified for what it is. There is also a rather stunning irony here, as Neville’s central case is that the Mesoamerican setting means you don’t believe in the prophets, and yet Neville assumes the role of speaking for church leadership and judging the worthiness of members, which is actually pretty arrogant.
I never agreed to join a church run by intellectuals, but that’s what these M2C ‘scholars’ are attempting to establish.
I’ve never taken the scare quotes seriously and that’s likely because of this sketch. Its funny in SNL, but sad in this case: https://youtu.be/vlDuD8zPMI0?t=8s
If you think that a person has made a faulty case I would like to see a counter argument and specifics explaining why. But scare quotes around the word scholar is petty and says more about the person using the scare quotes than the argument in question.
Conclusion:
This is a debate that many at Wheat and Tares might not care about. I totally understand that if you don’t believe the Book of Mormon is historical, or think the book is providential but don’t care for its location you probably believe the intramural debates over its geography are silly and pointless. That’s great and I thank you for reading anyway. Regardless of the topic, the way we discuss issues matter. Arguments that are light on substance, reason, and evidence but make extensive use of emotionally charged words like cartel, scare quotes, absurd nick names, and excessive editorializing do a disservice to the truth, discussion, and increasingly the fabric of the country in this rancorous age. (Also, Neville’s favorite tactic when called on his tone seems to be forcing people to sift through his 50 blogs for citations. Hit control f and type “citation” on Smoot’s post to see scores of examples.)
Those that think Trump’s twitter feed is the herald of the apocalypse should care as well as those that think denying service to a Trump supporter is awful. I used to teach a class on Pakistan, and my students would often assume a sense of superiority over Pakistanis that riot over rumors of a flushed Quran or believe the CIA and not terrorists are responsible for violent attacks. But people here in America can lose their jobs before they get off the plane, and racist notes can get thousands of shares before turning out to be false. While Smoot threw some elbows, I think Neville’s reaction perfectly displays the major problem our society faces in processing truth and having productive dialogue and its why I discussed it here.
I hope some day the fight over the North America or Mesoamerica models disintegrates as the overwhelming evidence of the Andes wins out. Interested? Start here: https://goo.gl/fP1yCS
What does M2C stand for?
I think there is something emotionally positive about dropping rhetorical bombs as demonstrated above on an opponent. It feels good to do, like one is cleverer than the opposing party and getting the upper hand. I find I do it naturally and in an effort not to be part of the negativity problem, I’m trying to train myself to weed them out of my writing. If I occasionally fail, that’s a good sign I probably shouldn’t be engaging with that person/topic in the first place.
I enjoyed your critique Morgan and have long enjoyed your writing. I know these debates on BoM geography can get quite heated and little substance, in favor of ridiculing an opponent can often take over.
ReTx: “M2C” is Neville’s shorthand for “Mesoamerica/two Cumorahs,” referring to the belief that the Book of Mormon took place in southern Mexico and Guatemala and that the hill Cumorah described in the Book of Mormon is not the same hill where Joseph Smith received the plates of Mormon.
Thanks for explaining M2C. I definitely agree with the points in the post. HOWEVER, I feel that these types of vicious barbs and accusations of apostasy have been in the BofM debates for years (like in the FARMS Review). It’s part and parcel of the more traditional apologetic style, which is what many people felt was being purged when the Maxwell Institute shifted to a more academic/scholarly tone. That’s why the Interpreter magazine began, to provide a place for the older FARMS apologetics. There was an Interpreter article a couple years back that I wrote about where the author called into question the faithfulness of newer/pastoral apologists like Grant Hardy and the Givenses. Like you mentioned, Smoot’s article isn’t exactly neutral, though I agree he doesn’t fly off the handle like Neville. But I have a REALLY hard time having any sympathy for Smoot when I’ve seen him engage in a similar off-putting style (I don’t remember him ever calling anyone apostate, more the sarcasm and barbs). And Michael Ash. And Dan Peterson. And others.
I don’t really feel anything when I observe FARMS old-timers mudwrestle with their rivals over their various competing theses or dogmas, but I sigh when I observe a person with Smoot’s youth and intellectual potential torch his chances at a Church- or BYU-sanctioned career (I may be wrong, but he doesn’t seem to have research interests that would make him marketable anywhere else in the academy) by giving into the same petty combativeness as some of his more unimpressive older peers. I think he deleted his Twitter, but any BYU or Church History Dept. search committee need only spend five minutes on his blog to find enough erratic passion to move on to the next candidate. I am reminded of a past Chronicle of Higher Education article on the dangers of would-be academics keeping personal blogs.
Would I want a guy like Smoot defending the Church the way he does while representing my institution in non-LDS academic settings? Nope. I’ve seen far less divisive personalities sidelined by the powers that hold the key to the Church’s scholarly components.
Thanks for commenting. I usually don’t participate too much in my discussions. At least in part thats because Saturday and Sunday are my busiest away from the computer days. But I see this argument a good deal so I thought it needed a response. This traditional apologetic style myth has been around for a long time. I’m open to specific samples of this “attack dog” style as I’ve heard it called, but I’ve never seen any.
In my experience I usually see an astounding double standard. Let me be very specific before getting to a more general point. Years ago Hamblin was very upset with the new direction and made some criticisms of some of the new direction people. Their usual critics erupted with disdain and jeering for more of the “traditional style” and mean apologetics that was damaging to a junior scholar and tried to make him lose his job. David Bokovoy, who sided with the MI people supposedly under attack, specifically called out Stephen Smoot in harsh terms. Instead of saying it was unwise, mean, or nasty for a senior scholar to call out a junior style with attack dog apologetics , and the potential damage it could do to his career, and all other sorts of criticisms leveled at Hamblin for the same behavior, instead the same people that criticized Hamblin praised Bokovoy for speaking truth to power and unmasking the evil apologists.
The general point is that the behaviors between various sides are often far closer than people think. But this myth of the mean Dan Peterson and old school apologists has grown into an article of faith in some circles. Again, I’m not defending every interaction he or they’ve ever had, or every article, but I believe this myth of an arching style is unfairly attached to them. The Interpreter writes negative reviews of books as does the new direction Maxwell Institute. (I can show personal correspondence that includes petty behavior from the supposedly superior new direction folks.) New direction folks roll their eyes, ask what could be seen as gotcha questions at conferences (again I have personal experience on that point and I’ve seen old school apologists attacked for the same thing), and one literally got in the face of an old school apologist and told him to go to hell. That is more a result of inter group dynamics, views of “the other”, short hand communication among like minded individuals, and just people meaning mean and sometimes behaving less than their better selves. Its a sometimes fault of both sides, but it is been mythologized into an entire style and world view for a certain group of Mormon scholars. Personally I think its a short hand way to delegitimize their arguments.
This post (original and this follow up), wasn’t an attempt to categorize every interaction and the entire groups and sub groups of scholars. As churchistrue can testify, trying to categorize people can get messy very quickly. I saw a specific example of principles I had already described and thought it was worthy to point them out and that this was a particularly revealing example of it. In fact, your turning this into an unsolicited attack and critique on FARMS and Smoot seems a little ax grinding to me. I’ve submitted to both the new direction Maxwell Institute and Interpreter, and I’ve published several pieces with the latter. I’m very proud to publish with an organization that still cares about the AR and not just the MS part of FARMS. And thats why I think it was created, not so it can continue to be “mean” and “nasty.” I can’t speak for every publication, and there was one by Duance Boyce that had a multitude of issues including the ones you discussed, but even that doesn’t reflect your description of the publication or come close to Neville’s behavior, though bits of that behavior naturally occur between and among different groups.
Maintaining civil dialogue online is almost impossible. In a marriage, they say if both give 50%, you’ll end up divorced. If both give 100%, you have a chance. In an online dialogue like this, if you really hope to have civil dialogue and take the higher road, you have to constantly feel like you’re being the one that’s nicer, full of more grace, more generous, more forgiving, more humble than the other person. Like WAY more. It feels really one sided like you’re giving too much, but you have to keep doing it. Or it will just be endless flame wars. It’s too hard to understand intent and these issues are so sensitive and so full of loaded history. When I am trying to behave that way online and go WAY out of my way to avoid conflict and be generous to others, then it usually works out. If I don’t, then I end up in flame wars. I’m trying. But it’s not easy.
Morgan, even Ralph Hancock has publicly defended the use of “sharpness of tone,” “irony,” and “measured indignation” in negative apologetics both in print (from the book Perspectives on Mormon Theology: Apologetics, p. 98) and at a 2015 UVU conference (irony and satire is what he said there). Accusing the older style of aggressiveness is not an undeserved critique, though I agree a post with concrete examples would be a better place for me to make that argument.
I’m not a proponent of the North American Model, but after reading the NoWhy, my own impression was that it was a highly selective & skewed, thinly-veiled shot across Neville’s bow.
I made a 1-sentence joke in which I reacted how a NA proponent would likely react to the NoWhy (including a couple smiley faces) on the Book Of Mormon Archaeology News FB page and they banned me with no warnings or notification. That’s how thin-skinned they are about defending their turf. There’s plenty of posturing to go around. At least Neville leaves detailed points of view. The Book of Mormon Central folks just censor & ban you.