Michael:
I beg to differ. The kind of bluntness that you exhibit does violence not so much to Martha Beck but to the conversation about how religious fundamentalism in the LDS community destroys people's lives because it fuses family with faith and faith with authority. I think we must talk about it because it's a chronic problem in Mormon culture. Martha attempted to enter that conversation, did it badly and for motivations that were suspect, in my view. But that doesn't mean that the critical eye she cast on Utah Valley Mormonism in the 70s, 80s and 90s isn't an important conversation to have. Frankly, the mentality of a mob that emerged in the LDS community in reaction to the book before it even published suggested that we have something profound to hide. Who will be the ones to enter that conversation and parse through the darkness that is inherent in any religious community? The reaction of most LDS, including your own, suggests a shouting down of discourse, which in the end hurts everyone except those that abuse, those that obfuscate and those that dissemble. Are we looking for the truth or are we just looking for validation? However valuable her book was (and I believe it is valuable), Beck was guilty of the latter--only looking for validation, more precisely, perhaps, revenge. Are we as well? Does our reaction to her just re-enact her crime?
I think the LDS community deserves her book because it gives us an opportunity to address something that profoundly needs to be addressed. Dismissing it out of hand doesn't work for me, and I don't think it should work for anyone who claims to care about their own people.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Michael Martindale
To: AML Discussion List
Sent: Monday, December 25, 2006 1:50 AM
Subject: Re: [AML] Beck, Leaving the Saints
I'm baffled by everyone's efforts to bend over backwards with diplomacy
toward Martha Beck. So let me do what I am famous for: telling it
straight out with bluntness and clarity.
Martha Beck is either lying through her teeth or lost all touch with
reality. Or a combination of both. All the evidence supports that
conclusion, and she has none to support her accusations.
Period, end of story.
We need to get past this feminist-induced idiocy that men are always
demons and women can do no wrong. I have a close friend who right now is
being threatened with loss of his membership, and to a large extent
it's because of this insane bias against men. I have intimate knowledge
of the details of his circumstances and I know that he does not merit
what's happening to him any more than Hugh Nibley merited what his
daughter did to him.
--
D. Michael Martindale
dmichael@???
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