RE: [AML] Beck, Leaving the Saints

Thom Duncan replies to:

>-----Original Message-----
>From:
>aml-list-bounces+thomduncan=gmail.com@???
>[mailto:aml-list-bounces+thomduncan=gmail.com@???.
>com] On Behalf Of Gregory Taggart
>Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 6:32 AM
>To: 'AML Discussion List'
>Subject: RE: [AML] Beck, Leaving the Saints
>
>Thanks for the faint praise Thom. Just so you know, I support
>every assertion I make in my review of Martha's book with
>evidence from her book, and each piece of evidence comes with
>a handy footnote. I also give the names of any other sources
>I use. For example, I name the librarians I spoke with, the
>leaders of the BYU Women's Conference who commented on
>Martha's claims, the Utah doctor and former counselor in the
>General Primary Presidency who dispute Martha's claims about a
>Women's Conference session that figures prominently in
>Martha's narrative. Would that Martha had been so kind to her readers.

I wish she could have provided more proof of her claims.

>If Martha wants to allege that an apostle wrote a laughably
>bad dissertation, then name the apostle and cite his
>dissertation, so that all may have a look for themselves.

I agree. I agree

If
>a bishop really didn't want to listen to her complaints, say
>so. Don't ask us to believe that he stuck his fingers in his
>ears.

For that, I don't need as much evidence, because I've seen similar "Hear no
Evil: Bishops in my life.

If she had done those things, the reader could then
>check to see how legitimate her critique really is, and we
>could have a fact-based discussion about what's allegedly
>wrong with Mormon culture rather than one that's buried safely
>in the "wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean"
>anonymity of pseudonyms and the passive voice.

A lot of what she alleged, I did "know." Someday, I may write a memoir about
my experience in the Ward from Hell in which I lived for 12 years upon first
moving back from California. Some of the stuff Martha suggests, I'm going,
"Right on! Yeah, I saw that, too.!"

>Finally, funny that you let my tone and not Martha's disrupt
>your reading.

It's the same reason I can slog through most Mormon literature but I can't
finish most of FARMS rebuttals. I EXPECT disenfranchised Mormons to take the
easy way. From LDS academics, whom I assume take their religion seriously, I
expect them to take the hire road. The only work of Nibley's I've never been
able to finish for that same reason is "No, Ma'am." And why I can't stomach
O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and their ilk. I am bothered when otherwise
intelligent people stoop to the level of their opponents. I kinda like the
way the Church officially handles its opponents. They either offer an
even-tempered explanation for something or they ignore the criticism
altogether.

>By the way, do you take your personality out of your playwriting?

My personality is in my playwriting, but seldom in the same character. I'll
give one character my cynicism, another my sense of humor, a third my
childlike wonderment of butterflies.

Thom Duncan