- RL on Unsettling Settler Mormon Lifeways: A Review of Elise Boxer’s Mormon Settler Colonialism by Jason Palmer: “Polemic rhetorical style is a little much, I just read a few random paragraphs though and resisting urge to pile on in response but question the post maybe because I’m white but mostly because it is not successful in the way the first review of this book was on here. The analysis of the BOM, its reason, and message in this take: “Rather, Joseph Smith created The Book of Mormon for the sole purpose of justifying US manifest destiny and making settlers like himself feel good about Indigenous enclosure.” lost me and I’m just here to say that exploring the complexity of the BOM instead of batting it away in an inaccurate statement is worth the time for an audience that may check this site and runs contrary to some interesting thoughts by academics in American Apocrypha, Dine doo Gaamalii, and the Oxford BOM on this subject.” Jun 6, 16:56
- on Unsettling Settler Mormon Lifeways: A Review of Elise Boxer’s Mormon Settler Colonialism by Jason Palmer: “Persuading people to change their mind is becoming a lost art, as it becomes more and more rare for people to have substantive conversations with people who disagree with them (debates where the stated goal is to humiliate your opponent don’t count) and our politicians move from trying to win over swing voters to “motivating the base” (the Book of Mormon term would be “stirring up the people to anger”). This is very much a bipartisan problem. If the goal of this post is to persuade the typical T&S reader, here are some tips from an excellent persuasive writing class I took many years ago as an undergrad: 1) Do your best to avoid making your audience feel angry or defensive. Angry and defensive people rarely change their minds. 2) Use evidence that your audience will find credible, not evidence you find credible. 3) Don’t jump straight to claims your audience will find completely implausible. “Native Americans deserve extra support because the way their ancestors were treated was unjust and continues to affect them today” is a claim you have a fighting chance at persuading people of. “The Church and the United States should be abolished because of the way they treated and continue to treat Native Americans” is not. If those seem unreasonable, perhaps it’s because the goal here is not to persuade.” Jun 6, 16:28
- on Unsettling Settler Mormon Lifeways: A Review of Elise Boxer’s Mormon Settler Colonialism by Jason Palmer: “At first I thought this was a joke and laughed at the pretentious language and vacuous prose. Then I realized there are “scholars” actually wasting their time with this, and it made me sad. Because this level of sanctimonious garbage and self-hate inevitably invites an opposing reaction. The point is not to actually advocate for subjugated people. Rather, the point is to introduce as much antagonism and dislike as possible into the public discourse. Well, I will fight back against that reaction and wish everyone a beautiful day. But let us remember to focus on the weightier matters: love justice, do mercy, and walk humbly.” Jun 6, 10:56
- on Unsettling Settler Mormon Lifeways: A Review of Elise Boxer’s Mormon Settler Colonialism by Jason Palmer: “Honestly, this post is an example of Poe’s law. “Boxer’s book is an example of what decolonial writing can look like.” Is this praise? If true, the book has little chance of making any headway among those who aren’t already in its ideological camp or Latter-day Saints with any kind of remotely orthodox belief.” Jun 6, 09:26
- on Transportation Theory and Algorithmitizing Mission Assignments: “There was a language test in 1974 when I received my call. I wanted to serve in an English-speaking mission. I found the language-test questions easy to understand. I was called to learn Navaho.” Jun 5, 22:51
- on A Review: Blood Vessels: Vigilante Violence in the American West: “RL, I don’t think it went into John Brown, at least not the famous one. There is some discussion of race dynamics in one or two situations, but the focus was primarily on white-on-white violence.” Jun 5, 14:46
- on A Review: Blood Vessels: Vigilante Violence in the American West: “Looks interesting, particularly the bit on governor Ford. here’s hoping my library gets a copy. From what I’ve read on California’s vigilance committees they involved a substantial portion of the population, so I wonder how that fits with tracing individual actors.” Jun 3, 17:27
- on A Review: Blood Vessels: Vigilante Violence in the American West: “John Brown gets a mention? And do they explore racial dynamics in general?” Jun 3, 16:51
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, May 2026: “They do; this is an interesting crop this month.” Jun 3, 13:25
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, May 2026: “Once again, thanks, Stephen, for pulling these together. They all look interesting.” Jun 3, 08:54
