Torches at High Noon: A Fog Machine, Power Lines, An Angry Extra and Brigham Young’s Electric Boogaloo

[I Have Questions]

In my opinion the videos are just boring. As much as I’d like to watch each one to discuss it here, there’s nothing in it to keep my attention.

The length of the videos is a problem. Make them podcast length (multiple hours long) and you can guide the conversation with a lot of structure and depth.

Make them short and eye catching and you can drive a single point home in an entertaining way.

With the 7 minute length, you don’t get the strengths of either format.

I think they are trying to fill the void of having run out of film making money due to the box office disasters of the last two ill conceived vanity projects. So they’ve scooped up the bits from the cutting room floor and are repurposing them to spin out another 18 months of activity (and travel etc) whilst they try and refill the coffers.

[drumdude]

In my opinion the videos are just boring. As much as I’d like to watch each one to discuss it here, there’s nothing in it to keep my attention.

The length of the videos is a problem. Make them podcast length (multiple hours long) and you can guide the conversation with a lot of structure and depth.

Make them short and eye catching and you can drive a single point home in an entertaining way.

With the 7 minute length, you don’t get the strengths of either format.

I think they are trying to fill the void of having run out of film making money due to the box office disasters of the last two ill conceived vanity projects. So they’ve scooped up the bits from the cutting room floor and are repurposing them to spin out another 18 months of activity (and travel etc) whilst they try and refill the coffers.

Probably why Dan is so anxious about the low views. If it gets essentially no views it’s way more obvious that this was the goal all along.

Potemkin journal articles, Potemkin video productions. It’s a clown show the whole way down.

[Tom]

By the way, I want to thank Dr. Peterson for his thoughtful response to my comments. I appreciate the good work he is doing in his efforts to balance our views of Brigham Young. I do think that there is a place for more positive accounts that remind us of events in his life many tend to overlook. Although I do not see these videos as unbiased, they remain valuable for the evidence-based interpretations of a more positive kind that they provide.

He also mentioned your comments during the recent fireside. Here is a link to the segment: https://youtu.be/OEPfJWrtdbk?si=qt6ZlrS ... C&t=15m54s. Transcript: https://cdn.interpreterfoundation.org/i ... script.pdf (see page 5).

[drumdude]

If Joseph Smith was a known habitual liar, well that weakens our confidence in him.

In 1842, and on several other occasions, Joseph Smith published statements in the Times and Seasons declaring that accusations of him advocating polygamy were false, even while he was secretly practicing it and taking on multiple wives.

Smith lied directly to his wife, Emma, about his involvement in plural marriage and his relationships with other women. He performed a "fake" sealing to the Partridge sisters for Emma’s benefit, even though he had already been secretly sealed to them previously.

He publicly denounced and labeled women as "whores" who spoke out about his advances or the practice of polygamy.

Smith told varying, conflicting stories about his First Vision, initially mentioning only one personage (the Lord) and later revising the narrative to include God and Jesus, changing the date and his age.

Smith attempted to translate a set of fraudulent plates (the Kinderhook plates) as an ancient record, demonstrating a lack of genuine translation ability.

Evidence suggests Smith modified early revelations and church history to fabricate a timeline for the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood, creating a backdated account.

Smith and other leaders operated an unauthorized banking institution (the Kirtland Safety Society) that collapsed, leading to the loss of savings for many members, followed by Smith fleeing town to avoid arrest.

Before organizing the church, Smith was involved in using "peep stones" to locate buried treasure for money, a practice seen by critics as fraudulent, which resulted in a 1826 court appearance.

Well, it's a good thing Joseph Smith isn't a known habitual liar!

[Doctor Scratch]

I wonder if Interpreter's tech team is going to turn to bots as a means of illegitimately boosting the films' viewer numbers?

[Shulem]

I wonder if Interpreter's tech team is going to turn to bots as a means of illegitimately boosting the films' viewer numbers?

Do you seriously think they are capable of that kind of vain action in order to make their product look more valuable?

[Shulem]

If Joseph Smith was a known habitual liar, well that weakens our confidence in him.

Smith attempted to translate a set of fraudulent plates (the Kinderhook plates) as an ancient record, demonstrating a lack of genuine translation ability.

And in that same vein, everything Smith said and published about Facsimile No. 3 should weaken DCP's confidence in Joseph Smith's ability to understand Egyptian iconography and writing.

I would love to see Mr. Peterson do a documentary on that. It would be the last thing he ever does if I have anything to say about it!

I dare you Dan! I double dare you!!

I WILL DESTROY YOU!

[I Have Questions]

I wonder if Interpreter's tech team is going to turn to bots as a means of illegitimately boosting the films' viewer numbers?

Do you seriously think they are capable of that kind of vain action in order to make their product look more valuable?

Yes. They encouraged people to spend their money to go and see 6DIA multiple times to get the box office numbers higher. It was telling that the Afore started a blog piece bellyaching about people in his home ward were utterly unaware and uninterested in what he’s been up to on this project.

I have to admit that some conversations at church today left me more than a little bit discouraged. (And, of course, BYU Basketball’s current slide isn’t helping.) Two or three times this morning, people asked me what I’m up to these days and, when I mentioned the Interpreter Foundation’s Becoming Brigham project, they were plainly puzzled and asked me what it was. This in the ward that my wife and I attend, that Becoming Brigham‘s producer and his wife attend, in a stake in which we put on a fireside about Becoming Brigham just the previous weekend, and etc.

His tone is that the blame for such disinterest lies with those members…

[Analytics]

I watched the first three episodes of this, and my general impression is that this is quintessential DCP.

First, everything is framed in the context of earnest, good Saints facing intense, unjustified, unspecific, and often violent opposition. And it is extremely careful to explain that the opposition is wrong without explaining what the opposition’s position is.

The first sequence of Episode 1 is confusing. Judging by the light, torches, fog, and time of year, it shows some dastardly villains sneaking through the early-morning fog of the woods around 5:00 AM, apparently to kill Joseph and Hyrum. They were actually killed on a hot summer afternoon in front of at least a hundred people. No fog. No darkness. No torches. No sneaking through the woods. So what was this scene about? Certainly not history.

Then we’re told that there is a theory out there that Brigham Young and John Taylor were part of a conspiracy to kill Joseph, and Camrey Fox just laughs at the idea as implausible and silly on its face. But silly compared to what? Is it more silly than the idea that Joseph Smith was in a secret conspiracy to practice polygamy in direct violation of the enforced laws of the church and his own public statements? Is it any more silly than the accusation that a member of the first presidency made up a false story about a secret polygamy revelation and lied about Joseph Smith practiced polygamy? That was the mainstream church belief at the time.

They never explain why this Brigham-did-it theory is believed by anybody: the only way to salvage Joseph Smith’s integrity is to throw Brigham Young and the other polygamists at the time under the bus.

Then they go to the shorthand expert who assures us that Brigham Young’s actual words were exactly what the current church teaches. Fox just nods in agreement, never drilling down on whether she thinks Brigham Young ever taught things like Adam-God, racist views of lineage, and blood atonement. We’re just left with a flimsy apologetic argument that anything in the JoD that makes Brigham Young look bad must be a transcription error.

Then the account of the shootout at Carthage. Interesting details, but what does that have to do with the claim that Joseph Smith was honest and that the accusations that he practiced polygamy were made up by Brigham Young? At this point it is revealed that apparently, there is a movie out there that makes the case that Brigham Young killed Joseph, but the name of the movie is never revealed. This is so DCP. Remember the good old days when book reviews would actually cite the books they were reviewing? Apparently they have decided that was a huge mistake.

The whole thing is weak. People who trust this to give a full picture of what happened are at risk of feeling betrayed when they realize how shallow the defense is. To be clear I don’t think Brigham Young was in a conspiracy to kill Joseph Smith, but you can’t understand the truth of these events without understanding how intensely dishonest Joseph Smith was about these revelations that are now key to the religion.

[Shulem]

The first sequence of Episode 1 is confusing. Judging by the light, torches, fog, and time of year, it shows some dastardly villains sneaking through the early-morning fog of the woods around 5:00 AM, apparently to kill Joseph and Hyrum.

NO!

This scene was filmed in Upper Canada Village in Ontario, Canada, in the afternoon. The camera was fixed along the waters of Crysler Beach facing due WEST which means the sun was setting as explained in several of my previous posts. DCP is a dope for having used that footage which is anything but accurate.

This is Christ Church (white building) from the Opening shot: