Meet the Mopologists

[_Mister Scratch]

The following was brought to me courtesy of one of my very best "informants":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEaK9s8qcgg

What you are about to see is a rather schlocky video filmed by Kerry "The Backyard Professor" Shirts. The scene is the recent FAIR conference, and your host is none other than Shirts himself, who is sort of like a goofy, avuncular, rather "backwoodsy" version of Captain Kangaroo.

Some highlights worth taking note of:

---At around 1:30 in, we get to meet Juliann Reynolds. I was once told, by a different "informant," that juliann bore a resemblance to "Pat" from the "It's Pat!" sketches on Saturday Night Live. Well, I don't know if I'd put it quite that way. Her eyes do have a rather squinty malice about them, however.
---The bulk of the conference attendees are seriously overweight. I have to wonder why this fact seemed to stand out to me so much. I would estimate that the average blood pressure of the attendees was 165/90. Did they pass out Lisinopril with the refreshments?
---At around 3:45, we get to meet Allen Wyatt. This, apparently, is the slug responsible for the "More Good Foundation," among many other atrocities. Seeing him, it's not hard to understand how and why the "SP Keyes Debacle" came into being. This time around, he is looking puffy and flush over his legal victory against S. Tanner.
---At around 6:00 minutes, "Uncle Kerry" interviews a "high school senior" who is evidently a paragon of LDS scholarship. This poor schlub goes on to note how he single handedly dismantled Charles Larson's scholarship. Of course, he doesn't cite any specific examples, but why should we care about that? And, oddly, for some inexplicable reason, as I watched this segment of the video, the word "Evergreen" kept popping into my mind.

Bottom line: I give this video 1/2 a star (out of four). The production values are pretty poor. Shirts, though he is an enthusiastic host, is also grating after about 30 seconds. The video is full of far too many self-congratulatory moments, with Shirts perpetually mugging for his own camera. Also: I wasn't quite sure why The Backyard Professor seemed to be composing the video as a kind of video "Postcard" for Bill Hamblin. In the end, the impression I am left with is that this is the Mopologetic equivalent of Girls Gone Wild. Instead of the titillation of scantily clad young women and alcohol, these Mopologists seem to get off on the "thrill" of dissing critics, praising themselves for nothing in particular, and holding up carbuncular and wild-eyed young men as avatars of scholarly acumen. A sorry and disappointing effort on the whole.

[_Runtu]

Well, that was interesting. It's nice to have a face to go with Juliann's posts. She really is an enigma to me. At perhaps my lowest point, she was quite kind to me and supportive. And at other times she has been positively venomous.

And of course, I totally agree with Kerry that Kevin Barney is one of my favorite apologists.

[_Daniel Peterson]

An alleged network of creepy "informants." And, of course, personalities.

About as deep as People Magazine, but far less sympathetic.

[_moksha]

Juliann on the tape was neither snarling nor scowling. She looked like she could blend in with the women of my ward. That is a pleasant surprise.

[_antishock8]

Aaaahhh... That poor kid. Anyway, a pretty normal looking lot I'd say. If they were here in the South I'd mistake them for Baptists or Evangelicals. I think poor Juliann was surprised by the camera in the face. I'm sure she wasn't pleased...

[_cacheman]

Cmon. This is ridiculous. Commenting on their collective weight and appearances, mocking Kerry's goofiness, implying 'gayness' (as an insult I presume?), eyes with a 'squinty malice'?? I feel like I'm back in junior high school.

Seriously, this thread is juvenile. Let em do their thing.

On a positive note, it was nice to put some faces to names.

cacheman (self appointed board nanny)

[_truth dancer]

Looks like they were having a fun time!

:-)

td

[_Rollo Tomasi]

The following was brought to me courtesy of one of my very best "informants":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEaK9s8qcgg

What you are about to see is a rather schlocky video filmed by Kerry "The Backyard Professor" Shirts.

Juliann is an attractive woman, and she looked sincerely spooked by Kerry (putting his arm around her, etc.). One thing I noticed was the presence of abundant facial hair at the conference -- I thought the Brethren were clamping down on that, along with multiple earrings, etc.

[_dartagnan]

At around 3:45, we get to meet Allen Wyatt. This, apparently, is the slug responsible for the "More Good Foundation," among many other atrocities. Seeing him, it's not hard to understand how and why the "SP Keyes Debacle" came into being. This time around, he is looking puffy and flush over his legal victory against S. Tanner.

Correction, that is Kevin Barney. I didn't see Allen there.

[_Tom]

Wyatt is shown beginning at 3:18.