“Peter Pan” is Unmasked as Mike Parker

[Tom]

I assume it's someone trolling DCP.

[drumdude]

I assume it's someone trolling DCP.

That’s a fairly safe bet.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Folks, you can't make this stuff up. Here is Mike Parker's take on the Richard Nygren affair:

At the time of the interview, Robert Boylan knew my real identity. I asked him about the “Richard Nygren” comment, and he told me that he made it up as “a little joke to tweak Heartlanders” because of some racist remarks that had published on the FIRM Foundation’s website. “Richard Nygren” is a fictional character.

https://www.nevillenevilleland.com/2023 ... tions.html

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Folks, you can't make this stuff up. Here is Mike Parker's take on the Richard Nygren affair:

At the time of the interview, Robert Boylan knew my real identity. I asked him about the “Richard Nygren” comment, and he told me that he made it up as “a little joke to tweak Heartlanders” because of some racist remarks that had published on the FIRM Foundation’s website. “Richard Nygren” is a fictional character.

https://www.nevillenevilleland.com/2023 ... tions.html

So, this ding dong knowingly let a racist lie fester for ~9 months, and only told the truth because the walls were closing in? He could’ve done the right thing ~9 months ago, and did what he just did today by setting the record straight. Boylan is a grown man; he can be accountable for his own racist joke.

You Mopologists need to take this lesson to heart. All your preening about being disciples of Christ ring hollow when you set up pseudonymous blogs to attack others all the while claiming they’re being duplicitous, or cowardly (kiwi57, looking at you buddy), or whatever excuse you tell yourselves to excuse your rotten behavior.

How about you take the next step, and have Smoot take responsibility for his vicious ‘Captain Hook’ handle on Parker’s hate blog? Like, actually genuinely repent for once, make amends, and reset the manner in which you all claim you operate - with Christlike love and humility? My guess is that’s an impossible ask, but we’ll see. Right, Stephen?

- Doc

[Everybody Wang Chung]

The ding-dong-dingus decides to be more Christlike only after discovering how expensive litigation can be.

I have spoken with two attorneys about the defamatory claims made about me. They both agreed that what these individuals have written is repulsive, but they also both independently counseled me against taking legal action due to the difficulties of proving libel in Utah courts and the foreseeable expenses of protracted litigation.

My decision at this point is to simply try harder to understand and live the Savior’s teaching in Matthew 5:43–45.

And, after deciding to be more Christlike, Mike Parker immediately decides to publicly libel Bill Reel:

Feel free to assess Reel’s honesty and good character for yourself.

You really can't make this stuff up.

[Doctor Scratch]

Ah, good. Nice of Parker to clear the air. So Boylan is the racist who made up Nygren, then.

One wonders, though, why Parker made so little effort to contest what Boylan said. He claims in this latest post that the concern over the “Nygren Incident” has resulted in:

some thoroughly despicable—and borderline unhinged—individuals on the internet have been accusing me of being some sort of racist for purportedly pretending to be an African-American man by the name of Richard Nygren.”

It seems to me that, up until he was identified as the proprietor of “Neville-Neville Land,” he was perfectly fine with letting people think that he was a Black apologist from Alabama. In fact, he *encouraged* his readers to believe what Boylan said:

this interview goes into more detail about this blog than I’m comfortable with

In other words: although Parker is made to feel “uncomfortable” about Boylan telling everyone that he’s actually a Black man from Alabama named Richard Nygren, he has no problem with letting readers believe that Boylan’s statement was true. So Parker *did* pretend to be a Black man—albeit in an oblique way.

Ultimately, the problem here is not that Parker is a hardcore racist; the problem is that he’s a Mopologist. He and Boylan and the rest of them—including DCP, who has functioned as a kind of “ring master” in all of this—got swept up in trashing the Heartlanders, and in their zeal, they crossed yet another line. The Reverend was right to label this “grotesque.” And yet Parker is still screaming at “the critics”! He ought to take a step back and think about how important it really is to stick it to Jonathan Neville.

What this whole affair demonstrates yet again is that the LDS Church does not need to defend itself against anti-Mormons or ex-Mo critics. More than anything, it needs defense against the stupidity and zealotry of people like Boylan, Parker, and the rest of the Mopologists.

[Marcus]

On July 19, 2022, I posted a link to the Boylan/Kraus interview. At that time, my real identity was not known publicly, so any attempt on my part to address Boylan’s “Richard Nygren” comment would have been untrue (if I confirmed it) or confusing (if I denied it). Instead, I simply wrote that the interview “goes into more detail about this blog than I’m comfortable with.”

No, this is not a legitimate reason. He has done exactly that,and he's blogged about it numerous times. Here's one, from july 23, 2022, FOUR DAYS AFTER THE DAY he posted the link to Boylan's Nygren comment, where he denies being three different people, with links to additional multiple denials:

Perhaps just as amusing, though, is that “Doctor Scratch” has proclaimed to his trained minions that he has cracked the case regarding my identity. In his message board post that goes on for a rambling 3,400 words (!), he connects all the dots and triumphantly proclaims that I, Peter Pan, am in reality Stephen Smoot. (The title of his exposé is “Stephen Smoot’s Vendetta.”)

I hate to break to the good Doctor, but I’m not Stephen Smoot. I’m not Daniel Peterson either, but we’ve been over that many times on this blog. And, since we’re on this subject, I’ll freely admit that I’m also not Spencer Kraus.

https://www.nevillenevilleland.com/2022 ... d.html?m=1

The above link contains links to at least three other denials he posted.

[Doctor Scratch]

That’s a good point, Marcus. When we finally began treating the Nygren claim as if it was real, that’s when the whole thing began to fall apart.

[Marcus]

So, the only thing Parker is 'uncomfortable' with is denying a racist lie. That's what he is uncomfortable with.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

An Open Recommendation to Robert Boylan,

You made a mistake. It’s ok to admit it. But you have to admit it. On your LinkedIn profile you embed this in your About section:

Additionally, I am a contributing editor to a scholarly theological journal, "Interpreter," where, on a volunteer basis, I critique, source-check and edit proposed journal articles in the field of theological studies

It’s imperative that 1) you understand these people will cast you aside in a moment’s notice when it suits them, and 2) your association with them induced you to act unprofessionally. You made a racist joke to tease a group of fellow Latter-day Saints you felt were being racist. Your association with Mormon apologists has skewed your ethos. You have to apologize for your lack of discernment and casual racism.

Additionally, under the Organization section of your LinkedIn profile you state:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Various positions in teaching and leadership roles. I currently serve a position similar to that of a Pastor for the Latter-day Saint ("Mormon") community in Tralee.

What would say to a fellow Latter-day Saint in a pastoral capacity had they made the same mistake? I’m sure the answer is fairly obvious.

You’re a bright human being. But your association with the Interpreter is making you something you’re not - mean and vindictive. I urge you to reconsider your personal and professional relationship with these people who won’t be there for you the moment you reframe your world view (see David Bokovoy, for example).

With Respect,

Doc