I have had it with “cancel culture!” It is not that it has gone too far, it is that it should never have existed in the first place. Consider Wikipedia’s explanation: “Cancel culture (or call-out culture) is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles online on social media, in the real world, or both. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to be ‘canceled.’” It is not an exageration to say that our society is being attacked at its foundation.

Everyone, especially those people who don’t agree that we face a serious problem, should listen to this wide-ranging interview by Megyn Kelly with Matt Taibbi, contributing editor for Rolling Stone, and host of “Useful Idiots,” a political podcast. Taibbi is a classical liberal who grew up in the culture of journalism as it used to be. His politics in no way align with those of Ms. Kelly or President Trump, but I know from the interview that he is on the same wavelength as Ms Kelly and I know from statements from the president on the topic that he is in sync as well.

It is well worth the time (93 minutes!) to listen to their discussion and enjoy their clear agreement on the cancel cancer that festers in our society today.

The cancel culture movement began with agitators on campuses demonstrating, even rioting, to prevent conservatives from speak on some college campuses. It has more recently culminated with the tearing down of statues across the country. This latter type of event led to the “Very Find People on Both Sides Hoax” that was created from comments by President Donald Trump following the violent protests at Charlottesville, Virginia. This hoax has plagued the president since that day, yet it was given Four Pinocchios by the Washington Post. PolitiFact determined that “Full context is needed” and USAToday rated the accusation “Partly False.”

None of that stopped Vice President Joe Biden from referring to the hoax in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with these words “Remember the violent clash that ensued between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it? Remember what the president said? There were quote, ‘very fine people on both sides.’” Mr. Trump’s supposed declaration became Mr. Biden’s call to action to run for president, “It was a wake-up call for us as a country. And for me, a call to action. At that moment, I knew I’d have to run. My father taught us that silence was complicity. And I could not remain silent or complicit.”

The poison, amplified with that declaration, lived on and gained strength throughout the campaign, festering to the surface in debates, press conferences, and townhalls. Yet, all one had to do was to watch the non-edited version of President Trump’s statement to understand that he had actually gone on to say, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.”

The perversity and extent of that example of cancellation might be a worst-case situation, but there are more, many more. Cancellation even finds its way to plague people on Facebook pages. For example, a friend wrote to me, “Mike, I am shocked you could support that man [Trump].” In searching for that comment, I came across an excellent statement in support of President Trump by a friend and colleague who announced that he was going to vote for Mr. Trump and why. The condescending and even vitriolic attacks from his friends on his comments, along with the supposed reasoning they provided, raised the hair on my neck. One supposed friend even accused him of having “cut and pasted from a Trump supporter trying to justify their behavior.”

Here are other, more public examples:

• J.K. Rowling was called out for supporting a woman who had said that “sex is real.”
• New York Times editor, James Bennet, was pushed into resigning after publishing editorial by Senator Tom Cotton, which the president could use the military to quell street violence.
• Liberal writer Glenn Greenwald resigned from The Intercept over the role of editors in the news outlet he had co-founded over a “fundamental disagreement over the role of editors in the production of journalism and the nature of censorship.”
• The Target Corporation removed from its shelves the book by Abigail Shrier, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. (Backlash quickly caused Target to reverse this decision.)

Many more examples warrant addition to that list, but we will stop there. Suffice it to say that these events do not represent America, “the land of the free and the home of the brave” that many (most of us!) still sing about in our national anthem. Happily, there are many people, both conservative and liberal alike who have had it with this situation. They are calling out the odious actions of those of the odious, progressive Left who want to change the country beyond recognition and turn it into anything but what our Founders intended.

Leaders around the world are taking additional steps to combat the COVID pandemic. Our friends in Europe began a couple of weeks ago, now the state of Utah is getting into the action. Luckily, the measures taken here by Governor Herbert fall short of a hard lockdown, and are thus far less stringent than in other places.

Here are some resources for anyone who might be wondering where things actually stand here and elsewhere. Yes, cases are increasing everywhere, but how bad are things in reality? These interative graphics are from ourworldindata.org. This tool is incredible, enabling a dynamic look at many different countries, situations, and timelines. Check them out and make whatever changes curosity might suggest!

First is a look at the status of cases in the United States and several countries of Western Europe:

It looks pretty awful in a few places,  but where do things stand with deaths, the saddest statistic of all? The curve is at present surprisingly flat in several places, including the US, due either to improved therapeutics or a decrease in the virulence of the SARS-CoV2 virus:

Finally, death rates (as measured by the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) not the Infection Fatality Rate (IFR), which would account for the MANY assymptomatic and perhaps infectious cases being found worldwide), are decreasing drastically around the world. Indeed, these are a fraction of what they were a few weeks ago:

A letter from Frank W. Fox addressed to “Arizona Mormons” is being circulated on social media and around the country. It has been picked up by various news outlets in the West such as the Salt Lake Tribune as well as nationally. Its distribution on Facebook is being supported by paid promotions, apparently by Fox himself.

Furthermore, not only has this letter been sent to many people in Arizona in mailings that were supported by the Democratic Party there, but at least one candidate for congress in Arizona has used it in her campaign efforts.

Fox is free to support whomever he chooses, but his denigration of President Trump, with documented falsehoods, needs to be called out. While Annie and I support Donald J. Trump for President, we are not, as Fox describes, members of “a mindless, militant personal following” who support the president. We recognize that Trump, like the rest of us, is imperfect.

While we are open about our support of President Trump for reelection, we are not blind to his failings. Our position is described quite well, however, in an excerpt of one of the sources we came across, a Facebook group, “LDS Fact Checker.”

Some have asked: Why would any Latter-day Saint ever vote for Trump when we all know Trump exaggerates excessively, tweets too much, viciously attacks his critics, and gloats and boasts ad nauseum? What is it that has convinced so many Latter-day Saints to “hold their noses” while mindfully and thoughtfully choosing to support Trump and vote for him?

Maybe it’s because they believe, as a popular Facebook meme states, that a vote is not a Valentine nor a way to profess one’s love for a candidate, but rather, it’s a strategic chess move—a strategy, designed to move the various chess pieces toward a desired end.

President Trump, despite his great weaknesses and flaws, has done more than any other president in the last several decades to protect the sanctity of life and religious freedom, and he has committed to continue doing the same if re-elected. Biden and Harris, on the other hand, have done the exact opposite in their political careers and have committed to continue to do the same if elected. Biden and Harris’ voting records on religious freedom, life, and on other critical issues of great concern to members of the Church speaks volumes.

This group describes itself as “Members concerned about confusing & harmful misinformation often perpetuated by media, social media and in public and political discourse in relation to life and family.” Their Facebook page was created on 14 October 2020, most likely in response to Fox’s efforts. The entire response of the group is located here. We found another, slightly shortly document that also takes issue with the various points of Fox’s attempted justification at his anti-Trump position, this one by Kevin Ray Hadlock.

We also subscribe wholeheartedly to the description of one political commentator, who recently said that the president “violates rhetorical norms on a daily basis,” which is an apt description. This commentator, Ben Shapiro, explains his views in this short video, which we strongly recommend. He states that although he did not vote for Trump in 2016, he is definitely voting for him this time. Our feeling is that people who consider themselves conservatives but who have doubts about voting for Trump would without a doubt benefit from watching what Shapiro has to say. For anyone who lacks the time to watch the video, the transcript of this video is available here.

Here are links to several additional interesting resources:

• Three Video Documents
  These were created by “actor, writer, and director,” Darrin Southam. Southam is earnest and perhaps even a bit overdramatic, but the essence of his response to Fox’s letter is sound.
  • Video rebutting the Fox letter: HYPOCRITE: Pro-Biden BYU Professor, Frank W. Fox, EXPOSED as A Modern-Day PHARISEE!
  • Frank W. Fox hasn’t actively participated in his faith for over 14 years!
  • PROOF: Frank W. Fox conspired with Democrats!
• Comments written in reaction to the first video above:
  • Thank you, thank you for making this video. I was so upset when I was sent this letter as an alumni of BYU. What a wonderful rebuttal. We need to stand up to falsehoods and lies. We need President Trump desperately to continue to support our freedoms as written in the Constitution. Thank you for your courage.
  • I keep hearing that quote about ” Imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. ” played over and over in my head. Anyone who wants to condemn president Trump over his imperfections ought to be thankful that our Savior,  Jesus Christ doesn’t condemn them for their own imperfections.
  • Amazing!!! Thank you for saying so eloquently what so many of us felt after reading Prof. Fox’s letter.  God bless America!  And God protect all true freedom fighters!
  • I about puked when this professor bet his eternal salvation that the brethren were not supporting Trump. He doesn’t know and neither do I. Thank you for putting this together.
• Use of the Fox Letter by Joan Greene, Democratic Candidate for Arizona’s 5^th Congressional District
• The Pro-Abortion Position of Senators Biden and Harris.
  • Video by Fox excusing the candidates’ pro-abortion position
  • Issue taken by the group, “Pro Life Utah.

Click on the link below to interact with a chart from an interesting site. It is possible to look at what is going on with COVID-19 around the world with various lock-down strategies. Mouse over the country names to see each plot. You can also add other countries for comparison.

The chart is based on population and with rolling seven-day averages to smooth the curve a bit. Sweden has not locked down as other nations have, so for comparison I have included Denmark and Norway that did lock down. Nevertheless, it appears that they might be turning the corner at the upper plateau and are now on the way down, without having reached the high per capita mortality rates of other countries.

A friend’s post on Facebook this weekend expressed their appreciation for a sign at the Women’s March they attended, which stated: “Golden showers bring impeachment flowers.”

I responded, “Perhaps those flowers will be no more real than the made-up showers? Folks might want to put their hopes in something more substantial than some bogus ‘dossier.'”

My friend responded that Breitbart News and Fox News were the only news outlets to label it as bogus, which I chalk up as more a negative reflection on the state of journalism in the US than anything else. Nevertheless, this prompted me to do a bit more research.

The first source I came across was from Forbes and was entitled “The Trump Dossier Is Fake — And Here Are The Reasons Why.” It was written by Paul Roderick Gregory, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, which provides his bio here. Based on his experience and publications, my assessment is that he is certainly qualified to analyze the “dossier,” of which he asserts, “The poor grammar and shaky spelling plus the author’s use of KGB-style intelligence reporting, however, do not fit the image of a high-end London security company run by highly connected former British intelligence figures.” He comments on the overall nature and effect of the document :

We have reached a sad state of affairs where an anonymous report, full of bizarre statements, captures the attention of the world media because it casts a shadow over the legitimacy of a President-elect, who has not even taken the oath of office. For example, the Trump dossier is tonight’s lead item on German state television and on BBC. False news has become America’s international export to the world media. [Bold face added by me for emphasis] 

The writer mentioned the denial of Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, that he had traveled to Prague as stated in the “dossier,” but he failed to provide additional information that was available from other sources. Specifically, DailyMail.com reported on 11 January that CNN had concluded that the Michael Cohen who had gone to Prague was a different Michael Cohen than the one who is Trump’s attorney. In fact, it was Jake Tapper of CNN whose reporting led to that conclusion, and his comments are available here on his Twitter feed.

This reporting of course adds to the speciousness of the document, and when taken with Professor Gregory’s comments, suggests that this thing is one big pile of nonsense as Trump claimed from the beginning. As to my friend’s comment to me that the CIA took the report seriously and briefed “Trump and the Obama administration a couple of months ago,” I don’t see how that adds to the credibility of the document. Indeed, a report in the Washington Post in no way draws that conclusion.

P.S.

Regarding the fact that only Breitbart and Fox have supported Trump in this matter, my conclusion is that this is a simple reflection of bias against Trump. One only has to look at the coverage of the UK tabloid DailyMail.com to get a sense of the other side of the story. Do this search on Google (site:www.dailymail.co.uk trump dossier) for an idea of what else is being said. And don’t think that the Mail’s conservative bias has turned them into Trump sycophants, given that, as reported by the BBC, Melania Trump brought suit against them and a blogger for writing that she had served as an escort in the 1990’s. They have since retracted that claim.

BYU’s The Daily Universe recently conducted a ‘Feel the Bern’: Poll that showed “BYU students prefer socialist Sanders” over all other candidates:

 

It turns out that the results have been removed, due to objections raised that pointed out that there was no way to guarantee that respondents were actually students at BYU. (You can read the Editor’s note here.) Removal was the right thing to do, but I regret to say that I would not be surprised that BYU students could in fact respond as this poll suggested they did.

Two friends alerted me to this poll, one of whom is a former colleague from BYU and the other was a colleague when I taught at the US Air Force Academy. Neither of the two is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they are both aware of BYU and its core beliefs. The former BYU colleague asked in an E-mail regarding the survey, “How do you explain this?” and the colleague from USAFA tweeted, “What’s happening @ BYU?” along with a link to the Universe article.

My tweeted response was this, “The same that is happening everywhere else: Kids are brainwashed, if not at BYU, before they arrive here & by media!” I provide below a somewhat longer response to these inquiries.

Given that BYU students represent a broader cross-section of the United States than many might believe, I would only find it slightly surprising that so many could support a socialist for president than do so many college students across the nation. Unfortunately, we see from a poll commissioned by YouGov.com, that “36% of Americans under 30 have a positive view of socialism, while 39% have a positive view of capitalism.” On the other hand, for those over 65, only 15% view socialism favorably, with 59% liking capitalism. The only way I can explain that switch is to point a finger at what is being taught (or not taught) in our schools.

While the opinions of BYU students are no doubt influenced by what they are taught in school, I am still surprised at the number of young people in the LDS community who have a positive view of socialism. I see comments on Facebook and elsewhere that suggest that many believe socialism to be the world’s answer to Christian concern for one’s neighbor. Forgotten there, of course, is the fact that Jesus Christ has always left his followers to choose to help others or to choose not to do so. Indeed, free agency, or the freedom to choose right over wrong, is a key element of all of His teachings. The same cannot be said for socialists, who stand ever ready to use the force of government to take from one to give to another.

My surprise regarding the acceptance that socialism is gaining today is the result of the teachings of our leaders that go back many years, which have alerted us to the dangers of socialism. As just one example, Gordon B. Hinckley, who at the time had been First Counselor to President Ezra Taft Benson, stated in his eulogy at President Benson’s funeral:

I am confident that it was out of what he saw of the bitter fruit of dictatorship that he developed his strong feelings, almost hatred, for communism and socialism. That distaste grew through the years as he witnessed the heavy-handed oppression and suffering of the peoples of Eastern Europe under what he repeatedly described as godless communism.

President Benson was well-known in many settings for his views regarding socialism, and he spoke in General Conference of the value of the Book of Mormon with respect to socialism, “Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat falsehoods in socialism, rationalism, etc.” In another conference address, he asked, “Would you like to know of the warnings of the prophets about our increasing descent down the soul-destroying road of socialism and what they have told us to do about it?”

My fear today is that not enough is said or taught in our time regarding the evils of socialism.

BYU recently published a press release on the work we have been doing in the lab I direct at BYU, the ARCLITE Lab. ARCLITE stands for Advanced Research in Curriculum for Language Instruction and Technology in Education. For sure, that is a mouthful but it is usefully descriptive.

A few days later a writer at KSL.com interviewed me on the phone, played with the software a bit, and then wrote up a nice piece that appears here. The reporter had been an LDS missionary in Japan and actually spent some time trying out the system.