contention

The prevalence of a spirit of contention amongst a people is a certain sign of deadness with respect to the things of religion. When men's spirits are hot with contention, they are cold to religion. - Jonathan Edwards “The Book of Mormon does not supplant the Bible. It expands, extends, clarifies, and amplifies our knowledge of the Savior. Surely, this second witness should be cause for great rejoicing by all Christians.” - Joseph B. Wirthlin

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Good example of bias confirmation

The "worse than Watergate" guy, Bob Woodward (who always comes on CNN to explain that whatever Trump is doing is "worse than Watergate") has released a new book that is an awesome example of bias confirmation.

Here's one of the many articles about the book:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/jared-kushner-trump-rage-book/index.html

In the book, Kushner is quoted describing four texts people should "absorb" if they want to truly understand the President. Woodward writes the texts do not paint a flattering picture of someone who is both Kushner's boss and father-in-law.

Of course, Kushner's list of texts can also be explained as painting a flattering picture of someone (Trump) who understands human nature very well and knows how to get things done by employing that knowledge. 

It was clear to Woodward that none of this was meant to criticize Trump, just as a way to help understand him. That said, Woodward was surprised and writes, "when combined, Kushner's four texts painted President Trump as crazy, aimless, stubborn and manipulative. I could hardly believe anyone would recommend these as ways to understand their father-in-law, much less the president they believed in and served."

Look at that list of Woodward's adjectives, none of which are supported by either the texts Kushner cited nor the evidence of what Trump has actually accomplished. When combined, these for texts also paint Trump as someone who knows there is never just one point of view, only one possible decision, only one possible outcome, etc. He works in a world of multiple operating hypotheses, knowing that the best information surfaces through a competitive and confrontational system.

Which is similar to President Nelson's teaching that good inspiration comes from good information.

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This is a good lesson in bias confirmation, but the article also includes an insight into how our M2C scholars, their employees and followers, influence the Church.

"And if people try to get a quick answer out of him, it's easy. You can get him to decide in your favor by limiting his information. But you better be sure as hell that people with competing views aren't going to find their way to him. And when that happens, he's going to undo his decision."

The M2C citation cartel employs every possible tactic to limit the information available to Church members. They seek to prevent members of the Church, as well as Church leaders, from getting information that contradicts their theories.

We've seen how the Saints book, for example, censored Cumorah. Cumorah was censored from the Gospel Topics entry on Book of Mormon Geography. Joseph Smith's own statements about the Urim and Thummim were censored from the Gospel Topics Essay on the Translation of the Book of Mormon.

Book of Mormon Central continues to censor evidence and explanations that contradict M2C. Now they're doing the same with the Urim and Thummim. The entire M2C citation cartel participates in this, and it's amazing to watch.



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