When I started this blog, I decided to avoid discussing religion and politics because those subjects often lead to arguments. Mormon Fundamentalism, Mormon polygamy, the FLDS, and the anti-polygamy movement are so controversial that discussions about them tend to bring out the worst in people. My decision to avoid these topics was influenced by a lawsuit between Gregory Prickett (who may use the screen name "TexasBluesMan") and Hugh McBryde, Bill Medvecky, Scott Ledbetter and others. I was not part of the lawsuit. I don't want to go into the details or take sides. I'll simply say that the lawsuit stemmed from an online argument about the FLDS that got out of hand.
Yes, I am Mormon. I don't claim to be a good Mormon, but I'm Mormon. I don't want to argue with anybody. I don't want anyone's feelings to get hurt. I don't want to "out" anyone either. I won't try to convince you to change your religion if you don't try to convince me to change mine.
I have friends who are LDS, ex LDS, FLDS, and/or ex FLDS. I like them all. Some of my friends are Protestants; others are Catholic. I daresay that some of my friends are Atheists. My favorite co-worker is a gay Asian-American who was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. If I like you, I like you. Your skin color, ethnic origin, religion or sexual preference aren't important to me. I want everyone to feel welcome and safe here.
That being said, I have found that deliberately avoiding one issue is rather stifling.
So I'm lifting the ban. We can talk about Mormon Fundamentalism, polygamy, the FLDS and the anti-polygamy movement, provided that we behave as mature, responsible adults. No fighting. No arguing. No lawsuits.
One more thing. There are different types of Mormons. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The LDS Church and the FLDS sect are two separate and distinct churches. The LDS Church abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates anyone who practices or advocates polygamy.
April, in essence the "Lawsuit" was not really "Between" TxBluesMan, myself & others. It was an assault by Greg Prickett (TxBluesMan being one of his many and then more prominent Sock Puppets) on all the defendants in the lawsuit. I never sued Greg nor have I ever gone to court against anybody in the whole matter. I was a handful however, and got a lot of mileage with various opponents in the lawsuit by being a handful.
ReplyDeleteI bridle every time I hear of a fight "between" people because it sounds as if it sort of just "happened" and if there is any responsibility, it's mutual and shared. "Between" is where the action of a fight occurs, it's not ever what the fight is about, and someone always has to "start it." As childish as the remark I am about to make may seem, "he started it."
None of us, not one of the defendants, ever responded to his suit in any legal way. It was dropped as a waste of the Court's time. Legally, it turned out to be a one armed man shadow boxing.
Dear Pharisee:
ReplyDeleteThis is late, but thank you for responding to my post.
I'm not a fan of TexasBluesMan or the Kindred Spirits. I don't know what transpired before TBM posted your stepdaughter's photo on the KS website and encouraged others to make comments about her. I felt that his behavior was very childish. Attacking an opponent's children during an online discussion is inappropriate and immature. Your stepdaughter didn't have anything to do with the FLDS, the ex-FLDS or KS.
If the Texas court hadn't dismissed his lawsuit for lack of prosecution, I believe that you would have prevailed in court because TBM provoked the fight when he posted your daughter's photo on that site. You were only trying to protect your family.
Frankly, I consider it a blessing that TBM, California Jim and the Kindred Spirits don't come to my blog.
TBM equated interpersonal warfare with all out war. My views (which were unpopular with him) and his personal attacks on me as an individual, did not, in his mind, produce a legitimate concern on my part, with who was creating the attacks.
ReplyDeleteNo one, not even a pedophile, likes to be called a pedophile. Those that aren't, so much more so. For these and many other reasons, I looked for the person attacking me and I found him and he couldn't take it. In the end, the real man behind the mask lost a 20 year government job and his court case.
In all fairness, you weren't the only person hurt by TexasBluesMan's bogus lawsuit.
DeleteI read an article on TBM's blog once. He wrote a cruel article about Pliggy. After I read it, I decided not to read TBM's blog again. I had no desire to fill my mind with all his hate.
The only time I had contact with TBM was when he came to Bill M's blog to heckle Bill about his family. I told him to go back to his own blog. TBM came to the Salt Lake Tribune site and heckled me there once. I chose not to associate with TBM because I dislike his personality. I don't like hecklers.
When I first heard about TBM's lawsuit, I posted a question about it on the SLT site. Your girl friend, Rianya, and Swarmi reported me to the SLT, claiming I was violating a restraining order. That was a lie. I was not a party to TBM's lawsuit. Why would I be? I didn't even have a blog at that time.
Apparently, Rianya and Swarmi didn't understand that a restraining order restricts only those who are parties to a lawsuit. It doesn't restrict the general public from talking or writing about those involved in a lawsuit. Your friend unfairly interfered with my freedom of speech. Unfortunately, the SLT believed their lies and banned me. That's why I use the screen name, April Day, when I write.
I know Rianya is your friend, but I have no use for that skank. You can defend her all you want, but she is NOT welcome on my blog. If she ever posts a comment here, I'll delete it. This is my blog, and I'm not going to put up with any of her bullshit.
I entirely agree I was not the only person hurt, and, uh, Rianya is hardly my "Friend." I can hardly remember anything about "Swarmi" other than there was such a handle for a poster associated with all this mess. I don't traffic in any of these topics any longer since the clear divisions that showed up in the FLDS. The only thing I do is to watch to see if any of those idiots want to cross swords again. I had nothing to do with the Salt Lake Tribune banning you and being banned by such a biased group, IMHO, is more a badge of honor, not a real slap to you as a person.
ReplyDeletePharisee:
ReplyDeleteI know that you didn't have anything to do with the Salt Lake Tribune banning me.
Rianya and Swarmi reported me to the SLT because I asked a question about TBM's lawsuit. Then the SLT sent me an email, stating that they were closing my account. The administrator mentioned the restraining order and listed the court case number in the email. Bill Medvecky sent an email to the SLT, stating that I was not a party to the action. But the SLT refused to listen to Bill.
Rianya has always been extremely rude and hostile to me. I call Rianya your friend because you have told me several times that she was one of the few Kindred Spirits who objected to TBM's posting your stepdaughter's photo on the KS web site. (I also objected to TBM's posting the photo there, but I'm not a member of the K.S. Never have been. I refused to join the KS because I consider them a hate group.)
Swarmi is also hostile toward me. He is an anti-polygamist activist who is associated with TBM. He posted several messages, praising TBM's contributions to Wikipedia before the judge dismissed TBM's lawsuit. Swarmi frequently posts at the SLT site and sometimes refers to something he doesn't like as a "Hugo McSicko." I have often wondered why you haven't complained about that.
Incidentally, the SLT now denies banning me. They have sent several emails to me, claiming that Facebook banned me because someone reported me to Facebook for spamming. LOL.
I could not use my real name to post on Disqus or Google for about a year after the SLT banned me. If I wanted to post, I had to use a fictitious screen name. I contacted Disqus. I received an email stating that Disqus does not get involved in disputes between readers and site owners. According to Disqus, my Facebook account is still banned from the SLT site, but I can now post on other Disqus sites.