Posted by:
Lot's Wife
(
)
Date: October 27, 2020 02:55AM
Praydude just applauded two interviews on Mormon Stories explaining how Ezra Taft Benson pushed Mormonism from the center-right of the American political spectrum towards the far right.
A major theme in the biographical discussion is conspiratorial thinking: namely, the supposed alliance between Moscow, American communists, Jews, the advocates of equal rights for black people, and the broader Civil Rights Movement. Benson brought out the latent conspiracy-theory predilections evident in the BoM, with its secret combinations and Gadianton Robbers; in early Mormon history's fascination with Masonry, Andrew Jackson, and an evil Washingtonian cabal that worked against the Church; and such intra-Mormon cabals as the Danites, the Council of 50, and the various levels of secret temple rites. He brought these up to date in the 1960s and thereafter.
The church leadership tried to shut Benson up, but he had tremendous influence and his legacy lives on. We see it in the Bundy farces, some of the Intermountain West militias, the Vallow case, the Lafertys's behavior, Brian David Mitchell, Julie Rowe, the Westover clan, Glenn Beck, and the tendency of Mormons to distrust progressives nationally and government power in general. We also see the legacy in the willingness of ex-Mormons to embrace politically-oriented conspiracy theories. Witness, for instance, the several times that the fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Israel has appeared on this board.
When a man is an apostle or prophet, he casts a long shadow.
https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast/ezra-taft-benson-and-the-making-of-the-mormon-right-matt-harris-part-1/https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast/ezra-taft-benson-and-the-making-of-the-mormon-right-matt-harris-part-2/Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2020 05:27AM by Lot's Wife.