They do it all the time. They will read a line out of a poem, or song with never quoting its source. Then in the Ensign, it is mysteriously sourced. Sometimes they will even quote whole lines out of books as if it were there own. Even as a TBM it used to make be uncomfortable.

I'd be surprised if even half of them wrote their own talks, but I seem to remember when they would speak they would say "quote" and "unquote" sometimes. It makes them look well read to quote from Shakespeare or great works of literature. Unless you're Sheri L. Dew ghostwriting for Ezra Taft Benson, and then apparently it's okay to lift C. S. Lewis wholesale, like she did for Benson's famous talk on Pride. Perhaps they feel that it disrupts the flow of the talk if they pause to cite a source -- so long as they're getting it in the written version.

I haven't heard a General Conference talk in about 12 years though (except for Holland's recent meltdown). Is this a recent phenomenon?

No it has been an ongoing one. I think I picked up on it a whole lot more then most Mormons, because I enjoyed reading the same kinds of books that the guys who write conference talks apparently also enjoy.

It wasn't Sherry Dew who authored that infamous talk on pride, but Reed Benson's wife, if I remember correctly. Steve has posted about it before.

It is better that one author's writings should perish in plagiarism than that an entire cult should fail to be duped.

It's actually quite easy to mention a source while speaking. I do some public speaking and I have found ways to slip them in.

As John Smith likes to say, "(quote)."

In his book, "Why I left the Mormon Church" T-Bone says, "(witty comment)."

What always makes me chuckle is when a Mormon that is used to being well-received in Mormon circles and has all the usual devices for gaining approval from Mormon audiences speaks in a non-Mormon context. The "clever little quips" they like to use in church settings tend to flop. I have to admit, I enjoy the nervous chuckle.

One colleague started a meeting by comparing being overwhelmed with work to being overwhelmed with too many children. It totally backfired. Many of the participants there only heard the part about having a lot of children, and thought he was saying he felt qualified to run a meeting because he's used to dealing with large groups of children. Not the kind of thing you want to say to a group of lawyers.

The clever little story flopped because the majority of the participants were single, big city professionals who had no interest in children. And like I said, his delivery was terrible.

Know your audience!

And considering how little exposure most TBMs have to what I call "minimum basics of cultural literacy", for the most part the GAs are right on that one.

Not exactly the topic you’re discussing, but it was always a big red flag to me that they quote past leaders so often. You’d think a supposed apostle with a direct line to god could come up with an original thought more often. Instead it’s just a rehash of the same old stuff.

Maybe it's because none of the GA have had an original thought

since 1967.

Some of this copied material is acknowledged as being from the Bible, but much of it is not.

I think the GAs are just emulating the technique used to produce the BoM. And I don't think they even see it as plagiarizing--since they believe all good things (including even copyrighted works of literature) originate from God, and since GAs see themselves as God's agents on earth, they therefore believe they have license to use pretty much anything they want according to their "inspired" discretion."

On the assumption that most of the audience is in a coma and that anything worthy of notice will be edited out of the record they can say damn near anything and it will be just fine.

I never paid much attention, but in doing some doctrinal research I used a CD-ROM that had all the conference reports from way back "when." Again and again, when I would enter a particular phrase, I would often get half a dozen hits, and in checking the context it showed that it was from a conference talk Elder XYZ gave in 1927, which he gave it again in 1934, 1942, and 1951. The same talk.

This happened over and over.

They were plagiarizing their own material. Or "recycling the garbage" one might say.

In addition (as others have pointed out) to plagiarizing each other.

I'm sure a TBM would comment approvingly that "the Truth never changes!"

I thought about this, and yeah, you are correct. I wonder why they don't do it.

My guess is that they probably don't view it as plagiarism, and those who hold rights over the material they plagiarize probably don't care.

Interesting observation though.

They are supposed to be super inspired philosophical giants handing out gems of eternal wisdom, instead they steal from famous works of literature and pass it off as their own.

Maybe he will repost that story.

--Ezra Taft Benson’s Much-Loved “Beware of Pride” Sermon and How It Came to Be

Among faithful Mormons, one of the most famous and appreciated talks attributed to my grandfather (and I use the term “attributed” deliberately) was entitled “Beware of Pride.”

As one Mormon commentator has declared:

“['Beware of Pride' is] [p]erhaps the best remembered of all Ezra Taft Benson's talks. . . . [M]embers from all over the political spectrum love and agree with him here. This talk is NOT controversial, but loved.”

http://www.zionsbest.com/top25.html


Likewise, in a glowing obituary of my grandfather, the sermon was mentioned as follows:

"Continuing to help set the Church in order and perfect the Saints, he delivered another landmark address entitled 'Beware of Pride' . . ."

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/people/Benson_EOM.htm


(Actually, the sermon was not delivered by Ezra Taft Benson himself but, instead, read from the pulpit by First Counselor in the First Presidency Gordon B. Hinckley on 1 April 1989 during the Saturday morning session of the 159th Semi-Annual LDS General Conference).

Not only was the sermon delivered by someone else, persuasive evidence has surfaced that a person other than Ezra Taft Benson actually researched and wrote the talk. That individual’s identity is known and will be revealed below.

Further evidence also overwhelmingly points to the conclusion that the text of my grandfather's pride talk was itself borrowed, without attribution, from the writings of another author, who will also be identified herein.

Hence, the assertion of admirers that “this talk is NOT controversial” is becoming less accurate as the facts surrounding its actual genesis become more well known.

The sermon is, in fact, controversial because much of it consists not of the actual words or ideas of Ezra Taft Benson, but of words and ideas which were stolen from others, researched by others and written by others.
_____


--Ezra Taft Benson's Sermon on Pride Was Plagiarized From the Writings of C.S. Lewis

The following question was asked of me some years ago in this forum:

”Did ETB steal from C.S. Lewis? . . . The first time I read the C.S. Lewis passage, I nearly fell out of my (TBM) chair. ETB’s talk as so clearly lifted in large part from Lewis and nary an acknowledgment to be heard. Usually such a gaffe by a well-known person gets a lot of coverage, and yet I have never heard . . . any admission or apology. What say ye? Any info?" ("Bobby D," on "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletin board, 14 June 2003)

Likewise, another questioner followed up with a similarly direct inquiry:

"Was CS Lewis the author of the pride sermon from ET Benson? Where can that be found? Anyone know?" ("novel-t," on "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletin board, 20 January 2004)

The answer is a definitive yes.

Significant portions of Ezra Taft Benson’s pride sermon were directly lifted from, influenced by, and cobbled together from the writings of Christian apologist C.S. Lewis--specifically from his book, Mere Christianity, under the chapter of “The Great Sin” (C.S. Lews, "Mere Christianity," New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952, revised and enlarged).
_____


--The Proof: Line-Upon Line, Plagiarism Upon Plagiarism

A line-by-line comparison of the text of both documents provides clear and convincing evidence that a major source source for Ezra Taft Benson's talk on pride was the earlier work of C.S. Lewis.

Moreover, this blatant and heavy borrowing, both in terms of wording and concept, was done without attribution.

Examples of these plagiarisms are listed below, by category.
_____


--Pride is the Ultimate Vice

Lewis:

"The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride." (p. 109)


Benson:

"Pride is the universal sin, the great vice."
_____


--The Competitive Nature of Pride

Lewis:

"Pride is essentially competitive--is competitive by is very nature . . .” (p. 109)

". . . Pride is essentially competitive in a way that other vices are not." (p. 110)

"Pride is competitive by its very nature." (p. 110)

“Once the element of competition has gone, pride is gone. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not.” (p. 110)


Benson:

"Pride is essentially competitive in nature. . . .

”Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled."
_____


--The Proud See Themselves Being Above Others

Lewis:

"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." (p.111)


Benson:

“Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us.”
_____


--The Proud Also Look From the Bottom Up

Lewis:

“When you delight wholly in yourself and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom.” (p. 112)


Benson:

“There is, however, a more common ailment among us and that is pride from the bottom looking up.”
_____


--Pride Equals Enmity

Lewis:

"Pride always means enmity--it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God." (p.111)


Benson:

"The central feature of pride is enmity--enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowman."

“Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers.”

“Another major portion of this very prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellowmen.”
_____


--Pride and Self-Value

Lewis:

"You value other people enough to want them to look at you." (p. 112)


Benson:

"The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not."
_____


--Pride vs. Humility

Lewis:

"The virtue opposite to it [pride], in Christian morals, is called Humility." (p. 109)

“ . . . if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble—delightfully humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which had made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible . . .” (p. 114)


Benson:

"The antidote for pride is humility . . . "

“Choose to be humble. God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble.”
_____


--Pride Not Admitted in Self

Lewis:

"There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves." (pp. 108-09)


Benson:

"Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves."
_____


Only once in ETB's sermon was proper credit given to C.S. Lewis as a source:

"The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of C. S. Lewis: 'Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. . . . It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone' ('Mere Christianity' [New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109-10)."
_____


--The Identity of the Individual Who Researched and Wrote Ezra Taft Benson’s “Beware of Pride” Sermon

Several years ago, I visited with May Benson (daughter-in-law of Ezra Taft Benson and wife of Reed Benson, Ezra Taft Benson’s oldest child), in their home in Provo, Utah, during which time the subject of pride and my grandfather’s sermon on the matter was a focus of conversation.

The first occasion was prior to the public delivery of Ezra Taft Benson’s sermon by Gordon B. Hinckley in the April 1989 General Conference and the second visit took place after the speech.

May said that she had very strong feelings about the subject of pride. She was especially offended and concerned with what she regarded as the Benson family's own problems with pride. (In fact, she said she had gotten up in disgust and walked out of a wedding breakfast for my sister Meg, when one of the daughters of Ezra Taft Benson, Beverly Benson Parker, as she was listening to the father of the groom, Cap Ferry, make some remarks to the assembled, leaned over and whispered self-righteously to others at the table, "Well, we know which family was blessed with the spirituality").

May said she had put together quite a few thoughts on the subject of pride that she hoped someday to compile and publish in a book.

However, after my grandfather’s pride sermon was delivered, May said that she no longer felt it necessary to publish her hoped-for book. Why? Because, she said, her husband, Reed, had spoken with Ezra Taft Benson about her research on the topic. May was clearly indicating that her information and study efforts had been used in crafting my grandfather’s sermon on pride.

However, the true extent of May Benson's involvement in that effort was not shared with us by her and did not become evident until some time later. Reliable sources in Provo subsequently informed me of rumors that May herself may have worked on Ezra Taft Benson’s sermon. This I was able to later confirm directly from a credible source inside the Benson family who knows May quite well, who was familiar with the situation and who wishes to remain anonymous. The source told me in a face-to-face meeting that May Benson, daughter-in-law of Ezra Taft Benson through marriage to his son Reed, traveled to St. George, Utah, where over a period of several weeks “she wrote his talk.”
_____


--Finally Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

It appears that those responsible for the production and delivery of Ezra Taft Benson's "Beware of Pride" sermon were themselves too prideful to acknowlege that:

--(1) the sermon was largely plagiarized from the earlier works of noted Christian writer, C.S. Lewis;

--(2) the sermon was actually ghost-written by a woman, MaY Benson, doing research on the talk for an uninspired Mormon "prophet;" and

--3) the female who wrote the talk (May Benso), wasn't given credit by the man who was falsely said to have composed it (Ezra Taft Benson), nor by the other man who actually delivered it (Gordon B. Hinckley).

Nonetheless, praise to the man who depends on a woman. :)

You guys are awesome. Wow.

Quoting sources is about clarity, honesty, and reality. These are not qualities that Mormons value.

I'm surprised that some of these authors haven't sued. One of the GAs once used a quote from Mary Anne Radmacher: "Courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says 'I'll try again tomorrow'." I was so disappointed to hear this was stolen.

I'm guessing so very few people pay attention, that the correct authors never learn they have been ripped off. Next conference, we can be on the alert about it, and ready to raise a stink.

If you want to have fun tape record conference the carefully check out this type of action.

How would watching bits and pieces of conference over and over again be fun? I would rather dry hump a taser.

I have frequently seen quotes on Tumblr or Pinterest attributed to LDS Apostles and Prophets. A lot of John Lennon quotes always get attributed to Hinkley, which still confuses me.

Anyway, I point it out every ime I see it at the TBM's get shitty and defensive, as expected. For some reason, attributing quotes to someone other than the actual author really pisses me off. I think it's just because I don't want nevermos to think that these dorks had anything useful or profound to say, when they certainly haven't.

And that is why they do it, so they can seem spiritual and deep, when they are really just the fifteen idiots who fell for Mormonism the most.

When I see TBMs posting on fb quotes attributed to Hinkley etc. If I know it was plagiarized, I correct them in the comments.

Funny story - our hometeacher once quoted some GA but it was a plagiarized quote from a well-known author. DH called him on it and the hometeacher tried to insist it originated from the GA. So next visit, we had a wikipedia entry about that author printed out and ready, with the quote highlighted and the fact that this author came up with the quote years before the GA gave his talk.

Needless to say, HT was pretty shaken up by that and by the fact we told them that GA's quote people all the time - not all their stuff is original.

Because they know just as well as anyone else that there isn't a spirit to utter any intelligible prophecy or to provide any truly divine guidance from the almighty one...or is two or three?! The fab 15, and their salivating 70 who aspire to sit at that special table, are so devoid of any creativity or original thought that they must use the works of others to continue the sham.

Why is that 3 hour block of time on Sunday so mind numbing? It starts at the top and rolls down on all of the morgbots.

THis is somewhat related. I guess over 35 years ago, I made a fuss in the Manti newspaper about the music soundtrack used in the Mormon Miracle Pageant. Most of the music is heavily borrowed from Gustav Holst's "The Planets" not a mention is made in the programs acknowledging this, rather mention is made how it is the Mormon Youth Syphony playing the music as though it is a source from an LDS composer. People in the community and friends and acquaintances on the production board felt I was a heretic at the time for pointing this out. I still don't think any acknowledgment is give to Holst.

--Mormonism's Lack of Originality: From the Mouths of Its Living "Prophets"

Think of your favorite General Authorities' "revelatory" Conference talks and/or doctrinal writings.

Check their source references (if any), then think again.

What you'll find is certainly a, well, revelation.
_____


--Solomon Spaulding Disguised as Joseph Smith

First and foremost, of course, among Mormonism's persistent plagiarists was its charismatic charlatan and philandering founder, Joseph Smith (1805-1844).

Smith (with the conniving assistance of Sidney Rigdon) ripped off the fictional manuscript writings of Congregationalist minister Solomon Spaulding (1761-1816) for the purpose of creating the equally fictional Book of Mormon.

In his devastating expose' of Smith's theft of others' hard-earned intellectual property (since he had no honest intellect of his own), researcher Vernal Holley exposes the spawned-by-Spaulding connection:

"[There are] many similarities between Spaulding's 'Manuscript Story' and the Book of Mormon. These are not vague similariites also found in other adventure stories; they are unique only to the works in question.

"How many books exist that have the same story outline as the Book of Mormon? How many stories tell of a record being written by the ancestors of the American Indians and buried by them to come forth at some future time when other people inherit their lands? How many tell of the same worship ceremonies, cultural technology, seer stones, and give the same descriptions of their fortifications and war stories? How many novels tell of a white God person whose teachings brought about a long period of peace followed by a war between kindred tribes in which the losing people are exterminated? Many similarities in the literary style of the two works have also been identified including identical word combinations, and the geograhpical settings of the two stories appear to be in the same area?

"Most skeptical readers of Spaulding's 'Manuscript Story' encounter difficulty in recognizing similarities between it and the Book of Mormon because they expect it to be written in the King James style complete with sentences beginning with "And it came to pass" and personal names similar to those in the Book of Mormon. When they cannot find these elements, they may lost interest and find it difficult to complete even a first reading. The problem is compounded when the reader is not a veteran student of the Book of Mormon. For example, if the reader is unaware that Gazelem, the Book of Mormon servant of the Lord, possessed a seer stone, the Spaulding seer stone might be passed over as insignificant.

"I believe that anyone who carefully studies all the material in [my] report will see that a relationship does exist between Solomon Spaulding's unpublished writing, called 'Manuscript Story,' and the Book of Mormon. The only significant difference between the two story outlines is the inclusion of the romance between Prince Eleson and Princess Lamess in 'Manuscript Story.' There is no such romance in the Book of Mormon.

"All the same, [Hugh] Nibley's assertion that the similarities between the 'Manuscript Story' and the Book of Mormon 'add up to nothing' seems to me to be an unfair conclusion. I believe the application of Nibley's rule (the closer the resemblance, the closer the connection) leaves little doubt that a connection does exist between Solomon Spaulding's writing and the Book of Mormon.

"So the question remains: How did this relationship come about? And, was the unfinished Spaulding 'Manuscript Story'--or an enlarged version--used by Joseph Smith as the groundwork for the Book of Mormon?"

(Vernal Holley, Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look--A comprehensive study of the similarities between the Book of Mormon and the writings of Solomon Spaulding, 3rd edition, revised and enlarged [Roy, Utah: Vernal Holley, publisher, 1992], pp. 71-72)

For striking examples of parallel word usages, storylines, names, and geographic locales, see:

http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP0.htm

http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP2.htm#pg33

http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP2.htm#pg28

http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP1.htm#pg20

http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP2.htm#pg27

http://sidneyrigdon.com/vern/Holley1.JPG

http://sidneyrigdon.com/vern/Holley2.JPG and:

Wayne L. Cowdrey, Howard A. Davis and Arthur Vanick, "Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?" (St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 2005)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0758605277/002-1638398-8090404?v=glance&n=283155

"Book of Mormon stories that I cribbed--here, look and see . . ."
_____


--Benjamin Disraeli Disguised as David O. McKay

David O. McKay (1873-1970) is perhaps best known for his oft-quoted little couplet (which, come to find out, wasn't his after all):

"No other success can compensate for failure in the home."

(cited on an official LDS website, from J. E. McCullough, "Home: The Savior of Civilization" [1924], 42; Conference Report, April 1935, p. 116.)

http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/presidents/controllers/potcController.jsp?leader=9&topic=quotes

http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2252


McKay had, in fact, infamously ripped line off that famous line from Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), a renowned British politician, novelist and essayist who said:

"No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home."

http://www.motivatingquotes.com/failure.htm


Efforts to sweep McKay's plagiarizing tracks under the rug have been obvious. Below is an exchange I had earlier this year on RfM with poster "Makurosu" regarding obvious evidence of attempts to cover McKay's hind end:

I wrote the following:

"Wiki-warping Morgots have been caught and exposed here on RfM trying to cover David O. McKay's plagiarizing tracks back to Benjamin Disraeli.

"The evidence seems to point quite clearly to TBM lurkers who are reading this board, spotting information that contradicts the Mormon myth and then altering other website sources to cover the acts of their thieving leaders.

"Consider this:

"In another thread, poster Makurosu noted that Mormon Church president David O. McKay's statement, "No other success can compensate for failure in the home," wasn't original to McKay but, rather, was stolen from Benjamin Disraeli:

--"Posted by: Makurosu
Date: January 24, 2012
11:23 AM
Subject line: The quote was lifted without credit from Benjamin Disraeli.

"'No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home.'

"I think Theodore Roosevelt quoted Disraeli first before the quote landed on the lips of David O. McKay.

"Hooray for Jesus."


"I replied to Makurosu, which led to an intriguing discovery by Makurosu--namely, that the McKay-cribbed quote from Disraeli (which I had mentioned and cited from 'wikipedia' in a previous RfM thread back on 11 April 2011) had subsequently vanished from "wikipedia."

"Hmmmmm.

"Here's how Makurosu's discovery of possible TBM tampering with "wikipidia" unfolded. In response to Makurosu's initial post, I replied:

--"Posted by: steve benson
Date: January 24, 2012
12:22 PM
Subjecct line: Yes, indeed, David O. McKay had no suceess coming up with an original line. He plagiarized it . . .

"McKay ripped line off that famous line from Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), a renowned British politician, novelist and essayist who said:

"No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home."

"(Simran Khurana, 'Benjamin Disraeli Quotations A Collection of Benjamin Disraeli Quotations,' at: http://quotations.about.com/od/stillmorefamouspeople/a/BenjaminDisrae1.htm)


"You've even got Mormons admitting McKay cribbed it:

"'My [LDS] church leaders repeatedly emphasized this teaching: 'No other success can compensate for failure in the home.' (Benjamin Disraeli as paraphrased by President David O. McKay).'

"('Green Oasis,' under 'Family First,' 5 July 2007, at: http://www.blakeclan.org/jon/greenoasis/tag/conscience/index.html) . . .


--"Posted by: Makurosu
Date: January 24, 2012
01:04 PM
Subject line: Sounds like an epic fail for McKay in public life to me. (n/t)"


--"Posted by: steve benson
Date: January 24, 2012
11:31 PM
Subject line: Sounds like Mormons riding the coattails of dead non-Mormons and not them giving credit . . .

"If Elohim can't inspire Mormonism's false prophets with their own revealed inspirational lines, simply steal quotes from deceased Gentiles and call it your own.

"To review the rip-off:

"David O. McKay (1873-1970) is perhaps best known for his oft-quoted little couplet (which, come to find out, wasn't his after all):

"No other success can compensate for failure in the home."

"(cited on an official LDS website, from J. E. McCullough, 'Home: The Savior of Civilization' [1924], 42; Conference Report, April 1935, p. 116, at: http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/presidents/controllers/potcController.jsp?leader=9&topic=quotes; see also, Julie M. Smith, 'Book Review: David O. McKay: Beloved Prophet,' on "Times and Season: 'Truth Will Prevail,'" at: http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2252)


"McKay had, in fact, purloigned that famous line from Disraeli, who said it before McKay did:

"'No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home.'

"INTERESTING SIDENOTE: I previously found Disraeli's 'no success" quote on 'Wikipedia,' at: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli


"Checking back there today, however, that quote is no longer on that site.

"Since one can go on to 'wiki' and anonymously edit the articles of others, it does not seem beyond the realm of reasonable possibility that a true-believing Mormon (in an all-too-typical dishonest effort to keep McKay's mythological image as a "prophet" intact) snuck in to the wiki article and took it out."


"At this point, Makurosu picked up a traceable fishy scent:

--"Posted by: Makurosu
Date: January 25, 2012
12:27 AM
Subject line: According to Wayback at Archive.org it disappeared sometime between July 15, 2010 and May 14, 2011.

"Here's the July 15, 2010 snapshot:

http://web.archive.org/web/20100715203208/http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli

"As you can see, the quote is in the 'Unsourced' section. Only the quote has disappeared and not the Unsourced section. It wasn't moved to the "Misattributed" section either.

"Here's the May 14, 2011 snapshot:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110514030631/http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli "


--"Posted by: steve benson
Date: January 25, 2012
02:17 AM
Subject line: Thanks. That's interesting (and perhaps not coincidental). I posted on McKay's plagiarism of Disraeli on 11 April 2011 . . .

"'The Plagiarizing Moves On': In the Long LDS Tradition of Unoriginal & Uninspired "Prophets"--Joseph Smith, David O. Mckay, Ezra Taft Benson, Merrill J. Bateman & Bruce R. McConkie," posted by steve benson, "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletin board, 11 April 2011, at: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,163604,163836,quote=1


"The now-vanished Disraeli quote was on 'Wikipedia' as of July 15, 2010, and read: 'No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home.'

http://web.archive.org/web/20100715203208/http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli


"It was gone from the same 'Wikipedia' page entirely by May 14, 2011 (33 days after my earlier RfM post appeared noting the McKay plagiarism of Disraeli):

http://web.archive.org/web/20110514030631/http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli

"[to see and compare both "Wayback" pages, click on the word 'Impatient?,' located in the bottom-right corner]

"(The above exchange is found in the thread, 'No success outside the home....,' posted by kolobian, on 'Recovery from Mormonism' bulletin board, 21 January 2012, 01:33 PM, at: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,397412)


"Makurso then caps it off with this 'smoking gun' discovery that a pro-Mormon rewrited may well have deleted the evidence of McKay's plagiarism of Disraeli from 'Wikipedia' (as noted by Makurosu later down in this thread, inserted here):

--"Posted by: Makurosu
Date: January 25, 2012
10:12 AM
Subject line: It's unfortunate that there was such a wide gap in the snapshots at Archive.org.

"I looked into the discussions at the 'wiki' site to see if I could find a change log to pinpoint when the quote was deleted, but I don't know enough about the system. Maybe someone with better knowledge could look into it. It's certainly interesting.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli


--"Posted by: Makurosu
Date: January 25, 2012
10:25 AM
Subject line: Never mind. I found it.

"Looks like you're right, Steve. The quote was deleted April 15, 2011--four days after the thread on RfM.

"Here's the action history:

http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin_Disraeli&action=history


"It was removed by user 'Neutrality' with the comment 'rm mis-attributions.'

"Here's the revision log. See line 645. No explanation given for removing that quote.

http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin_Disraeli&diff=1372320&oldid=1272023 "

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"So, in the end, some probable anonymous troll for the Mormon Cult removes from "Wikipedia's" biography article on Disraeli the quote from Disraeli--instead of removing from the record McKay's plagiarism of Disraeli's quote.

"That says it all.

Thanks for your diligent detective digging, Makurosu, which raises the question:

"No success at perptuating the Mormon myth can occur if evidence of possible TBM tampering with the trail of evidence is uncovered?

"Heh."

(see: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,409933,410030#msg-410030; and: http://exmormon.org/d6/drupal/Are-TBM-Lurkers-Reading-This-Board)


No success can compensate for words that aren't their own.
_____


--Gertrude Himmel Disguised as Merril J. Bateman

At a Sunstone Symposium a few years ago, LDS author Bryan Waterman critically noted the “reliance” of BYU President Merrill Bateman (1936- ) “on the work of [academic conservative] Gertrude Himmelfarb (1922- ) . . .”

http://www.lds-mormon.com/31076.shtml


Actually, Bateman’s supposed “reliance” took the form of blatant plagiarism.

On 25 April 1996, the then-incoming president of BYU/General Authority Bateman delivered his inaugural address to the student body assembled in the Marriott Center, entitled "Response to Change."

Curiously, the BYU website where Bateman's blatantly-borrowed speech was at one time posted, is no longer available there. Instead, efforts to link to it result in this message:

"Oops! Internet Explorer could not connect to fc.byu.edu

"Suggestions:
•Go to byu.­edu
•Try reloading: fc.­byu.­edu/­/­ee/­w_mjb496.­htm
•Search on Google"

http://www.byu.edu/fc/ee/w_mjb496.htm


Bateman was subsequently accused of stealing--without attribution--portions of his remarks from an article published earlier the same year, authored by conservative philosopher Gertrude Himmelfarb, entitled, "The Christian University: A Call to Counterrevolution." (First Things, no. 59, January 1996, pp. 16-19)

http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9601/articles/himmelfarb.html


The plagiarism accusation caused an uproar in academic circles, leading Bateman to deny the charge. The accusation was recently mentioned in an article appearing in the Mormon Church-owned Desert News, in conjunction with the end of Bateman's tenure as BYU president:

"Brigham Young University President Merrill J. Bateman . . . sent a letter to a neo-conservative scholar denying that he plagiarized her work in his inaugural address. An anonymous BYU faculty member made that charge last week."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/508472/Y-PRESIDENT-WRITES-SCHOLAR-DENIES-PLAGIARIZING-HER-WORK.html


Once caught, Bateman attempted his own denial of plagiarizing Himmelfarb, telling a BYU campus audience in August 1996 that he didn't crib his suspect speeh but nonetheless admitted: "I apologize for the ambiguity and inattention that created the confusion. The attribution could and should have been clearer. I promise to be more careful in the future."

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=10887


Nice try, Merrill.

Comparing Bateman's inaugural address with Himmelfarb's article proves that Bateman was, well, lying.

Although the manuscript copy of Bateman's 1996 inaugural address offered a single footnote reference to Himmelfarb's ideas (located on p. 18 of her article), Bateman failed in the spoken version of those remarks to acknowledge his reliance on Himmelfarb's ideas--thus, leaving the false impression that her words were his own.

A point-by-point, topical comparison of the Himmelfarb and Bateman texts raises serious questions about Bateman's intellectual honesty:


*On Disparaging Truth, Knowledge and Objectivity

Himmelfarb:

"Today many eminent professors in some of our most esteemed universities disparage the ideas of truth, knowledge, and objectivity as naive or disingenuous at best, as fraudulent and despotic at worst."

"Above all, it is the truth that is denigrated."

"Finally, and most disastrously, the university, liberated from religious dogma, has also become liberated from the traditional academic dogma, the belief in truth, knowledge, and objectivity."


Bateman:

"During the past two decades, however, a number of well-known educators have begun to denigrate truth, knowledge, and objectivity."


*On Politicization of the University By Interest Groups

Himmelfarb:

"It [the university] is also a highly politicized institution; no longer subject to any religious authority, the university is at the mercy of the whims and wills of interest groups and ideologies."


Bateman:

"The university becomes a politicized institution that is at the mercy and whims of various interest groups."


*On the Secularization of the University and Its Hostility to Religion

Himmelfarb:

"For we are now confronted with a university . . . that has almost totally abandoned its original mission. It is now not merely a secular institution but a secularist one, propagating secularism as a creed, a creed that is not neutral as among religions but is hostile to all religions, indeed to religion itself."


Bateman:

"If university scholars reject the notion of ‘truth,’ there is no basis for intellectual and moral integrity. Secularism becomes a creed that is no longer neutral but hostile to religion."


*On the Rise of Radical Relativism

Himmelfarb:

"The animating spirit of postmodernism is a radical relativism and skepticism that rejects any idea of truth, knowledge, or objectivity."


Bateman:

"The driving theory is a radical relativism and skepticism that rejects any idea of truth or knowledge."

Before giving his purloined speech, perhaps Bateman should have review BYU's own Honor Code.

This document on Integrity 101 has the following to say about academic standards:

”The first injunction of the BYU Honor Code is the call to ‘be honest.’ Students come to the university not only to improve their minds, gain knowledge, and develop skills that will assist them in their life's work, but also to build character. ‘President David O. McKay taught that character is the highest aim of education’ ('The Aims of a BYU Education,' p. 6). It is the purpose of the BYU Academic Honesty Policy to assist in fulfilling that aim.

”BYU students should seek to be totally honest in their dealings with others. They should complete their own work and be evaluated based upon that work. They should avoid academic dishonesty and misconduct in all its forms, including but not limited to plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, cheating, and other academic misconduct.”

http://math.byu.edu/cardon/math113/BYUPolicies.html


Like any good power-mongering Mormon authority figure who couldn't give a flyin' fig leaf apron about adhering to moral principle, fellow Blue Suit Boyd K. Packer rode to Bateman's rescue with a divinely-sounded vengeance.

A few months after exposure of Bateman as a clunky plagiarist, Packer issued what was seen by many as a thinly-veiled attack against Bateman's Mormon critics.

At October 1996 General Conference, in a sermon unsubtley entitled, "The Twelve Apostles," Packer warned:

”Some few within the Church, openly or perhaps far worse, in the darkness of anonymity, reproach their leaders in the wards and stakes and the Church, seeking to make them ‘an offender for a word,’ as Isaiah said. To them the Lord said, ‘Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed, saith the Lord, and cry they have sinned when they have not sinned before me, saith the Lord, but have done that which was meet in mine eyes, and which I commanded them.

"’But those who cry transgression do it because they are the servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves . . .

"’Because they have offended my little ones they shall be severed from the ordinances of mine house.

"’Their basket shall not be full, their houses and their barns shall perish, and they themselves shall be despised by those that flattered them.

"’They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation.’

”That terrible penalty will not apply to those who try as best they can to live the gospel and sustain their leaders. Nor need it apply to those who in the past have been guilty of indifference or even opposition, if they will repent and confess their transgressions, and forsake them.”

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/conferences/96_oct/Packer_Apostles.htm


For those concerned about fake prophets of God like Packer coming to the defense of other fake Mormon prophets like Bateman, they can rest assured that any LDS leader whom Packer defends probably has done something wrong.

(Organ music, please): "Music and the Stolen Word"
_____


--An Unknown Arab Poet Disguised as Bruce R. McConkie

In eulogizing the by-then-dead Apostle/Fossil Bruce R. McConkie (1915-1985) at a BYU fireside, then-member of the First Quorum of the Seventy John K. Carmack offered this glowing tribute to Bruce the Prophetic Plagiarizer, comparing the Mormon Church to a steady-as-she-goes caravan moving forward into the eternal realms of glory:

” . . . [A]s an expression of his confidence in the Church, and as a seer whose words light the pathway we must travel as we endure to the end of that path, Elder McConkie saw the road ahead and the kingdom as a moving caravan triumphantly moving to its destiny.”

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6933


Carmack was borrowing his in-memorium caravan image from an earlier McConkie sermon entitled “The Caravan Moves On.”

Not to be outdone, McConkie himself had lifted the caravan metaphor (without attribution, of course) from an old Arab proverb.

McConkie’s sermon (which appeared in the November 1984 issue of the "Ensign") likened critics of the Mormon Church to dogs yapping at the heels of the caravan of truth as it plodded ahead, undaunted and undeterred by apostate hounds of hell barking in the rear.

Declared McConkie in solemn, plagiarized tones:

”The Church is like a great caravan--organized, prepared, following an appointed course, with its captains of tens and captains of hundreds all in place.

”What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? Or that predators claim those few who fall by the way?

"The caravan moves on.

”Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a steep grade to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters wise.

"The caravan moves on.

”Are there storms that rage along the way, floods that wash away the bridges, deserts to cross, and rivers to ford? Such is life in this fallen sphere.

"The caravan moves on.

”Ahead is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where all who maintain their position in the caravan shall find food and drink and rest.

"Thank God that the caravan moves on!

”In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen."

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1984/10/the-caravan-moves-on?lang=eng


Not to put too much of an uninspired point on it, McConkie’s Christly caravan imagery was purloined from an ancient Arab proverb (which, of course, he didn’t have to give credit to because, thus saith the Lard, he was an Apostle of the Lard who didn't have to give credit to anyone if he didn't want to).

In reality, the caravan line has been a popular go-to image used through time to illustrate all kinds of points of view, McConkie’s anti-dog doctrine being just one of them.

In fact, the popularity of this well-known Arab proverb was illustrated when Russian President Vladimir Putin was mentioned in a news article as "recit[ing] a long list of Russia's economic accomplishments during his presidency, dismissing foreign critics of Russia's worthiness for Group of Eight membership with a proverb:

‘The dog keeps barking, but the caravan moves on.’"

http://smh.com.au/news/world/hamas-must-change-now-putin-warns/2006/02/01/1138590568294.html


But far from him to give thanks to some supposedly lowly, brown-skinned Arab. McConkie took the glory unto himself, although he's not named in history as the proverb's originator:

http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/wosdirectoryd.htm

http://sand1.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/108-the-dogs-bark-but-the-caravan-moves-on-arab-proverb/


Old myths about allegedly inspired Mormon leaders die hard. (As they say, never let the facts get in the way of a good prophet).

In a talk delivered at a Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional, entitled “Obedience to the Commandments of the Lord,” Kim B. Clark soberly invoked the non-original words of non-inspired McConkie to make a nonsensical point.

" . . .I would like to marry Nephi’s metaphor of the iron rod and the strait and narrow path to another image given us by another prophet, seer, and revelator in our day. I think in so doing we may see new dimensions of the journey and gain deeper understanding of what we must do to obtain eternal life.

"The metaphor I have in mind was given to us by Elder Bruce R. McConkie in a talk he gave in general conference in the fall of 1984."

[Editor's note: No, it wasn't, but go ahead, anyway].

"Let’s listen to Elder McConkie:

"'The Church is like a great caravan--organized, prepared, following an appointed course, with its captains of ten and captains of hundreds in place.

"‘What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? Or that predators claim those few who fall by the way?

"The caravan moves on.

"'Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a steep grade to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters wise.

"'The caravan moves on.

"'Are there storms that rage along the way, floods that wash away the bridges, deserts to cross, rivers to ford? Such is life in the fallen sphere. The caravan moves on.

“'Ahead is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where all who maintain their position in the caravan shall find food and drink and rest.

"'Thank God that the caravan moves on!'”

http://www.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2005_08_30_ClarkK.htm


Sorry to burst your testimonial bubble, Sister Clark, but Bruce R. McConkie did not give you that inspiring metaphor.

In fact, Mormomonism's go-to prophets are Spaulding, Disraeli, Lewis, Himmelfarb and an unknown Arab proverb writer.

Please try again later.



Edited 11 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2012 03:42AM by steve benson.

How come the church often picked guys who were previously rabid sex hounds to be A.P.'s in the mission instead of guys who actually kept the law of chastity, I mean, gee, could it be because LDS Inc really does not care about the morality that they claim to love .........could it be that LDS INC is really a stupid club ran by self infatuated PHONIES and FRAUDS instead of a church ..... could Joseph SMith and the Gold plates fraud that MORmONISM was founded on be a root cause of this kind of behavior......

My favorite part about this comment is how you capitalized PHONIES and FRAUDS and how you typed out "MORONISM" by emphasizing certain letters in the word "Mormonism."

That was super clever and I totally think you should keep doing it.

Goes all the way back to Joseph Smith who plagiarized the masonic "Legend of Enoch" to peddle his own First Vision story to well-intentioned, but uninformed New Englanders.

Lying by omission.