An article in the Wall St. Journal discusses a conference at Stanford on the topic of censorship.
The conference focused on COVID, but the principles apply to the ongoing censorship at Scripture Central. Every Latter-day Saint should wonder why Scripture Central continues to
(i) censor and repudiate the teachings of the prophets about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon and
(ii) refuse to engage in dialog with Latter-day Saints who still believe those teachings.
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| Scripture Central's M2C map (click to enlarge) |
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/hillary-clinton-is-worried-fc8fee49?mod=opinion_trendingnow_article_pos3
On Saturday at a Stanford University conference on pandemic policy, Dr. Scott Atlas, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in 2020, described the pressure at places like Stanford to conform to views about Covid that turned out to be disastrously wrong. The Stanford Review has published the remarks of Dr. Atlas. Here’s an excerpt in which he discusses the response at Stanford and other universities when he challenged the false consensus:
Censorship: character assassination, intimidation, and censure.
It was also nuanced – being told “stop writing x” and “write an apology for x”; colleagues told “stop defending Scott”; no more speaking at institutional events; and more.
And understand clearly – when you censor health policy, it’s not simply an abstract evil, a less-than-ideal environment for diverse views. People die. And people died from the censorship of correct health policy.
Why is Censorship used? To shut someone up, yes; but more importantly, to deceive the public – to stop others from hearing, to convince a naïve public there is a “consensus”.
But TRUTH is not a Team Sport. Truth is not determined by consensus, or by numbers of people who agree, or by titles. It is discovered by debate, proven by critical analysis of evidence. Arguments are won by data and logic, not by personal attack or censoring others.
THAT is why lockdowners – at Stanford and elsewhere – needed censorship and propaganda; they couldn’t win on the data; they needed to delegitimize and demonize opposing views as highly dangerous, to convince the public.
And especially their LIE – the strawman “herd immunity strategy” that if you are against lockdowns, you are for “letting it rip”. I never advised “let it rip”. It was never even mentioned, not once, in the White House – And that is not targeted protection!
We now have a frightening crisis of both competence AND integrity. Lockdowners will never admit they were wrong – on lockdowns, schools, masks, & vax mandates – and that I and others here were right – because that would take integrity.
But TRUTH cannot be changed. Churchill was right – “Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is.”
To his credit, Stanford President Jonathan Levin did not shy away from the discussion but showed up to speak and said:
We have many issues today at Stanford, and on other campuses, where views are divided, and in some cases, like this one, where feelings are raw.
Yet I believe we need to make every effort to get people who disagree, even sharply, in dialogue with one another. I believe it’s essential for us to do that as members of the faculty and university leaders – not just because it’s a way to advance knowledge, but because we need to model that behavior if we want to expect it from our students. And in today’s world, we absolutely need to ask and expect our students to be able to engage with, listen to, and debate with people with whom they disagree. My view is that we need to err on the side of talking to one another.
So I hope today’s conference will come off in a way that involves just that – thoughtful and robust discussion across different perspectives. I hope it yields some important insights about future pandemic policy – we certainly need that. Perhaps it does even bridge a few divides among those in the room.
And I hope even more that all of you will join in the larger project of trying to make Stanford and other campuses forums for the type of robust and thoughtful discussion that is at the heart of universities when we’re at our best.
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