In past years, I sometimes discussed the "citation cartel" which consisted of certain LDS scholars that repeatedly cite one another (and themselves) to create a perception of widespread scholarly consensus regarding their theories about the origin (SITH) and setting (M2C) of the Book of Mormon.
They invented key buzzwords and concepts ("two Cumorahs," "seer stone," "the Americas," etc.) that they used to reframe the historical record and constantly repeated them to reinforce the perception of "scholarly consensus" on these topics. They hoped that repetition would be persuasive.
The tactics of the M2C and SITH scholars is similar to the current mainstream media (the news cartel), which seems to receive coordinated talking points to repeat through their various networks and other outlets.
Recently, the buzzword was "ambush."
This video compilation shows the news cartel members all repeating the buzzword.
https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/1925366731721081071
The print media coordinated with the same buzzword.
When we see it in the open this way, the news cartel is just funny. Jokesters.
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Because people objected, I don't use the term "citation cartel" any longer, but the point remains the same.
To preserve this perception, the M2C and SITH scholars zealously excluded alternative faithful interpretations of the historical and other evidence. When exclusion failed because of the Internet, they resorted to misleading "comparisons" and critiques that avoided the core issues.
Brant Gardner's series is a good example. He's a great guy, but seriously...
Like Brant, a few of the other M2C and SITH scholars still try to adhere to that approach.
But Latter-day Saints around the world are learning for themselves from original sources (such as the Joseph Smith Papers and extrinsic scholarship) without having everything filtered through the M2C and SITH scholars. They are making informed decisions about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon, many of them for the first time in their lives realizing that the prophets were correct all along.
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