Civil Discourse

I find it deeply ironic that Dallin H. Oaks (member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) gave a talk at BYU-Idaho in part about the decline in civil conversation and was then uncivilly mocked, ridiculed and insulted for speaking. Here is the entire speech. It is really good and not the least bit controversial despite what Keith Olbermann and others may say.

Most of the controversy comes because of this quote:

It is important to note that while this aggressive intimidation in connection with the Proposition 8 election was primarily directed at religious persons and symbols, it was not anti-religious as such. These incidents were expressions of outrage against those who disagreed with the gay-rights position and had prevailed in a public contest. As such, these incidents of "violence and intimidation" are not so much anti-religious as anti-democratic. In their effect they are like the well-known and widely condemned voter-intimidation of blacks in the South that produced corrective federal civil-rights legislation.

People have been making all sorts of comments since about how Mormons haven't been murdered over Proposition 8 while blacks were and other things because of this quote. You'll note that I emphasized exactly what Oaks said, not that we were treated exactly like blacks but that the effect of targeting people who spoke out on proposition 8 and firing them, vandalizing property, etc. to keep them from voting to end gay marriage was the same. The people were using intimidation to stop a group from voting in a way the intimidators didn't like. This is what was done against the blacks to stop them from voting for people who would end racism. Certainly the tactics were more harsh against the blacks, but the effect is the same. It was an effort to keep religious people (or anyone opposed to gay marriage for that matter) from voting or speaking up on this issue.

So Keith Olberman spoke out and put Dallin Oaks on his list of worst people. He said that Elder Oaks needed to "Shut the ---- up!" and ridiculed him. You should watch this. It is funny. It is really a Saturday Night Live skit but it is really not far from how Countdown with Keith Olbermann really is.

Read the talk. Dallin H. Oaks clearly knows what he is talking about and is not offensive. He even spends a good portion of it talking about not reviling against those who revile against you, respecting other people's rights to vote, even if it is against our viewpoint, etc.

It is also good to note that Elder Oaks was a justice on the Utah Supreme Court, and a law professor at the University of Chicago among his other qualifications. His talk is obviously well reasoned - so much in fact that those who ridicule what he said are in danger of knowingly lying when they express outrage. If anyone has seriously read the talk they couldn't make the arguments they are making.

It is also interesting that Elder Oaks posted additional information online after the talk. Among the things he says is that his analogy about the efforts to get blacks not to vote works although the intimidation of Proposition 8 supporters is obviously not as extreeme.

Read the talk, watch the additional information and realize that the controversy is made up.