October 18, 2023

October 18, 2023: Justice for Trump?, Ban Tik Tok?, Is ethnicity a social construct?, Alcohol in the St. George Temple, Adam Smith vs President Nelson

1 hour 6 minutes

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Thought Provoker:

First up, Sam: Should members of the LDS Church support banning or censoring social media platforms like Tik Tok? https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/utah-tiktok-lawsuit-social-media-rcna119995 Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and state Attorney General Sean Reyes announced the lawsuit during a press conference.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/utah-sues-tiktok-for-allegedly-addicting-children-misrepresenting-ties-to-chinese-parent-company/

Next up, Shawn: The Israel/Hamas war and tragedy has been the cause of varied and surprising feelings and reactions both internally and nationally. For me the most interesting part of this conflict isn’t just the role of religion but how “perceived ethnicity” and tribalism play such important roles. It seems to me that when people establish their identities on such things it is very hard to build a peaceful society. Two questions: 1) Is it against the will of God for people to base their identities on anything other than being a child of God in a global family? (Reference 4 nephi 1: 15 and Moses 1). Second, is “ethnicity” just a human word to describe an objective reality or is it a harmful, false social construct that divides God's children and is a cause of much conflict.

Matt: Sam’s topic about alcohol in Highland reminded me of this story. Most people don’t know that a bottle of Dixie Wine is encased in the cornerstone of the St. George Temple. Early settlers in St. George distilled and distributed wine and many early Saints consumed this wine regularly. The link has a lot more information about the history of wine and alcohol in Utah, but President Young and most other church leaders regularly consumed alcohol. The question is, what should we make of this history? Does the fact that Brigham Young drank wine make it ok for me to drink wine? How do we deal with our own history?

Big Question: Adam Smith is the economic philosopher most associated with capitalism. But, Adam Smith acknowledged that capitalism only works if there is an appropriate social structure in place. Selfish competition can lead to terrible results, so capitalism does best in a society where people are motivated to look out for each other. In his book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith identifies the basic rules of prudence and justice that are needed for society to survive. In essence, Smith argues that we develop our moral guides for human behavior by observing what other people do. We do not want to be seen negatively by others, so we behave like we see other people behaving. This is in contrast to President Nelson’s idea in his recent talk “Think Celestial”. To me, this talk seems to be saying that if we keep our focus on the celestial kingdom, that thought will help us make the “correct” decision. Who is more right, Adam Smith or President Nelson?

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