Radical Civility

Radical Civility

By Benjamin PaciniEducationSelf-Improvement
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Radical Civility episodes

  • The Unique Mission of BYU: Responses to Elder Holland's Recent Address

    Jeffrey R. Holland is a senior church leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition, he is the chairman of the executive committee of the church board of commissioners, and a former president of BYU. He recently gave a talk that has since become highly controversial.  


    I'm an alum of BYU, and wanted to discuss more with thoughtful friends.   

    Now, you should note just how tricky a topic this is. It's sensitive and difficult, and I guarantee we didn't handle it perfectly--but we tried to engage honestly, and that's a start.  

    And I think we add a bit of signal (not just noise) to the conversation. From my background as a school administrator, I saw this more in terms of "we need to do better" than perhaps any other thing--in teaching, in research, and in the basic functions of the university. There have been numerous talks in recent years that have addressed this plainly, and I felt that it's impossible to understand this talk outside the context of the others.  

    Even if you don't agree, I hope you get something from it. And also, I hope that this crowds out the less thoughtful voices out there who share my take.  

    A number of articles are cited in our discussion, which I've included here. The most important, however, is Elder Holland's address itself:  https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-jeffrey-r-holland-2021-byu-university-conference   

    After Elder Holland's talk, Tad Walch penned the following article: "The news people misssed in Elder Holland's BYU talk." Part of our hope in this podcast was to bring it back to these things, without taking attention away from other things.  https://www.deseret.com/2021/8/26/22639600/churchbeat-newsletter-lds-mormon-church-elder-holland-byu-talk-missed-news-clark-gilbert  

    The first bit of context is then-Elder Oaks' talk in which he first mentions musket fire language, and also asks teachers to be better teachers. https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/dallin-h-oaks/challenges-mission-brigham-young-university/  

    Then there is the talk by Elder Bednar specifically addressing humility and meekness. When I read it, it felt like a kind, loving, but very direct rebuke.  https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/david-a-bednar/walk-meekness-spirit/  

    Then there is Elder Holland's address to the Maxwell Institute.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpUN29orJmM  

    Finally, the Second Century Address by Spencer W. Kimball.  https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1829&context=byusq  

    Taken together, I believe that the focus of these talks is that BYU has a unique mission, and that to fulfill that mission will require total unity and a commitment to excellence like we've never before sesen. BYU will not look like any other university--which will allow it to bless lives like no other university.  Hope you enjoy the podcast. Would love to hear you engage below.

    1 hr 24 min
  • Informed Consent

    What is informed consent when it comes to religions? How do you know if someone is consenting for themselves or doing it for social pressure or parental approval?  This is an interesting--and sticky--issue. I sit down with Dan Ellsworth and Leo Winegar to talk through in depth.   

    Note: this is a little longer than normal because we wanted it to be thorough and open-ended. We tried to address it as thoughtfully and earnestly as we could.  Would love to hear your thoughts. Comment below.  

    See here for the original article:  https://publicsquaremag.org/dialogue/persuasion/the-seductive-deception-of-informed-consent/

    1 hr 44 min
  • The Dad Brigade Talks Families--and Elder Tad Callister

    Recently, Elder Tad Callister--an emeritus general leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--released the following essay on the importance of families to society.  


    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-05-22/tad-callister-fence-cliff-ambulance-strong-families-213923

    As you can imagine, Twitter handled everything with thoughtfulness and grace (sarcasm there, in case you missed it). Some were offended, others were offended at the offense, and things deteriorated quickly. The editor of the outlet (The Church News edited by Sarah Jane Weaver) was also attacked by both left (how dare you allow this to be published!) and right (why aren't you defending Callister's remarks more forcefully? Why do you capitulate to the left?!)   

    By the way, for a good response to the controversy surrounding Sarah Jane Weaver, see here: https://publicsquaremag.org/uncategorized/the-mobs-come-from-both-sides/

    I decided to dive into this issue with some friends of mine. It ended up being me and a bunch of fellow-dads, and we eventually got around to talking about families and fatherhood. Our goal was simply to discuss the matter from our perspective: no counterpunches. No picking fights. Just our take on what happened.   

    My genuine hope is that between extremes there can be a thoughtful take that people can resonate with.   

    By the way, if you disagree, that's great. Let us know. Engage with us. Debate and discuss.

    1 hr 18 min
  • My Wife, The Genius

    Are Bow-Ties pretentious? Who is the least civil person on Twitter? What is the hippo scale? Fungus or dry skin?  

    I talk about all of the above, and then basically explain that I told you so--that the death of civility has caused a good chunk of our problems, and that the solution is to live back up to the principles that we always knew we should.  

    In particular: 

    1) Accountability is a must. Personal responsibility is the old-conservative way. 

    2) Basic kindness is still the best antidote. 

    3) We must actively truth-tell, and never believe our own deceptions.  Also, don't disagree less, disagree better.  

    Link to Adam Kinzinger's new page: https://www.country1st.com

    Post-Register Editorial: "This is not Personal Responsibility." https://www.postregister.com/opinion/editorials/this-is-not-personal-responsibility/article_b582816f-be00-585e-8852-f6a410b423d2.html 

    Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmiIlIH-kEE 

    39 min
  • Faith and Politics

    Just before the election, I sit down with a good friend of mine to ask how faith influences politics.   

    We focus on civility, and avoid talking directly about candidates--Jason is in the military, and we tried pretty hard to live up to his promises not to speak against any members of the sitting government. But we still had a thoughtful, interesting discussion.  

    How does yours influence yours? (No wrong answers here--and 'worldview' counts too, or ethics, etc.)

    50 min
  • Insufficiently Conservative

    There is something even more conservative than voting conservative: Upholding the peaceful transition of power. 

    If you are a conservative who is planning to vote for the incumbent, I disagree with you. I find him insufficiently conservative. 

    But I hope you'll join me in this: if the president wins, I'll do all I can to protect his legal right to serve as president. And if he loses, I'll do the same for his opponent.

    33 min
  • Bad Actors

    I hesitate to post this one, but I have decided it's important to discuss.   Most of the people I know who are involved in large-scale social movements are good people who care a lot about making the world better. But there are bad actors out there who are trying to radicalize and stir the pot.

    24 min
  • It's Breitbart's World, We're Just Living In It
    Hi world,

    We're finally moved in enough that I got back to podcasting. Still having a blast. (Also, we now have a yard, a kitchen table, and a WASHER AND DRYER!! *sings exultantly*) (But really, our washer and dryer is a highlight of this new life of ours.)

    Anywho, I made another thing--it's a conversation about the conversation: why is everything politicizied? Why is the whole world angry about even non-important issues?

    The answer, in part, has something to do with Steve Bannon and Andrew Breitbart.

    I'll mostly post at the podcast's page, but figured I'd give a shout since it's been a while. (Also, note: I'm having some trouble with the Anchor platform, so it's only on YouTube right now--hope to fix that soon.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHo47vx8_S4&feature=youtu.be

    Last but not least, thanks all. It's a good world when you have good friends, and I feel pretty well blessed beyond measure in that regard.

    37 min
  • Utah Needs a New State Flag

    I've been excited about this one: My friend Chance Hammock wants to tell you about state flags, and Utah's seal-on-a-bedsheet in particular.    He's an amateur vexillologist who wants people to know that the Utah State Flag is great--as a state seal.  Flags are meant to be something different--easy to recognize, easy to fly, and easy to show off.  

    Warning: this episode is probably better viewed on YouTube, since Chance walks me through some examples.

    If you want to know more about what he's doing, look up @utahflag on twitter. 

    Chance is also a realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty in Utah, so feel free to check out chancehammock.com

    Roman Mars TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2vkHfSjctQJkg_xjfEVBx7e8-KD3o-Vbi7kOPhj2REESjBIBDO1p3mSDE

    42 min
  • Not Upworthy

    I'm at ten episodes, so now it's time to reflect on what I really want this podcast to be about. I'm not sure what I want it to be.

    But I know I don't want it to be Upworthy.

    No intention of offending, but I do want to be honest about what I see them doing that I want to avoid, and how we want to be different.

    15 min

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Dialogue, dignity, donuts.