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The Thought Provoker:

Shawn is first. I hope that he will choose something about how underwhelming Boston was. How he had high hopes given all the history there, but it was just another dirty crime-ridden town run by liberals 😊  

Next up, Matt: “UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers, or CSS, found that teens — plus the 18- to 24-year-old demographic that advertisers typically target — think sex and romance are too prominent in TV shows and movies, preferring to see more friendships and platonic relationships. Almost half of adolescents 13–24 felt that romance is overused in media (44.3%) and sex is unnecessary for the plot of most TV shows and movies (47.5%). A majority (51.5%) want to see more content focused on friendships and platonic relationships, with 39% seeking more aromantic and/or asexual characters (ace/aro) on screen.” Does this mean that Hollywood has gone too far? It seems like young people want more of the kinds of shows that were on TV in the 1950s. Is this a case of a swinging pendulum, or do younger people have a stronger moral code than out generation? 

Last up Sam. Is the American Dream as cast by James Adams in 1931 still alive and well?  What is the Latter Day Lens on that Dream?

American Dream | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream

 The Thought Provoker. In the fall of 2021 President Zelensky’s approval rating was 28%. Ukraine was divided in factions about how to deal with Eastern Ukraine, and stories were circulating about his corrupt business dealings. Three months later, Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Israel held five snap parliamentary elections in a span of less than four years: in April 2019, September 2019, March 2020, March 2021 and November 2022. Prime Minister Netanyahu had been charged with corruption, and in September of this year had just passed a law to help him consolidate power. A month later, Hamas attacked. I could create a similar timeline for what is happening in the United States right now. This suggests that the US is vulnerable to attacks from our enemies. Do we have a moral obligation to act to reduce the threat of attack? What could be done?

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Thought Provoker:
First up, Sam. “participation trophies vs meritocracy” 

Next up, Matt.” Martin Scorsese’s newly released film “Killers of the Flower Moon” is based on actual events that happened in Oklahoma in the 1920s. You can follow the link to read the full history, but the short version is that US government policy toward native Americans (specifically the Osage Tribe) in Oklahoma required them to prove that they were competent enough to manage their wealth that came from oil discovered on their lands. If an Osage citizen were deemed incompetent (determined by being too Native American) a guardian would be appointed to manage their assets. Since guardians would inherit the wealth of the Native person should they die, lots of Osage citizens started being killed. What moral obligation does Congress have to the Osage people? They passed a law in 1921 that allowed white people to steal the assets of Osage Natives. What ought to be done?”
Finally, Shawn: “A new book out by University of Maryland economics professor Melissa S. Kearney, is getting lots of attention. She claims with clarifying bluntness, that marriage is “the most reliable institution for delivering a high level of resources and long-term stability to children.” She marshals the voluminous evidence in her new book, “The Two-Parent Privilege.” in the U.S.; American children are increasingly being born and raised by single mothers. The U.S. has the world's highest rate of children living in single-parent households, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center study. Almost a quarter, or 23% of U.S. children under age 18, live with one parent and no other adults. Kearney's argument that children who grow up in unmarried households are fighting the odds has progressives miffed and accusing Kearney of stigmatizing single mothers. Conservatives are celebrating her findings as validating their support of marriage. For decades, liberals have run away from the issue of marriage and single parenthood, afraid of stigmatizing unwed mothers and their children. Now some are wondering whether the conservative marriage movement, embraced by President Bush, is on to something. Can government help poor communities by promoting marriage?  Have families disintegrated in the wake of the liberals’ expansion of the welfare state.

 The Big Question (From a Listener):

“Your gun control discussion reminded me of something I think Republicans get wrong. I'd love to hear your responses. In the Republican mind, the origin story of totalitarian communism goes like this: 
1. A free and democratic country decides to provide unemployment benefits.
2. They provide health care to everyone.
3. Their children read Marx at college.
4. They vote in a communist dictator.

But the history of communism is almost the exact opposite. It goes like this:
1. An oppressive and wealthy dictator runs a country for the benefit of the wealthy (the Romanovs, Fulgencio Batista, the Qing dynasty, etc.) 
2. He ignores the suffering of his people.
3. He lets his wealthy friends plunder the country.
4. The workers rebel and kill the dictator/czar/emperor.
5. One of the rebel warlords becomes a communist dictator.

 Historically, the path to communism is not to provide health care and educat

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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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The Thought Provoker:
 Shawn: President Nelson and President Oaks both preached clear and direct doctrine about what salvation is and what exaltation is. I am a little surprised at how new this concept was to many. The Scriptures teach it abundantly. Two questions: Question 1: Why do you think this was the primary message from General Conference from the Prophets? Question 2: Why would people choose single eternal life in a wonderful kingdom of glory versus familial exaltation and continuation of eternal lives?

 Matt: September jobs numbers just came out and the US economy created over 300k new jobs in September. The unemployment rate is as low as it has been in 50 years. In fact, if you look at the unemployment numbers back to Obama, the only spike in unemployment is during the COVID-19 shutdown during the spring of 2020. The clear pattern beginning with Obama and continuing through Biden is a steady decline in unemployment. It appears that Democrats do a really good job of making sure that the private sector creates employment opportunities for everyone. Isn’t it time for us to acknowledge that Democrats are just as good at managing the economy as Republicans? Maybe the polling on this is actually wrong.

 Sam: “Why is the intensity  increasing in kids sports by parents today? “ Why are more parents living  vicariously through their kids? Why is there more yelling, fighting and impatience at kids sporting events? Is it post Covid impacts? Is it people are not happy and living vicariously through their kids? Is it sports are more competitive?   |  | psychologytoday.com |  |
|  | Perspective | Overzealous parents are ruining youth sports. It’s past time to sit quiet and let the kids play. washingtonpost.com |
|  | Why parents go nuts on the sidelines nbcnews.com

 Big Question:

John Stuart Mill was a political philosopher whose thinking was very influential to the founders of our nation. He was known for having a very liberal position on the question of freedom of speech. In chapter 2 of his book On Liberty, Mill argues that “there ought to exist the fullest liberty of professing and discussing, as a matter of ethical conviction, any doctrine, however immoral it may be considered.” He really does mean that no topic should be off limits for public debate. However, he recognizes that some limits on free speech are necessary and states that “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” Mill meant that speech leading to physical harm to others should be prohibited and that is what has guided legislative and judicial actions limiting free speech in the United States. However, it seems to me that Americans are now expanding the idea of harm to something that causes emotional or psychological harm. The net effect is that some ideas, and some opinions are being excluded from public discussion because they might “harm” others in non-physical ways. What is the moral

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Mailbag:
One listener wrote: I come from Seattle but I finally moved out of the state after the crime became too much to ignore.  Property crime ranks amongst the highest in the city and its suburbs in the US https://www.safehome.org/resources/crime-statistics-by-state/  If you live there you can almost expect your car to be at risk of burglary and/or theft. My car got broken into a three times a year. My house has been burglarized twice. I had homeless people living in the woods in my backyard. 

Another listener asks, “Sam, you definitely listen to music, watch films and tv that is produced by and performed by all manner of sinful, degenerate people The music and Hollywood industries are ripe with sin and law breaking. Is it not hypocritical to judge Matt for watching the Cosby show? Do you abstain from all media unless it is produced by motab or the Deseret Management Corporation?
One last listener question is about the 2nd amendment. They ask, “Don’t we want the world’s largest armed militia in order to check the powers that government and politicians have? Someone mentioned that guns are irrelevant to a government who has tanks and fighter jets…sure, a gun loses to a tank one-on-one but 300 million guns wouldn’t! Our government and perhaps other countries are deterred by the fact that this country has a strong citizen militia of over 300 million guns. Don’t we want that?”

• Armed citizens aren’t very good at stopping active shooters. In the last decade armed citizens only helped out in 4-14% of active shooter scenarios. 
• Infantry are notoriously inaccurate marksmen, so the military is developing rifles with computerized fire control for improved accuracy. The US military does not fear an armed citizenry and they haven’t since the Civil War.

 The Thought Provoker:
 Shawn is first. “The new Church Hymn book will be released between 2024 and 2030. The project started in 2018. Music participation in the church has been in decline for a long time! It has gotten quite bad. Is this a reflection of our general enthusiasm for public church worship or could it be a result of an outdated hymnal that no longer inspires in modern society?
 Next up, Matt: Once again the Republicans in the House are going to shut down the federal government. Just after the last federal government shutdown ended in 2019, I did a little survey to see how people who work for the federal government were affected. 25% of federal employees were forced to work without pay. 56% of employees reported increased stress from the shutdown, and 26% said that they did not have enough money in savings to pay their bills during the shutdown. Although most of them get reimbursed after the shutdown ends, it seems immoral to me for our government to force people to work and to not give them the money to pay their bills right away. Is it morally wrong for the Republicans to keep shutting down the government?
Finally, Sam: “Do members of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints have a moral obligation to support or challenge laws that uphold the Word of Widsom and LDS Church standards? (Prohibition on Alcohol and Force Closure of Retail Businesses on Sunday) https://www.abc4.com/news/wasatch-front/highland-one-

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Matt: The mayor of Dallas recently announced that he is switching parties from Democrat to Republican. In his announcement, he argues that “American cities need Republicans. The future of America’s great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism.“ It is true, Dallas is a success story, most people think it is the safest large city in the United States. But, every major city in the US has a Democrat for mayor including the other “safe” cities of Boston, Las Vegas, and Seattle. This makes it really hard to differentiate between Republican policies and Democrat policies. Sam often likes to talk about how Democratic policies are bad because of the crime in major cities, but the safe major cities also have Democratic policies. In addition, most cities that are led by Democrats are thought to be more safe today than they were in 2006, when many of them were led by Republicans. Isn’t it possible that no political party is better at making a city safe? Is it possible that the person in office matters more than the party they affiliated with?

Sam: How does the development and use of artificial intelligence align or conflict with LDS moral principles, such as agency, stewardship, and compassion, while addressing concerns about potential risks to human values and ethical dilemmas?" (Question written by Chat GPT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DYqT11KKsI    

https://www.ksl.com/article/50586955/should-you-use-chatgpt-to-write-your-next-talk-in-church 

https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/ai-and-the-future-of-faith 

Shawn: What is the purpose of the official church website: lds.org? What weight should we place on information we find on that website?

Conference Predictions 

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Mailbag:

I wanted to say that I love the podcast that you, Sam, and Shawn have created!

Latter Day Lens is what the world needs right now. People need to know that it is okay to disagree. That people can still be friends and love each other, and have differing opinions. Anyway, I love what you guys are doing. We are toe coolest.. aren’t we?

 The Thought Provoker:

Russell Brand has been accused of sexual assault and other misdeeds. A woman says that he raped her more than ten years ago. Brand denies the allegations. Despite this, Brand has been dropped by his talent agency and media outlets are distancing themselves from him. This comes on the heels of the news that famous Youtubers Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested for child abuse. What is the morally correct response consumers should have to these kinds of stories? 

Sam: The church clarifies that Operation Underground Railroad founder Tim Ballard betrayed his friendship with President M. Russell Ballard when Tim claimed that the LDS church supported his cause. Glenn Beck attacked the church on Instagram before deleting his post. What do we think of this post? Too far?

Matt: Hot off the presses this week. Richard Bushman wrote a biography of the Gold Plates and Grant Hardy has an annotated version of the Book of Mormon that will make it much easier for people to read and understand. What do you think of these kinds of books? Should we be interested in academic treatments of religious topics? Should we try to make the scriptures more accessible?

 Big Question:

There is a story out there about how Airbnb changed the way they managed their company during the pandemic. Airbnb’s CEO eliminated ‘fiefdoms’ and got more involved—and it’s proven to be a better strategy. Instead of giving people “different priorities,” he explained, the top 30 people in the company “work on everything together. We’re not gonna do anything we cannot personally focus on. So if I can’t personally focus on it, we won’t do it. And that means instead of pushing decision-making down, I pull it in.” We’ve talked before about leadership and modeling private organizations after the structure of the church. Is there room for this kind of leadership strategy? I can’t imagine that this could work.

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The Thought Provoker:

The previous discussion leads into Sam’s topic for the week. Is healthcare a right or a privilege? I found an interesting link in this story that shows that US healthcare system is not the envy of the world. In 2007, the US spent $7,290 per capita on health care but ranks last among seven countries. The Netherlands, which spent $3,837 per capita on health care that year, ranks first. US News ranks the US healthcare system as 23 in the world. 

 Next up, Matt. The WSJ just came out with college rankings. They give high scores to colleges that prepare students for careers. BYU is ranked 20th, and BYU-Idaho ranks higher than many state colleges and universities. This is quite different from how others like US News rank universities. This is because places like BYU-Idaho have low tuition and are specifically trying to train students for careers. In the past, that has been a role filled by vocational schools and community colleges. What is the proper role of a University education? Do places like BYU have an obligation to prepare students for a career, or should they be focused on teaching higher educational skills?

 Finally, Shawn: On the 179th anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the final print volume of the “The Joseph Smith Papers,” was published. The project took 20 years and 10s of millions of dollars.  It contains Principal documents produced by, under the direction , or written to Joseph Smith directly and features 27 volumes including 1,306 journal entries, 643 letters and 155 revelations. “Every document that we know of that was produced by or under the direction of Joseph Smith, or written to him directly, has been published with annotations,”  “When you read these documents, … it’s not novel style. It’s not a narration. It’s document after document after document. And you kind of put the narration together. “The Church didn’t want to hide anything about Joseph Smith,” said Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a Pulitzer Prize winner in history and the 300th Anniversary University Professor, Emerita, at Harvard University. “They felt confident that if the actual records, the primary sources, were available, responsible scholars would consult them.” Additionally, the scholarly approach in these volumes was endorsed by the National Archives as meeting the most rigorous criteria for documentary editing. Why is this a big deal? What is the intended outcome of the project?

Big Question:

I was watching a high school football game last week. At one point, one of the kids running with the ball fumbled, but the referees didn't have a good angle to see when the ball came out. TV cameras showed that the ball clearly came out well before the kid hit the ground. The refs ruled that there was no fumble on the play. Do players have a moral obligation to inform the refs that they got the call wrong? If not, what impact does this have on society? Wouldn't we have far fewer laws/rules if

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Two interesting thoughts from the mailbag. 

One listener writes, “In response to the #exmormon topic… personally if find exmo’s some of the most annoying people to listen to and I’m sorry if that sounds harsh but that’s because ultimately i don’t believe their intentions are genuine. I believe those people are more interested in convincing themselves that the choice they made to leave the church, for whatever reason, was the right one. I feel like it’s almost comical that no one talks about the church more than someone who identifies themselves online as an Ex-Mormon does and that even includes members themselves. My typical reply to anyone trying to convince me that I should leave the church is echoes in similarity to Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk in general conference “Safety for the Soul”. I am the only active member of my family in the church (the rest are either inactive or left the church). I have never been able to convince anyone that my beliefs are correct. And I’ve never tried to. I’ve simply asked them that they respect my decision to stay in the church the same way I respect their decision to leave it. And I leave it at that.” I think that is often the best approach. What do you two think?

 Another listener would like us to think about Peter Turchin’s argument that as empires grow, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. When this happens, conflict replaces cooperation and it leads to the downfall of civilization. He also points out an argument that Clayton Christensen made in a 2012 Deseret News article that “The New Church of Finance” is leading corporations to abandon empowering innovations focus on sustaining innovations and efficiency innovations. This is bad because sustaining and efficiency innovations do not help workers. Taken together, this suggests that not all innovation or wealth accumulation is good for society. Do we have a moral obligation to oppose innovation that is not good for everyone in society?

 The Thought Provoker

First up, Shawn: Something super sneaky happened this week…the Church changed their icon on google maps from Moroni to a cross. Perhaps the idea behind changing the icon from Moroni to a cross is to more clearly communicate that the church is part of the Christian family. “  https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cwk41DnpRyd/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== The other suggested reason for the change is to “guide people to locate an LDS church on google maps when searching for a “Christian” church.” ( a pragmatic missionary move) Regarding the first reason given by the source; Matt has stated in the past that he has found that traditional, orthodox christianity (Evangelicalism) is further from true Christianity than many non-christian religions. Sam has suggested that we should engage with those not of our faith with the purpose of embracing and celebrating our differences. So far, my evangelical friends are saying this is appropriation in order for us to look more mainstream. Does the Lord want us to be part of the modern Orthodox Christian identity and “blend in” or is this an attempt to take back the true meaning of Christianity by appropriating a conventional symbol?

 Next up, Matt: Members of the Oath Keepers and the

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We gotta start with Prigozhin. Sam, last week you suggested that he was the biggest threat to Putin, now he is no more. US officials say that a bomb is likely the cause of explosion that downed Wagner leader Prigozhin's plane, His death may help Ukraine in the short-term, but it removes Putin’s greatest internal threat. Besides the United States, who could stop Putin?

The Thought Provoker:

This week we will start with Sam: The Church Educational System announced changes to the honor code and dress and grooming standards at the BYUs. Since this is something Matt suggested, are church leaders listening to our podcast? Dallin H. Oaks in September 1971. His first talk as BYU President. Ff to the 32:00 mark.

 Next up Shawn:
There are some people who've left the church because they suffered what can accurately be described as trauma. That doesn't mean it's not God's church, of course. Just that it's run by people. But before we can explain that to ex-Mormons it's important to listen to their personal pain. And sit with them in those dark, lonely places. And tell them they did not deserve that treatment.” What kind of obligation do we have as Saints to those who have chosen to leave the church? Is there something we should be doing to help those who experience trauma to heal? 

Finally, Matt: GOP Presidential Primary debates are about one thing… branding. The first debate is when candidates define who they are and try to sell their brand to the Republican primary voters. The moderators obviously have a different goal, they want to generate highlights that will keep people talking about their network. The two goals don’t often align and it can make it hard for some candidates to define themselves. Based on what you’ve heard or seen from the first GOP debate, how are the GOP candidates branding themselves? Do any of them fit the Latter Day Lens standard of honest, good, or wise people? 

Big Question (from a listener):

In a recent episode, Sam recently talked about "leadership" which gets a lot of emphasis in the church and in the country. But the kind of business leadership we discuss seems very different from the leadership Jesus demonstrated. Or Paul. Don't you think? When you take off your MBA goggles, do you see Jesus performing the behaviors we teach in leadership classes?

 Is there evidence to suggest that better leaders increase productivity? By how much? Which leadership behaviors correlate with high productivity? When we run these stats it's important to watch out for survivorship bias. That is, companies that fail generally go broke and can fall out of our counts if we're not careful.

Or, is there a scriptural basis for the compensation of "leaders" compared with the rest of an organization?