The 2020 Sampson Avard Golden Scepter Award

[_Kishkumen]

Is this board working? I tried to put up a new post yesterday and received error messages.

I think the answer is maybe not exactly. I know that people are currently working to get the board fully back in action. It will, unfortunately, take a little time. That said, the effort to get the board back in shape is ongoing and active.

[_Tom]

Somebody want to list each year's winner? I don't want to go back and try to create the list, but if someone has it, it'd be fun to see.

The Cassius archivist is out today, but off the top of my head:

2020: Hanna Seariac
2019: Louis Midgley and Blake Ostler
2018: Allen Wyatt
2017: Stephen Smoot
2016: Grant Hardy
2015: Neal Rappleye
2014: Blair Hodges
2013: William Hamblin
2012: Trevor Holyoak and Gerald Bradford
2011: Lamanite
2010: Pa Pa

[_Kishkumen]

Somebody want to list each year's winner? I don't want to go back and try to create the list, but if someone has it, it'd be fun to see.

The Cassius archivist is out today, but off the top of my head:

2020: Hanna Seariac
2019: Louis Midgley and Blake Ostler
2018: Allen Wyatt
2017: Stephen Smoot
2016: Grant Hardy
2015: Neal Rappleye
2014: Blair Hodges
2013: William Hamblin
2012: Trevor Holyoak and Gerald Bradford
2011: Lamanite
2010: Pa Pa

Great work, Tom. How times have changed since Pa Pa and Lamanite were deemed worthy of receiving this coveted award! Now one has to be more of a kind of celebrity to gain this kind of recognition, it seems. Ah, for simpler times.

[_huckelberry]

I am not sure if I am able to judge fairly. I have difficulty comparing a young enthusiastic convert to the Baalful influence of Bannon or Bill Barr. It seems to my mind pretty solid for a Mormon to see Bible and Brigham as foundational. That is the reality of Mormon. I respect her honesty there, no "its just a couplet" nonsense.

I can share distaste and suspicion toward a campaign to out professors who make statements she thinks improper. But I am unsure how seriously to take such an enthusiasm. I do find myself realizing that in my college experience ,in a previous century before the internet, students discussed the qualities and interests of different professors. Some gained more positive reputations than others. I doubt there is a way to escape such student review and analysis.

I may miss some of the impact of the student reporting process at BYU. I went to a school with no orthodox belief expectations. (though it was occasionally rumored that the religion dept strongly expected professors to be atheists.)

[_Kishkumen]

I am not sure if I am able to judge fairly. I have difficulty comparing a young enthusiastic convert to the Baalful influence of Bannon or Bill Barr. It seems to my mind pretty solid for a Mormon to see Bible and Brigham as foundational. That is the reality of Mormon. I respect her honesty there, no "its just a couplet" nonsense.

I can share distaste and suspicion toward a campaign to out professors who make statements she thinks improper. But I am unsure how seriously to take such an enthusiasm. I do find myself realizing that in my college experience ,in a previous century before the internet, students discussed the qualities and interests of different professors. Some gained more positive reputations than others. I doubt there is a way to escape such student review and analysis.

I may miss some of the impact of the student reporting process at BYU. I went to a school with no orthodox belief expectations. (though it was occasionally rumored that the religion dept strongly expected professors to be atheists.)

A couple of points. First I compared her pre-conversion career to Bannon and Barr as fellow right-wing Catholics. That point was not carried over to the present, but the jury is out on where she goes from here. Furthermore, falsely accusing someone of pedophilia is really not an innocent mistake. It is reckless.

But, I think we can all allow for some missteps at the beginning of a quest for Mopologetic stardom.

[_huckelberry]

Kishkumen, I am not familiar with the pedophilia accusation. That would be a serious mistake and does remind one of some of the worst of the inquisition. Your choice of characterization, reckless, sounds quite appropriate.

[_Kishkumen]

Kishkumen, I am not familiar with the pedophilia accusation. That would be a serious mistake and does remind one of some of the worst of the inquisition. Your choice of characterization, reckless, sounds quite appropriate.

On her now-defunct first blog, Hannah accused Chino Blanco of being a pedophile based on risible evidence. I believe he did not take kindly to it, and then he threatened her with legal consequences. I do not know the latter for a fact, but I do know he was a aware of the accusations, and that soon after he confronted her about it, her post was edited to remove the bogus allegations. I have screen caps and I am not making this up.

But, again, live and learn, eh? It is not as though I, too, have not made boneheaded mistakes along the way. I hope people will not hold them over my head forever, and I do not plan to hold these early errors over Hannah's head forever. We will see where she goes with the DezNat associations and her culture warrior career.