Fair Mormon's new YouTube branding strategy

[Lemuel]

3 hours ago, smac97 said:

A few notes:

1. The YouTube video link is here: https://tinyurl.com/y45hjutg

2. For those of you who do not want to watch, the video is a partially dubbed-over scene from Inglourious Basterds, a 2009 film by Quentin Tarantino.  It's extremely violent, and involves a (fictitious) American commando team in WW2 made up of American Jews who sneak around behind enemy lines in Europe terrorising Nazis.  In this scene a muscly Jewish guy literally beats a captured German soldier to death with a baseball bad, while the others cheer and laugh.  Very violent.  The video superimposes text on the scene labeling the lead commando as "FAIRMORMON" and the soon-to-be-beaten-to-death German soldier as "John Dehlin."  The video even dubs in "Hi everyone, this is John Dehlin" over a line spoken by the German soldier. Then the baseball-bad-wielding Jewish guy comes out and is text-labeled as "STONEXVI," and pokes at a medal pinned to the soldier's uniform, which is labeled "Mormon Stories Podcast."   The baseball-bad-wielding Jewish guy then raises his bat, which is labeled "TITS," and the massively violent beating to death happens.

"STONEXVI" is apparently a "new media network" run by . . . Kwaku.

3. The YouTube video was posted by MormonStories on December 4, 2020, presumably John Dehlin (on the "MormonStories Podcast" channel) with the title "Kwaku El of FairMormon just tweeted thi."  It also includes the following description:

Here are screen caps:

4. Here is Kwaku's Twitter feed going back to November 20 (since Dehlin said that Kwaku "just tweeted this").  I did not see this video, so it appears that either it was removed, or else it was never tweeted by Kwaku.  (EDIT: It appears Kwaku did, in fact post a link to this on Twitter: 

5. A sampling from the YouTube comments posted to this video thus far:.

Thanks,

-Smac

Well, at least we now know the TITS acronym was intentional.

This criticism of the smug style may be appropriate of Kwaku: https://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberalism

but I don't think it's a call to Danite violence.  Dehlin wouldn't've posted it if it was.

[Tacenda]

Just saw a reddit post that JD called the police.

 

[Lemuel]

Kwaku is simultaneously embarrassing anti-mormons and the LDS church.

[bluebell]

9 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Just saw a reddit post that JD called the police.

 

The video is awful.  The people who made it need to rethink their personal compass because it's broken.  

But how is FAIR subsidized by the church?  

[ttribe]

4 hours ago, Nevo said:

Kwaku shared the video on Twitter with the caption "now THIS is something". Someone else apparently created the video but has since taken it down. Pretty sure FairMormon had nothing to do with it.

Edited to add: This Is the Show director Cardon Ellis shared it too, with the caption "Funny!"

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit Exhibit 13 in support of the allegation that FM's association with Kwaku was a TERRIBLE idea.

[bluebell]

31 minutes ago, Lemuel said:

Kwaku is simultaneously embarrassing anti-mormons and the LDS church.

And himself.

Edited December 5, 2020 by bluebell

[Tacenda]

5 minutes ago, ttribe said:

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit Exhibit 13 in support of the allegation that FM's association with Kwaku was a TERRIBLE idea.

I hate to keep adding on, because I still hold to youth making big mistakes in life shouldn't define them, I made some decisions I'm not proud of. But this one might go against Kwaku, don't know if Fair is aware.

Kwaku raised money and made a movie that he also acted in and wrote the screen play. There were more f-words than I've ever seen in a movie in my life combined, there was a sex scene with some nudity and other references such as s!ut shaming and calling women fat. I wasn't able to watch every minute just saw someone's YouTube made about it. It's available on Amazon Prime so I could watch the whole thing but it'd be the biggest waste of my already wasted time I regret to make. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5979814/

But again, I'm willing to okay Kwaku's FairMormon YouTubes if he can pull himself out of this situation and do some explaining, or apologizing. 

 

[juliann]

Yeah...but Utah white guy calling cops on black kid? Did Dehlin really think this through? 

[Tacenda]

48 minutes ago, bluebell said:

The video is awful.  The people who made it need to rethink their personal compass because it's broken.  

But how is FAIR subsidized by the church?  

Apparently it's through the More Good Foundation. Someone on reddit posted that you can see the last 3 years of their tax returns, and on them somewhere is listed amounts up to $120,000 paid to FM. But I haven't seen it for myself, it looks too time consuming. It was said on reddit when I commented on a post that FM doesn't receive money from the church. The person said they are compiling a PDF that shows that the foundation supports FM financially. I think it's wonderful and the church should help FM because of all they do to help those with questions. 

ETA: I just contacted the MGF and will wait for their reply on if they do donate funds to FairMormon.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Tacenda

[Tacenda]

Just now, juliann said:

Yeah...but Utah white guy calling cops on black kid? Did Dehlin really think this through? 

Why do you keep referring to skin color, it doesn't matter what color his skin is. 

[Malc]

Just now, juliann said:

Yeah...but Utah white guy calling cops on black kid? Did Dehlin really think this through? 

Are you suggesting that it would have been OK if their skin colours were reversed, or if both were the same?

[bluebell]

6 minutes ago, Malc said:

Are you suggesting that it would have been OK if their skin colours were reversed, or if both were the same?

I think she's suggesting that it looks a little bit "Karen" for a middle-aged white guy to call the police on a young black guy for something that (though HORRIBLE and in EXTREMELY bad taste) isn't an actual threat to Dehlin's safety. 

[rongo]

11 minutes ago, Malc said:

Are you suggesting that it would have been OK if their skin colours were reversed, or if both were the same?

Yeah, that's too knee-jerk "woke," to say it's always a bad idea for a white Utahn to call the police on a young black male. I think Dehlin is undergoing histrionics, at the behest of Corbin Volluz --- I think it's clear to anyone who's sane that it constituted dumb millennial/Gen Z social media hijinks, not a credible threat. But, man, the optics of being associated with him in any capacity . . . I also add his profanity and penchant for  . . .  not behaving in a For the Strength of Youth way. 

I think FAIR will officially cut ties with him in a public way very soon. I can seen him then turning on FAIR and the Church. I think he's 100% about social media attention, and far less about actually defending the Church and helping people overcome their concerns with the Church. 

One problem with our millennial/Gen Z kids is that many seem to see a complete compartmentalization between their social media behavior and their non-social media behavior. Kwaku El seems to have a lot of the same "no filter" and edginess problems as the DezNat kids. While they say that the boomers are too stodgy and benign, we catch more flies with our honey than their vinegar. And DezNat/Kwaku El are nothing but vinegar. I don't see anything "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" in anything he's done. 

Edited December 5, 2020 by rongo

[juliann]

5 minutes ago, Malc said:

Are you suggesting that it would have been OK if their skin colours were reversed, or if both were the same?

Is anyone not aware of the focus on Blacks and the police lately? Does that even have to be said?  That is an issue aside from that violent video.

[bluebell]

2 minutes ago, rongo said:

Yeah, that's too knee-jerk "woke," to say it's always a bad idea for a white Utahn to call the police on a young black male. I think Dehlin is undergoing histrionics, at the behest of Corbin Volluz --- I think it's clear to anyone who's sane that it constituted dumb millennial/Gen Z social media hijinks, not a credible threat. But, man, the optics of being associated with him in any capacity . . . I also add his profanity and penchant for  . . .  not behaving in a For the Strength of Youth way. 

I think FAIR will officially cut ties with him in a public way very soon. I can seen him then turning on FAIR and the Church. I think he's 100% about social media attention, and far less about actually defending the Church and helping people overcome their concerns with the Church. 

One problem with our millennial/Gen Z kids is that many seem to see a complete separation between their social media behavior and their non-social media behavior. Kwaku El seems to have a lot of the same "no filter" and edginess problems as the DezNat kids. While they say that the boomers are too stodgy and benign, we catch more flies with our honey than their vinegar. And DezNat/Kwaku El are nothing but vinegar. I don't see anything "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" in anything he's done. 

Especially in Dehlin's attempts to attach the church to the video by saying he told the police that those who made it are contractors subsidized by the church.  That's pure theatrical drama right there.  Akin to something you would see on a soccer field in England.

[juliann]

4 minutes ago, bluebell said:

I think she's suggesting that it looks a little bit "Karen" for a middle-aged white guy to call the police on a young black guy for something that (though HORRIBLE and in EXTREMELY bad taste) isn't an actual threat to Dehlin's safety. 

 How much history does Dehlin have with Kwaku? 

 

16 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Why do you keep referring to skin color, it doesn't matter what color his skin is. 

Seriously?? I have some BLM links I can send you. Good grief. 

[rongo]

1 minute ago, bluebell said:

Especially in Dehlin's attempts to attach the church to the video by saying he told the police that those who made it are contractors subsidized by the church.  That's pure theatrical drama right there.  Akin to something you would see on a soccer field in England.

That exactly describes Dehlin's "Now I know how Joan of Arc felt" martyr drama (reference to a song from The Smiths).

Like the people in this.  

 

 

[juliann]

2 minutes ago, bluebell said:

Especially in Dehlin's attempts to attach the church to the video by saying he told the police that those who made it are contractors subsidized by the church.  That's pure theatrical drama right there.  Akin to something you would see on a soccer field in England.

FM was sued by forget her name Lighthouse person because of a parody of her website by a member of FM on his personal site. She lost and set case law for the 10th circuit.  (I don't feel the need to express my distaste over the thing repeatedly but I have).   I'm wondering if parody laws cover this. 

[ttribe]

12 minutes ago, juliann said:

Is anyone not aware of the focus on Blacks and the police lately? Does that even have to be said?  That is an issue aside from that violent video.

And, yet, you seem to be the only one making an issue of Kwaku's race in this entire set of events.

[ttribe]

Bokovoy's comment:

[juliann]

7 minutes ago, ttribe said:

And, yet, you seem to be the only one making an issue of Kwaku's race in this entire set of events.

Start educating yourself, ttribe. Being color blind is now considered part of racism. I may not be the best ally, I may make mistakes but by golly I am never going to sit back quietly again. 

https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/kivel3.pdf

 

[ttribe]

Just now, juliann said:

Start educating yourself, ttribe. Being color blind is now considered part of racism. I may not be the best ally, I may make mistakes but by golly I am never going to sit back quietly again. 

https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/kivel3.pdf

 

Who said i was color blind? I simply don't see the link you keep making between criticism of Kwaku's behavior and the color of his skin.  His behavior is worthy of criticism irrespective of his skin color.  You harping on his skin color looks like an attempt at diverting attention away from his bad acts.

[juliann]

3 minutes ago, ttribe said:

Who said i was color blind? I simply don't see the link you keep making between criticism of Kwaku's behavior and the color of his skin.  His behavior is worthy of criticism irrespective of his skin color.  You harping on his skin color looks like an attempt at diverting attention away from his bad acts.

Sort of like kneeling on someone's neck diverts attention. Yeah, I get it.  

[ttribe]

9 minutes ago, juliann said:

Sort of like kneeling on someone's neck diverts attention. Yeah, I get it.  

Well, I'm not really here to talk about my position on race (I support BLM, for the record), but you are now engaging in a false equivalency.  What happened to George Floyd was a clear and flagrant improper use of force borne from decades of systematic racism in law enforcement.  In short, the "punishment" didn't remotely fit the alleged "crime."  Criticizing Kwaku El for behaving in a tasteless and inappropriate fashion is about his activities on social media.  There is nothing in the criticisms that I have seen which are out-sized when compared to his conduct.  I'm willing to admit I am wrong if you can show me otherwise.  I think you are shamelessly making this an issue of race in order to divert attention from FM's poor choices on this and I think you doing so cheapens the real criticisms of racism.

Edited December 5, 2020 by ttribe

[Kenngo1969]

41 minutes ago, rongo said:

... DezNat/Kwaku El are nothing but vinegar. I don't see anything "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" in anything he's done. 

To be fair, while I do think that it's important to watch what we do and what we say lest anyone judge us by isolated instances rather than on a complete body of work, you're talking about an extremely small sample size.