JA, I’m glad to hear that.

Another reason was that I just started feeling more and more turned off by all the extracurricular stuff — the rivalries, the contention, etc. This was crystallized when I first saw the Snarkernacle and realized there was a person devoting not inconsiderable time to satirizing the Bloggernacle. Finally, the blog I was on didn’t feel like a good fit for me. Anyway, I didn’t leave because I was offended, or thought I was better than those who stayed. It just made me feel gross and a little embarrassed. So, I drifted.

I have missed having an outlet for my thoughts, though, and I’ve missed reading the people whose writing I used to enjoy. Mostly, I’ve missed the exchange that takes place between people of good faith and humor who are grappling with things that matter to them.

When the whole Prop 8 hullaballoo happened, I decided to check in and see where people stood on the matter. That’s not true, actually, because I more or less knew who would be on which side. Rather, I wanted to see if anyone was saying anything interesting about the issue — anything that might open or change my mind a little bit. I didn’t get very far before I saw Adam’s post about J. Max, and always a sucker for this type of thing, I spent a few hours (!) catching up on the controversy. After doing so, I had a question occur to me that I’ve turned over in my mind in the ensuing days, one that isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but which I’ll share anyway:

First, why is it that ideological differences so often lead to contention and personal animosity? Second, why is that this dynamic isn’t in any way tempered or moderated in the context of Mormons discussing ideological differences (and I refer here to ideologies relating to orthodoxy, i.e. Prop 8, drinking Coke, R-rated movies, etc)? I’m not asking this in a rhetorical, “shame on us!” kind of way, either. I’m genuinely curious. Third, seperate and apart from any dialogue, why is the division between conservative and liberal Mormons such a defining and contentious one (again, think orthodoxy, not politics)? Why is one group so threatened by the other? Why does one group’s very existence seem to bother the other one so much?

Is it unreasonable and overly idealistic to assume that a dialogue between a Sunstoner and a seminary teacher would be kinder, more substantive, and yield more light and less heat than a conversation between a MoveOn.orger and an Ann Coulter-reader? I truly am curious as to why there is so much fear and contempt poisoning the relationship between conservative and liberal mormons. Is it the volatile admixture of religion and politics? Is it the intensifying effect that religion has on everything it touches? I’d be interested to hear the takes of others on this question.

Ivan, in spite of your comment # 30, I still think it is inaccurate to say that Wilson got kicked out of the bloggernacle. If you say, loudly and repeatedly (not to mention obnoxiously) that the MA sucks and you no longer want to be associated with it, does it really count as excommunication or censorship when they finally get around to de-listing you? I continue to believe that if he really wanted to be listed at MoArch, he would be. This was a self-immolation, pure and simple. It is as inaccurate to call this censorship as it is to say that the church censored the topless calendar guy. It is a big, wide blogosphere out there. Here’s hoping JMax finds a way to be happy in it.

sounds good. I think some signals got crossed somewhere or something.

Just to be clear, Rusty said: “I think the spazzing out was more me spazzing out at Adam, rather than the MA spazzing out at J-Max. Sure there were objections, but I think if you go back and read their reactions you’ll see that they were all very civil.”

You then quoted Steve as evidence of the MA not being civil to JMax. My point was that Steve is not part of the MA so quoting him is a non sequitur.

That’s all.

if I thought ill of everyone who was rude in the ‘Nacle -

well, I hate myself quite a bit. We all have our weak moments. I have no real stones to cast here. Sorry if it seemed I was on your case or anything.