The flack that that he took when he was
hired was ex about the exact same thing.
There's no difference here,
right? the whole thing is couched in the
flack when you're hired and in the
family proclamation.
Okay. Now, I want a couple more points
about some of the aftermath here that
has happened from this before I get go
further on this. First of all, Scott
Gordon, who is the head of fair, has
been criticized for the way he handled
this or the way that he asked the
questions. That that is ridiculous.
This is not an investigative journalist.
He is not trying to grill the guests in
the Q&A sessions.
He's grateful that Aaron and all the
other speakers are there. It's just a a
friendly little Q&A for the audience
afterward. So those that are saying,
"Well, he should have done this or this
is ridicul."
And secondly, Fair has taken some flak,
which I I really don't understand
because of this whole Q&A issue. Let me
tell you something. Fair is in my
opinion by far the best, call it a
third-party organization, a non an NCO,
right? A non-church organization
that there is out there. They do an
amazing job and quite frankly, they need
even more support. And I'm going to ask
right now, I gave a donation to them.
I'm going to ask anybody here that would
help with them to give a donation to
fair. I'm going to put the link for the
donation in the description box on
YouTube and it can be a small donation
or larger. Whatever it is, please go and
help out. They are phenomenal and it's
not just the conference, it's everything
that they do and I support them a 100%.
So the answer was not he kind of he
didn't address the family proclamation
and and that's the issue that I had
taken and that many others had taken.
Why? What is the big deal that a church
employee Well, he's a comms director,
number one. And why why would it be a
big deal whether or not he's answered
it? Well, again, the environment that
we're sitting in, the environment of of
the family proclamation, you see so many
people online go to X or family or uh
Facebook or anywhere else, and you see
people really pushing the family
proclamation. they are intuitively or
consciously
trying to get that message out there as
much as possible in a world that is
breaking it down.
And so when given an opportunity, one
would hope that that that the answer is
very much in the affirmative
anyway, right? I don't want to I don't
want to linger on this. And I'll get to
a little bit more of this later on, but
those that have those concerns about the
family proclamation, you know, there
there wasn't a this to me this was
that would have been just so great,
right, to hear that. And and I think
that if Aaron had the chance to go back,
I think he even if he didn't wasn't as
direct even with it or he doesn't, you
know, he's got his own reasons, I'm
sure, but but I think he would have
probably answered it a little bit
differently.
Now, the aftermath of all of this
has been very difficult. It's not like
this is the first time I've gone through
this. I deal with this and in so many,
you know, whether it's BYU or Desret
Book or polygamy.
Uh so many different issues. It's it's
hard and and you know, I it's
that's what I've chosen, right? But most
of the reaction has been actually very
positive because those individuals know
what they're going through. They know
the concern and they know that there's a
battle out there. But there have been
some reactions that I think are
baseless.
And I want to talk about this. And I
know some people just are not going to
agree with me on this. But here's an
example uh that came from Facebook.
quote, "Public opposition of the First
Presidency in Quorum of the Twel
Apostles is apostasy.
Greg is a bored middle-aged man who
happens to have a good radio voice."
Again, I I for me, I just don't
understand how you can't parse that out.
I have never gone after the Brethren
ever. I've got almost 1,700 videos on
YouTube. I don't know if there is an
online voice that has been so more
supportive of the church and the
brethren. This is a church employee in a
public environment.
A video that went up that people clipped
and I put out a video eventually three
videos. This is the fourth and a tweet
that next morning. And some people
believe that everything goes back to the
brethren. Everything goes back to the
church itself. And I don't buy it. There
is a a real sense of uh an appeal to
authority
that people have, especially the younger
generation. And you look at the
craziness that's happened at all the
campuses where, you know, something
happens with a microaggression to some
student and all of a sudden they're
trying to get to the president of the of
the university and hey, we're going to
shut this down. We're going to do this.
We're going to cancel this.
It's kind of this idea that that, you
know, their parents have been helicopter
parents their whole lives and they can't
handle things on their own and so
they're going to appeal to the authority
and everybody thinks that's the avenue
that you have to go to. It it's
I I don't want to be a jerk to some of
those that have said those types of
things, but it's a little infantile to
me, right? I sustain the brethren. This
has nothing for me to do with them.
Well, Greg, they hired him. Okay, that's
their job. They probably have reasons to
do that. I'm not even questioning that.
I'm talking about what is
and you and you don't need also the
other thing is all the focus on Aaron
for all of this. And I understand this
is the event that triggers all of this
and this is what I put up on action and
and YouTube, but but ultimately it's not
even about Aaron. It's the same thing I
I of at BYU when I was working with with
with the issues and and showing what was
going on at BYU. I didn't give the names
because I didn't want a witch hunt. I
didn't want a scapegoat because firing a
professor at BYU is not going to do
anything except make you feel good. If
any of you have ever studied Renee
Gerard was over at Stanford,
which you should, it's fantastic
philosophical meat. He has a a theory
that he just put together called
mimemetic desire where where one person
has this desire toward any something
which in this case would be hammering
those that criticize the family
proclamation or avoid it and then others
kind of want the same thing. There's an
energy there that you start building a
community around it and a movement and
then you eventually want a scapegoat
and so you make a sacrifice.
That is human nature and some of it is
true to some degree. I mean in the
premortal world we wanted to bond
ourselves together and we do bind
ourselves together on the idea that
Jesus Christ is going to sacrifice
himself. Right?
But there is good sacrifice and there is
bad sacrifice.
And focusing the the overall idea on
this and I know that this is the most
recent event but it won't be the last is
not the real issue.
The issue is how is the family
proclamation handled? Are people
avoiding it at times? What's happening
in your ward, in your stake?
And and how does that compare to the the
broader culture where you live? I go
more along the lines with uh this guy on
Facebook who put up this post. He says,
uh, I disagree that a critique of
Sherinian is a critique of the brethren.
My concern about Sherinian's
unwillingness to affirm the truths of
the family proclamation has to do with
Shireenian alone. I don't think he
should be fired and I don't necessarily
doubt that he was the right choice. I
that is exactly my thoughts. This is in
response to something I had put out
there. He goes on to say a few more
things here and I'm cherrypicking on
this but I'm not going to talk about the
whole thing. It's pretty long. Says a
lot of LDS are concerned about this.
That's that's valid. It's valid, right?
Uh, and there's some that have said,
"Well, you should be taking this."
Someone made a video on this. I haven't
seen it, but I've heard a lot about it.
Uh, that you should be taking this
through the proper church channels.
Right? Here's his point on that. I'm not
sure that even applies to a mere church
employee. He then says, point two, this
particular example is a public figure
and we're commenting on his public
actions. It's what is. This leads me to
believe that public critique is
warranted. Then he says in response to
this thread, he says, 'You're right to
be concerned about division among the
saints. And I appreciate this. He says,
'But I think we both know that Greg
Matson's style is absolutely not
divisive. And some people are going to
throw up their hands and say, "Come on,
but I I think most people that follow
what I do would say the same thing. I
believe that because that's the feedback
that I get and because that is what I
try to do. I don't try to be divisive,
but I understand that conflict comes up
uh when when you bring something up. And
in our culture, we're very used to just
putting our head in the sand on on so
many issues. And and I we can't do that
anymore. We live in the internet age.
You can't do that anymore. He continues
and says, speaking of myself, he's not
sewing seeds of doubt and he's certainly
not criticizing the brethren. The point
he's making is that we ought to be
alarmed at the level of rejection we
find from outside of the church and
inside the church regarding one's
approach to the family proclamation. I
really appreciate this guy saying this
and articulating it this way. It's
exactly the way I feel and exactly what
I'm trying to do. Now, about the phone
call, this is also important. In fact,
this is the most important thing I'm
saying here. I reached out to Aaron a
couple of days ago. He responded fairly
quickly, which I wasn't sure he would do
and I really appreciate it. It's a very
gracious move for him regardless of what
you think of his position or what he
avoided or didn't avoid or whatever else
because I had already put out what I did
on X. I had put out what I had I did on
YouTube and he was willing to call me
back. And first of all, that that spoke
volumes to me about his character and it
should speak volumes to you about his
character. We talked about several
things including cultural pressures, the
things that are changing in the world.
We talked about many things including
the breakdown of the family. We talked
about certain stats that uh uh affected
the membership of the church that I had
brought up to him. He repeated his great
support for the brethren and his
dedication to the church and the
conversation was very amiable. I can't
discuss everything that we discussed,
but I can tell you that he's a good man.
He is a good man. In terms of the family
proclamation, what I would look at from
here on out is what has he done with the
church with his calling in regards to
the family proclamation and what is he
going to do for the remainder of his
time there. As the saying goes, action
speaks louder than words. That's what I
would focus on. Otherwise, I think we
need to move on from Aaron and continue
to support and advocate for the family
proclamation. Lastly, I want to say
this, and I know that a lot of people
don't agree with me on on this. We're a
very polite people, and and I I'm not
gonna say I'm not polite, but um you
know, I I've usually been willing to say
things that that are not usually very
comfortable.
Um, but I that's who I am and and that's
the way I've always conducted business.
The you know I've I've had a few
different small companies and and and
dealt with everyone from other small
companies and entrepreneurs for Fortune
500 CEOs and right I I want to look at
what is that's how I find truth. What is
show me what is and this discussion has
to be had. What are we doing about
family? What is happening within the
church on the on the ground level? How
do we as members of the church with the
principles of the gospel with the
principles of the family proclamation
hold off the world and not let this
identitarianism
lunacy that is a breakdown of gender.
It's a breakdown of identity. It is a
breakdown of family. It is everything
against the family proclamation and the
doctrine of the church. the doctrine of
the gospel. That is the issue. This is
just another step in several things that
I have covered on this issue. I hope
that clears some things up for you.
Thanks for listening.
