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FAIR strikes back! A funny article the logic behind the reasonings of overzealous LDS critics and accusers.
comments
I have visited FARMS, read a few of their publications, talked to a few people, and they don't seem to match your description.
Deseret News, March 22-23, 1994
Take a look a the first letter of each Sentance. (Most of it is still there)
Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, vol. 6, No. 1 434-442
It's crowed about by the circus sideshow anti-'s (just Google Metcalfe is a Butthead), but it was a very unprofessional episode of William Hamblin's career. FARMS had to recall the issue and re-edit it, and that didn't change the insult much. I'm suspicious of FARMS, their rhetoric echo's Nibley without the card-carrying Democrat filter.
I don't think the FARMs review is really meant to be scholarly. It is quite clearly a book review such as you might find in the opinion page of the newspaper. So I am not sure how you can call it an unprofessional episode in anyone's career.
But honestly, are you going to tell me you never, ever made a sarcastic or perhaps even (gasp) mean spirited comment about someone who held an opinion diametrically opposed to yours, say on the blogs perhaps. It's human nature. It is liable to backfire and throw yourself into a less than flattering light, but it happens.
I don't advocate this and I think we should strive for better, but I can't see this type of incident as any reason to reject someone's opinion out of hand.
Hamblin spent a significant amount of time working 'Metcalf is a butthead' into his review. It's one of a number of rude comments that the early FARMS review of books made. Ever heard Signature books called Korihors Press? That almost got FARMS sued for libel. Like I said, they've settled down as they became more closely tied to BYU.
But FAIR and FARMS calling people rude is the pot calling the kettle black...