Benjamin Park
@BenjaminEPark
Followers
15,896
Following
1,053
Media
4,887
Statuses
42,151
New book: #AmericanZion (January 2024). Views = mine. More frequently found where the sky is blue and posts are threaded.
Conroe, TX
Joined April 2010
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Usyk
• 452765 Tweets
América
• 420705 Tweets
#GrandConcertENGLOTinMiami
• 297932 Tweets
オークス
• 125025 Tweets
Luka
• 90925 Tweets
Dallas
• 90276 Tweets
Mavs
• 77228 Tweets
Thunder
• 74922 Tweets
上川外相
• 54635 Tweets
Chivas
• 52267 Tweets
Kyrie
• 52244 Tweets
ゴーオンジャー
• 38529 Tweets
Shai
• 37629 Tweets
切り取り
• 26139 Tweets
Western Conference Finals
• 25327 Tweets
Lively
• 23768 Tweets
Dort
• 22508 Tweets
Marín
• 22152 Tweets
520 4EVER LUV MEW
• 20222 Tweets
ステレンボッシュ
• 18413 Tweets
Chet
• 14861 Tweets
スピードル
• 13675 Tweets
#MFFL
• 12661 Tweets
マッハルコン
• 12372 Tweets
Cancun
• 11876 Tweets
設営完了
• 11266 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
Modern Mormonism is the product of 200 years of culture wars, societal conflicts that took place within both the faith and the nation that shaped it. My new book,
#AmericanZion
(
@LiverightPub
/
@wwnorton
), published today, tells the origins & growth of America's homegrown religion.
18
45
211
I swear Florida could be voting between ice cream and a kick to the head and the results would be 50.5%-49.5%.
2K
65K
313K
Just in case anyone, as they read details about the shooter’s fear of the “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” wonders how this rhetoric is becoming so pervasive, here’s our senator just six weeks ago.
Texas gained almost nine Hispanic residents for every additional white resident last year via
@TexasTribune
17K
2K
4K
131
5K
10K
Not the first time African Americans in Alabama lead the nation’s resistance movement.
18
2K
8K
Anyone who claims academia brainwashes everyone into herd mentality has never attended a faculty meeting or read a department email thread.
63
848
6K
The tragic irony is the *same* senators who in 1992 didn’t believe Anita Hill because she seemed too “angry” and “vindictive” are gonna claim Kavanaugh is persuasive due to his “passion.”
Like, literally the *same* senators.
#KavanaughHearings
44
2K
5K
My immediate reaction to the Harper's letter was remembering all those studies about how privileged voices always overestimate the extent to which marginalized voices dominate any particular conversation.
22
906
5K
A lot of originalists are gonna be shocked when they find out that, when the Constitution was ratified, a majority of Americans wouldn’t have considered Catholicism the type of religion protected by the First Amendment.
54
710
4K
For the record: my wife and I labored, sacrificed, and saved to pay off some pretty crippling student debt.
And we’d be the first in line to support loan forgiveness programs for others. Because civilized citizenship does not require pettiness.
50
408
4K
2 things can be true at once:
1) Bernie is an increasingly strong frontrunner and Dems should start preparing to consolidate around him, likely after Super Tuesday
2) Due to early voting, these results don’t reflect Warren’s surge, so we should still wait till Super Tuesday
39
299
3K
My whole life has been upended over the last 8 months as I take nearly every necessary precaution and these people ARE ACTING LIKE EVERYTHING'S NORMAL
Video of the ACB announcement event on Saturday at the WH featuring Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who has now tested positive for Covid-19. via
@bubbaprog
4K
12K
25K
65
409
3K
The speaker in church is claiming our youth spend far more time reading “the TV guide” than the Book of Mormon and honestly, I don’t understand why the church is struggling to reach the younger generations.
58
120
2K
I had a mentor who told me that whenever I felt my dissertation was horrible to walk into the department library, grab a random dissertation off the shelf, flip through it, realize it’s mostly terrible, and comfort yourself by saying the standard for completion was laughably low.
Academic Twitter: how did y'all push through writing your last dissertation chapter without just eating cake and ice cream constantly to dull the pain?
Asking for a me.
163
36
557
37
158
2K
Nevada: I don't know what the problem is, we hired all of our pole experts from Las Vegas.
America: you mean "poll" experts, right?
Nevada: ...
America: ...
Nevada: we're gonna need a few more days.
34
385
2K
I’m visiting my parents this weekend. I decided to ask my dad, a bovine veterinarian, for medical help. He didn’t disappoint.
34
95
2K
The historic positives:
First time 100 women elected to congress.
First openly gay governor.
First Native American congresswoman.
First Muslim congresswomen.
Not everything went our way, but there is hope.
23
432
2K
I just can't get over LDS leaders calling for more "musket fire," & publicly punching down on a brave BYU student who stood up for what was right, in the midst of surging right-wing extremism toward marginalized and oppressed groups. This is beyond irresponsible--it's dangerous.
45
189
2K
Me watching academics announce their universities are requiring vaccines while I can’t even require unvaccinated students to wear a mask to my office hours.
65
139
2K
Here’s a reminder that the first public notice of the Continental Congress declaring independence appeared side-by-side with a runaway slave ad, a juxtaposition that highlights how American notions of freedom and inequality have always been intertwined.
17
626
2K
A live look at the White House.
18
171
2K
Dallin H Oak’s “the church is not to seek apologies or to give them” may be one of the most egregious philosophies that has had real and extensive consequences in modern Mormonism.
47
130
2K
“We want to hear from both sides—those who carry loaded weapons of war near elementary students for no other reason than toxic masculinity, and those who think that maybe that’s a bad idea.”
Tonight on
@wbaltv11
: A man with an AR-15 has been showing up for weeks to a school bus drop off for local elementary school students.
Parents say their kids are afraid, the man says he’s protesting
@GovWesMoore
’s new gun control law. You’ll hear from both sides at 5+6pm.
8K
3K
5K
29
331
2K
I spend a lot of time convincing freshmen that emails shouldn’t read like texts.
It appears someone should have told Trump that diplomatic letters shouldn’t read like tweets.
33
148
2K
Alito’s judicial argument to strip all rights not “deeply rooted in history” is intimately and inescapably tethered to the broader cultural movement to restrict what type of historical questions we can ask.
25
315
1K
Expand the court.
Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico.
Abolish the electoral college.
Taco trucks on every corner.
I’ll settle for nothing less.
35
159
1K
The irony of conservatives bemoaning the “group think” of “liberal academia” is that what they are really calling for is an artificial regulation to save their opinions from failing the marketplace of ideas.
29
234
1K
In Mark Meadows’s defense, his boss told him that COVID was going away November 4th.
28
138
1K
Five.
That’s the number of adults, out of ~50, wearing masks in local LDS congregation today. Including none of the bishopric. And no mention of First Presidency statement.
But please tell me more about progressives being cafeteria Mormons.
124
77
1K
The University of South Carolina women's basketball team, the defending national champions, cancelled their games with BYU due to last week's incident. It's an echo of when schools refused to play BYU in the 60s and 70s, also over racial issues.
71
129
1K
Given Latter-day Saint identity was forged through stories of mob violence, the fact a majority of American Mormons will still support Trump after a MAGA mob literally chased one of their own is evidence they have forfeited their tradition in exchange for Republican acceptance.
51
163
1K
Them: what do you do for a living?
Me: I teach and write about American history.
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Don’t say it
Them: I love history! Have you read the new books by Bill O’Reilly and Brian Kilmead?
29
89
1K
In case there was any remaining semblance of a normal semester, I’ve received several emails from students this weekend saying their national guard unit has been activated to travel to DC in order to assure President Biden’s inauguration.
13
193
1K
Look, the debate over the alleged photograph of Joseph Smith is cool and all, but not enough people know of this photo of Joseph F Smith in his swim trunks and MASSIVE BICEPS
86
73
1K
I’ll never understand how the same Mormons who are raised reading the Book of Mormon, learn about the Nephite peoples’ decimation, & fixate on the pride cycle, grow up to think, THIS IS THE BEST NATION ON EARTH AND WE ARE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE SO DON’T EVER MENTION OUR MISTAKES
31
94
1K
Given LDS leaders have vigorously encouraged vaccines, any Mormons who claim a religious exception are pledging their primary affiliation to the GOP rather than the LDS Church.
As it stands, most vaccine laws allow for medical, philosophical and religious exemptions, but that could change quickly if the COVID-19 pandemic persists. | By
@kelsey_dallas
6
3
7
55
146
1K
According to the Law of Ratios, I’m pretty sure this makes
@KevinMKruse
the new governor of Georgia.
17
59
1K
"How come I haven't learned about Angela Davis in school?"
-my 12yo daughter, incensed, after finishing
@DrIbram
's STAMPED (the youth version of STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING)
31
61
1K
Whenever I hear overwrought complaints about “HOW WILL THE GOVERNMENT PAY FOR ____ BILL?!?!”, I think about how the GI Bill, which launched (white) America into a decade of prosperity, comprised 15% of the annual federal budget.
14
205
1K
There is so, so much abhorrent about that Joseph Epstein nonsense, but let’s zero in on this line:
“A wise man once said that no one should call himself “Dr.” unless he has delivered a child.”
Pronouns reveal a lot.
35
59
1K
Who’s gonna tell him
Robert Jeffress: “I imagine George Washington had his share of critics who accused him of a photo-op when he knelt down in prayer at Valley Forge”
140
17
83
62
142
1K
I don't know who needs to hear this, but when religiously-oriented professors are expected to carry our "muskets" into modernity's culture wars, my support will always be given to the marginalized and oppressed, and hardly ever to those who prioritize institutions.
11
95
1K
Two things:
1) the confederate monuments were an explicit erasure of history.
2) I can promise that the same people pushing the removal of confederate monuments will do all they can to make sure you never forget that history.
Here's video of Matt Gaetz saying that removing confederate monuments is "idiotic": "The theory that we could go and rip up our monuments—that we can pretend that history didn't happen—is to me just—uh—idiotic, I completely oppose that."
#MattGaetzIsATool
894
877
2K
25
175
971
I take a lot of joy in the fact that the 1776 Commission Report didn’t even last a full Scaramucci.
11
54
1K
I can’t wait for Trump’s supporters to be like, “the president is too busy to watch whole videos, so I doubt he saw the ‘white power’ remark,” and Kayleigh McEnany sating the president just enjoyed enthusiasm, then Trump just saying, “you know, whites *do* need more power.”
31
142
923
It’s incredible how quickly and desperately BYU fans are at dismissing the Duke player’s allegations. Even if that person first accused isn’t the one who uttered the racial epithets doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
If only our primary instinct was to trust black women.
130
88
946
10yo, who attends a school w/lots of unmasked kids, started showing some symptoms yesterday. School district doesn't have testing appointments available. Hospital is out of tests. After hrs of searching, we finally found a Walgreens that could test him tomorrow.
This is insane.
72
70
938
Worth sharing every year: the first public announcements of congress declaring independence--Pennsylvania Evening Post--also carried an ad for a runaway slave. 2 versions of people seeking freedom, but only one was celebrated at the time. Liberty is always a contested idea.
7
506
933
It’s been a really tough week in Mormondom. One thing that’s increasingly clear is that any moderate position on lgbtq issues is a myth. You’re either supporting the marginalized or you’re supporting musket fire.
LDS leaders can’t decry division when they drew the dividing lines
14
93
944
While writing just now I accidentally wrote "Brotestant" instead of "Protestant," and I think I stumbled upon the title for a sequel to
@kkdumez
's JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE.
23
21
915
HuffPost: FBI Arrests Man Who Wore Roman Gladiator Costume To Capitol Riot
LDS PR: yes, Roman Gladiator Costume. That’s exactly what it was. No need to investigate further.
33
93
887
There are layers upon layers of problems with Tad Callister's LDS News address, but let's not overlook this one.
Note which "ethnicities" are left out of America's founding? This is what white supremacy does--rewrites the past in order to exclude in the present.
26
72
846
My rage for BYU admin and LDS leaders who are enabling the rise in anti-LGBTQ bigotry is only matched by my admiration for students and allies who continue to fight for more inclusivity, regardless.
The angel costumes worn by allies at an LGBTQ event for BYU students Saturday had the same type of wings that blocked anti-gay protesters during the 1999 trial for Matthew Shepard’s killers in Wyoming.
(left, the angels at BYU; right, the angels in 1999)
7
72
558
52
61
851
In case conservatives try to recast this episode as a united front going forward, never forget people like Ben Shapiro said things like this.
17
146
786
Malcolm Gladwell, and I cannot stress this enough, was a pseudo-intellectual fad that should have passed over a decade ago.
17
75
797
There’s few more consequential figures in Mormon studies than D. Michael Quinn, who worked for LDS church, taught at BYU, was excommunicated, & published a series of books that reshaped the field.
Mike passed away last night. I’d like to highlight some of his life and impact. /1
26
110
794
Apparently the LDS kids magazine, The Friend, will include this image of a kid getting an injection. To their credit, LDS leaders have spoken out for vaccines for several decades, including this year.
Of course, there’s now a coordinated anti-vaxxer effort to remove the image.
37
47
794
Remember: Trump literally told the Proud Boys to stand by for this moment.
4
120
792
The only things that will survive a nuclear bomb are cockroaches and the Mormon persecution complex.
37
46
770
Because the "Historians Only Write For Other Historians" trope has appeared, zombie-like, once again, I'd like to highlight ten books from the past 18 months that are brilliant, engaging, relevant, & perfect for the general public. Share this when you hear the "ivory tower" bs.
20
243
745
Sincere respect and love to those BYU students still bravely standing up for what is right.
7
38
749
I vividly remember my American Heritage teacher at BYU spending an entire week arguing why raising the minimum wage would not only be disastrous for the economy, but a betrayal of LDS theology.
It was that moment I recognized the cultural gulf between me and many in the faith.
40
17
727
Today is the seven-year anniversary of the time when, a mere hour after completing my dissertation and emailing it to my committee, my laptop completely died, never to be revived. It survived its mission, crossed the finish line, and earned its rest.
18
10
731
I laugh when people claim professors want to stay virtual cuz online instruction is easier.
I mean, have you tried teaching? It’s *so* much easier fill up time by to BSing in person than structure asynchronous lectures, synchronous discussion, and consistent digital content.
22
80
709
I want to laugh at the people who believed there was a BLM conspiracy to somehow destroy the Sam Houston statue in Huntsville—which is 70 feet tall and weighs 25 tons—but they spent their entire Saturday standing in 108° heat & humidity, so they already got their just reward.
36
136
687
It's been an odd week, y'all. Thanks to everyone who has reached out--though I'm sorry to say that that means y'all are in the same heretical boat.
Last week, historian
@BenjaminEPark
was removed from the website of
@BYUMaxwell
, where he'd been a 2018 fellow.
He doesn't know why, or whether someone at BYU made the decision or was acting on instructions from the
@LDSchurch
.
@RNS
@TheGrandScoobah
12
44
239
48
16
688
The new holder of the Randy Bott Chair of Racist Teachings
Mormonism’s past racism is not dead. It’s not even past.
62
60
681
I’m “why aren’t these Olympic skateboarders wearing helmets?” years old.
15
18
684
On days like today, I think of 2 arguments that have always stayed with me:
1) Frederick Douglass's that the devaluation of black lives was the explicit goal, not a consequence, of American law.
2) Audre Lorde's that the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.
5
187
671
It's hard to celebrate given *waves arm generally*, and there's an unfortunate but real asterisk given that my state's beloved legislators are seeking to erase this very thing, but here's the good news: I got tenure!
94
5
662
People thinking Josh Hawley’s presidential ambitions are shot are really gonna be surprised when they find out the type of person a majority of Republicans still support.
22
42
660
Imagine thinking this was a burn.
Vice President Mike Pence: "[Democrats] want to make rich people poorer, and poor people more comfortable."
10K
3K
12K
24
59
650
I still don't understand how we don't have a blockbuster movie about Toussaint Louverture.
34
89
639
While I sympathize with all the
#twitterstorians
worrying that they aren’t going to cover all the US Survey material by the end of the semester, allow me to share 10 reasons why I think it’s *crucial* to always carve out enough time to sufficiently cover Reconstruction. /1
18
172
640
LDS leaders once again feel the need to urge members to wear masks and vaccinate.
But please, tell me again I was overstating things when I said the church is having a hard time getting members to follow these directions.
On September 22, 2021, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent this letter to Church leaders around the world.
0
161
1K
40
45
641
Tag yourself; I'm "interfaith orgy"
this was created as a right-wing meme, but I just want to know where this campus is and how I can go there because it looks awesome
730
3K
18K
187
54
622
I didn’t think I’d have to say this, and I don’t feel like writing a whole op-Ed about it, but let me be clear: Donald Trump is not a Captain Moroni.
24
39
635
Not to be forgotten: Romney's brave vote makes all the "moderate" Republicans at local, state, and national levels who continue to support Trump, especially Mormons, look much, much worse. I hope they take a moment to reflect on this.
9
31
614
The same week the LDS Church is defending its right for bishop confidentiality when dealing with abusers, they reaffirm the lack of confidentiality for BYU employees. The contrast is as bad as it seems. /1
11
91
625
@SenMikeLee
In my experience, people who insist we are a republic rather than a democracy rarely understand either.
37
24
590
You literally represent a district that's found on land that was commanded after the US-Mexico War.
Think for one moment. In every single war that America has fought, we have never asked for land afterward—except for enough to bury the Americans who gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
10K
1K
6K
36
106
618
If y'all think I was too tough on LDS leaders for empowering right-wing extremism in my tweets today, wait until you see my op-ed that's scheduled to go live tomorrow morning. (That I wrote last week before this fiasco!)
14
16
594
It’s bad enough to see GOP politicians complain about debt forgiveness, but even more so because it was *their* decision to defund college education that drove up tuition prices in the first place. They plunged generations into debt & are now whining about the olive branch.
16
85
591
I’m not going to advertise them, but there are several groups coordinating to “expose” BYU professors teaching “divisive” topics like CRT and LGBTQ. That’s atrocious enough, but it’s unfathomable admin are not only not stopping it, but are implicitly encouraging it.
35
44
591
Maybe we’ve been asking the wrong question. Maybe instead of asking, “why would Brother Wilcox ask an offensive question in 2022?” we should really be asking, “why did it take until 2022 for us to discover he’s been asking this for years?”
8
46
590
Sometimes I wonder if some of the sub-par decisions in Mormonism were made because leaders prepared for the meeting by fasting and ended up being quite hangry.
17
22
582
I’ve sometimes assigned Jill Lepore’s biography of Jane Mecon, Ben Franklin’s sister, in undergrad courses. Students were shocked at how much her life was determined by having children, and recognized a crucial lesson:
A woman’s freedom is tethered to control over procreation.
10
102
580
A dream come true!
(If you’re not following
@ratemyskyperoom
, you’re missing out in one of the year’s rare joys.)
Perfect composition. Love the arched shelves. Lighting. We’d prefer just the 1 copy of book but we’ll waive the point penalty. 10/10
@BenjaminEPark
7
3
378
12
10
582
I have no clue. She continues to befuddle me. Maybe some day. /fin
24
3
574
"Yes, administration? Sorry, I won't be able to get any work today. No, there's no emergency--it's just that my fourth grader's class is doing an extended Civil War discussion over zoom and I need to make sure none of the Texas crazy appears."
17
20
569
Whenever people insist we shouldn’t be “ashamed of our history,” what they’re really saying is they don’t want to be shamed for their actions and beliefs in the present.
6
121
558
Sure millennials have their flaws but at least our cell phones rarely go off in the middle of conference sessions, and in the rare occasions they do we can at least immediately silence them.
10
35
568
I used to think there wasn’t anything more awkward, as a professor, than running into my students at the gym.
Until today, when I ran into a student in the sauna.
28
8
561
It literally took a week for Americans to admit they prioritize capitalism over human life.
15
69
550
It’s weird, & a bit uncomfortable, to announce good news during these times, but it feels appropriate only because I want to celebrate with the community that made this possible:
Today I signed a contract w/
@wwnorton
/
@LiverightPub
to write a new survey of Mormonism in America.
47
8
549
LDS Church denounces Tim Ballard for using Apostle Russell Ballard's name and alleged support. The OUR founder “betrayed their friendship, through the unauthorized use...for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable.”
29
72
546