and in other areas.

There are so many ways in which divide ourselves up and make emotional decisions about people based on group membership without having the facts. All are unfortunate and all are examples of "anti-" something. Including anti-semitism, anti-Mormonism, and yes, anti-uteism.

The following is a quote from a Bret Stephens article in the New York Times yesterday discussing recent attacks on Jews in Amsterdam:

"Nor does it add any light to provide the 'context' of the war in Gaza as a way of trying to understand [the violence against Jews] in Amsterdam. No decent person would explain anti-Asian attacks in the United States by observing that attackers might be angry about, say, China’s human-rights abuses or its biosafety standards.

Yet so many supposedly decent people are quick to try to account for the evil that is done to Jews through reference to the evil (as they see it) that Jews do to others. As Leon Wieseltier pointed out years ago, this type of reasoning is not an explanation for antisemitism. It’s the essence of antisemitism."

This is what the linked post is talking about with respect to BYU. if you are anti-BYU or anti-Mormon you "try to account for the evil that is done to [LDS people or the LDS Church, or BYU and BYU fans] through reference to the evil (as [you] see it) that [they] do to others." This leads you to excuse evil (never a good thing) but also it leads to a place where a persecuted group feels like they must be literally perfect (as a group) or any evil done to them will be automatically excused or excusable.

We are on the receiving end of this-- but we also put others on the receiving end of it. We should not do that.

Our coach sets a good example of how we *should* do it, with his speech at the end of The Cut. Can we do that? Are we strong enough as a fanbase to live the way we wish the Utes would live? I do think we do better than they do--but this isn't a comparative exercise.

Anyway, some thoughts that have been on my mind and were sparked by the linked post.