Episode 18 : Mormonism and Neopets with TracingWoodgrains

On today’s episode of Walt Right Perspectives I speak with TracingWoodgrains, a gay ex-Mormon furry who is working to promote meritocracy / excellence in education and greater civicmindedness in our political culture.

Trace and I have an interesting history—he effectively brought me back as a public figure by creating a viral Twitter thread about my departure from white nationalism.

More recently the two of us appeared on The Motte’s Bailey podcast and had a passionate exchange about the Alt Right, as well as the extent to which deradicalization demands a repudiation of one’s past beliefs.

Topics include:

• Trace’s ideological history and departure from Mormonism

• Trace’s goal of building a prosocial secular religion

• Is Mormon culture Faustian?

• Differences between Mormons and mainstream Christian conservatives

• Institutionalism and cosmopolitanism of Mormon culture

• Early Mormon history of fleeing religious violence

• Mormon politeness and its origins

• How to balance a desire for politeness with a willingness to engage in productive and necessary conflict

• Trace’s stance on “platforming” controversial figures like me or Richard Hanania

• Ostracism of people who hold “unacceptable” beliefs accelerates dangerous political polarization

• Strengths and weaknesses of “packaged deal” ideologies

• Trace’s desire to build a centrist coalition based around the idea of excellence

• How to build an inclusive elitism

• Trace’s position on hereditarianism / race and IQ

• Why Liberals find it so hard to accept HBD

• Are elite conservatives less representative of conservatives as a whole than elite liberals are of the left?

• To what extent are conservative elites responsible for demagoguery and grifting

• How Trace realized he was gay at a relatively late age

• How homophobic is Mormon culture?

• Hookup culture in Mormonism

• Apostasy / excommunication in Mormon culture

• Trace’s childhood experience with Neopets

• The hyper-addictive skinner box nature of Neopets

• Dissemination of practical coding skills among late millennials that zoomers largely missed out on due to more user friendly UIs

• Dispersal of subcultures onto more private / individuated platforms as a rejection of 2010s platform consolidation

• How to cultivate the right audience as a public figure

• How to maintain a bridge with former compatriots as an apostate (from Mormonism or white nationalism)