Glass Box Podcast

April 2025 General Conference Saturday Afternoon session.   Niel Anderson – Heinous abortion is evil diatribe, the church is extreme Conservative   Steven Lund YM GP – Priesthood is awesome, men run everything in the church   S Mark Palmer Q70 – Willow tree, cut up the fallen ones   Sandino Roman Q70 – Drowning story   Dale Renlund – A dumb 6-year-old thought the second coming was real   Hans T Boom Q70 – Poor people donated their washing machine money to build a temple; Armies of Helaman   Dieter Uchtdorf – The Church isn’t perfect, come back anyway; polishing the turd of a session before him   Other appearances: Chris Shelton interviewed us in the beginning of a series on Mormonism. Here’s the most recent episode on what Mormons can teach us about organizing a cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxjD7ucajI  Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Patreon page for documentary: https://www.patreon.com/SeerStonedProductions BlueSky: @gl

April 2025 General Conference Saturday Morning session.   Jeffrey R. Holland – Little boy bites a little girl, better teach her to forgive!   Camille Johnson RS GP – Waiting to be healed filling spiritual holes   Ronald Rasband – Church is DOING GREAT! Don’t check our numbers…   Quentin L. Cook – Handcart companies and tragedy   Ricardo Gemenez Q70 – Checklist Mormonism   Henry Eyring – Zombie Jesus   Other appearances: Chris Shelton interviewed us in the beginning of a series on Mormonism. Here’s the most recent episode on what Mormons can teach us about organizing a cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxjD7ucajI  Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Patreon page for documentary: https://www.patreon.com/SeerStonedProductions BlueSky: @glassboxpodcast.bsky.social  Other BlueSky: @bryceblankenagel.bsky.social and @shannongrover.bsky.social  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https://www.redbubbl

It’s time to examine Joseph-Smith-polygamy skepticism. After the recent Journal of Mormon Polygamy conference, we decided to seriously consider the evidences used by this cohort of Mormon studies, leading us to understand that polygamy was a creation of Brigham Young and the Utah Mormon movement. After that we discuss O Brother, Where Art Thou? An Oddessy movie interweaving many storytelling archetypes and tropes. Then some good news about automotive subsidies coming in the form of tariffs. Show notes:    Joseph Smith Wasn’t a Polygamist video playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL19uMsnpSU&list=PLmuYPN2xUIM0zw-bwR1MEAJ7gcRL9zuSH&index=5&t=745s Journal of Mormon Polygamy https://journalofmormonpolygamy.org/jmp MOGP: O Brother, Where Art Thou  IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/  Where it’s streaming: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/o-brother-where-art-thou  Other appearances: Chris Shelton interviewed us in the beginning of a series on Mormonism. Here’s

We have a guest for our main segment this time. Chris Shelton is a cult expert content creator who eats, breathes, and sleeps high-demand, coercive groups. We discuss everything from what makes a group a cult, how to identify them, is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a cult, and proper ways to approach conversations about high-demand groups. Be sure to check out our series collaborating on Chris’s YouTube channel linked below. After that we discuss Don’t Look Up, a 2021 movie about the cult of politics and a major natural disaster that affects everybody across the globe. To wrap up we have a brief chat about a gene-related study on mice and speech patterns before closing out with a review of all our listener mail from the Death Penalty series.   Next Live Show: Mon, March 31, 2025 6:00 PM (MT)  Bryce’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bryceblankenagel7707    Show Notes:  Chris Shelton:  Chris’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisSheltonMsc  Wikipedia: https://en.wi

It’s time for part 2 of our Death Penalty series! Since this is a Mormon podcast, we first look into the history of Mormons and the death penalty. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young both ordered assassinations and fostered environments where random acts of violence became inevitable. The State of Deseret, Utah, has a comparatively bloody, theocratic history. Then we take a broader view of religion and capital punishment. After that, we look into the ethics/morals of capital punishment and give you a look at the Innocence project. We wrap by discussing your responses from Survey #1 as well as our own viewpoints on the subject.   Survey #2: After listening to these episodes, we’d like to hear if your insights or opinions have changed and how. https://forms.gle/Vjn48xzWgCWcJR8r8  Show Notes:  Trump v United States: Oral argument on the former president’s immunity claim: https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/trump-v-united-states-oral-argument-on-the-former-presidents-immunity-claim/640481

We begin our next series, this time on Capital Punishment. We start with the history of crimes throughout written history that justified the death penalty. Then we get into colonial history and how the death penalty was built into the foundations of racist America. Multiple Supreme Court rulings have shifted the landscape. We end with the recent EO attempting to expand the powers of the death penalty.   Death Penalty survey #1: https://forms.gle/S31MTYbM8JNsikpe9    Show Notes:    History of the death penalty: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/history-of-the-death-penalty/  https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/background/history-of-the-death-penalty/early-history-of-the-death-penalty  Timeline of the history of the death penalty: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/history-of-the-death-penalty-timeline  History of the death penalty in USA: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/background/history-of-the-death-penalty  Death penalty in the U.S.: https://ww

3 lawsuits against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We discuss the class action suit, Judson et al v. LDS, the recently tossed case of Huntsman v. LDS, and the civil RICO suit Gaddy v. LDS. Where do they stand? How likely are they to prevail? What are the next steps? We go over them and discuss the implications and steps forward. Then we chat about the 2015 movie Spotlight about the Boston Globe journalists who reported on Cathlolic sex abuse in the early 2000s. We wrap with some happy news about a new solar plant being built in Oregon!   We are on BlueSky now! If you’re on BlueSky already, you can find us @glassboxpodcast.bsky.social, @bryceblankenagel.bsky.social, or by following the link in the show notes below! Show Notes:  Gaddy v. LDS https://casetext.com/case/gaddy-v-corp-of-the-president-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/utah/utdce/2:2019cv00554/116009/141/ https://becketfund.org/case/gaddy-v-corporat

It’s time to start a new year and new book for our long-form deep dive reviews of terrible Mormon books. And this one is… not terrible? The Givens present a form of Mormon theology which tries to “make sense of life” and we’re here for any Mormon theology that doesn’t include discrimination, sexism, and anything holding it over from its past. We dive into the introduction and first chapter of the book. But, what would a book review be without some due diligence about the authors? We spend the first portion talking about Terryl and Fiona Givens, their histories, publishing careers, and try to get a sense for what we can expect throughout this book.   Terryl and Fiona Givens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Givens https://www.fionagivens.com/about https://www.patheos.com/topics/2014-religious-trends/mormon/joseph-smith-on-mormon-women-and-the-priesthood-fiona-givens-071014?p=2 https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/the-perfect-union-of-man-and-womanreclamation-and-collaboration-in-joseph-smiths-

BYU and SLC anti-vice. We discuss the history of Charles A. Callis, his career in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and politics, and his final assignment before death, creating a sexual purity surveillance and counseling/therapy program for Mormons in the 40s. After his death, Spencer W. Kimball took the reins and vastly expanded the reach and purposes of the program, resulting in The Miracle of Forgiveness. Cleon Skousen was running raids on gay clubs and anybody else seen as commie enemies of god’s country. The systems they created have adapted, evolved, and conformed to the times, but never gone away, as evidenced by the recent SL Tribue piece about BYU’s retrenchment and culture of fear. Then we chat about Minority report, a Tom Cruise sci-fi flick with surprisingly profound concepts. We wrap with happy news about the first openly transgender congressperson in American history.   Show Notes:  https://mormonstudies.as.virginia.edu/gay-rights-and-mormonism/ https://mormonstudies.as.vir

You know the time of year!    Next Live Show: Monday 12/30/24 https://www.youtube.com/@bryceblankenagel7707   Show Notes:  Starship Troopers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120201/?ref_=tttrv  Movie:  Book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers#  Robert A Heinlein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#Politics  District 9:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_9  The Island:  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_The%2520Island    Viral by Robin Cook:  Robin Cook: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Cook_(American_novelist)  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury : chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://lexiconic.net/english/F451.pdf  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451    Animal Farm: A Fairy Tale by George Orwell: George Orwell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#  Animal Farm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm  Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon

We are finally finishing up the Huge Niblet! We cover the last two chapters of Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley followed by our own conclusions about Nibley and what he accomplished. We then finish with some happy news about an environmental lawsuit in North Carolina.    Show notes Approaching Zion, by Hugh Nibley    The Closing of the American Mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Closing_of_the_American_Mind  Haldeman-Julius and their Little Blue Books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Blue_Book   John Dewey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey  Pragmatism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism  Progressive education: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_education  Functional psychology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_psychology  Modern liberalism in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_liberalism_in_the_United_States  The Muses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muses    Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Here in the USA, it’s right before Thanksgiving and right after a bad election so it’s time to talk about Gaslighting. We discuss what it is, how to spot it, and how to fight it. For Media of Great Price, we talk about the 1944 movie Gaslight, which is where the term originates. We close out with happy news about a new way to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. Enjoy!    Show Notes:    Gaslighting:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting  — https://health.clevelandclinic.org/gaslighting  — https://themendproject.com/gaslighting/  — https://www.helpguide.org/relationships/domestic-abuse/gaslighting  Domestic Abuse Hotline, What is Gaslighting: https://www.thehotline.org/resources/what-is-gaslighting/  What is gaslighting abuse: https://www.newportinstitute.com/resources/mental-health/what_is_gaslighting_abuse/  What is Narcissistic Gaslighting?: https://themendproject.com/narcissistic-gaslighting/  History of Gaslighting: https://woventraumatherapy.com/blog/history-of-gaslighting 

Welcome to another Huge Niblet episode. And yes, it’s a bit huge. (You saw the time stamp!) In the A segment, we discuss Hugh Nibley’s 1969 diatribe titled Science Fiction and the Gospel as well as the article that likely triggered his rage induced lecture. Then we move into our penultimate Approaching Zion discussion. Following that, we have some excellent news about Gen Z women leaving religion. Enjoy!  Show Notes:  https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/hugh-nibley/science-fiction-gospel/   Sword of Laman:  Approaching Zion, by Hugh Nibley    Books and poems mentioned:    1984 by George Orwell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four  In the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_the_Rose  The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy  Egyptian and Mesopotamian lamentation literature: lamenting lost glories and looking forward to a return of the same under a messianic king Lycurgus by Plutarch

It’s October and so you finally get a Halloween themed media episode to round out the month. First we talk about Robert Louis Stevenson and his book Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. We discuss some of the major themes as well as some of the many, many, MANY movie depictions that have been done of it. Then we talk about the incredibly amazing metal album by A Wake in Providence titled I Write to You, My Darling Decay. And we end with happy news about the increase in early voting. Enjoy and have a happy Samhain!    Show Notes:    Robert Louis Stevenson:    Robert Louis Stevenson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson  RLS website: https://robert-louis-stevenson.org/  Fanny Stevenson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Stevenson The Lighthouse Stevensons: https://www.historyhit.com/the-lighthouse-stevensons-how-one-family-lit-up-the-coast-of-scotland/ The Speculative Society: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Speculative_Society  William Henley: https://en.wikipedi

It’s that time of year again! We go through the entirety of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brad Wilcox was an idiot, Oaks was legalistic, and Bednar fawned over Ezra Taft Benson. But there were so many other talks that slipped through the cracks; that’s why we’re here. Yes it’s long, and yes it’s thorough. And now we don’t have to think about it for another 6 months!   Are you registered to vote?! https://www.vote.org/   Links: Exponent II article by Jen Morrison https://exponentii.org/blog/the-lgbtq-community-and-general-conference/   Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Patreon page for documentary: https://www.patreon.com/SeerStonedProductions Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/exmoapparel/shop Or find the merch store by clicking

Fear! What is it? How does it work? How can it be used to control us? That’s our main segment, fear and mind control. Then we dive into the next installment of Huge Niblet and Approaching Zion for 2 essays/talks about fear and Nibley’s envisioned perfect society. We wrap with happy news about coal power taking another hit.   Do you want to help set up and run our discord server?! Reach out to us on social media or email links below! Are you registered to vote?! https://www.vote.org/   Show Notes:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_ybzC2wP7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31wjVhCcI5Y&t=1704s https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7788451/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-main-ingredient/202004/fear-lifesaver-or-manipulator https://lageneralista.com/how-fear-conflict-manipulate-you/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201012/in-groups-out-groups-and-the-psychology-crowds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearmongering https://www.icip.cat/perlapa

Shannon talks about books again! We are back on the subject of dystopian literature today and we deliberate over the 1992 book Children of Men, written by PD James. We also watched the movie based on the book and we talk about the differences and similarities to each. After that we share some happy news about nuclear power. Enjoy!    Show Notes:    The Children of Men, by PD James: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_Men  PD James: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._James    MOGP: Children of Men  Film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/?ref_=ttpl_ov  Where film is streaming: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/children-of-men    Happy News: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/09/climate/nuclear-warheads-haleu/index.html    GoFundMe for Shannon: https://www.gofundme.com/help-shannon-grover-with-medical-expenses    Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Patreon page for documentary: https://www.patreon.com/SeerStonedProductio

The weirdest chapter in Approaching Zion makes for a kinda’ weird A segment about intelligence and genius. We talk about the history of ranking intelligence and its influence on eugenics before discussing more modern conceptions of intelligence and genius from a nature AND nurture perspective. Then we get into Hugh Nibley’s eulogy of Donald Decker. It’s a standalone chapter, very different from every other chapter in Approaching Zion, and provides a wealth of interesting discussion, including why it was even included in the book to begin with. Then we wrap with happy news of Sweden hitting carbon emission targets ahead of schedule while boosting their economy.   Are you registered to vote?! https://www.vote.org/   Utah Fungi Fest https://wholesunwellness.com/utah-fungi-fest/   John Whitmer Historical Association Conference https://www.jwha.info/   Show Notes:  https://www.etymonline.com/word/genius https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/10-child-prodigies.htm https

Yes, it’s time to dissect this horrific document telegraphing the downfall of American democracy. We examine bits and pieces to see what the cabal of Christian nationalists want to turn the nation into over the next conservative presidency. Then we chat about the Mike Judge movie Idiocracy and it’s prophetic warnings. We wrap with happy news about the Harris-Walz campaign polling quite well among voters.   Show notes:    Are you registered to vote?! https://www.vote.org/   Project 2025 links https://www.project2025.org/ https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/ https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf   MOGP: Idiocracy    IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_Idiocra  Where it is streaming: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/idiocracy  The Movie Hollywood Doesn’t Want You To See: Idiocracy, the feel-bad comedy of the year:  https://slate.com/culture/2006/09/reviewing-mike-judge-s-idiocracy.html  Idiocracy: a

Just that! We talk Sunstone because it’s the best Mormon Con around and we want to spread the good word! We discuss a few of our favorite sessions, some fascinating things we learned, and how Sunstone recharges our batteries in the Mormon studies space. Then we talk about Lego helping PTSD sufferers. We wrap with a brief chat about some changes we’re making to the Patreon page; long story short, now is a great time to sign up to financially support the podcast!   Happy News: https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2024/04/17/lego-trauma/    GoFundMe for Shannon: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-shannon-grover-with-medical-expenses   Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Patreon page for documentary: https://www.patreon.com/SeerStonedProductions Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/exmoapp