Michelle Stone Takes Down Her YouTube Channel

Michelle Stone, one of the thought leaders of the Joseph Smith Polygamy deniers, has gone silent and removed the videos from her YouTube channel. However, she still offers those videos on her website.

We discuss Michelle's last video, her "Goodbye" video, which she says will be her last.

 Raw Transcript

i record what many of you will be
surprised and perhaps disappointed to
know will be my final episode
All right welcome to Quick Show My name
is Greg Matson and I am your host In
this episode we are talking about
Michelle Stone and her YouTube channel
which she has seemingly
uh shut down for the most part She's got
a goodbye video and uh then there are no
other videos that are uh published on
her channel or available on her channel
I'm going to go over that a little bit
more There is some nuance to that that I
want to talk about but uh very
interesting development with her This is
someone that I've interviewed Now before
we go any further this episode is
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this episode is kind of interesting I
want to go through this video that
Michelle put out there And by the way I
I I' I've seen some other people cover
this and throw me in with a number of
other individuals
uh saying that I've called her an
apostate and all these I I I've never
done that I've never called her that I
don't agree with what she is so
passionate about but I have never called
her an apostate
And it's it's it's odd that you know I
mean I I think we're kind of in the wild
wild west of YouTube time right now
still in the beginning stages of it and
you know people just kind of just go and
they just say certain things and I'm
aware of that I do the same thing I
don't go by a script and every once in a
while I'll say something that I want to
take
back But I just want to be clear I've
I've never said that I just don't agree
with what she's saying Now I do think
there are some dangers
in believing in in kind of the overall
it's almost a movement right a movement
that has been launched by new
information through the Joseph Smith
papers and saints all of this
information that's now available to
everybody online which is a great thing
and a lot of people take some
information that they get from that and
they have their own interpretations of
it and I think that's okay for example
with Michelle and others that agree with
her They don't believe that Joseph Smith
ever practiced any type of polygamy that
there were no women that were ever
sealed to him outside of Emma I don't
care about that I that doesn't bother me
in the slightest It doesn't mean
anything to me It has nothing to do with
those individuals uh with people that
believe that It has nothing to do with
their salvation It has nothing to do
with their testimony in a vacuum The
problem comes when you get to Brigham
Young and and and you start dumping on
Brigham Y Young and all of a sudden he's
this horrific person that heads up a
cabal of Hebrew C Kimble and John Taylor
and Wilfr Woodruff and Joseph F Smith
and others to try and pull the wool over
everybody's eyes to so that they can
practice adultery and push a polygamy
which was never sanctioned by the Lord
That that's where I start having a
problem with it because there are
certain individuals that just absolutely
hammer those brethren And I have no
problem with seeking the truth The truth
be what it be right It is what it is But
there's just not enough evidence to do
this There I know there's certain pieces
of evidence for this There is It's just
like going to trial You've got a defense
and you've got the prosecutor There's
evidence on both sides but there's not
enough There's not enough evidence in my
mind as I see this to come to the
conclusion that Brigham Young brought
this about and made it up and was led
astray And so I see the dangers there of
a lot of people you know taking this and
really going off the rails Not everybody
That's not what I'm saying I'm not
saying that at all But with some people
and I trust me I have the comments to
show you I could look at a lot of
comments and a lot of emails and
contacts that have come to me and and
it's incredibly vitriolic by some of
them toward Brigham Young and and and
eventually with some of them getting to
Russell Nelson and President Oaks who
also are sealed to two
women and and then just kind of taking
away any kind of sustaining and support
and
um belief that these are living prophets
that we have And again I'm you know
anybody who watches this channel knows
that I I know that the brethren are not
infallible I I do not believe that for a
second but this is such an extreme thing
that I I it's hard for me to buy into it
So from there let's take a look at this
I want to go through this video and just
stop it a few times and and talk about
what Michelle is saying
Welcome to 132 Problems Revisiting
Mormon Polygamy
It is with a very deep and abiding sense
of gratitude that I record what many of
you will be surprised and perhaps
disappointed to know will be my final
episode Um I have decided as I look
around at the various um pressures and
responsibilities and um desires of my
heart um I have decided to stop this
podcast and um and I will also be taking
the podcast down Okay So I I I would
just like to say something here I think
that her message first of all I think is
very heartfelt I think it's a very
difficult thing that she's doing here
right And and and whether you believe in
what she believes or not I I think you
have to take a look at this and say
"Okay she's she's willing to go through
something really hard." And and and yes
I disagree with her on all of this This
has nothing to do with that right I I
think she's trying to make the best
decision based on her video here You
know I don't know her I've interviewed
her but but I I I don't know her Um but
it seems to me like she's she's doing
something pretty tough And she talks
about pressures and and a lot of people
are saying well she must have been
pressured from her stake president from
a general authority from the church uh
maybe threatened with uh membership in
the church I look I mean I I suppose all
those things are possibilities but I
don't know that that's true necessarily
It could be but I think that you know
it's I I think that buying into just
that narrative is
probably something that shouldn't be
done because we don't know what's true I
think she she trust me I know from the
position that I'm in with the
controversial topics that I bring up
that I feel a lot of pressures and my
family feels a lot of pressures from a
lot of different sides from the left
from the right from the orthodox from
the exmo from the pragmmo from every you
know from from everybody who's every
angle It can get tough on controversial
topics And maybe maybe I don't know but
maybe she feels like this is just the
best thing for her and her family And if
that's the case I mean that's that's
understandable And there are some other
things that are going on here that makes
me wonder if she really is being
pressured from the church I And again I
don't know but there are some things
happening here where I'm not sure if
that's really the case Let's keep going
here Amazing things have been done and
amazing conversation has been started
that I think is worth continuing I um I
will simply not be um a visible part of
this conversation um for the foreseeable
future And I think that um that in many
ways that's okay There are many other
voices that um that need to be heard I I
have been so thankful to um to have been
engaged in this work that I have been
doing Okay So again here I mean she's
she's certainly not back I heard some
people say that well she doesn't believe
this anymore That certainly doesn't
sound like what she's saying right But
it sound I mean she was trust me she's
very passionate about this belief and
and so I I don't think that she's like
okay I've I've come to a different
conclusion and I'm I'm not going to be a
part of this That doesn't look at all
like what what is happening I've seen
some people come to that
conclusion She just wants to pull
herself out from the
conversation as as there's a lot going
on I mean it's not easy to
do something where you're you're in the
spotlight of a controversial topic or
controversial podcast and maybe she just
needs a break She's also going to go
over something where she's talking about
how we treat each other and how that's
the most important thing and that even
this topic that is very important to her
is pales in comparison basically to how
we love one another and how we treat one
another and and it just you know she may
be feeling something dark in in in being
involved in the middle of all of this is
the gospel of Jesus Christ and um I I
think I I've said this so often but it's
so true The Savior cares so much more
about how we look at and treat and
embrace one another rather than what
side we fall on in any of these
questions any question about the gospel
or about history or about any other
topic Now she is going to keep up her
website and that's kind of interesting
right I mean if she is being pressured
against this from the church you would
think that she and and she's been asked
to take this all down Well why is her
website not down then Right I I I I
think we need to
uh consider this
as maybe she's just taking a break
Here's what she has to say about it
interviews on this podcast and I don't
feel um that it's you know I've been
trying to send episodes to people who
have done interviews and to others who
have um just started these episodes or
who might want to look something up Um
my website will stay up for now
132pros.org I believe and um and and
people can contact the website get um
information there for any um information
that you would like the search tool will
stay up So that will be there for now
Okay So again if we look at this going
to her website I it's hard to imagine I
mean she'd really be having to you know
do some major gymnastics here if she was
being told that she had an issue here
with the uh uh with the
church If she's going to be going kind
of a doaround right This would just be a
do-ound for her because if you look at
her website it's all here right I can go
to episodes in order here the first of
all the website is still up and I can
look at all the all of the uh the the
episodes starting with episode one two
etc etc and when you go to these you
know if I go here to her first
episode then what I get here is a
YouTube video so if you if you look at
this I'm going to push okay I can look
at it here and you'll see here that it
is unlisted so what happens you have a
few different options on YouTube you can
go to uh have a YouTube and you can put
it on public If you've got members of
your channel some people have actual
members which is a different tier then
you can put it to membership and only
members will be able to see it You can
put it to private so that it's on the
channel but it doesn't show up anywhere
And the only way you can see it as if
you are given the link to that to that
uh that that video Unlisted simply means
it doesn't show up on your channel and
it doesn't go into people's
feeds That's what it means It so she
still has all of these on her channel It
is it it's a matter of they're they've
disappeared right And and so what she
says about bringing taking the channel
down is true because that's one way to
do it right That's one way that you
would do
it So they're still available if you
find them I think you can still search
them
even But beyond the website either she
has given the files the video files the
raw video files to someone else or
someone else has burned copies of all of
those files and put it onto another
YouTube channel Right So if I go on here
and I This is a different YouTube
channel It's called 132 solutions
instead of problems right Reclaiming the
polygamy narrative And it says you know
those nagging things on that shelf of
yours that the things that are too icky
to think about referring to polygamy
let's take those off the off of your
shelf So we're going to show you that
there was no polygamy is what they're
trying to say or that it was never
sanctioned And then it has this caveat
here It says "This is in no way
affiliated with the former channel of
Michelle Brady Stone."
Right So I it it's again I I I it may
not be affiliated but this person either
got the video files or they burnt the
video files copied them off of the
channel originally before they were
taken down or gone into the unlisted
files and burnt them made copies of them
and then uploaded them onto this channel
You can see here that
uh this is on shorts right now but if I
just go to the
videos Okay this is interesting to me I
This is honestly something that must
have just happened since the last time I
looked at this they're
gone The videos here are all gone So
they are either unlisted or I don't know
but but whoever put this up Um they
already had 542 subscribers in a in a
few days and now all of the videos are
gone So that's interesting New
development which is odd I'm not sure
what that means Just in the last 30 days
it says
4.45,000 views 83 videos were put up on
this You see the 83 still on here but
they are no longer on here So they must
have been unlisted or made
private So now those are gone
Also very interesting So back to
Michelle's video All I can do is my best
to as I've said again so many times is
my best to follow what I believe um
where I believe the Lord is directing me
She's doing that Um and and and knowing
that I can't please everybody And and I
need to tell those of you who who I know
are very passionate about this subject
that that are aligned with Michelle on
this I'm not saying this because I
disagree with her I don't I'm not like
I'm not like saying this I I think she
literally is I have had many people give
me kind of a bio profile of Michelle
that know her and and I and I think that
she is very sincere about this in terms
of having nothing to do with with the uh
the content but rather she's trying to
do what she thinks is right all the time
But um a few thoughts that have been
going through my mind I I am a believer
on doing my best to heir on the side of
humility Okay So obviously she's very
emotional about this I like I said this
is meant a lot to her I think Um
but kudos to her I mean honestly I mean
I think she's again I think she's doing
something very difficult for her and uh
she's trying to do what is right And
maybe it's what's right for her family
Maybe she has some personal revelation
on this in terms of taking a different
course Again not necessarily her I don't
think she's changing her beliefs but for
whatever reason she's she's wanting to
be humble on this and
and that you might say that's to a
threatening church Or you might say that
that is to uh her better well-being to
the spirit to revelation that she's
received for her family doing what's
right for her family It could be a lot
of different things Lastly I want to put
this in here because for some people on
the opposite side of what she believes I
think this is important for you to hear
Now you can disagree on what she's gone
over and what you think she's done uh in
the past and what she's talked about but
let's at least play this beautiful
promises throughout the scriptures in
the Lord um throughout the scriptures
from the Lord when we are striving our
best to do the Lord's word and to share
what we consider to be truth in a
variety of ways I
um I love this gospel and I am a member
of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints a church that I love
that I am extremely thankful for in my
life that I want to continue to advocate
for and to help build up and help grow
So again I I just you know I don't know
her and I don't know all of the motives
So I don't know what's going on but I
think we need to be careful on making
conclusions And and the reason that's
important to do is because we have the
internet because there is social media
because there are other podcasts because
people can be very cavalier about these
things And and so I think that that's
important to play that And and and take
that for what it's worth It seems
extremely sincere to me Um I I think
that we ought to give people the benefit
of the doubt whenever possible And and
that was kind of a testimony right there
about the gospel and about the church
And and it it it seems heartfelt to me
You know there's so much going on right
now and I think there's going to be
other examples of this where we have
there's so much information online now
and and the church is being extremely
transparent with all of this information
all the church history and putting it
out there And as you go through it and
you study it a lot of people are going
to come up with their own ideas Some
people are going to be right some people
are going to be wrong But I think we'll
see more more more more
disagreement on things in church history
And I think it's important to play your
cards properly People can have a
different belief system You can be
worried if they're bringing people down
the wrong
road but I know a lot of people that I
really admire that I have a very
different point of view on some pretty
important doctrines Michelle here is I I
I think doing the right thing for her
Whatever that is she's doing the right
thing for her Again I disagree with her
I I don't agree with her conclusions I
don't agree with where that leads a lot
of people uh in terms of Brigham Young
and beyond But I hope we don't think
that because someone has a different
belief about some occurrence in the past
that that disqualifies them in some way
Learning and growing is hard and there
are growing pains and we're still in
that
process Thanks for listening