DezNat

#DezNat (shortened from Deseret Nation) is a Twitter hashtag that was created in 2018 by Logan Smith, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who goes by "JP Bellum" on Twitter.[1] It refers to a loosely affiliated group of LDS Church members who use the hashtag. The Church does not endorse the hashtag and it is unclear how many followers or adherents of the DezNat concept exist.

Not to be confused with State of Deseret.

Contributors to media outlets The Daily Beast and The Daily Utah Chronicle have described DezNat as an extremist alt-right, white nationalist movement,[2][3][4] while journalists at The Guardian consider the group right-wing with elements of the alt-right, white nationalism,[5] and eugenics.[6]

Some members of the DezNat community wish to recreate the historical State of Deseret, which the LDS Church declared in the 1840s to cover modern-day Utah and parts of adjacent states, as well as the secession of a theocratic Mormon state. Some DezNat commentators have suggested this should be a white ethnostate. Some have also used neo-Nazi and far-right accelerationist imagery.[5]

Users of the hashtag say they are not alt-right but are simply unapologetic about their beliefs.[3][7] DezNat supporters have no formal organization but they share a common ideology.[4] Smith says the hashtag recognizes faithful LDS Church members as "a unique people and should be united spiritually, morally, economically, and politically behind Christ, the prophet, and the church" adding that DezNat "is the idea that devout members ought to work together to support the church, its doctrines, and each other, on social media and in their communities to further build the Kingdom of God".[2][8]

The community has been criticised as promoting bigotry and harassment against members of the LGBT community, non-Mormons and ex-Mormons, feminists, abortion advocates, and pornographic film actors. Some have criticized the Mormon blog By Common Consent for being too politically progressive.[2] Members also use bowie knife imagery as a homage to Brigham Young and the concept of blood atonement for certain sins,[2] a practice the LDS Church leadership has disavowed.[9] According to the feminist writer Mary Ann Clements, DezNat proponents regard themselves as being in line with the actions of former church presidents, therefore not supporting polygamy today but referencing it regarding the past (e.g., by portraying Young as a polygamous "chad" or powerful alpha male).[10]

Alaskan government investigation of Matthias Cicotte

In July 2021, investigative journalists at The Guardian identified Matthias Cicotte, an Alaska Assistant Attorney General, as a poster of racist and anti-Semitic Deseret Nationalist content using the Twitter account @JReubenCIark.[5][lower-alpha 1] Following the release of the report, civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, called for the termination of Cicotte from his position and the reopening of his cases. This prompted an investigation from the Alaska Department of Law and Cicotte was removed from his caseload.[11] A Department spokesperson confirmed Cicotte was no longer working for them, stating: "However, although we cannot talk about personnel matters, we do not want the values and policies of the Department of Law to be overshadowed by the conduct of one individual."[12] Shortly thereafter, the deans of J. Reuben Clark Law School, of which both Cicotte and Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor are graduates, released a statement condemning the "venomous and hateful Twitter messages against a variety of vulnerable groups" from the @JReubenCIark account.[13]

Footnotes
  1. J. Reuben Clark was a Mormon lawyer who worked in the Calvin Coolidge administration and is namesake of the law school at Brigham Young University.

References
  1. Paras, Julian. "ICCU employee no longer works at local branch after being connected to controversial twitter thread". KPVI. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  2. Hitt, Tarpley (24 January 2019). "The Cult of #DezNat: Alt-Right Mormons Targeting Porn and the LGBTQ Community". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  3. Reeser, Andrew (30 January 2019). "'Deseret Nation': Alt-right Mormon militants or truth defenders?". ABC4 Utah. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  4. Reese, Isaac (10 September 2019). "Reese: The LDS Church has a White Nationalist Problem". The Daily Utah Chronicle. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  5. "Revealed: assistant attorney general in Alaska posted racist and antisemitic tweets". The Guardian. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  6. Wilson, Jason (September 4, 2023). "Revealed: US pro-birth conference's links to far-right eugenicists" – via The Guardian.
  7. Clements, Mary (3 February 2021). "'Mormon Land': A deeper look at #DezNat tweeters — who they are, what they want, and why people should, or should not, fear them". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  8. "What is #DezNat?". Twitter. 2018-10-26. Archived from the original on 2019-01-24.
  9. McConkie, Bruce R. (1978-10-18). "Letter to Thomas B. McAfee". SHIELDS Research.
  10. Mormon Land: A deeper look at #DezNat tweeters | Episode 167, SoundCloud.
  11. Kitchenman, Andrew (July 21, 2021). "The Guardian reports Alaska assistant attorney general behind racist, anti-semitic and homophobic posts". KAKM. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  12. "Assistant Alaska attorney general investigated for racist social media posts leaves job". Anchorage Daily News. 2021-07-28. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  13. "Attorney under scrutiny for alleged #DezNat Twitter account is no longer employed by Alaska's Department of Law". Deseret News. July 28, 2021.
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