...Last week some Church members began e-mail chains calling for cancellations of subscriptions to AOL, which, like HBO, is owned by Time Warner. Certainly such a boycott by hundreds of thousands of computer-savvy Latter-day Saints could have an economic impact on the company. Individual Latter-day Saints have the right to take such actions if they choose.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an institution does not call for boycotts. Such a step would simply generate the kind of controversy that the media loves and in the end would increase audiences for the series. As Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Robert D. Hales of the Council of the Twelve Apostles have both said recently, when expressing themselves in the public arena, Latter-day Saints should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness.
I had heard about the Big Love episode but did not really give it a second thought. "So what?" I thought. All that stuff is on the internet anyway. Shoot, Ed Decker goes grocery shopping dressed up in his temple garb, who cares? It just shows their ignorance. But my curiosity was piqued, I punched "Big Love Temple Ceremony" into Google and boy oh boy, I could not help but laugh at some of the websites I came across. People were actually concerned about this!! They thought somebody cared!! It was as if they were waiting for all the cable news networks to now do specials to let the world (who is dying to know) see what happens inside the mormon temples. Sorry people, nobody cares. There might be a few...family members who were not allowed in to see a loved one's wedding, well meaning preachers (who haven't seen the godmakers) who would be interested, but for the most part, not so much.
Think about it, if you heard about a series that was going to show the inner (secret) workings of the Vatican, would you care? Probably not. And that is CATHOLICS!! They make up more than 17% of the world population! So if some show airs something on the mormons (that make up less than 2% of the world population) is anyone really going to care?
The church definitely had it right: conduct yourselves with "dignity and thoughtfulness". Do not act with arrogance and self-righteousness, thinking all these people are chomping at the bit because they want so bad to know what you know but aren't allowed. If they wanted it that bad, they would be members and enjoy all the blessings that come with it. Since they don't, if they happen to watch the show on HBO, it will probably be just another weird thing they saw on TV and they will have forgotten about it by the morning.
5 comments:
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Being persecuted is fine. Developing a persecution complex is a big problem.
Oh man.
In my ward, during Prop 8, we had one sister who waxed pathetic about this being our Zion's Camp and/or Missouri. Tarring and feathering. She was truly scared, but like a good girl, she was determined to follow the Prophet. Even up to a few months ago (one of the last times I attended), she was going on and on about the sacrifices she made for the Prophet.
I wanted to scream.
The Big Love thing - eh. That letter amused me. "Now, it would be effective to boycott them, but don't say we told you that."
Were you with us that one night someone got the stupid, stupid, stupid idea to watch that stupid Singles Ward movie? If there is any movie I've seen that I could choose to unwatch, that'd be it. Regardless, I still find myself musing on it occasionally because the only part of the premise that I really recall is that there was this inactive RM who was making a living doing a nation-wide tour of a comedy routine that mostly involved making fun of "the Mormons." I remember there was, like, a montage or some such and in one scene he was standing in front of a banner that said something like WELCOME TO MISSOURI UNIVERSITY, and he started his routine and said something like, "Now, before we get this show going, I've gotta confess to you that I am a Mormon," and the whole audience said, "OOooooo," and then he said something about here's my wallet and my car is parked outside and the whole audience busted up laughing.
Right. Because everyone in Missouri is totally aware of all the Mormon history that happened there. I think about that scene and I wonder, would students at a university in Missouri even really know what a Mormon was or think that Mormonism is somehow relevant to their state? I doubt it. It's almost infuriating to me how mormoncentric some people's world view is, but I'm done being furious about such things--I tried it for a while, but it was just too much work.
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I have a friend in KC who tells me Missourians are VERY aware of that history---at least if you're near Independence.
Yes, the evangelicals in the KC metro area know the history and would like another shot (heh, pun) at that extermination order.
It doesn't help they confuse the RLDS--er, I mean, Community of Christ--with us and get incensed every time they see "our" "temple."
(More quotes, please!!!)
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