My tbm dad is upstairs watching general conference on his tablet. He gets so frustrated that you cannot go directly to where you leave off. He's watching it on LDS.org. I got my younger sister to fix it for him. During his temper tantrum at his tablet I was trying to fill out my weekly unemployment report. I didn't get my number for this week's check due to his tantrum. It's easter so I forgive him. But I cannot figure out his obession with General Conference!

I'd rather watch paint dry than boring morg General Conference!

He's probably searching for some comfort, and some answers. They aren't there. He keeps watching it thinking that he's missing something.


I'm just guessing. He needs some comfort and answers at this time in his life. The sad part is, there is no comfort and no answers in his religion. It's really a very cold place to go if you're in mourning and grieving the death of someone. I've actually seen mormons be shamed for grieving over the loss of a loved one.

My TBM did something similar before she passed away. Often after work, she listen to general conference sessions. They were so boring she fell asleep! Maybe he's trying to like my mother. Of course you're right there's no answers there anyway!

"He keeps watching it thinking that he's missing something."

Now I can doze off laughing my ass off. :)

It's a placebo. People get it hammered into their brain that it will make them better, so they believe it and probably do feel better afterwards (or convince themselves they do, anyway).

Placebos are real, and not just in pill form.

That cured me.

Some people when they lose a loved one will become more devoutly religious, as for them, it's a comfort. Also, the first year after a family member dies is always the hardest, especially when holidays come up.

With rare exceptions,Mormon GC talks seem weirdly devoid of spirituality to me. I think your father would get more out of your average mainstream Christian church sermon.

I slept through GC, or doodled or read to myself, when my family watched it. It was just the same old read-your-scriptures-say-your-prayers-go-to-church stuff that we got every week. I guess that it's so difficult to listen to the whole thing and find it interesting that TBM's think that being able to do so makes them "extra righteous."

you raise an interesting question. Growing up in the mission field, it seemed as though only my family and a few others actually watched conference (you had to drive all the way to teh ward building back then). And every other family or member kinda treated GC weekend like a church holiday. Now it seems like all the active members on facebook can do is talk about how excited they are for conference and then later how awesome conference was. An act of brain washing must have occurred at some point.

footdoc Wrote:
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> you raise an interesting question. Growing up in
> the mission field, it seemed as though only my
> family and a few others actually watched
> conference (you had to drive all the way to teh
> ward building back then). And every other family
> or member kinda treated GC weekend like a church
> holiday. Now it seems like all the active members
> on facebook can do is talk about how excited they
> are for conference and then later how awesome
> conference was. An act of brain washing must have
> occurred at some point.

It's actually a simple explanation: the Internet occurred.

before, you had to go to the meetinghouse to watch conference and if you didn't you missed it for 6 months.

Now, you can watch it on your computer, either live or later. So even if you do treat it like a vacation weekend, you can still watch it later. That's what I've been hearing since conference on Sundays. People will speak and say, "it was a wonderful conference. If you missed it, go to LDS.org and catch up on it."

Interesting that you would ask, southern idaho inactive. I'm copying below an exerpt from a memoir that I'm currently working on. The basic theme is not LDS Corp., but there are necessary references to it (in order to better understand my situation at different times in my life):

"For those who do not – or are not able to – listen to these broadcasts, all of the Conference speeches are transcribed verbatim and printed in one of the Church magazines, and then distributed to the Church membership approximately two months after the Conference weekend. In this way, everyone (who wants to) has permanent access to every word that is spoken.

"There was such a conference within a few months after Mary and I were married. At that time, we were living in an apartment complex that consisted of 12 units in each three-storey building. We were on the second floor. I had gone out for some reason that morning, and I returned during one of these Conference sessions. I knew that Mary would be listening to the speeches, but I didn’t realize what lengths she would take to do so. As I approached our apartment, I heard the Conference speaker quite clearly. The sound became exponentially louder when I opened the door; I could only imagine what this sounded like in the adjoining apartments. I hurriedly looked around, trying to find the source of the noise (as well as where Mary was), and I quickly found both in the bathroom. Mary was taking a shower with a radio on full-volume. I turned down the radio (so as to not disturb the neighbors), but was then told by Mary that she didn’t want to miss anything that was said. In order to not disturb our neighbors, I suggested that – if listening to the original conference meetings was that important to her – she could take her shower either before or after one of the conference sessions, or she could take a quick shower during one of the interlude songs that are included (when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings). But – in Mary’s mind – I was wrong, of course, and my action was viewed as evidence of being “against” the Church. In other words, I didn’t support the Church wholeheartedly if I took any action or made any statement that could be construed as limiting her access to the Bretheren in any way, and turning down the radio volume was construed as such an action."

Oh man, how I dreaded GC. Every 6 months, those old guys in the dark suits would harp on immorality, unworthiness, etc. for hours and hours. GC never offered me any comfort, it just reinforced the fact that I was not good enough, the millenium was lurking right around the corner, and I was going to DIE!

The stuff of nightmares.

there not actually watching. Sure, it might be on in the background but the vast majority aren't paying any attention. Ask them face-to-face which talk was their favorite. They will know the one they watched. Then ask what their favorite part was about a particular speakers talk and get ready to get met with blank stares cause they have absolutely no idea.

tig Wrote:
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> there not actually watching. Sure, it might be on
> in the background but the vast majority aren't
> paying any attention. Ask them face-to-face which
> talk was their favorite. They will know the one
> they watched. Then ask what their favorite part
> was about a particular speakers talk and get ready
> to get met with blank stares cause they have
> absolutely no idea.

If you randomly say the name of an apostle and a generic topic, you'll likely be right.

The best part is, the person asking the question didn't watch either, so they can't correct the other.

1: "What was your favorite talk at conference?'

2: "I really liked what Uchtdorf said about the importance of the Book of Mormon."

1: "Yeah, the was nice."

Chances are, Uchtdorf did speak and did mention the BoM, so how wrong can you be? And, if by chance you're corrected (let's say Uchtdorf didn't speak at GC), you just say, "Oh, I most be confusing the speakers, but the speech on the BoM was awesome."

TBMs will never stop being obsessed with watching conference, my folks always never try to skip a session, that's the routine for them.