I have two FB friends that are very well-connected. One in Hollywood and one in Salt Lake City. You would not believe the pictures they sometimes post of lunches, vacations, parties with crazy beautiful, probably wealthy people. The funny thing is, after seeing pictures of some of their friends doing decidedly non-LDS standard things, those same friends will turn out to be Mormons who actually post occasional quotes from a Mormon leader or Mormon scriptures between photos of them lying on a beach in a bikini. One was a guy in his BYU shirt with his arm around a very scantily clad woman.

Now mind you, I don't think there is anything wrong with anything that was posted but TBMs would definitely disapprove of it if I were doing the same things while being self-righteous about their abstaining from sin. Seems the "beautiful people" of the church seem to be able to walk both ways on the freeway, a strapless dress in one picture followed by a quote from the Book of Mormon in the next. Anyone else notice this?

also, they are in denial.

They live as they wish and are not inconvenienced by the rules, they believe in them in theory, just not in practice.

If you're righteous, you will prosper. So, if you're rich, by definition you're righteous. You get a pass on following the rules that the poor must follow.

Yes, maybe they look righteous due to their prosperity so there is no need to worry about the things ordinary Mormons would worry about like not being seen with coffee or not being caught dead with an exposed shoulder.

I don't think the leaders in TSCC follow the rules as closely as their faithful followers. If they did, they would realize how ridiculous the rules are and they would leave.

And not just religious cults! Consider political cults, such as Communism, where the party leadership lives in luxury while their followers endure poverty and deprivation.

Speaking of Hollywood elites, what about those celebrities who swoop in on private jets and yachts for environmental meetings and rallies? Remember that witch, Leona Helmsley, who said "Taxes are for the little people?" And the previous Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, when caught cheating on his taxes, said, "It was an honest mistake."

Regardless of the ideology or culture, the elites get away with things the masses cannot. That's just the way it is.

Do you have any idea how huge the footprint of a greyhound bus is?

I have a couple of rich TBM relatives in CA. They are fans of the Givens. They think the leaders are out of touch old men, but the church is still true. They drink a lot of herbal tea, and generally make their own rules.

It would never fly in SLC.

I can't imagine a MoBishop denying a TR for an herb tea drinker...

O Wait, yes I can.

I think beautiful Mormons get doors opened, gifts given, and company surrounding them that no-so-beautiful Mormons do not get. I think this happens in life period. Beauty is well, appealing, very sexy and people like to be near it.

In my next life, could I please. please have:

Smaller ears, drop-dead soft silky white skin, huge brown seductive eyes, large perfect lips that are made to kiss, be tall with broad-broad shoulders.....you know how the requests go.

They have it all figured out and don't take it so seriously.

From a short story, "The Rich Boy:"

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different."

Hemingway later picked up on this. From the original 1939 (Esquire) version of "Snows of Kilimanjaro:"

“The rich were dull and they drank too much, or they played too much backgammon. They were dull and they were repetitious. He remembered poor Scott Fitzgerald and his romantic awe of them and how he had started a story once that began, ‘The very rich are different from you and me.’ And how some one had said to Scott, Yes, they have more money. But that was not humorous to Scott. He thought they were a special glamorous race and when he found they weren't it wrecked him as much as any other thing that wrecked him.”

This is the origin of the mythic repartee between Fitzgerald and Hemingway, "The rich are different from you and me." "Yes, they have more money."

Literati of the board will be intrigued to check out my source:

http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2009/11/rich-are-different-famous-quote.html

It was fascinating

Oh yes, we personally know the blonde eve couple from one of the 90's temple films. Away from LDS church things you would have no idea they were mormon with how they dressed...especially their teenage/young adult daughters. They are really cool people so it's sad to see them still so attached to the cult.

it's all about appearances. fake fake fake fake fake

Or if you make Mormonism look good (because you are rich, gorgeous or influential) then they are willing to let things slide that the regular members better darn well do (or not do).

CAgirl is right.

There is an implicit "deal."

You make them look good and they look the other way about your PRIVATE lifestyle. The moment your non-sterling-Mormon behavior becomes public, the deal is off.

They will throw you under the bus like they never knew you.

There are many broken hearts attached to people who thought they were beloved and would be helped if they had problems.


Kathleen Waters

"Beauty" started from the beginning, with Joseph Smith.

Joseph Smith was attractive, and physically very strong, which is part of male "beauty". I believe the Book of Mormon is his disguised autobiography, and Nephi, who is a great man, is large in stature.

And of course Joseph Smith did not have to follow all the rules.

They gussied him up in more recent images.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41755/41755-h/images/ill_150_lg.jpg

The problem is that photos and paintings and sketches rarely capture charm. So if you are typically beautiful, of course that will show. But I've known guys that, when I showed friends photos their comment about those guys was "yawn." However in person they could sweep you off your feet and convince you they were gorgeous. Plenty of people are not photogenic but when you are around them, they give an entirely different impression of their desirability. Considering what Joe was able to convince people to do, I'm guessing he was one of those types.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 01:51AM by CA girl.

Remember the people he was appealing to though. Modern, mass culture, is a recent phenomenon. There was a Booker Prize winning book, The Siege of Karishnapoor, that explored this idea--and was really funny. Like there can be a popular man in a Kentucky coal-holler, say, that would be nothing to a Manhattan socialite. That early nineteenth century women in a backwoods cabin thought JS was all that, doesn't mean we would see anything in him--no charm, no charisma. Reading the description from the psalter-writer paints him as a yokel, con-man joke. I'm pretty sure a modern, educated person would see him the same way.

They often go out of town or away on trips where they can blow off steam and let their hair down.

Also, their family and the friends they pick are just like them, which is why being in the church is no big stress.

One of the most interesting series of billboards in Utah was for the Morg's City Creek Center. It featured beautiful people definitely not in accord with LDS standards--spaghetti straps on the little black dress of a beautifully seductive woman and an androgynous man dressed in a most un-missionary, EXPENSIVE, hip suit. Finally, there was the deep burgundy-colored liquid in what appeared to be a wine glass while a dined.

No one like me in Dad's jeans and a Costco shirt drinking some coffee to be found. I decided to boycott IT. Boner.

When I was a young teen I learned a LOT about the so called beautiful people in the ward.

I was their babysitter. There were times I would spend up to a week in their house. I wasn't from a family that had all the glitz , glamour,and adulation these people had. I wanted to know exactly what was going on with them.

I will say first of all that I didn't live in Utah. But, many of the people I baby sat for were from there. I was amazed at things I learned about these people. One thing I never did was spill the beans about them. I knew for sure that wouldn't work out well for me.

When I was 13 I learned that couples who were the king and queen in the ward certainly weren't "saints".

I had access to their pantries, and also the keys to the bar. They usually hid the key on top if the fridge. I KNEW for certain sure they had at least one drawer full of lingerie, toys, books, videos, and some very personal pictures. The pictures weren't always of them together if you know what I mean. There was one couple that had a pill and drug stash. Like good mormons, they kept journals. These people were idiots. Did they really think their babysitter didn't look through their house? Once the kids are asleep, there isn't much else to do. They were lucky I wasn't dumb enough to rat them out to anyone. The things I could have told. OY!

One thing I did learn from that. When you have people staying in your house, especially teens, put private stuff under lock and key. I don't care how sweet and innocent your babysitter looks. They're curious about how other people live. YOU are the"other people". If your family members are the ones staying in your house, I double my advice. Especially if they're mormons.

I've grown up quite a bit, and i'm not nosey anymore. I could stay in my kids house for a week and never go in their bedroom. I don't want to know. As a teenager, I wanted to know everything.

Just so you know, everyone has at least one BIG secret. Don't let it be they baby/dog/house sitter that knows what that one BIG secret is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 01:54AM by madalice.

Woa ... you are wicked bad. Yowza.

;o)

Social climbing is a reality at BYU. I should have learned that when I went there. Some BYU apartments have more beautiful people than others. I just looked for the cheapest place. Beauty is not just skin deep. Beautiful people tend to have the whole "ball of wax", meaning they are better in other areas as well.

Actually, maybe it's good that I didn't try to social climb at BYU. Maybe I would have found a girlfriend and I would be stuck in Mormonism now.

This is a sensitive topic, because less attractive people are not "worse", they're just unfortunate. And some unattractive people overcome their handicaps in impressive ways.

Beautiful people, or people trying to be beautiful, follow rules, but they emphasize social climbing rules above anything else. They might follow other rules, or even all the rules, but social climbing remains the big rule to follow.

Even less attractive people can be more beautiful if they really try, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so it's a complicated subject.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 02:09AM by behindcurtain.

My husband's ex-wife married into a wealthy TBM family. Most of them own more than one house and run/own very successful businesses, etc. They fly around the world just to go shopping or golfing, etc.

At first they seemed too perfect. All of that money and they presented themselves as good, spiritual people.

Then it was discovered that they are only "good, spiritual people" towards other members of the church. Especially other wealthy members of the church.

Conversations have been overheard where the family was looking down their noses at other people.

Examples: Flying for a business trip and sarcastically wondering how a male passenger with shoulder length hair and an un-tucked shirt could possibly afford a first class ticket.

Observing people buying scratch off-lottery tickets in a store and saying that the people should be spending that time looking for a job and that if they do win any money, they should use it to buy some decent clothes. The family wasn't talking this way out of concern for those people. They were saying it mean-spiritedly.

Yet they never speak this way about their church friends.

What I've seen is if a guy is over 6' handsome people see more credibility (they are given desired work assignments and tend to rise). And being blond helps.

For gals if she is size 2, smart but not too smart, blond with a nice rack she'll have a greater chance winning in the marriage lottery and then be able to stay out of the "big bad world."

The world is a beauty pageant, what can I say?

I didn't know it was beauty. I just didn't follow the lies (enough) as a kid.

Good looking helps

;)