Posted by:
Elder Berry
(
)
Date: April 27, 2015 11:21PM
A copy of BYU Magazine was on the bed when I got home from work. I picked it up and perused it. First off it struck me as much more pathetic than other issues I had looked at in the past.
They mentioned "stone cold sober" school a couple of times and in a cartoon. I guess they are proud of that fact? Then they were pushing Provo as both a "cool" place and a "safe place" and a "family place." I thought, Provo is no Vegas. What are they getting at here. The pages just smelled desperate.
Then I hit their main articles. The one hawking "Be Authentic" was a shocker for sure. Not only did it screen desperation (if your religion doesn't already help you be authentic then what good is it?) but it also admitted something I knew but I bet a lot of TBMs didn't - many people of faith think Mormons are "polygamous, sexist, racist, and exclusionary."
This new Mormon authentic just has never come up much.
https://www.lds.org/search?query=authentic&x=0&y=0&lang=eng&collection=mediaNot a lot of result on that search.
Just for kicks I looked up Old Hinckley's 'Bs' or BS. Twenty years before his final copy of 6 be-s for all he had 4 be-s for boys only.
"I should like to offer what I have chosen to call “Four Bs for Boys.” They are: (1) Be Smart, (2) Be Fair, (3) Be Clean, and (4) Be True."
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1981/10/four-bs-for-boys?lang=engTo make his Bs more universal he dropped "Be Fair." No need for that when you are guiding Mormon females and he added 3 to his list. Here are all 6.
Be Grateful
Be Smart
Be Clean
Be True
Be Humble
Be Prayerful
https://www.lds.org/liahona/2001/06/the-prophets-counsel-the-six-bs?lang=engHe dropped "Be Fair" and added Be Grateful, Be Humble, Be Prayerful. I guess since Mormon women are more spiritual than Mormon men he needed to include more spiritually focused Bs but still no "Be Authentic." I guess he was speaking as a man or boy.
So here are some tidbits from this "Be Authentic" article in BYU Magazine.
" Following his counsel to be authentic will be more difficult for us, as central-culture Mormons, because for decades we have desired to honor the Lord by always putting our best foot forward. The problem is that nearly every mortal has two feet, and most require both of those feet to stand properly."
http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2898" And yet these amazing people of faith, when asked to characterize us, said we are, in no particular order, polygamous, sexist, racist, and exclusionary."
http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2898Seriously? Putting your best foot forward is why Mormons hid and swept stuff I never learned about under the Celestial Room rug? I call crap on that since I was being as authentic as I could and I still felt like that rug was being pulled out from under me time and again. And now I know why. IT is because those "amazing people of faith" were exactly right. Mormonism IS "polygamous, sexist, racist, and exclusionary."
They can call for authentic members all they want but the truth is that BYU Magazine for April 2015 looked far from authentic. It had shiny happy no problems people written all throughout it. Such crazy crap. Call upon people to be more authentic while selling Provo and by extension BYU as just about the hap, hap, happiest f-ing place on the planet. Be authentic by acknowledging the past by kicking people with that foot (the essays) and then step on them with your best foot as you walk all over them with your happy shiny people routine.
Then "the other article" was the porn.
I started to read it but I couldn't get past this and the pictures.
"Kim Turner has a bit of a rep. When she locks the car doors and begins driving around the block, her four daughters know they are in for a talk. Turner’s 19-year-old screams and bangs her hands on the windows in a mock plea for escape. The 17-year-old, on the other hand, is all ears and more than willing to engage. Her 13- and 10-year-olds, used to it by now, just go with it. They are locked in a moving car, after all."
http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2900It sounded like abuse. I talk to my kids all the time and I don't have to trap them in a car to talk about sexual things. I guess a huge difference is I'm not trying to shove porn fear down their throats.
And the pictures. You just have to check them out. It was like a BYUI no soldier left behind (BYUI's infamous "Wounded on The Battlefield" short movie of Kim Clarke's anti-porn talk.) Literally, this article is a mix of a New Era teen article of porn fear mongering and Kim Clarke's talk. It was embarassing to read. And whomever drew the pictures? Let me tell you the green glowing little snakelets floating around a boys head looked more like alien sperm than snakes in the brain.