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=media

Not 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=eng

To 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=eng

He 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=2898

Seriously? 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=2900

It 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.

The obsession with sex is obvious. I never had to have sex talks with my son; I was there to answer any questions he had, not to tell him how to think.

No other living male has had this distinct honor.

http://obamabowelmovement.blogspot.com/2009/02/denzel-petitions-mormon-leaders.html

I'm still in shock that this was printed in a church approved outlet.

" 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=2898

Here's your sign...

This article shocks me for a number of reasons. And to be honest I am on limited time so I skimmed the beginning of the article. They are ADMITTING TO HAVING A FOCUS GROUP OF NON-MORMONS? Seriously? Did it never occur to them what demographic of people might agree to be in such a group? I just don't get it.

And what about the mother's comment about their black neighbors BEING NICE EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NONMEMBERS?????? I went to BYU for two years and NOT A DAY WENT BY WHEN SOMEONE DIDN'T SAY SOMETHING TO ME EXACTLY ALONG THOSE LINES. Whenever a Mormon had something nasty or nice about a non-Mormon it was either qualified as being expected behaviour because they were "nonmembers" or they expressed their shock because how could "nonmembers" be as good as Mormons. I used to cringe everytime I heard the remarks and they came more than once a day.

Sounds like they are doing damage control big time. They realize how bigoted Mormons sound and it's a plea to get them to fit more in with the mainstream of society.

They may mainstream themselves right out of existence! (Which is fine with me!!)

notmonotloggedin Wrote:
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> They may mainstream themselves right out of
> existence! (Which is fine with me!!)

I doubt it. In the article they said, "No, we're not."

They will keep telling themselves this just like all their other lies.

I know of no religious organization that spends more effort on
advertising and PR than the Mormons--and this includes
Scientology. And they've been pouring millions and millions
into PR and advertising for decades that I know of.

Yet they constantly complain that people don't have an accurate
image of them. Gee, whose fault could that be?

Decades of spending insane amounts of money dolling up a pig and religiously sensitive people still see the pig behind the makeup.

Merica - home of the free to try knaves.

Crap is still crap no matter how you Pintrest it.

I think I finally moved enough that that magazine does not find me anymore--at least until I need transcripts again.

A couple years ago I was chatting with some teammates on a soccer team, who are Catholic, about alumni magazines. They were amused that the BYU magazine was useless if you're not Mormon anymore.

April 2015 is a keeper just for the fact that they admit people they like call them "polygamous, sexist, racist, and exclusionary."

Priceless.

Doesn't the writer of the crazy article on authenticity know that when you are flying you do not want your seat mate to try and convert you? It doesn't matter if you lie about liking their shoes before you launch into your sales pitch. In fact, I don't want the person sitting by me to try and sell me anything. A smile and nod or more than sufficient for how much I want them to know about me. This guy does not live in the real world at all!

I usually just scan the obits for 1964-1968 (I'm BS 1966) and then throw it into the recycling pile.

However, this time two articles caught my eye - the one on vacuuming DNA which I showed to my wife and the one with pioneer death stats as I'm a descendant of handcart pioneers. I also quickly perused the faculty retirements and noted two more apologists are biting the dust.

Total read time: <10 minutes.

As an aside when editing for misspelling I just realized that faculty has CULT in the middle - is that ever true of BYU



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2015 09:41PM by Templar.

Templar Wrote:
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> However, this time two articles caught my eye -
> the one on vacuuming DNA which I showed to my wife
> and the one with pioneer death stats as I'm a
> descendant of handcart pioneers. I also quickly
> perused the faculty retirements and noted two more
> apologists are biting the dust.

I read both. I like the vacuum idea. Simple and brilliant.

Now about the handcart mortality rate - over 3%?????

God wanted to kill off that many???

I called BYU and had them stop sending me the magazine. It was just too depressing and I didn't want any more calls for money. I moved and now they don't know my current address or phone number. Good riddance.

Speak of the devil. They must have found me. I got mine in the mail yesterday.

Maybe it's time to move again :)

Just read the "Authentic" article. It is well worth your time. LDS Inc. makes plea through their University's magazine in an attempt to counter the cult perceptions they have. And it isn't a boring Bednar GC talk. It is an academic talking more straight than I ever read - and they still get it wrong - but entertainingly so.