"Or rather, they seem heavily principled--if principles can be considered a kind of stage makeup. This crowd slathers theirs on like pancake base, an aid to help them portray the characters in which their egos are invested, and thus to feel better about themselves, in no small part by allowing them to feel superior to others." Leah Hager Cohen from a book review. The book did not interest me but his quote was on fire.

This was not written about Mormons, but how could I not see it that way?

Mormons consider themselves to be, and advertise that they are--highly principled. Even the very apex of morality. See also Oaks, Bednar and Wendy.

They perch in their pinnacled pious aerie in a nest padded with superiority. But you won't observe them by looking up. Looking behind instead will get you the best view of Mormonism.

Not needing the heavy make-up after leaving that church is most wonderful and made my Thanksgiving much more wonderful as well. Here's to just being one of the regular human gang who know it's okay to "not know."

Good thoughts.
I do feel much better not knowing than I ever did when I was being told what to "know".

Dallen Oakes is the asshole who says that the church does not make apologies, not do they ask for them. That's a good deal for you if you're a psychopath and have no remourse nor intent to apologize for the damages that you and your organization have caused to others. It's like Jack the ripper saying "we're all sinners. Let's just call it all even". These are the most dangerous kinds of individuals, because they are not capable of the very kind of repentance they claim to believe in and promote. He almost assuredly has had his second anointing ceremony and with his guaranteed goodhood in-mind, all he thinks about is himself and his narrow world-view of how the world works. The mormon church is never going to apologize for the wrong-doing they have done in this world. But they rub salt in the wound when someone like Mr. Oakes proudly proclaims that they have no intention of making any apologies.

That is a beautiful quote and I'm adding it to my collection, thank you.

I joined Mo'ism because I was chasing the domestic ideal and I was young enough to think I could take social institutions at face value.

All I found were a bunch of broken down ordinaries no more enlightened than myself who also had the amazing, audacious gall to pretend to pure, white marble perfection and innate superiority over the "gentiles" while playing a sort of social status cannibal death match at the ward house.

I used to watch them cry at F&T as they spouted their testimony and it seemed to me, as they all invariably gazed upwards with quivering chins and streaming tears, that I couldn't tell if they were praising God for what they felt or pleading to actually really feel it just once, or maybe just begging God and everybody to please, just make the crazy train stop. It occurred to me that there were fault lines running through these porcelain people that made their flawless smooth surface seem just about ready to splinter.

It was that anxious undercurrent of imminent rupture that made me look deeper at myself and the group and realize just how superficially I had been trying to mold myself, I'd been fooling myself. Everyone else in Mo'ism has been trying to fool themselves and it doesn't work because we intuitively sense the deception we are working on ourselves and others and it feels wrong.

I think the most important conscious decision I made in life was to refuse to continue trying to build solid selfhood out of mist and wishes, and to reject the cult members as peers.

" . . .while playing a sort of social status cannibal death match at the ward house."

Hahahahahaha ha. You can't begin to imagine how hard I am laughing at that. Tickled me to death!



You skewer with such cleverness. No wonder they couldn't keep you interested in "fooling yourself." Which is what we were all doing. Such a relief to finally admit to that even as we finally skewer ourselves.

Glad it gave you a laugh. When I was trying to think of how to describe the atmosphere at my old ward those were the only words to do the Bishop and RS Prez justice. I had a good laugh at how important they used to be in my life. :-)

That is an excellent quotation. Principles used as cover for the pursuit of one's own interests. . .

Or at least feel superior as a group while inwardly neurotic.

I think this explains the steady stream of investment fraud and ponzi schemes along the Morridor, very often involving stake presidents and bishops.

The excuse given for all this is that Mormons are so trusting. I prefer to think of it as being that too many of the victims are both greedy and gullible. The perpetrators are also Mormon, and it is really hard to accuse them of being too trusting. They are just lying weasels, with apologies to the local weasel population.

I vaguely remember the financial rats nest that funded the Triad Center in downtown SLC. It involved LDS Inc and Adnan Kashogi, and Iranian arms dealer, if I recall correctly. You may remember that arms to Iran was quite the scandal back in the 1970s. It took a couple decades to fully unsnarl the financial mess at the Triad Center.

There is also a regular stream of sports scandals at BYU, and the recent health insurance fiasco at BYU-I. For a bunch of people too righteous to drink coffee, they sure seem to have some huge ethical blind spots.

And don't even get me started on the business practices and ethics of Fundamentalist Mormons.

And let's not forget waterboarding. John Yoo wrote the memos justifying it, and psychologists James Mitchell and John Jessen implemented the program. Mormons all. All figure prominently (and not in a good way) in the movie "The Report" that is playing right now. ExMo Senator Mark Udall also figures as one of the two principal senators supporting the 7,000 page report on "enhanced interrogation",

So yeah, Mormon ethics are nothing to write home about, unless you are talking coffee and cigarettes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2019 10:52AM by Brother Of Jerry.

Thank you for putting all this Mormon ugliness together in one post. I know there is a lot more but this is a nice sampling of what gets too easily forgotten or excused. Mormonism is just a tool for hypocrisy. Mormon dishonesty is not a rare occurrence.

What you have written here is why I do not believe Mormons really believe. If they actually did they would be concerned with what their Heavenly Father thought of them rather than keeping all their emphasis on their carefully constructed facades for their peers who may be useful to them.

Even the not drinking coffee is part of the pancake makeup. I mean, number one reason to trust someone is that they don't drink coffee. Right? Hahaha.

Thanks. I could have gone on and on. The Olympic Bribery Scandal. The Mark Hofmann forgeries, where Hofmann knew the GAs would be more than willing to lie and pay hush money to protect the reputation of the church, and he fully exploited their willingness to act corruptly. Dallin Oaks lying about BKP being involved in the church discipline of The September Six.

It's not a one off. Too many Mormons have a very poor internal sense of ethics and morality.

Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks. I could have gone on and on.


It would be very interesting to hear you go on and on.

And just as insidious: Utah is also the Multi-Level Marketing Mecca of the US.

My dear little DIL bought thousands of dollars worth of "inventory" of some makeup that she intended to sell to all of her friends and relatives at "parties," which then made her beholden to her friends to attend their parties of selling whatever inventory they had amassed. These products were, no doubt, otherwise unsuccessful in the retail market. I wish I could remember the name of it.

I bought some of her lipstick. It was nastier than birch sap, albeit easily removable with Everclear 190 when used as a solvent.

The inventory that wasn't sold had a money-back guarantee from the company. Did she get her money back? What's your guess?

She tried to make good use of this crap by wearing it to family portrait shoots. She went from Stunning Natural Beauty to Pennywise The Clown.

These MLM promoters have one customer--the young woman (usually) who has a desire to add to the family income--at a huge cost to herself.


DOES TITHING SETTLEMENT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT SUCH LOSSES ??


Mormons prey on fellow mormons. They are racketeers in Holy Underwear.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2019 07:21PM by kathleen.