Posted by:
Lot's Wife
(
)
Date: September 17, 2022 09:21PM
Unless you would like to see it. Meanwhile here is my Readers Digest version:
First, the show is painful to view not just because of the crimes but also because it is so very tediously Mormon. For people like us, the fast-forward function is a real temptation.
Second, as with the FLDS, the Laffertys, etc., Vallow and Daybell fit squarely in the Mormon tradition. The last-days nonsense, the apocalyptic visions and preparatory food storage, the Church of the Firstborn, the us-versus-them thinking: it is the sort of 1960s and 1970s Mormonism that many RfM-ers will remember like the smell of pot roast on a Sunday afternoon.
Third, I have heard horror stories about the AZ police--violations of people's rights, a propensity for violence, unconstitutional laws against the videotaping of officers, etc--and this show presents yet another wrinkle. For when Charles Vallow reported Lori to the police as an imminent danger to the children and himself and she went in for her interview, it was a matter of minutes before her blond hair, beautiful smile, and flirtatious manner had them eating out of her hand. As EOD can sincerely attest, many men lose all common sense in the presence of a charming woman. And meanwhile the hapless Charles Vallow's life may be measured in hours, not days or months let alone years.
Fourth, you know you are in lala land when Julie Rowe is the voice of reason. Again, she and the others would be entirely comfortable in 1960s Mormonism, the 1850s Reformation, and the Kirtland period. Rowe is a genuine Mormon phenomenon, and she remained friends with Chad Daybell until the murders started. So her eye rolling in astonishment at the Vallow-Daybell excesses--how could they have lost all sense of proportion?--induces in at least this viewer's mind a sense of vertigo.
Fourth, you can see the magnitude of the challenge confronting today's LDS church. How exactly is the milk-before-truth diet going to keep people satisfied who were reared on deep doctrine and apocalyptic visions?
If the church wants to dissociate itself from these freaks, it must become the mainstream religion it claims to be by purging the molesters and the religious and political extremists and starting anew with the three apostles, 14 bishops, and 137 believers who are still left. The only alternative is to remain the Julie Rowe of organized religion: good for nothing but making other churches--looking at you, Paula White--appear less insane.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2022 03:07AM by Lot's Wife.