Posted by:
WalkedAwayFromOmelas
(
)
Date: August 28, 2021 12:05AM
Unsurprisingly there has been considerable outpouring of anger and disgust over Holland’s recent call to arms for BYU to defend his vision of the one and only proper family format that god seems to have personally told him is to be allowed in the temple, the celestial kingdom, or at BYU. There has also been much speculation on his motives for delivering a speech that he must have surely known would receive enormous pushback, not only from the LGBTQ allies in the Mormon community, but the wider world.
Of course, as some have suggested, it may be partly to re-assure key donors that BYU will not become just another “Liberal” university. But I suspect that his major motive was to demonstrate to Oaks that Holland is fully on his team so that when Nelson dies, Oaks will pick Holland for his First Counselor.
He knows he may never succeed to the President’s chair if Oaks or Ballard hang on too long. But as first counselor, he would get to conduct one or more sessions and give more speeches during General Conference which would give him more chances to say a lot of really clever things so that he could become the most popular and loved general authority, like Uchtdorf used to be, among the faithful. And if either Oaks or Ballard become incapacitated, he could be pretty much running the whole show that much sooner, the way Hinkley did under Kimball and Benson.
I don’t think he really cares all that much about the negative press, the collateral suicides, or more resignations. For him (as with many narcissists), his driving motivation in everything he does is about gaining power and popularity, and he probably hopes it will help him get to the prophet's throne, or at least the chair beside (or behind) the throne with more surety.
-WalkedAwayFromOmelas