Posted by:
Lot's Wife
(
)
Date: August 03, 2022 06:21PM
Hi Hedning,
My fascination with the topic stems from three--well, four--factors.
First, when I find a complex topic I often explore it at great length. Sometimes I feel a bit like Juanita Brooks, who was so intrigued by the legacy of MMM she saw and heard around her that she dove in and became an expert.
Second, I've seen the cost in my extended family and among some of our older friends. As I think you know, the type of missionary chosen to serve in places with difficult languages is quite specific, so after returning to the States they tend to clump together at universities and in professions. As a result, I've been around RMs from that era for a very long time.
The trickiest part is getting those RMs to open up since the experiences were so harmful and speaking frankly often perpetuates the estrangement. I've found that if one or two of the RMs vouch for you and you express quiet compassion, a subset of others will also begin to tell their stories. That is clearly the case here on RfM, where people have recalled their experiences to hundreds or thousands more anonymous posters than they have to actual friends and family.
The third factor is my affection for Japan. My work has taken me to many, many countries for short and long periods, fortuitously and fortunately including Japan. All countries are unique, but Japan is unique in unique ways and degrees. The contrast between Japan and the US, between Japan and Mormonism, is a remarkably rich cultural vein to explore. Those differences played a role in the Groberg-Kikuchi debacle since 1980 Japanese were attracted to the myth of America and value/d personal relationships very highly. Those traits opened the door to the TSM experiment, and disillusionment with Mormon perfidy closed it--to the detriment of the LDS church and, to a lesser extent, the United States.
Second Third, learning about TSM helped me disentangle myself from Mormonism. I saw the suffering and realized that the church didn't give a tinker's dam for the missionaries, their childhood families, their marital families, their children. It took me far longer than it should have to realize how cynical and evil the church is, and Groberg/Kikuchi's victims unwittingly helped me in that process.
At this point I just want that episode in Mormon and Japanese history recorded so it will be harder for evil people to do similar things in the future. And I want a record in place as a memorial to the suffering of those thousands of naive, well-meaning young people who were so badly abused.