I'm thinking power first, the bagging of poontang second. But maybe he was a horny bastard from the get-go (he was a lazy-ass farm boy, remember) and we just never heard about it until he started using his Secred Smithy-Powers to get more and more of it...

Thoughts ...?

Discuss!

Wasn't his thirst for money first?

Alright just checkin :). Well after money I think he realized he had people by the balls, when they relied on him to find treasure. So in at respect power came next. After I think he realized he could use that power to get anything he wanted, that included women.

The above is just my opinion of course.

Probably power, because with the power probably came the idea of, "Hey, I can do anything I want with that power," including having his way with women.

But then I had to consider the following:

* he was himself extraordinarily horny and spent his childhood sleeping in a loft with a bunch of what turned out to be extraordinarily horny brothers, none of whom possessed particularly elevated moral standards.

* he spend his childhood in rural areas, where (let's face it) sexual knowledge is not exactly restricted to a) adults, b) humans. Little Joey could have been practicing on the local sheep from puberty, for all we know...

"Little Joey could have been practicing on the local sheep from puberty, for all we know..."

I've noticed that a number of people in the Palmrya area have very woolly hair.

continue to bow their heads and say "baa-baa-baa!"

Har!

(On the last 3 posts in this chain.)

Did he live an opulent lifestyle? Did he acquire the accroutrements of wealth? I haven't heard anything suggesting he did, but he may have. Absent some evidence that he did, I have to go with poontang.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2012 11:12AM by thingsithink.

Given the time and specific locations in which he lived, yes he did possess the accoutrements of wealth. The Mormons consolidated their collective finances wherever they went, and Smith alone was in charge of all of it. Do you think he never dipped into the till for personal gain?

Sure, he didn't have what John Jacob Astor or Cornelius Vanderbilt had, but that was simply because he couldn't resist being a small-time snake-oil salesman. Add to that the fact that he and his people had to live like gypsies because of their inability to get along with others, so no, there wasn't a lot of time to build up a huge financial empire, but Joe was in no way hurting financially. Nobody just ups and buys themselves a steam-driven paddleboat with the intent to acquire and control some portion of the Mississippi River's abundant commerce without being able to acquire some form of collateral to back it up, and Emma Smith lived QUITE comfortably until her dying day on the many lands and properties Smith signed over to her to keep out of the hands of those who wanted to ruin him.

Interesting questions.

I believe that was his intent all along even if he wasn't very successful at it until Navuoo.

The Book of Mormon was supposed to sell like hotcakes. It was a huge disappointment when it didn't. Joseph Smith tried over and over to get rich - it only started working towards the end.

It was "his town" --- property, businesses, and people. What he didn't own outright, he owned it communally as its leader.

Definitely power first. The sex was just one of many corruptions once Joseph got power.

The Book of Mormon is almost completely bereft of sexual content - unlike the Bible.

Ah! Good point, I hadn't thought of that.

I also suspect that Emma & Joseph's marriage went downhill over time. The first couple years he was probably getting plenty of nookie from her.

Those portraits of her kinna look like she was a passion-killer after the first few years. But maybe the artist got to her after Joe had lost interest in her and she was simply another unhappy & unsatisfied housewife.

I assume you've seen the quotes by Brigham Young regarding Emma's multiple attempts to poison Joseph?

And I've wished ever since that Emma had wised up and gone to a better voodoo doctor. A little trip downriver to New Orleans and that would have been the end of it!

:::snort:::

I can see it now:

Joseph was going along dictating the script when he ran into that part about going over into the lands of the Laminates after Isabel the harlot.

Translation stopped for the night and the next day Emma was too sore to walk.

where Joseph Smith tries to sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon, no doubt to those in Toronto selected by God to replace him as the one to lead the restoration.....?????

Of course not--for the money.

And where in the D&C he has the Lord announce a revelation that the Saints were to build him a grand house for "his estate" for his family from generation unto generation, or some such wording in his pretend-scripture lexicon.

The Lord is continually busy providing Brother Joseph with scrill and pootang. Especially when the new marriage settled down to monotony, oops, monogomy (as we all know they do). By that time you are supposed to have formed such a strong bond of love that you no longer need fireworks to keep the fire burning.

But that presumes one is closer to the range of normal on the sociopathy scale.


Anagrammy

Aren't they the same?

;o)

If the careers of most politicians are the model, I'd be forced to bow my head and say "yes".

I think it was poontang, starting with Em', then Fann'...and on down the line. I believe this was a primary driving force in his life. As the song goes, "Don't stop till you get enough" - that was our beloved prophet.

keep the bagging going?

If it's a matter of which came first, although not a distant first..my vote is for poontang.

Brigham Young got downright wealthy by hoarding tithing dollars for himself, according to Eliza Webb Young. I could imagine that it started with Joseph Smith, although Brigham Young perfect that.