WHEN I was a kid my mom,used to tell me that when a baby chick was injured or sick the other chicks would peck it to death! This reminds me of how the church treats the needy. I appears to me that they love u when your healthy,employed or breedable. Once you need help..."hit the bricks". I think this is partly the reason tbm dont get it. IF theyve never had a problem, tssc LOVES EM! In short they r a religion for people who dont need one!

A fairly common phenomenon in cults. People who conform (and enthusiastically uphold official doctrine) are approved, stroked, and included. People who don't suffer, from the minor hurt of not being (or feeling) included, to ostracisizing and shunning (e.g. the Amish). In Christian Science, health and enjoying "demonstrations" of "Divine Science" over disease and other misfortunes is the coin of the realm. If you don't have testimonies of healing, or worse, have an ailment that is obviously not being healed, then people separate themselves off from you.

Fascinating metaphor, Cowardly lion. Any farm folks who know if this is really true? It's a kind of a "loss-of-faith-affirming myth," isn't it?

MY MOM was raised on a farm so Im pretty sure she knew what she was talking about. THe interesting thing to me (bare in mind Im not a politcal or sociolgy expert) Is what political style does this represent? IE; In the animal world only the lower animals eat their young. Its my understanding that communism and facizm "eliminate" their own kind. Democracy doesnt! Since Mo. claim to believe in a theogracy,what do THEY REALLY BELIEVE?!?!

My grandma raised chickens and sold their eggs. I spent many a hot summer day in her cellar helping her clean the eggs. The story that Cowardly Lion tells about chickens pecking the week or sick chicks to death is absolutely true. It is where the term "pecking order" comes from. There is a hierarchy among chickens.

I appreciate the confirmation, Releve and Cowardly Lion.

I have to run out, but my first thought: This is found where group-think and collective identity are prized over the individual's worth. As they say in Star Trek, "The needs of the group outweigh the needs of the individual." (Sorry, Trekkies, but Roddenberry was a Socialist.)

All animals pick on the weakest. Just watch wild horses or any other animal. Humans do the same.

Ever go crabbing?

If you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket, you don't have to put any kind of lid on the bucket. The crabs crawl over each other to get out. When one gets near the top of a side, another crab will grab it to climb over it and will pull it down, back into the bucket. So crabs never get out; they just keep pulling each other back down.

Mormons are crabs in a bucket.

They aren't trying to prevent the other crabs from getting out they're all trying to get back into the water where they can breathe at once. :)

I was actually talking about sand crabs that live in holes on the beach, not like big deepwater crabs. These ones scavenge for food on the beaches, so I think they can breathe just fine.

Cite: http://www.google.com/search?q=sand+crabs+in+florida&safe=active&client=firefox-a&hs=yi1&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=T8gLUpjpNIeU2QWigoGADA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1412&bih=789&surl=1

But you're right -- they aren't trying to prevent others from getting out. They're just trying to get out themselves. But still... they pull each other in.

Doesn't Mormonism use the analogy of a flock of geese flying wherever as a group or a flock??

If one goose veers off course, the rest of the "flock" honks angrily at him/her to get back on course.


Same thinking here though with the pecking of injured chicks.

Is it only Mormonism that hen-pecks their members as collective?

I don't know of a religion out there that doesn't indulge in that kind of behavior -- at least by some of the members.

I once got a bamboo cage with a live finch in it. My friends at work told me to get another finch, because the birds are gregarious. So I put a second finch in the cage, and the first one pecked it to death. What could I do? The first finch was already serving a life sentence behind (bamboo) bars, and I don't go for the death penalty.

This is hilarious. Thanks for posting.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2013 10:32PM by snowyowl.