I remember driving by the LDS church in Grand Blanc back in 1973 when we moved to the area. I asked my parents what the Latter Day Saints Church was. My mother sniffed and stared out the window while my dad patiently explained to me the basic history of Mormons in this country. That started my interest in the history of the Saints. I am not LDS, but consider me a sympathetic ally.
The news of the attack and fire at that church in my old hometown makes me incredibly sad and incredibly angry. I am sure more news will come out, and with that there will be the usual finger pointing and mud slinging--which is even more nauseating.
I am feeling bereft and more than a little hopeless right now.
I'm wondering what this psycho fuck's mental/emotional dysfunction regarding the Mormons was about.
What I've read was that he was just a run-of-the-mill, 40 year old white guy with a wife and kid. He was a Marine Corps veteran who had seen some combat in Iraq between '04 and '08, apparently.
Maybe it wasn't anything to do with the Mormons at all. Maybe he just had some animus against religion in general.
Originally posted by JimmyB.: Don’t know for sure but it seems everyone needs medication to function today.. When I was young it was get over it and you did.
Yeah, when I was young it was "Get over it, or get your ass beat AND get over it."
Before the advent of social media, it took some effort to be a kook. You had to break out your shortwave radio, go to meetings at bookstores run by weirdos, find obscure web forums (ahem), etc. Now, it takes just as much effort to stay away from the never-ending push of social media nonsense. If you are less than perfectly mentally stable, it has got to be like having a battering ram at your door. The Charlie Kirk aftermath was a great illustration of what is going on. A lot of people were openly celebrating and confidently expounding on their reasons for celebrating, which were almost always falsehoods that had been amplified by the Internet. It takes a well-calibrated BS detector and then a lot of effort to be sure about what is true these days. Most people can't keep up with it.
Originally posted by dissimulo: Before the advent of social media, it took some effort to be a kook. You had to break out your shortwave radio, go to meetings at bookstores run by weirdos, find obscure web forums (ahem), etc. Now, it takes just as much effort to stay away from the never-ending push of social media nonsense. If you are less than perfectly mentally stable, it has got to be like having a battering ram at your door. The Charlie Kirk aftermath was a great illustration of what is going on. A lot of people were openly celebrating and confidently expounding on their reasons for celebrating, which were almost always falsehoods that had been amplified by the Internet. It takes a well-calibrated BS detector and then a lot of effort to be sure about what is true these days. Most people can't keep up with it.
Yep. I can remember the days when you MIGHT hear the kookiness peddlers on talk radio in the middle of the night, and quite often they advertised printed newsletters that you could send in for. I also remember seeing print ads for those same kinds of newsletters in the classified ads sections in the backs of magazines like Soldier of Fortune, etc.
Kookiness is definitely a lot more in your face constantly these days, *AND* it seems that the average person out there nowadays has a far lesser sense of discernment than they had 40-50 years ago.
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Saw a bit of an interview on Fox News with some city councilman in Grand Blanc and he had recently spoken to the perp.
Said the guy was on a big tirade about the LDS church not really being Christian and even further that he believed the LDS church was "the anti-Christ".
The LDS is a cult. So are the Jehovah's witnesses. The LDS puts more emphasis on the teachings of Joseph Smith and what he saw, thought or believed. Jesus is always the focus of true Christians, not some mortal man.
ETA: But I and other Christians won't be murdering people over this.
Yep. Shooting up a mainstream Christian church might be a political act. Shooting up a Mormon church anywhere but Salt Lake City is an ex-Mormon or kook-with-grudge maneuver.
The LDS is a cult. So are the Jehovah's witnesses. The LDS puts more emphasis on the teachings of Joseph Smith and what he saw, thought or believed. Jesus is always the focus of true Christians, not some mortal man.
It is a cult with a capital C. And I'm a BYU alumni BTW.
From your earliest age, it is top down mind fuck of control and reinforcement at every level... emphasizing Joe Smith as a prophet and the church being the only 'true church.' As for it being a Christian religion--it is a Christian-ish religion based on the made-up doctrines of Joe Smith and Brigham Young with the 'Doctrine and Covenants' horse shit.
The LDS is a cult. So are the Jehovah's witnesses. The LDS puts more emphasis on the teachings of Joseph Smith and what he saw, thought or believed. Jesus is always the focus of true Christians, not some mortal man.
It is a cult with a capital C. And I'm a BYU alumni BTW.
From your earliest age, it is top down mind fuck of control and reinforcement at every level... emphasizing Joe Smith as a prophet and the church being the only 'true church.' As for it being a Christian religion--it is a Christian-ish religion based on the made-up doctrines of Joe Smith and Brigham Young with the 'Doctrine and Covenants' horse shit.
They didn't educate you very well.
You *AND* all the other guys who graduated from BYU are alumni.
You, individually, are an alumnus.
And that's just for guys.
Women are alumnae.
One woman is an alumna.
And just think...... I only went to school at a little podunk institution like Mississippi State.
Why BYU? Don't tell me it was just for the cheerleaders.
There were some real hot chicks walking around that place--and whatever you hear about them being chaste... forget it. They play a man-trap game using sex to go after the guys they like. They literally throw themselves at you because they are away from home and family. The motels away from Provo and Orem are loaded with BYU couples--espeically Wendover in Nevada.
Uncle Bob's would like to apologize to the following people or groups of people who we undoubtedly have offended over the course of the past few years. If you feel you have been personally offended then take this apology to be specifically for you. Otherwise, we apologize to Jewish Mexicans, President Barack Hussein Obama Mmm Mmm Mmm a.k.a. Hopey McChangey, Catholic Priests who dork little boys, vegetarians, Fruit Loop, Atkins' Diet adherents and other fat-asses, Dennis J. Olson, Delta Lady, Joe and his Socks, paranoid persona's, space aliens, Illegal Aliens, Boy Scouts, same sex aficionados, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Canadians, ditch diggers, people who support the aforementioned, people on Prozac, Mel Gibson, Nazi Mods, Tiger Woods, motorcycle gang members, rag heads or towel heads or any other Middle Eastern personas or personae, Crotch Bombers, Britney Spears, the blind, the entire Gay and Lesbian community, Charlie Sheen, Black Panthers, NAACP, and anybody who has ever been called Lard Ass.
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