I was "surfing the web" (is it still called that?) and came across an article on Robert Redford and comments he made on Mormons and Mitt Romney. The article was interesting but the comments were more so. You might want to read this before the rest of my comments.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695231780,00.html
Having lived in NC my whole life, been LDS since 1976 and had family living in the west for going on 11 years, I feel I have a bit of perspective. It's real easy to make generalizations about any group of people yet for some reason our society seems to think it's acceptable to do that with Mormons. Like it's an accepted fact that "insert assumption here" is true, everybody knows that. I'd love to have a nickel for every time I've corrected a "fact". I've also been told numerous times that I was wrong. One lady staunchly told me that I believed in polygamy, forcing women to stay at home, forcing women to have large families, that I didn't believe in Christ and I wasn't saved. She had known me for 2 years and had worked closely with me the entire time. She had been around me as we talked about lessons that we had in church the Sunday before. celebrated the birth of Christ, talked about the atonement, etc. We had had religious discussions for those two years and she KNEW me. Yet, her preacher had used his sermon that Sunday to tell them how misguided those poor Mormons were and don't be fooled by them. When I told her that he was mistaken, that I had been a member for over twenty years and we did not believe in all that stuff - she told me I was wrong! Her preacher told her it was so and therefore I really did believe all that stuff! Bizarre.
There are congregations in this area that have regular "revivals" to teach about us evil or misguided cult members. Can you imagine a church having sermons on evil catholics, Jews or muslin folk? It would be termed "hate messages" and would be reviled in the community. Yet if a Mormon commits a crime, the headline reads - Mormon man commits crime. If he is of another religion it doesn't even make the article, much less the headline. This will be a huge surprise to some but Mormons are people who have free agency and make mistakes just like the rest of the world. I know folks who are on the record as being Mormon who have not stepped inside an LDS church in 20 or more years. Folks that have not actively been involved in any religious worship yet when asked their religious affiliation will put down Mormon. Just because you are a member of the church does not mean that you are active or even if you attend every Sunday, it doesn't mean you are making good choices. I've yet to understand why people can't see that you can't lump everyone into the same mold. If a catholic man beats his wife does that mean that all catholic men beat their wives? Of course not! Even if you could find 500 cases of catholic men beating their wives, you shouldn't make a blank statement like that. Just like Redford's comment that all Mormon men go on missions and are taught how to conduct themselves in a certain way, it would be foolish to say - all actors are stupid because Robert Redford makes stupid comments. (You know this isn't the first time he's gone public with an opinion that has flaws.)
From what I've experienced and heard, I would say that Utah and other heavily Mormon populated areas are much different than NC. It seems that most of the people know a few facts about Mormons without having to have a sermon preached to them to inform them of the dangerous folks. There is a different feeling entirely when I am in the west. I think of it as the LDS Bubble. There you are not likely to be one of the three LDS members in the high school or the token Mormon at work. You are not the only person in your community group that knows that you attend the temple or go to the temple instead of "You go to Temple on Wed. nights."
In Utah when I ask for directions at a grocery store, they ask me if I know where such and such meetinghouse is before figuring out how to tell me. There I have been asked if I've had a chance to go see Temple Square when a stranger finds out I'm from out of state or "Are you here for a sealing?" Not something I would hear in NC.
As for Mr. Redford. Gee, he is formally a hunk who acted a long time ago, who thinks his opinion on politics should be national news. Frankly he isn't qualified to be a political advisor for me. He is one of those celebrities that think that because we liked their work in showbiz (or sports or whatever) he or she should throw their support for such and such candidate. I saw a clip where the news group was tyring to decide if Oprah campaigning for Obama was more or less helpful than Bill campaigning for Hillary. I love Oprah's show and her other endeavors. She's a good lady that has become a great role model in many ways. She still isn't qualified to tell me who to vote for or against. As for Bill? In my opinion, he could do more good for Hillary's campaign if he supported the other guy. Not that I'd vote for Hillary either. Never liked the Clinton slime and don't want it back. ICKY
So the conclusion for me? Who cares what Redford has to say? He's wrong in his statements about the Mormons. He is no longer a hunk. He's not even pretty any more. This article gave him more credit than he deserved. If there had been no article against him, a lot of folks would never have known he was acting as a political advisor for a minute.
Out here away from the LDS Bubble I sometimes hear very nice people who are good members that sometimes fall into the same trap. I've heard it said that we (non-LDS Bubble inhabitants) don't know the proper way to "insert activity here". I've heard very nice people who are good members that are from the South or East that have made disparaging remarks about "those Westerners or Northerners" needing to go back where they came from if they couldn't adapt to the way things are done here. Once while a counselor in a presidency in a planning session for an upcoming ward activity a Western lady made the oft heard comment "Well, in my old ward . . ." and a normally polite Southern lady interrupted her and said, "Well, you're not in that ward anymore." and continued the discussion. The part that floored me was that NO ONE in the group was appalled at the rudeness exhibited by the Southern lady. True, everyone was tired of hearing how great everything was done in the west, but that was no excuse for her rudeness. When I privately brought this up in the presidency, it was discussed and it was determined that a lesson on diversity and acceptance of others was needed. In addition I was given the task of talking with the two ladies involved to soothe feathers. I did not have fun with this task. The Western lady refused to attend any more planning meetings as well as the activity. She made the statement that she hated the South and all of the rude, ignorant people. She didn't see that she was doing the same thing that had offended her! The Southern lady was miffed that she was seen as rude because everyone knew that Westerners were know-it-alls who didn't. It took a lot of work to get a group of women who really were nice people to accept each other as individuals and not as part of a region. PS- I didn't get insulted to be lumped in the group of rude, ignorant southerns. Life's too short for grudges.
I know this was a long one but I needed to talk.
No comments:
Post a Comment