Persecution complex

[BoylenOver]

It's my mistake for using CB as a representation of LDS/Utah culture, but man, especially with this Big Love controversy right now, it feels like there's a major persecution complex.

It seems like it manifests itself in other aspects (sports, whether it's BYU itself or the plight of non-BCS teams in general; and politics, where words like "bias" and "conspiracy" are constantly thrown out in describing the media) but it feels like it's primarily a religious issue. Which is strange to me, because the LDS church has always been the big establishment looming over everything I did growing up, and it's caused a moderate amount of dissonance to see vestiges of littleman syndrome among LDS members.

My intent isn't to accuse or belittle, because I know my Baptist church has passively adopted an "us-against-the-world" mentality, but it seems like it's on a much smaller scale. And it's an effective battle call to pit yourself against the media.

Am I off-base on this one? Is this just a statement of my point-of-view that I'm not noticing this among liberal, nonreligious Ute fans (not necessarily all three)?

[KillerDog]

It's my mistake for using CB as a representation of LDS/Utah culture, but man, especially with this Big Love controversy right now, it feels like there's a major persecution complex.

It seems like it manifests itself in other aspects (sports, whether it's BYU itself or the plight of non-BCS teams in general; and politics, where words like "bias" and "conspiracy" are constantly thrown out in describing the media) but it feels like it's primarily a religious issue. Which is strange to me, because the LDS church has always been the big establishment looming over everything I did growing up, and it's caused a moderate amount of dissonance to see vestiges of littleman syndrome among LDS members.

My intent isn't to accuse or belittle, because I know my Baptist church has passively adopted an "us-against-the-world" mentality, but it seems like it's on a much smaller scale. And it's an effective battle call to pit yourself against the media.

Am I off-base on this one? Is this just a statement of my point-of-view that I'm not noticing this among liberal, nonreligious Ute fans (not necessarily all three)?

I have to say, I've heard a very strong "us-against-the-world" mentality from the liberal, non-LDS, transplants in my area for the last 8 years. Oh, they are also all Ute fans too...if they like sports at all.

[BoylenOver]

I have to say, I've heard a very strong "us-against-the-world" mentality from the liberal, non-LDS, transplants in my area for the last 8 years. Oh, they are also all Ute fans too...if they like sports at all.

Regardless of who it is, it's so narcissistic. Non-mormons in Utah who feel persecuted are idiots, and the mullah mormons who feel persecuted are idiots.
There are millions of people that agree with you, and countless millions more who could care less who you are or what you do (or don't) believe in.

[FMCoug]

Mormons have a persecution complex the size of Mt. Timpanogos.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Mormons have a persecution complex the size of Mt. Timpanogos.

No we don't, and frankly I'm tired of the government, Hollywood liberals, drunken Ute fans, the ACLU, the MSM, SeattleUte, gays, and evangelicals, just to mention a few, constantly harassing us.

[YOhio]

Mormons have a persecution complex the size of Mt. Timpanogos.

I just noticed that your avatar is wearing a cross. Do you think that's appropriate for an LDS-themed message board?

[creekster]

I just noticed that your avatar is wearing a cross. Do you think that's appropriate for an LDS-themed message board?

It's not just LDS themed, we have Utes here too.

[FMCoug]

I just noticed that your avatar is wearing a cross. Do you think that's appropriate for an LDS-themed message board?

You're right of course. I changed it to a more LDS appropriate image.

[Clark Addison]

LDS certainly have a huge persecution complex, but that still doesn't mean that CB (or CUF for that matter) is a good represntative sample of LDS thought.

[scottie]

Farr West teen finalist for Dallas Cowboys Cheerleading

“I think people from Utah kinda get overlooked,” she said. “(Judges) don’t expect big things to come out of Utah because it’s not a big city kind of place to live. When they found out I was from Utah they were kind of like, ‘Oh, sure, whatever.’ After I danced they wanted to know a little bit more about where we come from and what goes on at home.

“They think it’s pretty interesting,” she added. “They do know about it and I think it kind of captivated them a little bit — they’re interested in the religion.”

[TripletDaddy]

the cougarette coach recently said that the reason BYU wins the dance competitions is because they dress more modestly than the other teams.

[Solon]

I thought this thread was as good of a place as any, although this article isn't focused on Mormons in particular.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33463436

BBC Magazine has an interesting opinion/analysis on why religious opposition to gay marriage has been so fierce. I'm not sure I am completely on board with all of the ideas, but this write-up was the most thoughtful and intriguing I have come across. I bears (re-)reading.

Some of the highlights

One of the strangest consequences of the recent Supreme Court decision here in the US - the one that made marriage between people of the same sex legal in all 50 states - is the amazing persecution mania it has engendered among religious people who don't agree with it. They don't just disagree with the decision, as of course they would. They feel threatened by it. . . . They feel victims of a form of secular martyrdom that could easily bleed over into the real thing.


It's hard to know why. No church has been closed, no temple shuttered, no sermon suspended. No-one who thinks that gay marriage is an abomination has been kidnapped and thrust, chained and dressed in leather, into the depths of a bar on Christopher Street. If you run a business that is open to the public, like a wedding caterer, then it does seem that you may have to cater for gay marriages along with straight, but that was a civil rights battle fought and won at the lunch counters of the American South 50 years ago. If you are open to the public, then you are open to the public, and have to take the public as it is, multi-coloured and many-sided and oddly angled.

all such "slippery slope" arguments are silly, because all social life takes place on a slippery slope. Once we have banned walking across the street when the red light is on, what is there to prevent us from imprisoning all pedestrians?

No, what the opponents of gay marriage really cannot stand, I realise as I read them, is being criticised in the same spirit as they choose to criticise their opponents - not as holding a morality that might be too stringent to be obeyed, but holding a morality that was never really moral at all. . . . The only alternatives they can recognise as real are either power or persecution. Either you are the magistrate making rules, or else you are the martyr being sacrificed to them. This love of authority, and panic at its absence, is perhaps their central shaping conviction.

One of his most interesting points, almost made in passing, is that legalizing gay marriage was, in fact, an "essentially conservative decision." There is real merit in that thought.