Why are Utahns so vain?

[righteousrepublic]

Mormonism as practiced, is a prosperity gospel with a heavy dose of confirmation bias. Wealth and health are symbols of righteousness. "Obedience brings blessings," "pay your tithing on what you want to make". With few exceptions, church leaders, SP and up are disproportionately wealthy vs the average ward member. This is seen as evidence of the Lord being pleased with them. Look at the Q15. With few exceptions, they enjoy remarkable health given their age, and have considerable wealth. Even BKP who was a CES employee was reported to have millions in assets.

In Utah it's important that you buy into this idea. The ostentatious houses, boob jobs, facelifts and MLMs!

MLM's? Many Lost Members? Money Laundering Machines? Mice Leaving Mansions? Mormon's Lose Money? Meek Lowly Men?

A man turns transvestite, joins MLM, gets a facelift and loses boobs due to reckless, ostentatious behavior. Hhmmmm.

[buffalo_girl]

Is it true that in some parts of the valley, birds fly upside down?

I hadn't heard that they do...

But ~ I sincerely miss those colloquialisms once used by more humble folk with Pioneer heritage, e.g., hoovering - for hovering; barrowpit - for ditches along side country roads. Perhaps birds which hoover are flying upside down.

Wish I could recall some others. Our homes in Utah were in places where livestock and alfalfa irrigation were common. I've heard there are no places like that in SLValley or west of Provo.

Are there still crickets in Utah? On March 21, 2010, I wrote a comment on this site regarding Utah crickets. I'll post it since we are also talking about how isolation influences social norms. I apologize to those who have already read it. viewtopic.php?f=32&t=9438&p=122994&hili ... rp#p122994

"You know, I've lived in Utah. It just wasn't for me. I had a friend there who asked me if I had noticed that in Utah even the crickets chirp in unison. They do!

That isn't to say that's a bad thing; it just is.

One of my best memories of Utah was sharing a few minutes of 'spare' time away from our insane BYU academic overburden with another 'older' student . She was not LDS. She was an honors exchange student from Tel Aviv University. She told me she had never in her life had such academic stress as she was experiencing at BYU. (BYU has a way of taking the joy out of learning.) Of course, she had to sign the 'Honor Code' in order to attend.

Well, one afternoon we happened to run into each other between classes. She told me she would really like to talk for a few minutes, but she was going to have to 'sneak' off campus somewhere in order to smoke a cigarette or she was going to go nuts. She didn't want to offend me or jeopardize my standing at the school so she excused herself in order to go hide behind a grocery store dumpster just across the street from campus. I wasn't going to let this rare opportunity to visit with my friend go to waste. We walked through the grocery store, out the back door, and found a private spot behind the dumpster where she could smoke her cigarette while we talked. Magic, along with friendship, is sometimes found in unlikely places.

The entire structure of the Church will NOT fall apart when a cricket with a little different point-of-view chirps out of unison or a tone or two lower or higher from what a 'good' Utah Mormon (Latter-day Saint) cricket considers the one and only true chirp."

I know we are addressing 'new' issues influencing Latter-day Saint communities, but my premise remains the same: The LORD's Church is the tool within which we PRACTICE the Principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Applying the Gospel in our lives requires actual change in how we perceive ourselves, how we fulfill individual stewardship within the context of our LORD's Creation, and how we perceive and treat others. CHARITY is who we become through the process of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Staying on that goal is the challenge.