I remember I was a child and I went to listen to the area authorities come and speak at the T&M at UNLV. I sat like many in the not so packed arena and listened to the authority talk about how those in the generation ahead of me (those just getting out of school and into their career) should not prepare for the saviors return. What he meant by this was covered by a supposed conversation he had with an unnamed couple. It was served very Paul H Dunn-like to the audience of Vegans.
He explained that we were to go about our lives and build wealth, not being poor white trash essentially. There was more to the speech but this was his starting point. I thought it staring opposite to what I was taught. What it taught me then and later was that there were those who differentiated Mormonism from Mormonism.
I was taught by my bats*** insane first companion on my mission that there were those who preached the wrong kind of Mormonism/Mormonism, recognizing that there were the tales whispered to strengthen Mormonism and there were battles fought over Mormonism. Folkways, language differentiation and taboo behaviors are several examples of what is found in the whisper campaign constantly abrew in knitting circles, occasional firesides and odd little classroom discussions involving dead grandmothers appearing in dreams. This behavior differentiation tears at the defenses of impressionable children and teens. If the parents and teachers were wrong, life's pretty messed up and hitting rock bottom is the only thing that makes any sense. This is an extreme case of bad Mormonism. Most of the good Mormonism is in recycled cotton candy fluff produced by Christian whispering campaigns. It is dressed up and given a Mormon spin and set loose into the susceptible minds of Mormonism, no way for them to kick off a bad destructive Meme. "Mormonism" is the informal nature of Mormonism
The brand known as Mormonism on the other hand is the knowledge every LDS temple recommend carrying member "knows". It is the hard speech against those of non-white descent and it is the concept of Mormon "atonement". Consisting entirely of the scriptures and other Canon such as satellite broadcasts, church funded institutions and marketing material. Its Missionary pamphlets, temple rituals and Missionary discussions. Its the core beliefs within Mormonism that enforces Mormonism and vice versa but in more limited respects. It is LDS Formality.
This bifurcation of the LDS cultural structure can help us see reasoning behind the behavior among the LDS GA's, the perfect storm of a multi-level marketing structured private equity firm gone Enron, for over a century and a half span of time. Well that is if Kenneth Lay was a bigamist who tried to skip to Canada when the Kirtland economy blew up via bank fraud.
In closing my Brothers and Sisters, fellow gods and goddesses as witnesses here today I submit this concept of Mormon cultural bifurcation and enforcement. Tear it apart folks.
Shot in the dark:
Were there any others who remember this speech given in Vegas during the late eighties/early nineties?