Mormon Stories Inc.

[drumdude]

Mormon stories feels like it has changed to: Rich, cool, popular ultra successful Mormon people stories. Privileged Mormon stories.

It used to feel like it kind of represented a broader cross section of experiences and demographics.

Every story these days feels like, allow these popular rich people to humble brag about their success while they tell their story.

It feels like a huge letdown from where it started.

I would imagine some of it is trying to leverage influencer networks and have hip attractive people on camera. But god it feels like a long way from what made it accessible and powerful.

Just me?

EDIT: I want to make clear that MS represents an incredible amount of work and has helped me personally in more ways than I can count. I am not trying to drag on John. I am forever grateful for his contribution to my deconstruction.

I suppose I am mourning a bit, feeling like I had a place at that metaphorical table and realizing that maybe it’s just as much a cool kids club as the church in the end. Maybe I’m wrong. Difficult times and it’s hard to feel okay sometimes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comme ... he_Mormon/

John has a long response to this criticism on Reddit.

I think in the end it comes down to Mormon Stories having to stay profitable long after the zeitgeist it originated from is dead. John isn’t doing it out of altruism. He’s literally doing it to put food on the table, and that shows.

I find it quite a strong parallel to general authorities in the church. They’re similarly tied in because it’s literally feeding their families. Even if John Dehlin has nothing interesting left to do in the space (which I’ve felt for years) he has to keep grinding through to make that money.

Does anyone here find Mormon Stories relevant anymore?

[Rivendale]

Mormon stories has been around longer than any other Mormon themed podcast and I think that has propelled his relevancy or at the very least kept it above water. Age however carries the problem of expert shelf life. Many of the professional critics are dying including Coe, Palmer, Ritner and Packham. That leaves a vacuum of expertise that has changed because of the shifting doctrine/policies of the Brighamite branch. The relevancy of Mormon stories is in the name. Mormonism has a powerful silencing protocol and what it can't do is sculpt individual peoples stories when the decide to open up their grievances. However that narrative can't be sustained because social media is clobbering the church on almost every platform. It is similar to using a CB radio to compete with the internet. I honestly don't see the program continuing 5 more years at best.

[Dr Moore]

It remains highly relevant, in my opinion. It’s just high churn by nature. People need it for only so many years. Eventually it’s time to move on. John knows this.