Hell on Wheels..... & Mormonism..... Part Deux!

[_ldsfaqs]

Holy cow, this is some amazing work....

https://lrwhitney.wordpress.com/2014/01 ... ng-stupid/

Not that I agree with every single statement, but it is fully of good actual facts and truth, and the idiocy of Hell on Wheels Mormonisms portrayal.

[_Maksutov]

I would say that many if not most religions are not portrayed realistically in TV and movies. Too often the writers want to convert or attack and it turns into propaganda.

[_ldsfaqs]

While there is some truth to that, I don't think it's as true as people think.
Like I've mentioned, I watch some 40 TV Series atm (or when they are on) and nearly all including the ones that have Muslims, they ALL are portrayed positively, and only negatively in the sense of "fringe" such as the Terrorist Muslim.

The Catholic Church, it's always the nice kindly giving Wisdom Priest, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I understand some negative portral of things, even if false, because it's Fiction after all, but they really go negative and non-reality with Mormonism, especially since it's a "historical fiction" TV Series.

[_tapirrider]

While there is some truth to that, I don't think it's as true as people think.
Like I've mentioned, I watch some 40 TV Series atm (or when they are on) and nearly all including the ones that have Muslims, they ALL are portrayed positively, and only negatively in the sense of "fringe" such as the Terrorist Muslim.

The Catholic Church, it's always the nice kindly giving Wisdom Priest, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I understand some negative portral of things, even if false, because it's Fiction after all, but they really go negative and non-reality with Mormonism, especially since it's a "historical fiction" TV Series.

Your just being too sensitive and choosing to be offended.

[_Manetho]

You're just being too sensitive and choosing to be offended.

Not necessarily (though I can't believe I've partly agreed with this guy twice in one day). I haven't seen the show and can't say anything about its treatment of Mormons, but Mormons are perceived as weirder than Protestants, Catholics, and even Jews in pop culture. Because they're so concentrated in one of the more remote regions of the country, Mormons are unfamiliar to most Americans and easier to caricature as fanatical members of a loony religion.

[_tapirrider]

You're just being too sensitive and choosing to be offended.

Not necessarily (though I can't believe I've partly agreed with this guy twice in one day). I haven't seen the show and can't say anything about its treatment of Mormons, but Mormons are perceived as weirder than Protestants, Catholics, and even Jews in pop culture. Because they're so concentrated in one of the more remote regions of the country, Mormons are unfamiliar to most Americans and easier to caricature as fanatical members of a loony religion.

I disagree. I saw an episode on House where the LDS doctor ripped into House for something he said about being Mormon and it really was a very good scene. That Mormon doctor was Black, too. That is just one example, there are too many for me to even count. Also the general opinion in the United States of LDS members is of a very decent, hard working people with good moral values. FAQS seems to be looking for offense where there is none.

[_Manetho]

I disagree. I saw an episode on House where the LDS doctor ripped into House for something he said about being Mormon and it really was a very good scene. That Mormon doctor was Black, too. That is just one example, there are too many for me to even count. Also the general opinion in the United States of LDS members is of a very decent, hard working people with good moral values. FAQS seems to be looking for offense where there is none.

Well, the general perception of Mormonism is complicated. As I've said before:

I think there are two sides to public perceptions of Mormonism. One is the stereotype of general weirdness, engendered by whatever vague memories people have of hearing about polygamy, white newts, and so forth. The other side is more innocuous. It looks like whitebread 1950s naiveté. Think of the Saturday Night Live sketch from 2012 where Mitt Romney binge-drinks milk after hearing that he's lost the election. The missionaries in white shirts certainly promote that viewpoint. You probably don't like answering the door to be chatted up, and you certainly don't want to join their church, which you vaguely remember is weird. But they themselves don't look threatening at all. They're just relics of a naïve era.

But when a religion is as poorly understood as Mormonism is, it's easier to caricature it as whatever serves a writer's purpose. And it's hard to overemphasize how poorly most Americans understand Mormonism. Many of them know nothing more about it than Utah, polygamy, and the whitebread missionaries. In the same thread where I made the remark I've just quoted, Symmachus brought up an example of public ignorance that surprised even me:

As recently as last week I was asked, when I mentioned to a colleague that I was raised Mormon, if I had grown up with more than one mom in the house. Not joking. And that was in an academic context. In NYC.

I've got that sort of question my whole life. People should know better but they don't because there is no incentive to learn about Mormonism.

[_tapirrider]

Manetho, I agree with you that people should know better. I think that the majority of people do. Most of my adult life was outside of Utah. Many years ago I was teased if I had more than one wife, but I saw many attitudes change through the years. Hopefully it is getting better everywhere. Good, honest decent LDS members don't deserve to be equated with extreme groups like the FLDS. But I still think that FAQS is being too sensitive and choosing to be offended.

[_Symmachus]

I disagree. I saw an episode on House where the LDS doctor ripped into House for something he said about being Mormon and it really was a very good scene. That Mormon doctor was Black, too. That is just one example, there are too many for me to even count. Also the general opinion in the United States of LDS members is of a very decent, hard working people with good moral values. FAQS seems to be looking for offense where there is none.

The core of House's character is that he knows what other people don't know, so the writers tried to make him look like he knows something about Mormonism, the implication being that other people wouldn't. If the writers were successful, it doesn't mean that Americans in general know that much about Mormons but rather that the writers did their jobs in doing the proper research, possibly going to so far as to ask the Mormon intern on the show to check it for accuracy. Or just, you know, Google and Wikipedia or a few episodes of Big Love.

Here's Pew's take, which shows pretty dismal understanding of Mormonism, and it doesn't seem non-Mormon respondents were asked about polygamy, which is a serious flaw in their survey because, in my experience and in the LDS Church's perception, that is the one thing most people associate with Mormonism.

And "good moral values"? I guess that depends on definitions and the social environment you live in, because here in the northeast I think most people see Mormons as bigoted homophobes on par with Southern Baptists because of proposition 8 and all the press from that, as well as the fact that they are reliably the reddest state in the US—that is, unless they know any Mormons (and the northeastern sort are not as likely to be bigoted homophobes the way Utah County Mormons are, in my experience), but there are just so few around these parts.

[_tapirrider]

I disagree. I saw an episode on House where the LDS doctor ripped into House for something he said about being Mormon and it really was a very good scene. That Mormon doctor was Black, too. That is just one example, there are too many for me to even count. Also the general opinion in the United States of LDS members is of a very decent, hard working people with good moral values. FAQS seems to be looking for offense where there is none.

The core of House's character is that he knows what other people don't know, so the writers tried to make him look like he knows something about Mormonism, the implication being that other people wouldn't. If the writers were successful, it doesn't mean that Americans in general know that much about Mormons but rather that the writers did their jobs in doing the proper research, possibly going to so far as to ask the Mormon intern on the show to check it for accuracy. Or just, you know, Google and Wikipedia or a few episodes of Big Love.

Here's Pew's take, which shows pretty dismal understanding of Mormonism, and it doesn't seem non-Mormon respondents were asked about polygamy, which is a serious flaw in their survey because, in my experience and in the LDS Church's perception, that is the one thing most people associate with Mormonism.

And "good moral values"? I guess that depends on definitions and the social environment you live in, because here in the northeast I think most people see Mormons as bigoted homophobes on par with Southern Baptists because of proposition 8 and all the press from that, as well as the fact that they are reliably the reddest state in the US—that is, unless they know any Mormons (and the northeastern sort are not as likely to be bigoted homophobes the way Utah County Mormons are, in my experience), but there are just so few around these parts.

The Pew's take does show a more positive and improved perception of LDS members, which is what I have been trying to say, including good moral and family values.

FAQS looks for things to be offended by and then calls any critic of his religious doctrine a bigot. Most of the LDS members that I know are not like him. Programs about extreme groups like FLDS shouldn't cause offense to LDS members. The LDS church does shoot itself in its own foot at times, like this recent seer stone. The understanding that the Book of Mormon came from a rock in a hat isn't going to help non-LDS public think better of the LDS doctrine, but attitudes and understanding about members of the LDS faith are often separate from the doctrine and teachings. Everyone knows that polygamy is associated with Mormonism and most reasonable people also understand that members of the LDS church do not practice polygamy today. FAQS is being too sensitive if a program about an extreme group of polygamists makes him think that the LDS church is being picked on.