Salt Lake Tribune: Prop 8 has become a PR "fiasco" for Mormons

[Are_grits_groceries]

When your biggest negatives are that people think you're pushy, rich, secretive, weird, and hell-bent on imposing your seemingly-cultish way of life on them, the last thing you should do is use gobs of money to force your views on millions of others. It's not clear what the Mormons were thinking, but in the process, they may have made a few friends on the religious right - friends who still think the Mormons are a cult, mind you (even the Mormon's evangelical "allies" have this to say about them, "Our theological differences with Mormonism are, frankly, unbridgeable") - but they've just convinced millions of other Americans that they're hateful heavy-handed bigots.
<snip>
Although they live a continent away from California, LDS Church members Gregory and JaLynn Prince, of Washington, D.C., still have felt the backlash from their church's involvement in the traditional marriage initiative known as Proposition 8.

Their daughter, Lauren, a Boston University student, has lost friends over the issue, while their son, an LDS missionary in San Bernardino, Calif., has had a disproportionate number of potential converts cancel appointments.

About two weeks ago, during a first-ever class on Mormonism at Wesley Theological Seminary, where the Princes have built bridges for years, students pointedly asked them: "What was your church thinking?"
<snip>
In some minds, the so-called "Mormon moment" heralded at the start of 2008 has stopped short.
<snip>

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/prop-8-has-become-pr-disaster-for.html

Surprise!!!! Dumbshits.........

[closeupready]

1. This kind of controversy will not serve the LDS well in finding converts in third world countries

as they have done over the last 50 years. Governments will disapprove of their efforts, you just wait and see.

[progressoid]

26. I doubt third world countries are going to hear much about this.

And if they're gullible enough to fall for the Joseph Smith line of bullshit, opposing gay rights would be an easy sell as well.

[closeupready]

27. If they have access to the internet, they certainly will be aware of the controversy.

n/t

[Ian David]

2. Fucking Mormo-fascists.

[KansDem]

3. Well, the only difference between "Mormon" and "Moron" is an upside-down "W"

I not quite sure what that means, but think it might be significant...

[drm604]

14. Deep...

:rofl:

[Ian David]

4. We just need to keep beating this white salamander to death until Romney runs for President in 2012.

THAT is part of the reason they pulled this shit in the first place.

[TheWraith]

5. No shit.

The LDSC is making me, for one, feel less and less guilty over the fact that we conducted atmospheric nuclear tests upwind of them.

[GodlessBiker]

7. Maybe their complete and utter idiocy is the result of those tests.

[TheWraith]

11. I doubt it. Idaho and Wyoming share the same degree of stupid.

Along with Oklahoma.

[DarleenMB]

13. yeah. You should try living here

Wyoming that is.

:scared:

[tavalon]

12. Well, we also did it upwind from me too and I was never a mormon.

[FLAprogressive]

6. While I definitely despise the church for their support of Prop H8....

...not all Mormons are bad. Look at Tom Udall...solid pro-gay rights progressive. He's a Mormon.

[GodlessBiker]

8. Eh. The exception that proves the rule.

[TlalocW]

9. Poor Mormons can't catch a break

First it was the rantings of a known prevaricator named Joseph Smith trying to start a religion that turned them off.

Then it was his marrying multiple wives (including some women already married) and liking them a bit too young that got others mad.

Converting already dead people to Mormonism got a few more people angry.

Then just to add a little bit of personal touch in annoying the relatively small group of people who don't already look at them sideways, they send teenagers to knock on your doors on early Saturday mornings.

And while it's okay to consider the above to (rightly, in my opinion) dismiss them as one of the most successful cults ever, it still didn't give the right to people who didn't like them to persecute and kill their leader. However, we can stand up and tell them that after all the dumb things their religion believes in combined with all the past and current persecution they've gotten, that they're still assholes for trying to dictate how people outside their belief system should live and marry.

TlalocW

[roguevalley]

10. blogs also write that part of the problem with the evangelicals and

the Mormons is that the Mormons, apparently, believe Jesus married his mother and he's either Satan or his brother.

[Sheepshank]

15. one decent descendant

Steven Young....No on prop 8 posters in his yard.

[BrotherBuzz]

18. The murder of Parley P. Pratt didn't justify the LDS leaders sanctioning....

The Mountain Meadows massacre and the ensuing coverup, either.

[AlCzervik]

16. Hello Actions meet consequences.

[bemildred]

17. And they spent a truckload of money to do it too ...

:rofl::rofl:

[Mari333]

19. what did they expect? point....

counterpoint:

[Zhade]

20. Good. Bigotry should always be met with public shaming.

Fuck them (the vast majority that supported H8, I mean, not the tiny minority that mistakenly think their cult is a good thing but are otherwise decent people).

[WindRiverMan]

21. Personally I think that their tax empt status needs to go bye bye

When a Church deliberately inserts itself into a political process, and not just stating the Church's position, but actually funding and pushing legislation, it is now a political player and not a Church.

Time to Tax the LDS.

[Wednesdays]

22. Is it just all about "PR"?

What about "doing the right thing?" :nopity:

[RufusTFirefly]

28. My thinking exactly!! It's appalling that their problem is framed as one of "PR" not of "hate"

This is the same sickening way that many corporations work.

If your product is poisoning people, don't fix it: Just run feel-good ads that explain what a sentimental good citizen you are. Then keep on poisoning people as usual.

PR is almost always more cost-effective than "doing the right thing."

[nichomachus]

23. This is why I've been suggesting

that instead of boycotts, which rarely work anyway, young people who object to Prop 8 should start dressing like Mormon missionary boys. It's not hard -- white shirt, black pants and shoes, tie, satchel, and a little name tag -- which can say anything you want. Then, go out, hang out in bars, smoke (if they want), make out in public.

The clean-cut missionary boy is the most visible face of the Mormon Church. It is their "brand." They have spent a lot of time, money, and effort in building this "brand." So, the best way to retaliate is to ruin their brand. All that time, money, and effort down the toilet.

It would be so much more effective in getting the church's attention than boycotting a diner in Fresno.

[TexasObserver]

24. The LDS church as tried so hard to hide its ugly side.

They hate it when the public gets a really good look at the church's inherent bigotry.

[mondo joe]

25. As someone who works in a PR related field, I would say the problem is that their PR reflects

what they really are.

You can't expect PR and who you really are to not overlap.