Mormon Mentality - Thoughts and Asides by Peculiar People

By bfwebster

Jul. 6th, 2010 at 11:11 pm

O my beloved son, how can a people like this, that are without civilization — (And only a few years have passed away, and they were a civil and a delightsome people) — But O my son, how can a people like this, whose delight is in so much abomination— How can we expect that God will stay his hand in judgment against us? . . .

And now, my son, I dwell no longer upon this horrible scene. Behold, thou knowest the wickedness of this people; thou knowest that they are without principle, and past feeling; and their wickedness doth exceed that of the Lamanites. Behold, my son, I cannot recommend them unto God lest he should smite me. — Moroni 9:11-14, 20-21

This passage came to mind (semi-humorously, semi-seriously) while looking at the magazines and tabloids at the checkout stand at the grocery store this afternoon. Comments? ..bruce..

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1. MCQ

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 12:32am

If the magazines induce that reaction, you should check out this thing called “the internet.” It’s crazy the stuff that’s on there! Al Gore should be ashamed.

2. a random John

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 9:49am

…at least I’m enjoying the ride…

3. Living in zion

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 10:30am

Hey! Don’t be dissin’ the only thing I look forward to at the grocery store. I’m the one who looks for the longest line, behind the lady with 2 carts piled high with crap that has no price tag, just so I have time to thoroughly peruse all the celebrity mags.

Of course I would never, ever buy them. They are all trash. But there is nothing that raises my self-esteem faster on a day that I feel fat and frumpy than reading about the stupid things my celebrity friends said/did/wore that week. I may not be beautiful or popular, but at least I didn’t….. (insert celebrity photo here).

It is good for the soul, and I recommend it.

4. bfwebster

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 11:23am

#3: Which points out the upside of the tabloids: they should cure us of any lingering desire or temptation to be ‘famous’. I’m happy to be comfortably obscure.

5. bbell

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 11:44am

You mean the headlines in these magazines is not how people should behave? That celebrity is in fact not good for you?

6. annegb

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 11:53am

I’ve bought National Enquirer. Mostly when I’m traveling—only a few times. As I recall, a few times it was to see what celebrities look like without makeup. I ALWAYS look at the front page—ever since Bruce Springsteen cheated on Julianne Phillips and Enquirer said it first and I was bummed out about it. Haven’t there always been magazines like that?

But you know, Bruce, you hit on a something insightful. I probably do a lot of deep thinking (Enquirer aside) in that period of time standing in checkout lines. I love to watch people and sometimes insight hits. Sometimes I’ll see somebody I know—or used to know—and consider their appearance. Not attractiveness or dress, but demeanor–and say a quick prayer. I mean, you can do a lot of deep pondering in the checkout line.

Celebrity watching via People magazine is my guilty pleasure. Of course, I have no clue who a lot of the new young celebrities are these days. But it’s true, it’s a flaw.

7. John Mansfield

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 12:22pm

To protect my purity I used to focus on the goofy stuff like Elvis sightings and aliens visiting the First Lady. Alas, Satan is a wily opponent, so he stopped printing World Weekly News. Without Bat Boy and the World’s Fattest Cat to save me, I’m stuck with adulterous celebrities in bikinis.

8. Bookslinger

Wed, Jul 7, 2010 @ 11:46pm

Oh my heck. Real life is 10 times worse than the tabloids. If middle-class america knew what street cops see every day, there’d be a revolution in this country.

To see REAL people, go to http://www.peopleofwalmart.com. There’s more of “them” (“scare”-quotes intentional) than of us “normal” folks.

Anngb: you are SO normal compared to the average screwed-up American. Man, at times, I think the people of http://www.peopleofwalmart.com make Dan-the-democrat look normal. Dan can at least write a coherent sentence.

9. bfwebster

Fri, Jul 9, 2010 @ 2:13pm

Ah, Weekly World News. It was my favorite of all the tabloids, since everything was pretty much made up. Back during my last software startup (Pages Software, 1990-1995), I’d regularly bring copies in to work, and they’d get passed around the engineering and QA departments.