Thursday, February 20, 2014

Does This Mean I'm A Mormon Behaving Badly?

I'm hardly the first person to write a response to the so-called Well-Behaved Mormon Woman and her bizarre rant against the movie "Frozen," but I just can't get over it. I just HATE the fact that her warped viewpoint is being tied to "Mormon" in the minds of people who see it.

She never says anything in the post to claim that her point of view is shared by the church, but just the fact that she has chosen that particular title for her blog sends a subtext. And she of all people should agree, seeing as she's so obsessed with subtext that she has decided the entire movie is "promoting the gay agenda."

I'm not writing this post to debate the morality of homosexuality, marriage equality, or anything like that. She's absolutely entitled to feel the way she feels. And normally I take a very 'live-and-let-live' approach to people who want to express their opinion. Feel what you like, share your opinion if you choose to, and accept the consequences if there's blow-back. But don't share your opinion in the name of a whole religion, because then the consequences are not yours alone. Now the rest of us are involved as well and will end up facing some of that blow-back when people get the message that Mormons are uptight, paranoid, hateful people who see gay people hiding around every corner trying to get us.

Believe me, since moving away from Utah I have spent a lot of time debunking bizarre and false ideas about Mormons. Some of them are humorous. Some are just misinformation or misperceptions. I don't mind talking about those and sharing another point of view. But this is one I wish I didn't have to deal with, because it's so judgmental and full of over-the-top conspiracy-theorist strangeness. (But don't worry, she assures us that she is "not anti-gay nor am I here to judge homosexuals not worthy of their rightful and respectful place among society." Because surely no one would get that impression from her post. :eye roll: )  

And I have already gotten questions from some of my non-Mormon friends about this whole post, since it's been trending all over the Internet. I suppose it should make me glad that they didn't just accept it and felt ok about asking me my thoughts. It gave me the chance to point them to official church statements on homosexuality, marriage, etc. and to share my personal thoughts instead of just letting WBMW speak for me. But I don't like the fact that people I know - let alone people who don't have a friendly neighborhood Mormon to talk to - might think that I share her viewpoints.

It seems to me that a truly well-behaved Mormon woman would remember the whole thing about loving your neighbor and being a kind and loving person. And that 'judge not' clause might just apply here as well. (Yes, I'm aware that I'm being judgy about WBMW and thus not following my own advice.) 

*sigh* Compared to this, I will welcome the next time someone wants to chat about Mormons and polygamy.

3 comments:

MJ said...

This is one of MANY reasons why I love you, Tara. You are awesome and so are your kids. :-)

taradon said...

Awwww! Thank you!

Mistaken said...

That was ridiculous! What's worse is the message that is being sent by her. Like you stated, now her views are being lumped with all Mormons. I hate that.