Sandy, is it that your Mormon victim card requires you to ride the lightening in order for you to feel fulfilled? This is becoming an interesting thread just to see how far Jim will let you hang yourself before you ride the lightening! Do you really believe you’re a good representation of what it means to be LDS?
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Speaking from my experience as a Mormon, that is part of it. There is a feeling that if someone doesn’t accept Mormonism is valid, then they don’t accept YOU. It becomes personal.
We see it often, that if you speak against Mormon theology or history, you are accused of hating or attacking individual Mormons. There is such identity with Mormonism that the individual often gets lost.
Because of this strong group identification, there is a tendency to either dismiss as not valid those who don’t speak of Mormonism in glowing terms, or to push them, hoping they will give up, go away or in this case, banish you (via zot). Mormons automatically turn this around to convince themselves that because they are ‘hated’ (or zotted) that it MUST be because the person hates Mormons individually and that “PROVES” (reinforces their view) that Mormonism is the ‘one true church’.
This martyr complex is part of the constant brainwashing that goes on in Mormonism. The members are told constantly that they will be persecuted, hated, and despised because only they have the ‘true gospel’ of Mormonism. So, by pushing people (like Sandy is trying to do with JR) into something like a zot, will only serve to reinforce her Mormon faith.
Sandy has shown her allegiance to the conservative movement in the past, however this time she is vocal about supporting Mitt Romney. This is identity politics and very common in Mormonism especially. It also gets back to what I said above about Mormon group identity and an inability to separate Mormonism from the individual. Sandy (and others) assume we hate Mitt Romney BECAUSE he is Mormon, possibly because that is the reason she supports him. It is difficult for Mormons to separate Mormonism and the individual, thus the accusation that JR is a ‘fair weather friend’.
I’m pretty sure Sandy cannot separate politics from religious identity either. If you hate Mitt, you must hate him because he is Mormon...so you (in the Mormon mindset) are not be able to support Mormons as conservatives while not considering them Christians. In Mormonism, it is all one thing.
To answer your question, MHG, yes...in my experience as a Mormon it would be considered a good representation what it means to be LDS because they believe that if they are ‘persecuted’ (even if it is because of their own doing - just like Joseph Smith), then they are only being ‘persecuted’ because they are faithful Mormons. Zotting Sandy would be a badge of honor for her, a way of her being able to say she was right about her accusations. For that reason alone, I hope JR lets her stay. Don’t feed the Beast (Mormonism).