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Wow, it seems that Dr. Peterson is really cutting loose these days, making absurd claims such as that there is “no caste system” in the Church, and he even throws a GA friend under the bus. Check it out:

There is no caste system in the Church. I recall a friend of mine, now unfortunately gone, once laughingly remarking that 99.9% of the glory he received in his General Authority position came on two weekends during April and October. Other than that, he said, it was a huge amount of travel, freezing hotels with no heating and with foyers that smelled of urine (he spent several years in the former Soviet Union), and long days of counseling and meeting from morning often into the night.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... 5587096853

Huh. I guess that Russian Latter-day Saints, due to their old, communist ways, think that peeing in the chapel is socially acceptable? Is that what we’re supposed to take away from this anecdote? Regardless, I find it very interesting that DCP would reveal this GA’s shockingly condescending and dismissive attitude. I wonder who the unnamed GA is? Whoever he is, he clearly disliked the time he was forced to spend inhaling piss fumes in Russian Houses of the Lord.

You see: if there was a caste system, this fellow never would have been subjected to this kind of suffering.

I've never been to Russia but one of my law partners spent 5 years there. Seems to be an accurate description. Who would want to do that?

It's like any corporation. The low level executives go to the crap areas to pay their dues.

I thought all foyers were supposed to smell like piss.

consiglieri wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:51 am

I thought all foyers were supposed to smell like piss.

Perhaps Russian urine smells worse? Or it did for this particular GA?

Regardless, you gotta love his mojo: he’s really down for the role during the two days out of the year when the rank-and-file treat him like royalty (he even gets to sit in a velvet-lined chair!), but other than that, the job is miserable, and all this guy can think about is the cold temperature and the Russian ward houses that smell like pee.

Yep: no “caste system!” That’s why DCP and Midgley’s PhDs are completely irrelevant, right?

Other than that, he said, it was a huge amount of travel, freezing hotels with no heating and with foyers that smelled of urine (he spent several years in the former Soviet Union), and long days of counseling and meeting from morning often into the night.

I'm not sure if it matters, but there appears to be an ambiguity here.

Everyone seems to be assuming (it's a cultural thing) that "foyers" refers meeting houses.

As expressed in the quoted sentence, it seems to me more likely that it refers to hotels - i.e., hotels with no heating and with smelly foyers/lobbies.

You may be right about this.

I even mispronounced it in my head to cinch the Mormon connection.

malkie wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:34 am

As expressed in the quoted sentence, it seems to me more likely that it refers to hotels - i.e., hotels with no heating and with smelly foyers/lobbies.

Wonder if that urine smell in a Moscow hotel was due to a certain American businessman who had unusual proclivities?

It's a tough thing to make General Authorities vacation all over the world, especially where people get piss-drunk on vodka. However, with all those gold teeth to be collected, someone had to be the Moscow Mule.

malkie wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:34 am

Other than that, he said, it was a huge amount of travel, freezing hotels with no heating and with foyers that smelled of urine (he spent several years in the former Soviet Union), and long days of counseling and meeting from morning often into the night.

I'm not sure if it matters, but there appears to be an ambiguity here.

Everyone seems to be assuming (it's a cultural thing) that "foyers" refers meeting houses.

As expressed in the quoted sentence, it seems to me more likely that it refers to hotels - i.e., hotels with no heating and with smelly foyers/lobbies.

That's an interesting point, malkie, though as Consiglieri points out, "foyers" in an LDS context typically refers to the entry-room in LDS meeting houses. But could it instead refer to Soviet-era hotels? Perhaps. But it still doesn't change the basic issue here, which is that Dr. Peterson was essentially "ratting out" this General Authority, who, in his privilege, was whining about how his calling was so burdensome--and this was being said amidst a claim that there is no "caste system" in the Church no less!

I noticed that DCP has tried to backpedal:

My friend was talking about large but provincial Russian cities that had no decent hotels (by which he meant not luxurious lodgings but, for example, places with reliable plumbing). He spoke about having to step over sleeping drunks at the hotel entryways and about once spending an entire night sitting on a heating unit in a hotel room with another member of the Seventy, afraid to go to sleep lest they freeze to death.

Incidentally, my friend spoke Russian, loved Russia, adored the Russian Saints, had been professionally trained in Russian studies, and treasured the times that he was assigned to Russia. But his experience with both Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, far deeper than that of even quite adventurous tourists, had left him clear-eyed about its problems.

(Sidenote: Why didn't the GA attempt to get some help for these "drunks" who were passed out "at the hotel entryways"? He indicates that it was sometimes so cold that he and his pal had to sit on a "heating unit," and yet he just abandons these "drunks" to fend for themselves and possibly freeze to death? Perhaps the assumption was that these people were atheists or communists or both, and thus that they 'deserved it'?)

In part, I think this is just DCP's way of trying to argue that capitalism is superior to a command-style economy. The air of superiority here is unmistakable--just swap out academic accomplishments for the bits about Russia:

"Incidentally, my friend loved to go mudding, adored the working class, spoke with a "hick" accent, had done research in rural parts of the US, and really enjoyed hanging out there. But his experience in those regions--far more extensive than all but the place's own residents--had left him convinced that getting a PhD and globetrotting around the world was far superior to the hardscrabble lives that these yokel Latter-day Saints lived."

I assume he's referring to Bruce Porter.