Happy Valley Photo Essay

[_Kishkumen]

Only a quick few minutes to do this.

Calling the photo series and accompanying essay a "hit piece", tells me that the people who claim it is so, are so steeped in bias that they are unable to exercise little consideration to just what it is that they are viewing.

The photo series is obviously a collaborative work between Mr. Shumway and TBM family who gave their consent to be photographed in ordinary situations and who, no doubt, knew that his work would be published.

To say that the article and photographic images constitutes a "hit piece" is, implies that Mr. Shumway and his TBM family (who clearly have not abandoned him via his apostasy) were complicit in producing a "hit piece" with the intention of painting LDS' and the church in a less than favorable light.

Mormons generally have problems with stories about conversion away from Mormonism. This guy could never get a fair reading from a pack of apologists. They disapprove of ex-Mormons in principle, and are willing to make that disapproval personal.

[_Kishkumen]

Unfortunately, I think that is as close to an apology as you'll ever get from the guy.

Yeah, he's really just an asshole.

[_Jersey Girl]

For perhaps the first time in recorded history, Schryver has issued a public apology for an offensive statement:

I want to publicly apologize to Mr. Shumway for having initially interpreted his photo essay as an attempt to portray his own family as culturally backward and oppressed. I now understand that he merely wanted to use staged photos of his family as a vehicle to portray Mormons in general as culturally backward and oppressed.

Unfortunately, I think that is as close to an apology as you'll ever get from the guy.

Do these guys have any awareness at all what total horses asses they're making of themselves in full public view on an internationally prominent/accessible TIME owned/operated blog?

Um, no.

[_Jersey Girl]

Only a quick few minutes to do this.

Calling the photo series and accompanying essay a "hit piece", tells me that the people who claim it is so, are so steeped in bias that they are unable to exercise little consideration to just what it is that they are viewing.

The photo series is obviously a collaborative work between Mr. Shumway and TBM family who gave their consent to be photographed in ordinary situations and who, no doubt, knew that his work would be published.

To say that the article and photographic images constitutes a "hit piece" is, implies that Mr. Shumway and his TBM family (who clearly have not abandoned him via his apostasy) were complicit in producing a "hit piece" with the intention of painting LDS' and the church in a less than favorable light.

Mormons generally have problems with stories about conversion away from Mormonism. This guy could never get a fair reading from a pack of apologists. They disapprove of ex-Mormons in principle, and are willing to make that disapproval personal.

Uh yeah, and they're putting it right out there for all TIME readers/subscribers to see.

Good luck with that one!

[_MrStakhanovite]

Yup, Mormonism is one of those things that can never be understood by anyone else but the rabidly pro-church folks, every criticism laughingly fails and unless you give the church a full serviced, happy ending, textual massage, you are just an unschooled critic who doesn’t listen to classical music, have a bust of Adam Smith on your desk, and you obviously lack the devilish charm and dexterous sausage digits to pound out misquotes from everyone from Shakespeare to Camus on mass media platforms.

[_Kishkumen]

Yup, Mormonism is one of those things that can never be understood by anyone else but the rabidly pro-church folks, every criticism laughingly fails and unless you give the church a full serviced, happy ending, textual massage, you are just an unschooled critic...

That is why anthropology is a joke discipline. The best way to understand any group is by repeating their own narrative about themselves. There is nothing else worth looking at. In the famous words of Droopy, "move along; nothing to see here!"

[_Doctor Scratch]

I'm sure that one of the things that angered the Mopologists more than anything was the tidbit that got labeled "pretentious": i.e., the notion that this guy educated himself and this led to his exit from Mormonism. There is scarcely anything else that pisses them off more than that--i.e., the suggestion that well-educated people would have a hard time accepting the wackier claims of Mormonism. This, I would argue, is one of the main reasons that "Mormon Scholars Testify" exists.

[_Kishkumen]

I'm sure that one of the things that angered the Mopologists more than anything was the tidbit that got labeled "pretentious": i.e., the notion that this guy educated himself and this led to his exit from Mormonism. There is scarcely anything else that pisses them off more than that--i.e., the suggestion that well-educated people would have a hard time accepting the wackier claims of Mormonism. This, I would argue, is one of the main reasons that "Mormon Scholars Testify" exists.

Too bad that a link to MST wasn't placed in the comments instead of the putdown of "pretentious." It was a real missed opportunity. I mean, so what that educated people are statistically less likely to join and more likely to leave Mormonism. The long and short of it is that when you have the rich literary, philosophical, and scientific traditions of the world to choose from, perhaps you don't find the "one true" claim very compelling any longer. Still, there is that highly educated person here and there who will yet feel something is missing and turn to a minority faith like Mormonism to fill that need.

But why all of the putdowns? Why the defensiveness and anger? Why not just state in very calm and neutral terms, "hey, I am an educated Mormon, and my experience is different from this guy's." But no, there has to be all of this sour commentary about the guy's purportedly inept photography, captions that are somehow inaccurate for reasons few non-apologists can fathom, and the "pretentious essay." I really don't get it. More importantly, I don't see how it helps.

[_Jersey Girl]

Please, am I the only one who is simultaneously amused and saddened by this?

Look, here's the link to the front door of TIME Lightbox:

http://lightbox.time.com/

So, there you are just your average visitor, scrolling down, looking at the categories. Most of the entries have oh, 1-6 comments. You scroll to the entry in question and it has a whopping 192 comments! Wow, this entry is on fire!

So, you open the comments section and what do you see? A BYU professor hopping up and down about name-calling and insults, going one:one with every critical comment he sees, denying repeatedly that he's insulted any one much less the photographer whose photographs are "mediocre" and/or the author of the "little essay" that he found "pretentious", raving about his relationship with an anonymous poster on an Internet message board whom he himself has named his "Malevolent Stalker" and referring to the "headquarters" message board.

And you ask yourself....W.T.F.??????

[_Kishkumen]

And you ask yourself....W.T.F.??????

I know I did!