Sunday in Outer Blogness: Other People’s Opinions Edition!
This week’s journey through Mormonism covered the ground of caring or not about others’ opinions and possible reactions. Sometimes it’s fun to make a big stink and a smackdown. And Simply Sarah and Andrew S are simply examining and expressing their own place in the X-Mormon journey.
Some nevermos get into the game: curious about Mormonism (or just having fun with Mormons).
In parenting: What do you think of making kids go to church? Who would you want giving advice to your kids: Dan Savage or Maggie Gallagher? A Mormon therapist or MoHoHawaii? President Paternoster perhaps? See also a couple of father-son chats.
There were some interesting discussions about labels this week, including a multi–blog discussion of the enigma that is feminist Mormon housewives. In other gender news, a fascinating update from the Neolithic, Buffy and Edward have some competition (and it’s not Tinkerbell), and some discussion of Mormon women’s access to the “blessings of the priesthood.” A former NOM organizer now supports marriage equality (but not everyone is making similar progress).
So, what’s up with the US congress? And other government/money stuff? Can things get worse? At least Glenn Beck bottomed out, so maybe that’s a good sign. (And he’s not the only one leaving Fox.)
And let’s close with some stories. an amusing personal anecdote, some interesting re-readings of familiar stories, and a fun alternate reality! Have a great week!
I don’t always comment on these weekend roundups but I almost always read them. Just wanted to thank you guys for putting these together. I’ve found many cool blogs here that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
Thanks! I have a lot of fun putting it together each week, and I’m glad when people enjoy it! 😀
Oh my goodness, thanks for featuring my post about the Supernatural Stalking Posse! I hope to the next portion up tomorrow. :B
As always, a great selection from around the web.
I read the SiOB post every week. Just wanted to thank you, Chanson, for collecting these links so thoroughly and reliably!
So Maggie thinks gay men aren’t supposed to opine about women because they don’t know anything about them. (Apparently the only way you learn about people in Maggie’s world is to have sex with them.) But it’s perfectly OK for celibate clergy to preach about sex, marriage, procreation and the like? What the….?
Speaking of other people’s opinions, does anybody have a take on this latest from Joanna Brooks over at RD? I’m supposed to be on blog holiday, but seems like maybe this one merits breaking my vow of silence. Edit: Never mind. The U. of Maine paper ran a worthy piece that covers the whys of Fred’s campaign.
Chino — I saw your link over on the reddit, but I didn’t feel I knew enough about the situation to comment on how/whether she’s misrepresenting the campaign. Give me a minute to read your second link.
MoHoHawaii — Thanks I’m glad you like it!
Buffy — Yes, Dan Savage made that same point about celibate priests being at least as unqualified to be giving sex advice to women. Very apt! 😀
Chino — OK, I’m ready with my questions/impressions, first the one hand:
* Reagan is Karger’s hero? OK, that doesn’t impress me.
* Did he seriously do those Willy Horton ads? Does he have an explanation for that?
On the other hand:
* I am happy to see someone on the Republican side who is challenging Obama on reality-based issues. I’ve repeatedly stated that it would be helpful to see the “loyal opposition” talking about real issues like habeas corpus and expanding the war(s) while the government (supposedly?) can’t afford basic services [instead of lobbing nonsense out of la-la-land like “he’s a Mulim!”].
* Re: Brooks’ point that he’s foolish to try to go after the one point where the Evangelicals and Mormons stand together (gay rights). I disagree. The political right and the religious right are not one and the same. It’s my impression that there are a lot of Republicans/former Republicans/Republican-leaning folks who are getting tired of having the religious right set the agenda.
chanson — Thanks for taking a look.
I think Fred’s work history is fair game. My understanding is that he did the oppo research that Floyd Brown took and ran with to produce the Horton ads. Ughhhhh, I know. I’ve never asked Fred about it, but if I ever get around to doing the interview I intend to post here, that’s obviously gotta be on the list of questions. If it turns out that Fred owns those ads, I’m not going to pretend otherwise. And this goes to my main complaint about Joanna’s piece: she comes out of the gate holding Fred accountable for Horton but on the backstretch she’s all about appealing for leniency where Romney and the Mormon role in Prop 8 is concerned. I don’t buy it. If Fred’s a stinker, all that tells me is that he and Romney deserve each other, not that Mitt deserves to be let off the hook.
Anyway, after dropping off my previous comment here, I noticed that Andrew Tobias (the DNC’s long-serving treasurer) had posted his quick take on Fred’s candidacy, and I think he neatly sums up its appeal to those of us who otherwise don’t have a dog in the GOP race:
This goes directly to your point about breaking the stranglehold of the religious right on the GOP. I’m a progressive Democrat who happens to think it’d be better for the country if our political opposition could improve its game. Horton was a low point in that game, but the good news is the country has improved in some ways, and running similar ads would be political suicide today. If the country now has a chance to improve in other ways — like finally removing anti-gay measures from the GOP’s GOTV toolkit — I’m gonna be on board with those efforts.
Are you sure? I don’t really have my finger on the pulse of American political TV spots, but I’m not convinced that the discourse has improved. I could easily compile a list of stuff in the public political discourse that should permanently discredit various people (but somehow doesn’t). But maybe it’s a question of whether it’s an ad explicitly produced by a campaign…?
If you’d told me in 1988 that I’d one day have the chance to help elect our first Muslim president, I would’ve laughed incredulously. It’s truly amazing how far we’ve come.
edit: that was a (bad) joke – you’re probably right the discourse has only gotten worse.
edit: but hey, it’s gratifying to see Brodie-winning journalist Joanna Brooks take the time to follow up with Fred.
Very cool! After the charges she made against him in the earlier piece, that’s great that she gave him a platform to respond!