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A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Sunday in Outer Blogness: Comedy of Errors Edition!

chanson, December 11, 2011

It’s hard to tell which story generated more satire: Rick Perry and his interesting ad (with a little help from his friends), or BYU Idaho — which may or may not have banned “skinny jeans”. Perhaps the “skinny jeans” one, since it spawned some great riffs on modesty and other dress and grooming and sex.

There were a number of interesting personal stories this week: An exit story, a home teacher reinforces home patriarchy, a tribute to an amazing Mormon mom, reminiscing about bishops’ interviews on masturbation, nightmares, and getting to know the Mormon in-laws.

This week there’s a new philosophy blog by an ex-Mormon-Fundamentalist, plus regular features such as music and the spoken turd, as well as spiritual insights from everyone’s favorite Stake President.

In discussion topics, we have why the CoJCoL-dS is like the Soviet Union and how the CoJCoL-dS will soon collapse. It may be related to the belief in infallible authority — see this many part series. The concept of pre-existence also has its sticky points, and what’s wrong with this billboard?

Sorry this is late again. It seems that if I don’t get SiOB done before dinner, then I can’t get it done before the next morning because it’s hard enough to get the kids to stay in bed at all — and it’s impossible if I’m sitting in the computer room with the light on. And this weekend was the weekend I finally got out the Christmas decorations and put them up — a task which required a day-and-a-half of cleaning the apartment first! Oh, well, some people are still posting their Thanksgiving images. It’s time for the Santa controversy, Christmas movies, and Christmas cards — here are some really funny ones!!!

Sunday in Outer Blogness

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Comments (11)

  1. Chino Blanco says:
    December 11, 2011 at 11:22 pm

    That Wheat & Tares post comparing TSCC to Animal Farm gets two thumbs up.

  2. Elaine says:
    December 11, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    Just a general comment on modesty…I always think it is so strange that modesty has come to mean “how you dress” (well, “how women dress”, mostly). When I was growing up the concept of modesty had to do with not bragging too much about what you could do and who you knew (a key idea growing up in Southern California, where it wasn’t all that unusual to know, or at least be acquainted with, Someone Famous), and nothing at all about the way anyone dressed. Then again, that was in the 1960s, and the world was different then…I really miss the Sixties sometimes.

  3. chanson says:
    December 12, 2011 at 12:38 am

    Chino — I know!! It’s funny because it’s so true.

    Elaine — Exactly. Someone else made that point earlier this year (I think it was even on one of the faithful blogs…?). Maybe I’ll try to track it down again — that was a good post.

  4. chanson says:
    December 13, 2011 at 10:20 am

    Wow, W&T just hit another one out of the park! Look at hawkgrrrl’s analysis of the “skinny jeans” controversy.

    (spoiler: BYUI employees actually did post a rule against “skinny jeans” — that’s not just something the anti-Mormon media made up. And hawkgrrrl draws an apt parallel with the official church policy ass-covering that took place after the “no cross-dressing at trunk-or-treat” flyer hit the national news.)

  5. Chino Blanco says:
    December 13, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    hawkgrrrl is a hoot. I hope she wins a few prizes as we enter the year-end awards season.

  6. Donna Banta says:
    December 13, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    Chanson, thanks so much for going the extra mile every week with this column — you are a trooper!

  7. Paul Sunstone says:
    December 13, 2011 at 9:40 pm

    I agree with Donna, Chanson. Thank you for a fine public service!

  8. chanson says:
    December 14, 2011 at 12:39 am

    Thanks Donna and Paul!! I hope people are following the links and getting to know their Outer Blogness neighbors! If any of you know of any (former)Mormon-interest blogs that aren’t listed in Outer Blogness, please tell me so I can add them.

    Also note: Our end-of-the-year awards are coming up (William Law X-Mormon of the Year and the Brodies), so be thinking of your nomination ideas!

  9. chanson says:
    December 14, 2011 at 12:43 am

    p.s. to Chino: the link is broken for “Brother Huntsman stickin’ it to Brother Romney over that 10K bet” — I’d be curious to read that one since it’s a fine time for Romney to be reminding people that for him a friendly $10K bet is like an ordinary American betting $1.

  10. Chino Blanco says:
    December 14, 2011 at 3:17 am

    Fixed!

  11. chanson says:
    December 15, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Chino — Very much appreciated — thanks!!

    In other sidebar discussions, I noticed this one too, and I have a couple of comments to add:

    According to the survey, 3.2 million Americans identified themselves as members of the LDS Church in 2008. Official LDS Church statistics indicate that number was actually about 5.9 million. The difference is attributed to the fact that the church counts total members on record, while the researchers only count those who actually identify themselves as church members.

    This has been my CoJCoL-dS pet-peeve for — like — ever, so I will say hats off to Deseret News for being willing to report about the amazing discrepancy between official-church and reality-based membership numbers. I admit I underestimated DN because it surprises me that they would print even a mention of questions about the accuracy of official membership numbers.

    In Utah, self-identified Mormon women outnumber men by a ratio of 3 to 2.

    That is the exact ratio I noticed myself! Read all about it here.

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