The Rev. Frank Graham email fiasco - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

MikeWaters · 10-21-2005, 05:31 AM

Most of us have received a copy of the email that purports Rev. Graham complimented the LDS church for its hurricane efforts.

It is a hoax. That has spread like wildfire through the LDS community. Why?

For a couple reasons.

1) it serves our need to feel acknoweldged and validated by outside sources.

2) it serves our need to feel truer and better than other churches, in this case by a respected non-LDS church authority no less.

This sort of pride is very sad. I've commented on this notion several times. That we are the "best church" due to organizing volunteers some 4 weeks after Katrina.......

Are we now officially to the fourth generation since the Saints arrived in Salt Lake. Are we entering a period of pride and decline? Sometimes I wonder...

Parrot Head · 10-21-2005, 08:14 AM

I must say I haven't seen this email at all. That has made me sit here and think some about those with whom I associate electronically and they come down to:

Non-members
Members on a casual basis that thankfully only send me the annoying monthly EQ newsletter
Members that hate being bothered by email forwards even moreso than I do.

I am grateful for these levels of digital dialogue. I can't believe people still pass along urban legend emails like it came from Walter Kronkite's lips. I started looking up stuff on Snopes.com when I'd get one of those emails ("Bill Gates will give you $50 if you pass this along....") and then sending the link back to the person. If they persisted, I hit Reply All with the Snopes link and that ended that.

I'll have to see if I can post one of our EQ newsletters too. It comes with this watermark of Christ that really doesn't put me in the right mood. I'm just not big on forced sentiment, I guess.

UteStar · 10-21-2005, 04:28 PM

Mike and grapevine (you are in a lofty position Mike to be mentioned in the same breath as grape)...you are right. It always makes me smile when members of the church get so excited that someone said something nice about the church. "Wow, Steve is a hard core Catholic, but he said that Mormons are nice people...isn't that amazing and great?"

We are a peculiar people and we like being accepted. Mormons feel that we are constantly persecuted, even over 150 years after Joseph Smith. Anytime something is said about Mormons, we became defensive...but if that comment is actually complimentary, we nearly wet ourselves in excitement that a nonMember thinks positive things about us. Its kind of funny.

10-21-2005, 05:31 AM	#1
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	The Rev. Frank Graham email fiasco Most of us have received a copy of the email that purports Rev. Graham complimented the LDS church for its hurricane efforts. It is a hoax. That has spread like wildfire through the LDS community. Why? For a couple reasons. 1) it serves our need to feel acknoweldged and validated by outside sources. 2) it serves our need to feel truer and better than other churches, in this case by a respected non-LDS church authority no less. This sort of pride is very sad. I've commented on this notion several times. That we are the "best church" due to organizing volunteers some 4 weeks after Katrina....... Are we now officially to the fourth generation since the Saints arrived in Salt Lake. Are we entering a period of pride and decline? Sometimes I wonder...

10-21-2005, 08:14 AM	#2
Parrot Head Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 763	I must say I haven't seen this email at all. That has made me sit here and think some about those with whom I associate electronically and they come down to: Non-members Members on a casual basis that thankfully only send me the annoying monthly EQ newsletter Members that hate being bothered by email forwards even moreso than I do. I am grateful for these levels of digital dialogue. I can't believe people still pass along urban legend emails like it came from Walter Kronkite's lips. I started looking up stuff on Snopes.com when I'd get one of those emails ("Bill Gates will give you $50 if you pass this along....") and then sending the link back to the person. If they persisted, I hit Reply All with the Snopes link and that ended that. I'll have to see if I can post one of our EQ newsletters too. It comes with this watermark of Christ that really doesn't put me in the right mood. I'm just not big on forced sentiment, I guess.

10-21-2005, 04:28 PM	#3
UteStar Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,817	Mike and grapevine (you are in a lofty position Mike to be mentioned in the same breath as grape)...you are right. It always makes me smile when members of the church get so excited that someone said something nice about the church. "Wow, Steve is a hard core Catholic, but he said that Mormons are nice people...isn't that amazing and great?" We are a peculiar people and we like being accepted. Mormons feel that we are constantly persecuted, even over 150 years after Joseph Smith. Anytime something is said about Mormons, we became defensive...but if that comment is actually complimentary, we nearly wet ourselves in excitement that a nonMember thinks positive things about us. Its kind of funny.