Sunday, August 26, 2012

Rock Center & Mormons

My wife and I had to stop by McDonald's in Provo the other day to get on the internet to remind ourselves where Home Depot was so we could buy four cinder blocks to prop up our daughter's bed in her student apartment for extra storage space. When we got to Home Depot, they were almost all gone. One would think the Provo store would realize there is a run on cinder blocks the end of every August so they could stock up. It's one of those odd Mormon practices NBC missed in their reporting the other night.

While in McDonald's, I couldn't help but overhear two local men rather loudly expressing their view of what a disgusting program the "most-liberal" NBC had put on. That was one of several indicators that they were locals of Utah County. For my part, I have no interest in nit-picking NBC on some reporting that in instances was every bit as weird as we Mormons.

In no way do I wish to defend NBC on their program either. I didn't watch it live but I think I caught most of it on video segments from their website. The annoyances with TV reporting are just a fact of life and we have to get over it. Anyone should understand who has had any dealing with the press - made up of actual human beings just like the rest of us, even Mormons.

Some years ago in a professional context totally unrelated to my religious affiliation, I was misquoted in the newspaper. A reporter had called to ask about some allegations regarding a client agency. I confirmed that there were allegations that were being properly investigated and stated that I would comment no further. Maybe you see this coming, but when published, the article had me by name as a government attorney who had "confirmed the allegations." At least they printed a correction when I complained. My boss just laughed.

My point is, thanks to the candidacy of Mitt Romney (not exactly my preferred representative of "all things Mormon") we are going to have to grow a thicker skin. We can make corrections when we can and laugh off the rest. Umbrage doesn't get us very far.

Of course we can always self-express and self-publish these days. Welcome to blogging.

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