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| While this was on, what did you see? |
Salt Lake City, UT—Blogs, Twitter comments, Facebook
postings and other social media messages throughout this weekend revealed how
liberal and conservative Mormons alike highlighted the many “devastating missed
opportunities” yet again in this year’s General Conference.
Two of the most common “missed opportunities” according to
liberal Mormons were not having any non-Utah apostles called and “not doing
more to end the ban on facial hair.” On this first complaint, one liberal
blogger wrote that “I’m sure God knows some really great brown men who could
have been up there, but we all know that the Twelve only want their white buddies
in the club!” The twitter hashtag #blessthebeard included strings of comments
about how conference presenters or at least talks “could have brought to an end
the terrible cultural taboo against faithful facial follicles!”
Conservative Mormons also complained loudly on social media
about key chances that Church leaders missed. Facebook saw the viral spread of
an article highlighting how, “if he were here, Elder Packer would have warned
about the impending demise of the family, would have praised Kim Davis, and would
have prophesied, poetically, about how Obama is seeking to destroy the God-ordained
Constitution and the divine sanction of our automatic weapons.”
Besides these “missed opportunities,” liberals complained
about the “late timing” and “hypocrisy” of President Nelson’s talk about women
asserting their voices in the Church, while conservative Mormons, reacting to
this very emphasis on women, started an All Voices Matter campaign.
Conservatives called for more personal stories of great church leaders and less
emphasis on how they might be “fallible” or “human,” while liberals complained
about Elder Bednar’s “deification” and “circular justification” of the
prevailing “gerontocracy.” Where conservatives pointed out how hard it is to
understand the bizarre accents of so many people “who sound like foreigners,”
liberals saw a missed opportunity for talks in other languages.
Both groups also expressed dismay at members who “just pull
quotes and unthinkingly post them” or who “only find the sort of feel-good
reinforcement that they want.” Those from the left and right fear that “most
members don’t really get it” or “miss out on some very important principles” if
“all they get from Conference is renewed reassurance, rekindled faith, and a
resolve to find more joy.” Liberals and conservatives used social media to
shake their collective heads at “those people,” noting that “those people are
the real losers from this Conference’s missed opportunities!”
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