I thought it was pretty cool. However some of them I wonder about. *shrug*
Forgive me if this website has been mentioned before.
-UW Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:Despite her Mormon ethnicity
What on earth is Mormon ethnicity?!?!?
Posted by unicornwhisperer (Member # 294) on :
uh.... that is weird... Which one is that? Jewel?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Us Mormons get way too much new blood from converts and from mixed-religion marriages for us to ever become our own ethnicity.
edit: to != too
[ July 21, 2005, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Butch Cassidy was Mormon? Who knew!
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
The Killers?!
I love that band!
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Ugh. I hate that band.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
And look who's got his picture on the index for "Writers and Authors".
Good choice, seeing as he's probably the most famous one. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I didn't know the author of A Midwife's Tale was Mormon! That book is pretty popular in lay-midwifery circles. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
They have the chief of police of San Jose, but not of Dallas (who is also Mormon.)
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Do police chiefs really count as famous people?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote: Us Mormons get way too much new blood from converts and from mixed-religion marriages for us to ever become our own ethnicity.
That said, whenever I see a big-eared, red-headed, clean-shaven, goggle-eyed, lanky white kid in a button-up white shirt and dark pants, I immediately think "Mormon."
Posted by peterh (Member # 5208) on :
Tom, I resembled that remark.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I thought all Mormons were blonde.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Wow, Mormons are almost as overrepresented in Congress as Jews are [Smile]
When do we get our own global conspiracy?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:That said, whenever I see a big-eared, red-headed, clean-shaven, goggle-eyed, lanky white kid in a button-up white shirt and dark pants, I immediately think "Mormon."
Red headed? Where did you get that idea?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
It's been my personal observation that an overwhelming number of the redheads I know are also Mormon. It's not that Mormons are more likely to be redheads than blondes, but that redheads are -- IMX -- more likely to be Mormon, provided that they have a bad haircut.
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
bad haircuts are mandatory for MOST white-people-based religious denominations. Really good haircuts are too. In-between haircuts are practically non-existent in very conservative religions, or am I wrong?
mph--no, only a Utah conspiracy.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Is it really OK that they listed Elizabeth Smart?
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
I thought it was quite odd to list her under musicians, but otherwise I don't see a problem.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Also, they forgot Steve Martin.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
She is famous, and she is a Mormon.
There's no Utah conspiracy -- we're quite open with it.
I've known very few mormon red-heads in my whole life. From what Tom says, he probably knows more than I ever have. Which is weird.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Also, they forgot Steve Martin.
No, he's in the "rumored to be Mormon" section.
quote:I've known very few mormon red-heads in my whole life. From what Tom says, he probably knows more than I ever have. Which is weird.
We have two familes in our stake, each with more than 5 kids.
Maybe we're monopolizing them.
Acutally, there're a couple of families of redheads in the La Crescenta, California stake, too. I guess I've seen red-headed Mormons in about the same proportions as I see natural redheads in the general population.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I've known very few mormon red-heads in my whole life.
You haven't met my relatives.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
No I haven't.
But I've met you.
But then, the bar for me is actually fairly high to be considered a red-head. I know a lot of people that consider themselves redheads whom I don't.
Tom and I might be talking about different things.
Posted by peterh (Member # 5208) on :
funny "rumored to be mormon" story:
A good friend of mine was on a flight a month or so ago from PHX to LAX. He was sitting in first class and ended up next to Alice Cooper (who is rumored by many mormons to be one) and they chatted during the flight. It seems Alice was heading to LAX to head over to Asia or Europe for some sort of old time rockers tour.
Anyway, at the end of the flight, my friend couldn't hold back any more and so he asked, "I'm mormon and I've heard a lot of rumors that you are too. Have you ever heard that before?" Alice responded, "I've heard that before and I don't know how that started, and I'm not. But I hear Steve Martin is..."
And that was the end of the conversation.
I laugh to myself every time I think of it.
(edited for punctuation)
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
quote:Ugh. I hate that band.
I'll make note of that and play it for you when I make my way down there.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: No I haven't.
But I've met you.
But then, the bar for me is actually fairly high to be considered a red-head. I know a lot of people that consider themselves redheads whom I don't.
Tom and I might be talking about different things.
There are lots of real redheads on my mom's side of the family—her father was a redhead. Two of her three sisters are redheads and one of her two brothers is. I have probably close to a dozen redheaded cousins.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
quote:I guess I've seen red-headed Mormons in about the same proportions as I see natural redheads in the general population.
Weird.
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
quote:I guess I've seen red-headed Mormons in about the same proportions as I see natural redheads in the general population.
So, red-headed Mormons aren't natural?
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Are any Mormons natural?
(Mosiah 3:19)
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
Isn't red hair (I realize it isn't this simple) a dominant genetic trait?
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
I'm not sure...
*does the google-dance*
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
quote:Originally posted by steven: Isn't red hair (I realize it isn't this simple) a dominant genetic trait?
If it were, all redheads would have at least one redheaded parent. This is not the case.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Cool! I have two distant relatives on that list!
When the Mormons were driven out of Independance, one side of my family went to Utah and the rest sort of drifted around. My side was the one that drifted around.
Governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr of Utah and his father Jon M. Huntsman Sr of Huntsman Chemical corporation belong to the other side. (And now you know my maiden name.)
As for the redhead thing.. My grandfather and my little brother are both redheaded. If I bleach my hair, it becomes more red than blonde. Though my family is no longer mormon, we are still of "mormon stock"
Pix
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Hair color is multi-factoral, like eye color. Between incomplete dominance, multiple factors, and the random distribution of genes, redheads are not guaranteed to have either redheaded parents or children. In fact, very dark haired people and very light-haired people sometimes have red-haired children. Then there's another kind of red-headedness that does seem to be mostly dominant; a red-head of this type who marries a blond- or light-brown-haired person is fairly likely to have kids with red or at the very least reddish hair. It's very complicated.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
My wife is distantly related to the 5 Browns.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Does it bother any other LDS how mediocre this list is? Other than Uncle Orson and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I don't really see the stellar performances I expected. I'm still trying to figure out what that means.
1) Is it just because Mormons are such a small minority, so that one would not expect too much, given the relative numbers? (worlwide 11 million / 6 billion or roughly 0.2%; In US 5? million/250 million = roughly 2%) ((These are very rough guesses.))
2) Is it that the peace and contentment which the gospel brings takes the edge off artistic or literary pursuits, which seem to be enhanced somehow by pain and suffering? It's true Mormons have our share of suffering but through faith it can be channelled into exaltation rather than agony. Could it be something like that?
3) Is it that worldly ambitions lose their urgency when you have an eternal view in mind? That the LDS tend to be less of the world than others, so that the drive or urge to be famous or renowned would be lessened?
4) Is there some lack there, some force, perhaps a tendency to discourage individualism or a disapproval of outstanding performance that holds back the saints from the highest levels of achievement?
Or some other reason?
The reason this surprises me so much is that the teachings of the church seem to be most excellent for engaging all the faculties of a person toward worthy goals, or allowing all the people in a group to work together with little contention toward common achievements. The spirit which allowed a handful of Mormon Pioneers to push handcarts across the wilderness and establish a thriving garden in the desert is an incredibly powerful force. Why does that spirit not inspire similar acts today? Why are the Latter Day Saints not leaders in every field of human endeavor, given that we have such a powerful force in our hands (God's hands, really) for the direction of human efforts? Does God not wish for us to accomplish great things now? It seems to me that we're called to do more today than ever before. Are we falling short of what we could be or do?
It's true we're doing amazing things in the building up of the church, and in the transformation of individuals' and families' lives. The miracle that has happened in my life, transforming and freeing me to apply my energy to greater things, has been repeated, I'm sure, millions of times over. But why do we not see it much yet in the realm of public life? Perhaps that phase of the work is only just now beginning?
[ July 21, 2005, 06:15 PM: Message edited by: Tatiana ]
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I think one big reason is that Mormon artistic endeavors usually focus on devotional stuff. Either that or they're highly derivative—simply Mormon versions of other popular stuff. I think it's because those things are safe. If you start writing novels that are morally challenging, people start thinking you're a bad Mormon. It's a difficult balancing act.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
There are many, many Mormons who are very good at what they do, and excel in their own fields. The thing is, like most people in general, most Mormons aren't in fields that are likely to make them "famous" outside their own community. I know many people who are locally "famous" who are LDS. They just don't get much news coverage for what they do.
For that matter, neither do many people doing excellent work who are not LDS, like the people my mom works with. I think they deserve as much recognition as anyone, but they don't often get it outside their own work interactions.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jon Boy: If you start writing novels that are morally challenging, people start thinking you're a bad Mormon. It's a difficult balancing act.
I'd love to hear Uncle Orson's view of this, given that he must have quite a lot of direct experience with the situation, also Zalmoxis, Dante, and some of our other literary lights.
Are we held back by too much of a rote-learning approach to personal achievement? Too much going by the book and not enough of individuals following where the spirit guides them?
I think I've felt something like that in church callings, a feeling that there's only one right way. But perhaps it is just that I tend to get at cross purposes socially with people through my own ineptness. And perhaps there were other factors that I couldn't see.
While you can accomplish a lot of things with head-down discipline and beavering your way through, to attain the highest levels of achievement does take something more, doesn't it? Some deep love and devotion to the work, maybe, and a spirit of freedom and personal inspiration?
I'm so curious what people think about this. I have this vague feeling that there might even be some clamp holding us back, some error that if we could find the key to releasing it, we would totally soar.
[ July 21, 2005, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: Tatiana ]
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Does it bother any other LDS how mediocre this list is?
Not really. I don't think our success as the Kingdom of God will be measured by our performers.
quote: The spirit which allowed a handful of Mormon Pioneers to push handcarts across the wilderness and establish a thriving garden in the desert is an incredibly powerful force. Why does that spirit not inspire similar acts today?
Because nobody is trying to kill or druve us from our homes anymore?
Posted by not hansenj (Member # 8066) on :
As funny as the "Despite her Mormon ethnicity" thing is, I think it is actually referring to the more sociologically correct definition of ethnicity, which entails social customs, slang or different meaning for the same words, common foods, apparel types, and religious observations. Group behavior is more important to defining ethnicity than race or strictly biological features. That said....it is still pretty ambiguous to call Mormonism an ethnicity Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
I think another reason that there aren't more "powerhouses" on this list is that LDS members tend to have different goals than many other groups, and "celebrity" usually isn't big on the list. The "no success in life can compensate for failure in the home" paradigm. It's difficult to become a musical superstar or A list actor and maintain a healthy home life.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Hey, don't take that away from me. I've always wanted to tell people what my ethnicity is. Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
The change in the Missionary Training Centers to using the new "Preach my Gospel" book and method for preparing missionaries is supposedly much more effective. The main difference in the new book seems to me to be the new emphasis on personal input and inspiration.
"Preach My Gospel" tends to discourage rote learning of the six discussions. I've been studying the book, and at every step it has you stop and write your own thoughts and experiences. The fat margins are lined for note taking, and there are whole pages left blank for notes throughout the book. Each missionary's own "Preach My Gospel" book becomes a collaboration between the missionary and the book's writers. Mine is so personal and real to me, filled as it is with my own thoughts and feelings, and of my own promptings by the spirit. I'm scribbling furiously all over it during every study session.
They say the great new spirit that it's brought to the MTC is amazing, and I've noticed it too in the missionaries I've been around lately. Of course, another new thing is the way they've recently raised the bar for missionary service, only choosing those most ready and worthy. Though because of "Preach My Gospel" the fewer missionaries we have serving are more effective than ever, and thus baptisms are said to be up.
Might such a spirit of renewed personal inspiration and direction benefit us similarly in every endeavor which we undertake as a church and as individuals? I wonder.
What if we could rewrite every guidebook for church callings, every lesson we teach, to emphasize more powerfully the place of personal inspiration and guidance in every calling and every endeavor, similar to the way "Preach My Gospel" has done with missionary training? Would we feel our whole church be energized and electrified the way the MTC is rumored to have been lately? That would be awesome, I think.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Because nobody is trying to kill or drive us from our homes anymore?
But plenty of people are being killed and driven from their homes in the world today. For example, in Iraq and in Darfur, to name just a couple. Does it not count cause it's not us? Doesn't being LDS mean that everybody counts as "us"?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Doesn't being LDS mean that everybody counts as "us"?
No, being LDS does not fundamentally change human nature. Somebody on the other side of the world in a country I am unfamilar with in danger can never, for the vast majority of people, be as urgent as if I or my family were in danger.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Being LDS does not fundamentally change human nature.
Ah, yet it has changed my whole view of who I am and my connections to other people, and to the world. It's fundamentally changed how I respond to life. In so many ways it has remade me as a better, freer, and more powerful version of myself. Brought me closer to my true self, as I fondly imagine my true self to be. (Someone who's much better than me, I mean. )
It's not instant and total, the transformation, but it's no less real. Why should that power be less available to us today than to the Pioneers? I think our homes and families ARE threatened, actually, just as much as before. Or maybe even more, because this time there may be no safe place to which we can move.
Posted by JoeH (Member # 5958) on :
The blurb and the articles linked to the Killers are skewed in favor of viewing Mr. Flowers as "practicing" or "active". But see Rolling Stone Posted by unicornwhisperer (Member # 294) on :
Yikes! Did he have to swear?
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I don't see any Mormon WWF wrestlers on that list. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Are you sad for the Mormons or for the wrestlers?
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Both. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Well, if it makes you feel better, SS, my uncle, (who is not LDS but does have a "close relative" who is LDS-- me!) was SWWF Announcer of the Year a couple of years ago. He even got his own action figure. Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Porter, I wanted to clarify one more thing in response to a comment of yours.
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head:
quote:Does it bother any other LDS how mediocre this list is?
Not really. I don't think our success as the Kingdom of God will be measured by our performers.
I wasn't really thinking of entertainment, so much. For instance, Ghandi was Jainist, Mother Theresa was Catholic, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist. Each of these were inspired by their religion to make significant contributions to society for the betterment of the world, and each is justly quite famous, though not because they sought fame for its own sake.
Does it seem odd to anyone else that there are no LDS yet who have attained that level of recognition?
Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
We're only 1-2% of the population of the United States, and a much SMALLER proportion when compared to the population of the world, so the chance of a Mormon becoming one of the .000000001% of humanity that ever becomes GREAT PEOPLE is really, really, REALLY remote.
It may happen someday. But it's rare enough that you don't really expect it to happen more than once to a group our size. I mean, can you name a world-renowned Jain BESIDES Gandhi?
EDIT: Was he really a Jain? I didn't realize that ... of course, they are the religion that takes the concept of "do no harm" much further than any other I'm aware of. It would make sense. But still, I'd never heard it before.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
As for Mother Theresa, many people do not think she deserves her fame. Infamy, maybe, but not fame.
Just a point of view there. (I'm not saying I subscribe to it, please don't jump me.)
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: I don't see any Mormon WWF wrestlers on that list.
No, nor any Mormon 7-foot-tall sword-swallowing, fire-eating, bed-of-nails-laying, insect-eating, escaping-from-a-straight-jacket carnival geek types. But I know of at least one, and one would think he would be eligible for that list, as he has had film and tv roles and has been on several Discovery Channel/Learning Channel programs about people who do that sort of thing. His brother is a friend of mine, which is how I know him.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Was he ever on The X-Files? *curious*
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Was he ever on The X-Files? *curious*
Not that I know of. However, he was in "Big Fish". If you've seen that, he was the fire-eater in the fur get-up who gets sent away from the carnival when the really tall guy gets there. I'm not sure about the other things he's been in. His name is George McArthur and he has a listing on imdb.com. Oh, and he's also got a website here..
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
Haha, I mentioned to my mother last month that there were alternative views on Mother Theresa, and she did not take that very well at all. I told her I did not necessarily take that view but she seemed utterly appalled that I even considered it worth bringing up. I think I really shocked her.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Yeah, I don't mention it to my aunt. Ever.
Posted by The Silverblue Sun (Member # 1630) on :
Not too many famous black LDS.
It's a pretty white bunch.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Gladys Knight, I guess. Sister Knight rawks!
As for overall, the bishop of my last ward was black, and the congregation was about even black and white. In this ward we're about 10%-20% black, judging by looking around at sacrament meeting. I think the wards in Africa are mostly black. We're a pretty mixed bunch, though, throughout the world.
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