Real people

[Conman52]

Is anyone else ever put off by all the leaders from Bishop to SP and above who all seem like pompous asses because they have soooo much education and are smarter than everyone else ??I mean really I was never able to afford a great education got what I could an associate degree in criminal justice , raised my family and was thankful for all I had . But these pompous asses always get up and speak with 3 PhD etc etc I'm just sooo sick of people that don't live in reality !! Anybody else?

[Mayan_Elephant]

Is anyone else ever put off by all the leaders from Bishop to SP and above who all seem like pompous asses because they have soooo much education and are smarter than everyone else ??I mean really I was never able to afford a great education got what I could an associate degree in criminal justice , raised my family and was thankful for all I had . But these pompous asses always get up and speak with 3 PhD etc etc I'm just sooo sick of people that don't live in reality !! Anybody else?

You are describing condescension. It is meant to be belittling. It is not unique to people with an education. Though, your point is a valid and solid point.

This kind of condescension is common in many organizations and ideologies. It is generally accepted now as something virtuous and is also giving rise to populism. I think you will find in the church that more people opt out because they feel unwelcome than because they read An Insider's View to Mormon Origins.

[alas]

Pompous jackasses are pompous jackasses whether they have university degrees or run a cattle ranch and dropped out of fourth grade. It s just that pompous jackasses Ike to use whatever they can to make others feel insecure. I have an uneducated sister in law who thinks she and her husband are the only people who work hard and she is a pja about hard work, as if she personally invented the concept. I have a brother in law who is a pja about his latest fitness fad. He runs five hours a day, then comes home and has a healthy meal. Then sits around the rest of the day. Doesn’t do anything worthwhile, but hey, he is a healthy worthless braggart.

So, just know that pja are gonna brag and try to make you feel small. Don’t let them. They build themselves up by making others feel small, whether it is over education, church calling, hard work, health fads, A really educated person knows how little he actually knows, so someone who brags about his education hasn’t learned the first thing about learning, and that is the more you know, the more you realize how much more there is to know.

[Red Ryder]

I know two or three people that are wealthy successful leader types that never went to college. One uncle dropped out of high school but always had a knack for negotiations and opportunities to put business deals together.

I think the church is good at creating leaders who fit their organization structure all the while pushing an illusion of success by righteousness. When in reality, many are successful because they are good people managers or good business managers. So by default they become church leaders.

But I hold to alas post about pompous jack-asses. The church is full of them. Corporate America is full of them.

So Conman, don’t beat yourself up because you chose a different path in life. Perhaps you’re just not a pompous Jack-ass!

[wtfluff]

I consider myself extremely lucky that before my retirement from belief in LD$-Inc. I always had wonderful/decent bishops. The last bishop I really had any dealings with was one of the most wonderful, down-to-earth, caring human being's I have ever met. Not the corporate/PHD type at all.

Luckily most of my dealings with Stake Presidents were simply to get my way through a golden ticket interview (with a carefully worded denial or three,) or dealing with a stake calling.

I did have dealings with Pompous Jack-Ass steak president at one point in my MORmON career. Again, not the corporate type, but definitely church-broke, and high on his own fake power. I can thank both that PJA steak president, and the bishop under him for loading up my shelf right up to the breaking point. (And saving me some $$ at the same time. )

Even that bishop in the previous paragraph was a good human, but also really good at toeing the line that his boss (steak president) required him to toe.

Is it a good or bad thing that I was lucky in "Priesthood Roulette" whilst helping to hasten the work of MORmON Jesus' Real-Estate Corporation?

[Gatorbait]

Unfortunately there are going to be the know-it-all show offs in about everything in life, from talk show hosts to sports figures. Thing is, those folks can get fired for it.

Luckily, in all of my gazillion years, geezer as I am, I've only had one bishop who was a prick and one SP that was worse. My non-member dad, on his death bed said, "That (Stake Pres name) - I don't like that son of a bitch." He used a few more well place adjectives in there, but I got a kick out of it.

There's plenty of folks who flaunt their degrees, but no one really cares. It just makes them seem small-minded in any case. No one likes a show off.

[RubinHighlander]

I'd dealt a lot with these types over my 40+ years in the culty corporation. I managed an associates degree, have been treated pretty well riding the tech industry wave since the late 80s. I live in a neighborhood of doctors, lawyers and folks that have a lot more disposable income than I do. I've experienced a lot of condescension over the years, but now I enjoy the condescenvy, as they drive past my house on a Sunday, watching me drink a beer while mowing the lawn or loading my ski gear up.

SP and higher are the real candidates for the 2nd annointing to get a chance to enter the billionaire boys club at corporate. These guys have big egos, and are typically quite narcissistic. The church is true because they believe it is, nothing can knock them off that path, the filter is strong here.

In each ward where I live there are about 5-10 "great" families. Those mormons who seem to really have their spiritual $hit together, reading the BOM every day and all that. Yup, that's what leadership actually calls them, great families. Even had a bishop say it over the pulpit when one of our former bishop/doctor families was moving out of the ward: "We will miss them, they are one of our great families." Like the rest of us were just 2nd class citizens. My family were 3rd class citizens, being divorced and melded.

One of our SPs was a real dick about us wanting to take my adopted step daughter to the temple to get sealed, never did approved it. They love playing gods with their pretend powers of determining your eternal salvation. I've had some pretty good SPs and Bishops but the majority were egotistical misogamistic white guys, at least in my neck of the Zion jungle.

[moksha]

... steak president...

Hopefully the one in charge of ribeyes.

[moksha]

Is anyone else ever put off by all the leaders from Bishop to SP and above who all seem like pompous asses because they have soooo much education and are smarter than everyone else ??I mean really I was never able to afford a great education got what I could an associate degree in criminal justice , raised my family and was thankful for all I had . But these pompous asses always get up and speak with 3 PhD etc etc I'm just sooo sick of people that don't live in reality !! Anybody else?

Just remember that despite any level of educational attainment, they are gullible when it comes to religion.

[hmb]

Is anyone else ever put off by all the leaders from Bishop to SP and above who all seem like pompous asses because they have soooo much education and are smarter than everyone else ??I mean really I was never able to afford a great education got what I could an associate degree in criminal justice , raised my family and was thankful for all I had . But these pompous asses always get up and speak with 3 PhD etc etc I'm just sooo sick of people that don't live in reality !! Anybody else?

Just remember that despite any level of educational attainment, they are gullible when it comes to religion.

Or...some are not necessarily gullible, but will benefit with prestige and/or adoration. Feels good to be important.

[Just This Guy]

Is anyone else ever put off by all the leaders from Bishop to SP and above who all seem like pompous asses because they have soooo much education and are smarter than everyone else ??I mean really I was never able to afford a great education got what I could an associate degree in criminal justice , raised my family and was thankful for all I had . But these pompous asses always get up and speak with 3 PhD etc etc I'm just sooo sick of people that don't live in reality !! Anybody else?

Just remember that despite any level of educational attainment, they are gullible when it comes to religion.

Quoted for truth!

[Mayan_Elephant]

Is anyone else ever put off by all the leaders from Bishop to SP and above who all seem like pompous asses because they have soooo much education and are smarter than everyone else ??I mean really I was never able to afford a great education got what I could an associate degree in criminal justice , raised my family and was thankful for all I had . But these pompous asses always get up and speak with 3 PhD etc etc I'm just sooo sick of people that don't live in reality !! Anybody else?

Just remember that despite any level of educational attainment, they are gullible when it comes to religion.

Or...some are not necessarily gullible, but will benefit with prestige and/or adoration. Feels good to be important.

Some people are just members of the club.

[wtfluff]

... steak president...

Hopefully the one in charge of ribeyes.

Just as long as it's A5 Wagyu.

[Hagoth]

If I knew I was going to be a god pretty soon because I got a magical foot washing I would probably be highly motivated to continue believing it. That would inspire me to consider that 99.999% of the people I encounter every day are mere mortals who, if I only knew better, would soon recognize that they should have been groveling before me.


I know some very educated Mormons who are spread as widely across the humility spectrum as anybody else. But the ones who have advanced degrees AND advanced incomes seem to be in a category of their own. Of course, it's among the wealthiest Mormons where that you'll find the foot-washed godoiod entities. Has anyone with less than $1M in the bank been double-anointed in the past century? Who knows, but I would be surprised, unless they are closely related to the Q15.

Now, that would be a fascinating study, if you could get your hands on the records. How may ordained gods-to-be are blood related to the highest leadership?

[moksha]

If I knew I was going to be a god pretty soon because I got a magical foot washing I would probably be highly motivated to continue believing it.

That 4 billion-year wait for your planet to become geologically habitable would give you a lot of time for meditation and enjoyment with any celestial sister-wives assigned to you, you could also gather a bunch of dinosaur bones and decoy fossils and plant them on your new planet to confound future gentile scientists.

[hmb]

If I knew I was going to be a god pretty soon because I got a magical foot washing I would probably be highly motivated to continue believing it. That would inspire me to consider that 99.999% of the people I encounter every day are mere mortals who, if I only knew better, would soon recognize that they should have been groveling before me.

I would think those who have had the "honor" of the magical foot washing probably know what bunk it all is. Play pretend for the continued status. But I am non-believing heathen, and just a useless female of little value. LOL.

[Mayan_Elephant]

If I knew I was going to be a god pretty soon because I got a magical foot washing I would probably be highly motivated to continue believing it.

Hagoth man. My price is higher. I ain't agreeing to be nobody's damn god unless I get a car wash.

[RubinHighlander]

If I knew I was going to be a god pretty soon because I got a magical foot washing I would probably be highly motivated to continue believing it.

I've heard that foot porn is a lucrative business model in the latter daze...
Just don't step on the hot George Foreman grill and mess up your career opportunity.