Earlier this week, Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer was on his annual circuit of radio appearances, jockeying for free agency position. He did it last year when he thought he was going to opt out of his Jazz contract, extolling the virtues of him in a Miami Heat or Chicago Bulls uniform. Well, our favorite player is up to it again, but thankfully, he is not needing to insert his foot into his mouth.
Well, he was interviewed by a Miami sports-talk radio personality, WQAM 560-AM's Sid Rosenberg, a so-called shock talk radio host. I've included the link above if you want to hear it, but he goes on to call Utah a "horrible place to live," and also said "But those Mormon people are crazy, aren't they." Boozer, to his credit, stuck up for both Utah saying it's a great place to raise a family and that the Mormons are "not bad at all." Rosenberg has since been reprimanded by the station and asked to stay away from religion. The manager Lee Felman said, however, "that this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion" and that he "asked the question if Mormons were crazy in a very tongue-and-check manner and absolutely no malice was intended." So basically, he reprimanded him, but defended him at the same time.
Now, I'm not overly offended by this, but I do think that his comments were uncalled for. Many worse things have been said over the years, which leads me to my biggest gripe: why are Mormons an easy target? Why can things like this be said about Mormons? What if Rosenberg or ESPN's Ric Bucher (back in 2007 said that Utah Jazz fans are so rabid because "they're Mormons...they don't have anything else to do.") cited other religious groups like Jews or Baptists, a race like Latinos or Blacks, or a group like gay and lesbian individuals? The uproar would be huge and most likely would cause them to lose their jobs. It would be national news. But because it's the Mormon church, it's seemingly benign. Frankly I think this double standard is ridiculous and unfair.
Anyways, I'm not losing sleep over this, but merely wanted to express my opinions. I know that this is our family's blog, but just wanted a few moments on the soap box! I am proud to be a Mormon. Everything good in my life has come as a result of my membership in the Church. My wonderful family, knowledges of truths that mean the world to me, the opportunity to serve a mission to Japan, eternal relationships with my loved ones, the scriptures, the temples, the values, and so forth and so forth. If these things make me "crazy," then so be it!
2 comments:
I think you know that I agree with you 100%. I get SO bugged that people can say what they will about Mormons and there is little to no backlash. It really is a double standard. It's interesting to me that the church just sits back and lets people say what they will. It doesn't affect who we are--and for those who really know a Mormon, they realize the commentors are off-base and in most cases, ingorant of the truth. I'm happy to let them say what they will. It just goes to prove that we ARE a peculiar people and different from the world--which is exactly where we want to be!
Dave, we ARE crazy! We raise big families and give 10% of our gross income to our church! We don't drink, smoke, do drugs or get involved in any addictive activities. Pretty much everything we do is contrary to everything the world does; we are WIERD! I don't care what other people say about the church or even myself because if they truly knew they wouldn't say those things. It's their loss, not mine. People who are swayed by other people's opinion aren't the type of people I would want to know anyway.
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