27 thoughts on “Firm Foundation: Surrender”

1. Don’t regard it as time and money wasted. It is educational, in a way.

2. I have to share one story.

   Some years back … actually, now that I thin of it, many years back, when I was still single … I attended the family home evening group for singles in my stake. The format was typically hearing a talk from someone invited in to give it.

   The couple in charge were good people and not themselves crackpots, particularly, but were sometimes hard up for speakers. They’d take whoever expressed interest in talking to the young single adults in the stake.

   Yep. One of the speakers turned out to be keen on the idea that the Earth was hollow, the Aurora Borealis was the light shining through the holes at the two poles, and the Ten Lost Tribes were living inside.

   I was given the opportunity to speak the next week, and had a wonderful talk planned on critical thinking. Something caused me to think better of it, and I simply showed my slides of working at astronomical observatories at Palomar, La Serena (Chile), and Mauna Kea (Hawaii).

   Turns out the fellow who figured the Ten Lost Tribes were living inside the hollow Earth was also having considerable trouble finding enough work to support his family. I did something relatively small to help — I don’t even recall what — but I remember this brother thanking me with tears in his eyes.

   I was grateful I hadn’t embarrassed him in front of the other young single adults. Still leaves me in a quandary how to deal with tinfoilery among sincere and otherwise decent fellow Saints.

3. We who benefited from your sacrifice should surely be able to chip in to cover your costs. To paraphrase Sydney Carton, it is a far, far better thing you have done than any of have ever done.

4. A few weeks ago I had to spend an entire day next to the promoter for the Universal Model at our table during a conference. By the end of the day, attendees in the main conference room could hear me yelling at him from outside.

5. @Loyd, you should hear some of the Elders Quorum lessons these guys give. For instance, did you know that the Salt Lake Temple was built on a really big boulder, and that in an earthquake this means it won’t collapse? (Ardis, can you confirm?)

6. Oh, Matt S. That cheered me up today. Thank you. 🙂

7. (Yes, in a non-ironic way. Just being reminded that ridiculousness is not limited to my corner of the universe is… somehow… freeing. And definitely amusing.)

8. I can confirm that this is a wacko nutjob theory. If the Temple were built on a boulder, then how could they have dug all those secret tunnels that other factions of the Wacko 1st Ward swear are there?

9. I have to wonder how many hollow-earther Mormons there are; this guy, based in Provo, tried to crowdfund an expedition into the North Pole: http://www.ourhollowearth.com/ourhollo/index.html

10. “Still leaves me in a quandary how to deal with tinfoilery among sincere and otherwise decent fellow Saints.”

    I’ve got a similar issue with a ward member who invoked Washington’s “Vision” in a testimony recently—the utterly fabricated vision account that our Ardis debunked years ago. I’m not sure how to approach him, as we don’t know each other well. Ah well.

11. Thank you for your sacrifice and writing! There but for critical thinking go I 🙂

12. At least it is a lovely springtime day for a ride thru the valleys, instead of the pouring rain that it could be. I have to remind myself from time to time that all learning is not “positive”. Learning what not to do & who not to believe is also educational. Thanks for sharing with us all.

13. Ardis, you are my hero for even trying to capture this moment of snake oil Mormonism. You are one of the few who actually waded into the underwater cave of charlatans to get a look at the beasts first hand. I say well done! You are a first rate historian and anthropologist.

14. I can’t resist – take a look at Bagley’s cartoon today at the SL Tribune!

15. Thanks, Steve. I tried, but I couldn’t take any more.

16. Ha, Marivene!

    link to cartoon

17. I had heard the hollow earth theory in church as a teenager back in the sixties. A guy in our ward had also plotted the internal path of the magnetic ball of gas that lit the hollow earth by mapping the disappearance of Russian and American subs. I knew even then that it was a crackpot theory.

18. I don’t watch reality TV, but I love reading snarky recaps of it. These posts of yours have evoked similar pleasure, and I’m genuinely disappointed not to hear more.

19. Sometimes I enjoy reading pseudoscience as science fiction. But it is one thing to read about crazy ideas than actually meet the crack pots. Be proud that you even lasted that long.

20. I guess I’m glad to hear that it was mostly older folks, if that means the audience for this kind of nonsense will be dying out. Or do you think younger people are equally likely to be suckers and just don’t have as much spare time?

21. sba,

    Inspired by Ardis, my wife and I went to the expo this morning for the last day. Probably because it was Saturday and hence no school, there were a lot more younger people there. We learned that there is a Universal Model club on BYU campus, and there were about a dozen college-age men manning the UM booth we visited. So sadly it appears that younger people are as susceptible to this as older people. Like you said, I imagine they simply don’t have quite as much mobility/free time to attend things like this.

    Ardis, your summary of the event was basically exactly how my wife and I felt. We only lasted till lunch.

22. Thanks, Nathan … I think. I’m glad for the supporting witness, but sorry that I drove you to attend. :/

    I am trying to write a last post summarizing the experience, now that I’ve had a chance to think about it and come out of the depression it caused. I’ve drafted a paragraph where I say I suspect the audience in the evenings and on Saturday might have a different demographic than 9:00 a.m. on a mid-week work day. I can’t begin to be happy about the attendance of young people, or the existence of a Universal Model club at BYU. That’s dreadful.

23. I look forward to your follow-up post, Ardis. I made my teenagers identify red flags on the expo’s web page (they did this easily), and gave them a lecture on avoiding people who trade on their church affiliation in order to separate fools from their money. Reading about this has left me quite unsettled, sort of the way I felt during the presidential campaign–something about realizing that I’m surrounded by people who think very differently than I do about some really basic issues.

24. Ardis,
    My admiration for your bravery and sympathy for your distress. When considering your final summary, please dispense with the wacky presentations and think back to your original purpose for attending, i.e.:
    *I am not attracted to this conference by its topics or its “alternative facts.” I am interested in Mormon culture, though, and am intrigued by the size and scope of this meeting. Who goes to such a thing? How many? Why? How is this nonsense received? I want to find out.*

    This summary might lead us all to consider what there is in the Mormon culture/space that allows or cultivates such thinking and what we might be able to do to combat it.

25. I must be out of touch with Mormon Culture. So far as I know, the Universal Model is either 1) Legos, which you can turn into a model of just about anything or 2) the generic, thin, blond, blue eyed representation of a female human that sometimes appears simultaneously on the cover of every magazine in the grocery store check out aisle.

    If I’m wrong, don’t bother to correct me.

26. Ardis, I’m hoping that you do make a final post after your thoughts on the conference have settle. I’m also sorry you had to endure this for our entertainment. In fact, to paraphrase Joseph Smith, I’m at least twenty dollars sorry. (If I can’t recoup your time, I’m happy to make the lesson slightly less expensive in other ways. Hopefully other commenters will agree. NB the “Donate” button in the sidebar.)

27. Thank you, TOClark, and others who have donated. I am no longer out of pocket a single dime for having gone to the Expo — and your response to these posts has contributed to a restoration of my peace of mind, too.

    I’m working on that post. Had hoped to post it this morning, but I’m trying to write carefully, and it’s taking time.

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