Blaming a Whole for the Actions of a Few

So being LDS you hear quite a bit from others saying, "You believe this because I know a Mormon that believes that" blah blah blah blah. This doesn't happen only in the Church, but it is pretty common when others find out my religious beliefs. These kind of accusations of blaming an entire group of any size (religions, corporations, families, etc.) are too common and need to be stopped.

My favorite example is of Prosper Inc. here in Utah (given to me by actual people in the company at the time of the incident, and RFH nominated these guys for Boner of the Day right after the incident happened). Prosper is a coaching company selling packets teaching people how to be successful at investing in stock, real estate, running online businesses, etc. The department here in my neck of the woods did not have a training department. Sales were down, so a few of the sales managers decided they would have a little exercise to boost confidence and increase sales. The sales representatives gathered together and saw a large barrel of water in front of them. The managers asked for a volunteer explaining exactly what was going to happen. They were going to dunk the person's head into the water and hold him/her down for a specific amount of time. One man raised his hand and volunteered. He put his own head in the water and a few (exact # not known) managers held him under for a specific amount of time. The volunteer tried to get out of the water before time expired and struggled to come up due to the force being applied by those around him. After time was up they released their grip on the volunteer as he shot up gasping for air. The managers than said, "Did you see how (name) was struggling to come up? We want you to work that hard for sales."

Wow. First of all that was not the smartest thing to do. Second, the volunteer filed a lawsuit against Prosper even though he knew exactly what was going to happen (he said he was not told what he was going to do). Third, Prosper was blamed for the entire thing even though it was the sales managers, on their own without other people involved or even knowing about the exercise, that carried out the stupid activity. Prosper shouldn't be blamed for this; the managers that thought this was a good idea should be blamed.

Another example. Here at work we have a third party company controlling our medical benefits for health insurance only. In this company one person (an incompetent person) made the mistake of cancelling all the health insurance for every employee on our project at our sight. This turned into a huge mess. However, everyone was blaming my company for the entire mix up because they are the ones that hired those people to handle it. BS. Blame the person that caused the trouble. Not a company that is not handling the whole thing, but doing what they can to fix it even though it's not their fault.

Here's one I love to talk about: gay marriage and the LDS Church. I already wrote a few different blogs on here about them so you can read those. However, there is one person that is also a blogger that I want to point out with the profile name of El Genio. If you read my extremist blog I mentioned a little bit about why the LDS Church was so involved in Prop 8 in California (because it was decided that any religious institution that denied marriage to a homosexual couple could be sued for discrimination and the government would not step in). El Genio decided to comment on the blog trying to twist my words by claiming I said the government would force religious organizations to wed homosexuals (learn to read). BTW, El Genio is an LDS homosexual as admitted on his blog so I think he just wanted it to say something like that so he could argue.

If you look up the profile of El Genio and read his blog there is one post about his ward in California consistently talking about the traditional family and the sanctity of marriage even after Prop 8 was passed. He blames the Church's involvement for these discussions held in his ward in California. That's not all, another LDS homosexual commented on his blog saying, "It's more than just a political issue for them; it's a moral issue. And until the whole freaking world agrees with them they won't let it go, even if their side won and it should be over." Them meaning the entire LDS Church of course.

Now let's put the blame on the entire Church for your ward's actions. That's the only way you can feel better about it isn't it El Genio and friend? Here in Utah, even during the Prop 8 debates I didn't hear one thing about the issue in a religious meeting, neither did anyone else I've talked to since reading your blog. If your ward is so obsessed about it than blame them, not the entire Church. People like you just have to have something to blame; you're one of the causes of this world having to always complain about everything.

Did you not notice that the other four states that legalized same-sex marriage in the east have not had the LDS Church protesting like with Prop 8? Why? Because they are just legalizing it so that it can just happen; they didn't come out with any type of statement saying that a religious organization could be sued for discrimination for not allowing a homosexual marriage in their institution. Vermont and Iowa just legalized the practice, you don't hear anything about officials in the LDS Church trying to have that turned around. Do you see the difference now? If you don't want your church talking about it then tell someone it's not allowing the spirit. If you keep your mouth shut you won't see results.

I have friends that are homosexuals. I don't believe God hates homosexuals. I don't believe they are cast to Hell other than the same things everyone else is cast to Hell for. So you can't blame the Church for anything because I'm part of the Church; blame the people in the Church (just like in the blogs I wrote where I say people inside the Church need to open their minds).

Moving on to another subject. People like to blame an entire nation for something only a few people project. When the United States invaded Iraq there were many countries not supporting the whole movement. The biggest one was France that I remember (I was in Canada serving a mission for my Church at the time so we didn't really hear much about it). I remember hearing that the United States officials were changing the names of things from French Fries to Freedom Fries and so forth. Whenever I heard people talk about the whole issue it was "France" that was opposing our forces, blah blah blah blah. Well, I met people from France while I was in Canada and they agreed with the war, but whenever they introduced themselves as French citizens they were told what they believed. It wasn't France people, it was the French government officials! Blame the people making the decisions not those without a voice. Canadian troops went to war but I can't tell you how many protests against the war we saw in downtown Calgary. You can't say that Canada supported us, but you can only say the Canadian government officials supported us. Do you get what I'm saying?

Individuals should be punished and blamed for their own poor decisions rather than an entire organization. When an entire organization is blamed for a few individuals' mistakes it is pathetic and used as an excuse by those wanting to destroy the entire organization (like El Genio). Quit blaming everyone and focus on those causing the problems.