Wednesday, March 02, 2011

03/03 Quickie: On BYU

I have a pretty clear-cut reaction to the BYU-Brandon Davies story.

I don't personally live by the same rules that folks at BYU do, but I respect that they believe in their Honor Code.

Here's something I don't get:

When did it become OK to openly make jokes about Mormons and Mormonism? You see it constantly, especially when talking about Jimmer Fredette or BYU, and especially in light of the Brandon Davies situation.

If folks -- and I'm talking about people in the media -- made jokes in the same ballpark about Muslim or Jewish or Catholic people, they would be fired. And yet, it's somehow OK to do it about Mormons. I don't get that.

I'm thrilled to engage in a discussion about the ramifications for BYU basketball from Davies' booting for the rest of the season -- they are severe, and they have a MASSIVE impact on the NCAA Tournament (especially if -- ahem -- you had them winning it all).

That BYU was absolutely throttled last night by New Mexico -- in Provo, no less -- makes this an even more fascinating story.

But it's a basketball story, not a debate over one religion's value system versus your own.

That this story involves about sex -- sex and religion, no less -- makes it titillating and almost irresistible to chime in on in a catty way.

You are free to say what you want, obviously. You are entirely entitled to your own opinion about honor codes and morality. But when it veers into ugly jokes, I just wonder if people would go there if it involved other religions.

-- D.S.

(Sidebar, which hopefully doesn't diminish my larger point above: Some of the same people that would root for a colleague to be fired for clapping in a press box are making disparaging comments about someone else's Honor Code.)

1 comment:

n.c.ackroyd said...

Dan,

Your question "When did it become OK to openly make jokes about Mormons and Mormonism?" assumes that there was a time when it wasn't OK. The fact is that it used to be OK to makes jokes about Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Gays, Blacks, Polish, whatever. Whatever the reason, Mormons are still on the list.

Hey, it used to be legal to kill Mormons in the state of Missouri, so jokes can be considered progress.

I liked Wilbon's comment yesterday. "I don't give them credit for suspending him. That's what they do. I'd be ripping them if they didn't."