Some LDS apologists are up in arms regarding a New York Times Web article implying that FLDS polygamists are like those regular, old 19th-century Mormon polygamists.
This is what is known as a simile. And, of course, comments from the frequently outraged denizens of the Deseret News online message board followed suit, pointing out that the Times is like the National Enquirer printed daily, that the journalist who wrote it was like an ex-Mormon with an ax to grind, and that the world was, like, coming to an end.
Why, though, do so many faithful LDS Church members—a church which has not condoned polygamy for a long time—get so distraught over these similes? Almost nobody believes the modern church practices polygamy anymore.
In fact, that’s the whole point: How weird is it that these FLDS people are pretending—and not very well—that they’re living in some made-up fantasy Deseret Territory in the middle of B.F. Texas?
So, like, lighten up, people. How many modern Brits worry that they’ll be confused with the nuts at a Renaissance Fair?