Recovery Board
: RfM
Recovery from Mormonism (RfM) discussion forum.
Hello Friends
The mormon church is is decline, nosediving across the whole of the civilised world. In the UK and Europe, empty chapels litter the towns and places where there were once congregations, missions have been closed down or merged and a unrelenting exodus is taking palce of members who have given themselves permission to explore authentic mormon history.
And yet, many devoted mormons still actually believe that the mormon church is like a stone cut out of the mountain and that it will roll forth until it fills the planet. They simply don't believe that their man-made religion is past its best-before date. The halcyon days of the mormon church are long gone.
Faithful mormon have no comprehension of the problems that beset their church, the slow (though picking up speed) moving train wreck. The end result for the mormon church is disaster.
***
Normalcy Bias
"The normalcy bias, or normality bias, refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects."
Possible causes
"The normalcy bias may be caused in part by the way the brain processes new data. Research suggests that even when the brain is calm, it takes 8–10 seconds to process new information. Stress slows the process, and when the brain cannot find an acceptable response to a situation, it fixates on a single and sometimes default solution that may or may not be correct."
Examples
"Not limited to, but most notably: The Nazi genocide of millions of Jews. Even after knowing friends and family were being taken against their will, the Jewish community still stayed put, and refused to believe something was "going on." Because of the extreme nature of the situation it is understandable why most would deny it.
"Little Sioux Scout camp in June 2008. Despite being in the middle of "Tornado Alley," the campground had no tornado shelter to offer protection from a strong tornado."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
***
As Barton Biggs reports in his book, Wealth, War, and Wisdom:
"By the end of 1935, 100,000 Jews had left Germany, but 450,000 still [remained]. Wealthy Jewish families... kept thinking and hoping that the worst was over... Many of the German Jews, brilliant, cultured, and cosmopolitan as they were, were too complacent. They had been in Germany so long and were so well established, they simply couldn't believe there was going to be a crisis that would endanger them. They were too comfortable. They believed the Nazi's anti-Semitism was an episodic event and that Hitler's bark was worse than his bite. [They] reacted sluggishly to the rise of Hitler for completely understandable but tragically erroneous reasons. Events moved much faster than they could imagine."
I read the following comment:
"This is one of the most tragic examples of the devastating effects of the "normalcy bias" the world has ever seen.
Just think about what was going on at the time. Jews were arrested, beaten, taxed, robbed, and jailed for no reason other than the fact that they practiced a particular religion. As a result, they were shipped off to concentration camps. Their houses and businesses were seized. Yet most Jews STILL didn't leave Nazi Germany, because they simply couldn't believe that things would get as bad as they did. That's the normalcy bias... with devastating results."
***
If there are any mormons still reading this, please be true to the better part of your self. If your chruch really is the one and only true church - and god is on its side - then you have nothing to fear by exploring actual church history, rather than the whitewashed version that you've digested. Open your mind and your heart, and give yourself permission to discover the truth, because the truth will set you free.
Or enage in the normalcy bias or some cognitive dissonance.
Kindest regards
Grey
The mormon church is is decline, nosediving across the whole of the civilised world. In the UK and Europe, empty chapels litter the towns and places where there were once congregations, missions have been closed down or merged and a unrelenting exodus is taking palce of members who have given themselves permission to explore authentic mormon history.
And yet, many devoted mormons still actually believe that the mormon church is like a stone cut out of the mountain and that it will roll forth until it fills the planet. They simply don't believe that their man-made religion is past its best-before date. The halcyon days of the mormon church are long gone.
Faithful mormon have no comprehension of the problems that beset their church, the slow (though picking up speed) moving train wreck. The end result for the mormon church is disaster.
***
Normalcy Bias
"The normalcy bias, or normality bias, refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects."
Possible causes
"The normalcy bias may be caused in part by the way the brain processes new data. Research suggests that even when the brain is calm, it takes 8–10 seconds to process new information. Stress slows the process, and when the brain cannot find an acceptable response to a situation, it fixates on a single and sometimes default solution that may or may not be correct."
Examples
"Not limited to, but most notably: The Nazi genocide of millions of Jews. Even after knowing friends and family were being taken against their will, the Jewish community still stayed put, and refused to believe something was "going on." Because of the extreme nature of the situation it is understandable why most would deny it.
"Little Sioux Scout camp in June 2008. Despite being in the middle of "Tornado Alley," the campground had no tornado shelter to offer protection from a strong tornado."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
***
As Barton Biggs reports in his book, Wealth, War, and Wisdom:
"By the end of 1935, 100,000 Jews had left Germany, but 450,000 still [remained]. Wealthy Jewish families... kept thinking and hoping that the worst was over... Many of the German Jews, brilliant, cultured, and cosmopolitan as they were, were too complacent. They had been in Germany so long and were so well established, they simply couldn't believe there was going to be a crisis that would endanger them. They were too comfortable. They believed the Nazi's anti-Semitism was an episodic event and that Hitler's bark was worse than his bite. [They] reacted sluggishly to the rise of Hitler for completely understandable but tragically erroneous reasons. Events moved much faster than they could imagine."
I read the following comment:
"This is one of the most tragic examples of the devastating effects of the "normalcy bias" the world has ever seen.
Just think about what was going on at the time. Jews were arrested, beaten, taxed, robbed, and jailed for no reason other than the fact that they practiced a particular religion. As a result, they were shipped off to concentration camps. Their houses and businesses were seized. Yet most Jews STILL didn't leave Nazi Germany, because they simply couldn't believe that things would get as bad as they did. That's the normalcy bias... with devastating results."
***
If there are any mormons still reading this, please be true to the better part of your self. If your chruch really is the one and only true church - and god is on its side - then you have nothing to fear by exploring actual church history, rather than the whitewashed version that you've digested. Open your mind and your heart, and give yourself permission to discover the truth, because the truth will set you free.
Or enage in the normalcy bias or some cognitive dissonance.
Kindest regards
Grey
Grey, fascinating, thank you!
Hope you are well. I moved to Derby in September 2010, if you're ever in these parts let me know, it would be super to see you.
Claire
Hope you are well. I moved to Derby in September 2010, if you're ever in these parts let me know, it would be super to see you.
Claire
So if we can find a way to process worrisome information that keeps us from worrying, we will.
Tangental to this, I've known people who worry a lot, but their worry doesn't translate into action. And I've known other people who, when faced with the same situation, respond, "Okay that's no big problem," then set about taking care of it.
Tangental to this, I've known people who worry a lot, but their worry doesn't translate into action. And I've known other people who, when faced with the same situation, respond, "Okay that's no big problem," then set about taking care of it.
Members who are initially shocked by the Temple Rites eventually normalize to them through repetition. The idea that "the gaining of a testimony is found in the bearing of it" is also a form of normalization. So is the migration of church doctrine; things that were once essential to belief become old fashioned and dispensable.
Normalization can also be an expression of laziness and comfort -- or fear.
Normalization is often an effective way to manipulate the masses one small move at a time. Get people use to one stupidity before you move to the next, milk before meat (and then no meat).
It can be like a bad marriage that people have simple gotten use to.
People give up their will for fear of change.
Normalization can also be an expression of laziness and comfort -- or fear.
Normalization is often an effective way to manipulate the masses one small move at a time. Get people use to one stupidity before you move to the next, milk before meat (and then no meat).
It can be like a bad marriage that people have simple gotten use to.
People give up their will for fear of change.