Not sure if anyone else saw the Calgary Temple dedication, but in the cornerstone ceremony there was an eyebrow-raising moment when one of the girls picked from the crowd was having issues with the trowel and suddenly Monson calls out "Show her the backhand, all women know the backhand!" and he makes a backhand slap gesture.

My wife and I just looked at eachother with a WTF expression.

UPDATE: This was reposted on another board where some question the event and suggest maybe the backhand motion was an example of how to use the trowel. It was not, it was a backhand slap motion (a b*%chslap if you will).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2012 01:49PM by squeebee.

Show her the back end!

I'd have lost it and I can't say what I'd have done with the trowel.

Briggy

On video anywhere? I'd love to see this, or read about it in an independent source...

I searched far and wide for video, no luck there. The church newsroom video clips oddly omitted that bit.

That said, search "calgary temple monson backhand" on Google and the second and third hit corroborate it with a missionary blog and a TBM blog.

While searching for the backhand, I came across this little gem:

THE BEAST 50 MOST LOATHSOME PEOPLE IN AMERICA, 2008

46. Thomas S. Monson

Charges: If Satan were real, and had a severely chapped anus from a fortnight of angry, unlubricated gay sex with an evil moon-dragon, we imagine it'd look a lot like Monson's disturbingly weathered face. As supreme cretin of one of this country's most ridiculous religions (just a nose behind Scientology), the Latter Day Saint did a divine job sanctioning and funding the “Yes on Prop 8” initiative to deny gays the right to be unhappily married. The Mormon faith is based on the existence and translation of magic, golden plates no one has ever seen except the charlatan who claimed they existed, kind of like the evidence that gay weddings threaten “traditional” marriage, which, to Mormons, is defined as between a man and a woman, and a woman, and a woman.

http://www.buffalobeast.com/134/50mostloathsome2008-full.html

Priceless. Also, I Googled per the OP's recommendation. Indeed, it appears he really did say this. The TBM's think it represents a fantastic sense of humor--I would be shocked but I am growing jaded.

Anyone must have an abusive streak to say something like you report! That's horrible and probably moderated because of being out front in public. I wonder what he says and does in private.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2012 10:56AM by Cheryl.

He said it in reference to a young girl who was struggling to put in mortar. For a brick I presume. If I ever have a daughter and some old guy even jokes about giving her the backhand, he's going to get an earful of F words from me. Thank you for this Elder Chris Lyons:

"It was just so funny when Pres Monson was calling kids up to help put in mortar. He called up a little girl. She was struggling a bit, so he just says, "the backhand, show her the backhand. Every good woman knows the backhand!" And he swings his arm. It was so funny".

I know it's been asked a billion times but why do women go to this fucking church!?

Blog link to quote: http://elderchrislyons.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-cold-is-here.html

The quote is in the 2nd paragraph of this missionary's blog entry


blog entry: "Elder Ballard was also there. It was just so funny when Pres Monson was calling kids up to help put in mortar. He called up a little girl. She was struggling a bit, so he just says, "the backhand, show her the backhand. Every good woman knows the backhand!" And he swings his arm. It was so funny. I had never heard Pres Monson talk like that before. He definitely has a sense of humor."

" all good women know the backhand"??? OMG!! that TBM cannot see the misogyny in that statement? that TBM is blinded by his faith!

just amazed!

That president Monson! He's a real funny guy.

I don't care who it is, if he would have said that in reference to my daughter, he would have been apologizing.

What's so funny to a prophet of God (barf) about slapping a woman around? At least all the young men can say the prophet approves when they backhand their wife. The mishey thought that was just hilarious.

I can't find any other links besides to the mishy. I'm sure it won't be there for long.

A second reference is currently fourth in the Google results.

See http://diceboard10.aludia.com/chan-6260162/all_p2.html (it's a ways down, search the page for keywords from below).

Quoting from it:

"6. How awesome is president Monson? Loved him at the temple dedication. Love when he said good grief and all about the backhand."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2012 01:46PM by squeebee.

Once DCP and his cronies report this missionary's blog to the "strengthening church members committee" the blog will be taken down, so I've made a PDF copy of this blog:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?phba2a1tq9ejrh2

Oh yes, and because I know how to use the internet better than most, I can guarantee that this pdf copy of the blog entry will never be taken down.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2012 01:13PM by sillysally.

It looks like the blog is operated by his clueless mom Cyndie. She probably just copies and pastes his emails. This kid included that tidbit in his email because he knew it was wrong but the programming required him to say something like "Monson is so funny". I give him a 50/50 shot of being on RfM one day.

I'm a little new, DCP?

He used to post on RfM was was banned for harassing posters at home and for lying and breaking the RfM rules.

DCP = Daniel C. Peterson, he's the finest Mormon Apologist to have ever existed, he's basically God in the form of an overwieght BYU professor who looks like a walrus.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2012 01:50PM by sillysally.

Ooh, I wonder if they'll hunt me down.

No you're fine, if anything they're trying to hunt me down. I'm the one reposting all this information on the internet, I have hundreds of different user names.

Colored dress shirts? Those prideful men
Sleeveless blouses? Those slutty women
Masturbation? Those hellbound sinners
Two ear piercings? The horror!
Swearing? The shame!
Backhand a woman? That jokester prophet<3

Of all the funny quips to be made about the situation, the Lord's Anointed, even the living prophet, goes with the hilarious physical abuse of women.

Maybe it's just the accounts I've heard when counseling abused women, but a backhand is usually to the face. That Monson went there makes me wonder about his behavior at home with his wife and kids. Maybe his endless self-congratulatory General Conference talks about his thoughtful care of the widows are an over-compensation.

If I remember correctly, in Tom Phillips interview with Dehlin, Monson was mentioned as the GA who was not warm and welcoming when Tom P. and his family visited the prophet (not Monson at the time) in SLC. Monson's cold, hard eyes belie the friendly, warm persona he tries so hard to portray.

Agreed, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Monson had sexual relations of a few of the widows he visited; call me crazy, but since I don't believe he's a prophet, I feel that his spending time with single women wasn't out of lending a helping hand, but rather lending a helping "session of intercourse."

Now I hope he is a prophet because that would mean he can bring god in for some 3-way action.

LOL, you have a very good point

Who knows, but I don't think Monson meant that someone should slap the girl. It is an odd comment, but he probably meant something about showing her how to use the trowel.

In another post, I wondered why Monson gave his thanks at his televised birthday celebration by video instead of live. He was there at the celebration, and he watched with everyone else his own video. It was a strange moment.

Perhaps it was because the brethren thought he might go off script and blurt something out like he did here. If so, they must have been worried at General Conference in October, but Monson had no problems then.

Something seems wrong with Monson. It's hard to tell what.

I can only say what I saw.

Personally I don't think he meant that someone should slap the girl. The flow of his statement was more like "Show her to use the trowel in a backhand motion" and *then* he appended the joke "all women know the backhand!" with the slap gesture, which I personally don't think he was associating the second part (the joke) with the first part (the suggestion).

I'm not doubting you. It must have been bizarre. It's such an odd comment. Do you think he meant tennis?

While I will not even speculate on his motivations, thinking, personal beliefs, actions out of the spotlight, mental health, etc., I will unequivocally state that the gesture he performed was a backhanded slap gesture, going from high and to his left toward his lower right. It could in no way be misconstrued as an example of how to use the trowel, a tennis motion, or anything else.

I don't doubt it was a slap gesture and meant as such. However, he could just as easily have meant that women know how to deliver a backhand, rather than receive one (since the girl would have been delivering the backhand to her trowel).

Still sexist either way.

I hope the implication doesn't justify such a thing! How horrible, just as bad as male violence.

Very interesting. Thanks for reporting this. And pardon my being curious. I did not doubt your account.

The phrase "every woman knows the backhand," or "every good woman knows the backhand," makes no sense to me in that situation. Even if he was referring to a slap. But I guess that's it. Monson was not making sense, that's clear.

Perhaps he was implying that if you raise the backhand to a woman who's being slow that she'll then hurry up, did you not read the entire quotation from the Missionary's blog?

Quote: "Elder Ballard was also there. It was just so funny when Pres Monson was calling kids up to help put in mortar. He called up a little girl. She was STRUGGLING A BIT, so he just says, "the backhand, show her the backhand. Every good woman knows the backhand!" And he swings his arm. It was so funny. I had never heard Pres Monson talk like that before. He definitely has a sense of humor."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2012 04:35PM by sillysally.

When I was seeing it firsthand I don't know that I need the blog.

I understand. This is like playing a game of telephone in the 3rd grade when somebody starts by telling the person next to them "I like pizza" and 20 people later, the last person says something totally unrelated like "there's a full moon out tonight". I thank you for telling us of your experience and the fact that a blog post corroborates all of it and gives us a look into a twisted mormon mind only makes it that much better.

Yes, I read every account of this that people have found. Still, it makes no sense to me. "Every good woman knows the backhand"? What is that supposed to mean? I just can't see him meaning that someone should slap the girl around to help her figure out how to use the trowel.

So what did he mean? From what squeebee says, Monson meant it as a joke. I have to say I think Monson was just delusional. And I have to wonder about the Elder who thought that showed Monson's sense of humor.

I think the elder is insane, and I also think Monson is insane; however, I'm more inclined to think it was Monson's attempt to make a very off-color joke and it failed miserably. The problem I have with assuming that this was just a "joke" is the fact that this missionary kid wrote about it in the way he did. I mean it sounded like from the missionary's viewpoint, that what Monson did was MORE than just a joke, but who knows, we need video footage.

I would have to see a video or even a news link to believe that a church leader...at a temple dedication, where they show off to us heathens, would want to (jokingly) b1tchslap a woman

Mormonism has a history of covering up spousal abuse so I'm not surprised to hear that their leader is making bad-taste jokes about it.

I have a friend who is in law enforcement and he hates having to investigate Mormon husbands for spousal abuse because everyone from the Stake President to the Bishop try to get him to keep quiet about it and cover it up. Disgusting.

My first thought was this would be a way for women to control their children but I don't think I've ever seen a tbm spake their kids all that much lately. Although when I was growing up I'm pretty sure it was a commandment.
Seeing the video would really be helpful to get the actual intent, for me.

I actually wondered when I heard it whether he meant that women knew if from giving or receiving. There were people taking pictures, no doubt private individuals taking video too. The video exists, just not anywhere on the internet that I have found yet.