Oregonian Reprints Bigoted Joke
In “The Light Side” humor column that runs every Tuesday in the Oregonian’s sports section, the O’s Bob Lochner quoted Fort Wayne (Inc.) News-Sentinel columnist Reggie Hayes saying something that really burned me up. And I am not even a member of the group that was besmirched.
What Hayes said, and what the “O” reprinted played off on the fact that Mormon-run Brigham Young University will play in this year’s Las Vegas Bowl.
“To make BYU’s fans feel at home, several Vegas chapels plan to offer a ‘marry one, get one free’ special.”
People, that is a play to the stereotype that Mormons are polygamists with multiple wives. Although the practice subsists among some minor Mormon sects, the main branch of Mormonism banned polygamy in 1904- more than 100 years ago.
I have to ask if the Oregonian- which won’t even print offensive sports team nicknames such as the Atlanta Braves, Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians- would reprint a joke written about “squaws.”
The practice was actually stopped in 1890, but in 1904 a rule was instituted that polygamy would result in instant excommunication from the church.
I graduated from BYU. My wife’s family are Mormons.
I don’t think most Mormons would be too offended by it. It’s just a roll of the eyes sort of remark that’s obviously ignorant and relies on ignorance for its humor. If you want to get technical with it, Mormons don’t get married in chapels, either. A proper Mormon marriage only occurs in the temples where people are “sealed” for all eternity.
Interestingly, there are stories of BYU students in the past making trips to Vegas to get a quick marriage so they could have sex and then getting those marriages annulled or severed. Allegedly the leadership of the University had to make it explicitly against the rules. (BYU makes every student sign an honor code which includes requiring students to be celibate out of wedlock, abstain from alcohol and drug use, among other things. eg, I had to remain clean shaven or I could have been put on probation.)