I believe that I’ve seen the image above before, but I definitely ran into it today and, thus, I assume that it’s going the rounds now at conference time.
First of all, let me state for the record — though some will doubt my words, since I’m widely known in certain circles that don’t know me to be callously heartless, unfeeling, unprincipled, and cruel — that I have absolutely nothing in principle against listening to people, not automatically trying to dismiss them, minding my language, trying to understand the concerns of others, acknowledge the pain of those who are suffering, and advocating things that I believe to be right. In fact, I quite avidly endorse all of those good things.
I do, however, resist casual attempts to use victim status, real or pretended, to blackmail others or to try to exercise veto power over the opinions, statements, or actions of others.
And I wonder whether this image represents an attempt to abuse the natural human sympathy of its targets, to press that sympathy into service as a substitute for rational argument — effectively, to weaponize it — in a bid to force the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to alter its standards and change its teachings or even to silence it altogether, and thus, indeed, to damage or effectively destroy it.
I wonder whether anybody out there can direct me to actual evidence supporting the claim that suicide attempts and crisis calls — and suicidal ideation, anxiety, depression and related mood disorders, and broken family relations — spike twice a year at general conference time.
It’s possible, I suppose. But is there an actual scientific study behind this claim? Or is it more like the famous and utterly false claim that spousal abuse and domestic violence against women soar annually during Super Bowl season?
I would genuinely like to see what scientific study or studies, if any, might underlie the graphic image shown above.
Posted from Park City, Utah
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