A couple of random thoughts; how appropriate, recalling a stand up comedy routine given by Robin Williams some time back. He was explaining how the internet was similar to the human brain and gave the example of “links”. You want to look at one thing and then, Boom, you change directions and go somewhere else instantly. Sorry for the John Madden sound effects; hope your speakers were turned down.
In this mornings Foxnews I was reading an AP story that highlighted the conservative nature of Brigham Young University as they implemented a policy to block YouTube from on campus computer systems. The given reason was two part, to avoid content which did not meet with Church standards and also because of limited "band width" on their computer systems (linked via title bar).
“PROVO, Utah — The popular Internet video-sharing site YouTube has been blocked on campus at Brigham Young University, the Mormon church school where students agree to live a "chaste and virtuous life."
(Wouldn't you know, my embedded links refuse to work which is why I don't use them here in Blogger."
Out of curiosity I clicked the embedded links for Brigham Young University and the Mormon Church to gain insight as to how they would be represented by those links. I'm familiar with the short recruiting films that are inserted during sporting contests, usually during a half time break, a chance to see the very best that each school has to offer, a shining light upon a hill so to speak; that’s not exactly what the links did.
Under the links to Brigham Young University there were all manner of articles which had appeared on Fox; problem was with the way they picked subject matter; the key word they used was “Young”.
“. . .allegedly taking captive two young siblings who had ...” and, “. . . this is another case of young adults "gone wild" simply because they can. . .” were lumped in with other relevant stories about the prestigious university, “. . .Cy Young Award winner with a nasty curveball. . .”, “. . .Vince Young turned in another gritty performance. . .”
I’ve learned so much about BYU from those links, what could I glean from the links for the Mormon church?
“Cannibalism Rife in Mormon Cricket Swarms…”, not making this up folks, that was the first item linked. There were several articles on Mitt Romney, “Will Christians Back a Mormon Candidate?”. I loved the one, “. . . self-described "Mormon fundamentalists" who live in Utah. . .”, a story pointing to a group that isn’t even associated with the same church. I quit looking after that; but there were pages of links that, I’m confident, covered important doctrine taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons.
From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:
“'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;...”
According to some literary scholars Shakespeare was also making a joke at the expense of the Rose Theatre. The Rose was a local rival to his Globe Theatre and is reputed to have had less than effective sanitary arrangements. The story goes that this was a coy joke about the smell.
Maybe Fox wanted to make a similar coy joke as they linked with such utterly absurd items of interest; however, it’s my guess they were too lazy to think about what would happen if they left of key words, opting instead to go with Young and Mormon rather than look up the correct links.
It might seem strange, at least it must to Fox; but here are the official links for Brigham Young University and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:
http://www.byu.edu/webapp/home/index.jsp
http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOrg
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