Is the LDS shopping mall/downtown SLC

[Goatnapper'96]

issue an anomaly or is it a trend? I know it is timing with it being mentioned in GC, but it is not as if LDS intentions for Downtown SLC have not been out in the open for a long time.

Since I have followed these boards I notice that when BYU seems to be doing better than the U there tends to be more stress between the LDS and those not of the LDS faith in Uteland.

I have many ideas why this is. Bluntly, I have always felt that BYU is a good lightning rod for those not enamored with LDS influence in Utah. It is more politically correct to bash a University than a religion. That is clearly an unfair stereotype and the issue is far more complex, but I still believe for many it is a big reason.

Regardless, anyone else notice this trend? Perhaps those of you who have followed this rivalry longer could opine.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96

issue an anomaly or is it a trend? I know it is timing with it being mentioned in GC, but it is not as if LDS intentions for Downtown SLC have not been out in the open for a long time.

Since I have followed these boards I notice that when BYU seems to be doing better than the U there tends to be more stress between the LDS and those not of the LDS faith in Uteland.

I have many ideas why this is. Bluntly, I have always felt that BYU is a good lightning rod for those not enamored with LDS influence in Utah. It is more politically correct to bash a University than a religion. That is clearly an unfair stereotype and the issue is far more complex, but I still believe for many it is a big reason.

Regardless, anyone else notice this trend? Perhaps those of you who have followed this rivalry longer could opine.

You're correct about BYU being a lightening rod for those who, quite bluntly, hate the LDS Church here in Utah. The most vocal are those who claim to be Ute fans, but only show up in RES every other year on a late November Saturday. These cretins use the rivalry as a forum to bash the LDS church.

As for the new plan for downtown, people are always going to bitch about anything the LDS church does. They're complaining right now about not being able to shop on a Sunday, but if shopping on a Sunday was that important to them, the ZCMI center and Crossroads Malls wouldn't have had the financial problems they were having in the first place. These are also the same people who screamed about the LDS church running TRAX and deciding that less trains would be running on Sunday, but were more than happy to use TRAX to ride into downtown from the suburbs for free on a conference weekend.

My point, I suppose, is that there will always be people who hate the LDS church that will find something to gripe about, be it downtown development or BYU sports. Those that bash BYU out of personal negative feelings for the LDS church are those who I will not recognize as Utah fans and are those who need to grow up and get over it. The fact that BYU won convincingly last week and the Utes got their hineys handed to them by a much better team only fans their fuel of hatred toward Mormons. For me, it's actually rather amusing to watch them make asses of themselves. It reflects more on their character than anything else.

Bottom line is that there will always be those who use the rivalry to further their hatred of the LDS church. I don't even think they fall into the category of, as you say, string pullers.