A photo funny
Okay, it's Friday and I needed a laugh. I got one here . Thanks Trent.
Friday, October 03, 2008
 |
|
|
|
The Polygamy Files:
The Tribune's blog on the plural life
|
|
||||||||
|
© Copyright 2007, The Salt Lake Tribune. |
|
|
|
Front Page | Contents | Search | World/Nation | Utah | Business | Sports | Editorials | Public Forum Letters | Commentary | Lifestyle | Movies | Travel | Health & Science | Faith | Archives | Weather | Obituaries Columnists|Utah
Politics | Filmfinder | |
53 Comments:
Brooke:
I am appalled at you and Trent both if you got a laugh out of that Batboy picture. It is demeaning and despicable to say the least. Up to now, what you have written has been very factual and objective, but I have lost respect for both of you if you think that is funny.
There you go, villia. These people prove aliens themselves in not just stooping so low as to committ genocide in American over the Freedom of Religion, but then laughing at it, and equating their victims as alien.
What! Bubbly brook turning to mud? I thought better of you, young lady, as fair and balanced.
I'm not saying that insulting someone's religious leader is humorous, but that wasn't their intent here. They never mention Warren Jeffs or the FLDS.
I guess you've never read the Weekly World News. It's an over-the-top ridiculous newspaper that reports unbelievably fake stories. They run stories about Dick Cheney being a robot, for heck's sake.
In this case, I seriously doubt they picked the photo for any reason other than they needed a photo of a courtroom and somehow grabbed this one. And I think that was a humorous coincidence.
-trent
Aimed at the FLDS BY DESIGN, and yes they in fact mention Warren Jeffs AND the FLDS Church in pictorial view, specifically replacing the good likeness of the Prophet with a monster. All would agree, this is quite deliberate, and manifests their own monstrocity.
street-
You're referring to my blog post that reveals the fact that it is Warren Jeffs, and has one of my photos proving it. The original doctored photo appeared on the Weekly World News site and doesn't mention him or the FLDS community. There is a link to the original source on my post.
-trent
And I got a laugh from the way Bat Boy was looking at bow-tie clad Wally Bugden and the weird use of an experience with which I am so familiar.
Listen, find a picture of me, put Bat Boy's face on it and I would laugh too. At myself. Trent, you've probably got a good one.
Oh, it doesn't matter what justifies putting a monster head on the Prophet. Still a monstrous act, yes? Would you do that to Jesus Christ, or to anyone who keeps His Word? Such mockery and falsehood are what make the critic so monstrous and so fully ready for the end-time Tribulation.
Intelligence keepeth focused upon the truth and the perfection of beauty of the perfected soul.
And I've probably looked at Wally with the same expression a few times!
Sorry Trent...
The doctored photo was neither humorous nor was it coincicence, and you really shouldn't try to justify yourself by saying it was. The photos depict the monster's weight loss... a direct thrust at the FLDS Prophet for his fasting and prayer in prison... all in a sick effort to be funny. The best thing you can do at this point is remove the photos from your web page before any more of your viewers realize how you really are.
I think that Trent is probably correct...the folks who put up the original doctored photo most likely have no idea about Warren Jeffs, other than he was a name in the news, awhile ago...
The average person, walking down the street in most of America has very, very limited knowledge or concern about the trials and tribulations of the FLDS. They have a moment of interet anytime national media runs something...or anytime a sensational book is published...but that's about it....
On the other hand, Brooke, Trent, the readers and contributors on this blog, not only are aware, but are often intimately involved, with both the Prophet and the other's depicted. It has singular meaning for us that is not good, or funny.
Some of us, like Brooke and outsiders who sympathize, can see the irony, and dark humor, but we are not the ones living in daily fear of prosecution. Nor are any of us the butt of bad humor on a daily basis or other discriminatory acts...
So I do agree that perhaps it should be taken down...
However, I disagree that it's intent was, or is, anything more than what Trent wrote.....
So Warren Jeffs can tell his people that the people outside of his financial support chain are evil and that he is praying for the lord to destroy them all, but a photo shopped picture of Warren is "demeaning and despicable?" I find your morals troubling. Where is your outrage at Warren's racist and sexist doctrine? Where is your outrage at the pictures of Warren making out with a 12 year old girl? Where is your outrage at the hundreds of families he has personally destroyed? Maybe you should take a long look at yourself before you judge others.
Just to be clear-
The photo in question is NOT mine. It was an Associated Press photograph that was doctored by and published by the Weekly World News, not me.
I'm not here to defend or justify it. I simply pointed it out.
Those of you who have met me on all sides of this topic know that I'm not someone who goes around laughing at the community.
-trent
Well it looks like a Trent picture, did they get your permission, flyboy?
Cooincidence it may have been, accident it was NOT.
But it is funny to those who do not know him very well, especially those that hate him because the FLDS people love him.
ssssspoke tooo ssssssoon
You know, when I first looked at Trents blog today and saw the title, "Warren Jeffs turns into Bat Boy", my blood drained from my whole body.I felt numb. I could hardly get myself to look at the post. Then, I had to really work with myself to read about it. At first I thought..."What??? What is wrong with Trent??? This is not like him. What changed in him??? Then, as I slowly, carefully read it, I could see what he was posting it for. I don't hold any hard feelings against Trent nor Brooke. There is no way they could possible understand how we the FLDS love our Prophet. There are just no words that can describe that love we feel. So when we see a mockery of him, it hurts. It hurts us real bad. But how could they ever have known that? Its impossible to. So, please, everyone, give them a break. They couldn't have known nor understand. I appreciate all Brooke and Trent have done in their work on us, the FLDS. Thanks for all the good you do.
I love our Prophet and pray for him.
We need our Prophet. God bless His holy Prophet, Warren Jeffs!
Horribly Horribly Tacky Brooke and Trent. I was taught when I was young that if something wasn't funny to everyone involved then don't do it. A very good example here. I don't hold any feelings, but that pic was blasphemy in the extreme. I do think you could understand that.
Yeah....
Pretty disappointing to have you mocking someone like that. The photo wasn't even funny and the intent was to demean WSJ.
I just hate to see underdogs kicked.
Oh my gosh, get a sense of humor, people.
If we can't laugh at ourselves, what good are we??
Moroni, what do you mean laugh at yourselves? Is Warren Jeffs your leader and profit?
No, Warren Jeffs is not my leader.
But I have enough of a sense of humor to:
a. Laugh at the photo
b. Laugh at my own leaders
c. Laught at myself
I have said often - if there is no sense of humor in the Celestial Kingdom, then I'm not going
Yeah, just as funny as seeing them mock an Indian right before they hung him.
"get a sense of humor" right?
First of all, I am a polygamist, so can laugh at other polygamists.
Second, I am half-Indian. Are you? Your analogy doesn't work.
I would be the one being strung up on the tree, laughing and giving the finger.
I have only been lurking for a long time but must wiegh in on this one. The adjectives used here are telling. Appalling!? Horribly Horribly Tacky!? Blasphemous!??? I have never found much humor in actions such as this. I remember back in school students taking pictures of people and defacing them in ways that they thought were extremely funny. Juvenile is more the word describing such actions than the adjectives being used here. (I think that is what Trent was pointing out in mentioning Dick Cheney).
The pro-FLDS responses indicate a belief that the world revolves around them. Sorry to burst your bubble but as pointed out by rericson, there are millions out there that neither know nor care about the FLDS. Your paranoia is showing through. Brooke is not the lapdog of the FLDS. I hope she and Trent will stand thier ground here.
Moroni,
I found the picture ALMOST as humorous as the expose about you and your family.
Why weren't you laughing about that? Didn't you find that funny?
Remember, I'm not out to justify or demonize the doctored photo that appeared in the Weekly World News. It's not my work so I don't have to stand up for it. But it's obvious, from your comments here, how much it means to some of you out there.
I talked to the photographer who took the photo last night. He works for an agency whose photos go all over the world and he had no knowledge that his photo had been doctored. I can't really quote him further, but the matter is being looked into.
I'll tell you why the photo caught my interest. I sat in that courtroom for multiple court hearings and the two week trial of Warren Jeffs. I sat in the same chair that photo was taken from for many hours, looking over at the defense table while covering a story of huge historical importance to the FLDS faith and the world of the principle. That scene with Warren is burned into my personal memory.
As a young boy I would occasionally pick up the Weekly World News at the grocery checkout and see what crazy headlines they had each week. It was always something ridiculous and amusing, like the story of the cannibal food critic who rated the people he had eaten based on their nationalities, or reports of Elvis being spotted alive. As FTTC commented, juvenile might be the right word for this type of comedy. It's truly absurd stuff, for sure.
I remember picking up the 1992 issue where they "reported" the discovery of Bat Boy in a West Virginia cave. Many Bat Boy articles followed in later editions.
So I stumbled on a series of Bat Boy articles published by the Weekly World News the other night. I clicked on a headline about Bat Boy suing Batman in a paternity fight (absurd, right?). The story came up and I saw the photo of the Warren Jeffs courtroom. What is Wally Bugden doing in a photo for a Bat Boy story? I thought. And then I noticed that they had put Bat Boy's head onto a person that the FLDS call a prophet of God.
At that moment, two elements of my life that couldn't be further apart came together in a very strange way. And that's how I wrote it up in my blog post.
Go back and re-read my post. I never offered an opinion. I never said it was funny. I called the story about Bat Boy suing Batman "comic fiction." (Batman is in comic books.)
I do find it an absurd coincidence that they used that photograph from that specific courtroom. I don't personally think those wacky tabloid editors in Florida picked that photo just to offend the FLDS, even though it does offend them. Maybe I'm wrong and they did it on purpose.
Your opinions are all valid and I find them interesting to follow. I just wanted to give you more information on how this all started.
fly on the wall...
Its as plain as day you didn't mean any harm by this photo. How would you know we would be hurt by it. Its our problem if we take offense by it. Uncle Warren would be ashamed of any of his followers who would take offense on this photo. He told about one time the news papers had wrote some terrible things about his father. He said it made him upset in his feelings. His father ,Uncle Rulon told him, "Don't let that bother you." He took the correction, and I think we all should "live above being bothered", as Uncle Warren has said.
Trent-
I also sat in that courtroom during the trial of Warren Jeffs. I was a witness there to defend the prophet I love and respect. I must say, that experience is etched into my brain forever too! I cried for the next 5 hours, and then again and again over the next few weeks, at the opportunity I had of seeing my prophet again. Most the time I stay away from these boards and the comments, because I abhor seeing grown people fight and argue, especially those of my faith who know better. But when I saw the picture with batboy, it gave me a low sinking in my tummy and made me quickly close down the screen. I can't say how horrible it was, even to glance at for a mere second. I don't know that I've ever seen something that made me feel so unhappy. I suppose that is hard to understand for many, but it is most painful to us who love him. Just an insight from inside....
ilovemyfamily.....
I agree with you...the low sinking feeling in my tummy... the sink feeling it left and still does. But, there is no way for Trent, Brooke, nor any outsider to understand. No way at all.
We love our prophet and pray for his deliverance. But we can "Live above being bothered" as our prophet does.
I do hope that Brooke and Trent remove the picture.
Not because it was created to insult Warren Jeffs. I don't believe that is the case. Rather, because it's existence hurts so many others. It's not of any great importance. It isn't germaine to any issue or story. So removing it doesn't infringe, in any way, on any kind of journalistic rights, etc...and it would just simply make people feel better.
I know that neither Trent nor Brooke can eradicate it from existence, but they can make sure it is no longer accesible through this one avenue where people who are hurt by it are apt to be or access it.
It's just the right thing to do...to diminish, or not cause, pain, if we can....
Just my two cents...
Song of Joy,
If you only knew how much we have laughed about it...
"Buck-toothed" jokes have become common in my household as of late.
But...
I know that I will have made it when someone doctors a photo of me as "Batboy".
Only then will I know I have arrived.
When I was growing up we use to say to people who bothered us,"I wish you were on the radio so I could turn you off". People! If you don'tlike what you see on the internet just turn it off. When I see a post that is clearly false about the FLDS I feel to defend the FLDS and when I see a post that is trying to defray the false and lies about the FLDS I like then. But when pure garbage is put up I just have to ignore it. If you are trying to say that Warren Jeffs is a monster, Then I say why don't you go look in the mirror. Christ said "let he who in snnocent cast the first stone." You cannot expect people outside of your religion to have the same love and appreciation for your religious leader.
moroni, my analogy works better than I thought. What if it was your chief that they were mocking and hung? Would you "get a sense of humor" then?
That might put you in the shoes of the FLDS.
"I abhor seeing grown people fight and argue, especially those of my faith who know better."
When the shoe fits, I wear it.
"blushing bright red"
Moroni,
You can say on here that you laughed about the article and are now making jokes about it, but I've read your blog. Unless you go back and change it, you weren't laughing then.
Maybe someday this picture will appear 'funny,' but that day is not here yet, and I wish it had not been posted out of respect for the FLDS and the current difficulties they are facing with some of their beloved fathers, brothers, uncles, etc., being charged with crimes, their women and children traumatized, Merrianne being held as a hostage, and the 'haters' just licking their fangs and looking for opportunities to get in there and gnash and rip and tear these people to shreds.
Up until the posting of the picture, I appreciated Brooke's reporting and Trent's photography, even when some of the stories were not easy to read. At least I felt they were balanced, fair, and could be trusted for accuracy.
With this picture posting and their finding humor in it, I'm wondering if it is more revealing of how they really feel about the FLDS.
Yes, Trent, I read your explanation. I still don't see why the picture is worth printing in the first place, let alone on a site that is looked to for fair and balanced reporting.
And that's MY personal opinion. :)
I think the world is losing it's sense of humor! I don't care who's body they photoshop Batboy on, even the Pope!, It's stupid funny picture! Get a grip people! And NO! I am not calling your prophet stupid OR funny...the picture is!!
The average person seeing that picture has absolutely no idea that a. it is Warren Jeffs that Batboy's face is on, or, b. even who Warren Jeffs is.
I think Trent found it because he is an 'on again, off again' afficiondo of "Batboy". When he found this particular one, the irony of it being a shot from a scene he was all too familiar with, hit him....
What a really small world it is, hit him...
I believe the "humor" that Trent and Brooke saw in it is not that it it was Warren Jeffs made into Batboy...it was of all the courtroom pictures in the world to use, this particular one was the one chosen....
It's not funny like "Ha Ha" funny...it's funny in it's irony to a select few....
And having talked with Brooke and followed her articles and blog for more than two years now, I feel absolutely confident that no harm or hurt was intended...
I think it is just one more example of how wide the cultural divide is and how much work we have to do to bridge that divide....and Brooke is one of the prime movers and shakers in creating that bridge.....
Sometimes the best lessons are the ones learned from our mistakes...
Pliggy:
In my world, I am chief.
Song of Joy:
You probably haven't read my whole blog, because there is plenty of humor there.
Maybe you could provide me with some joke material that would be appropos.
My point is - the lack of humor does not help your cause, neither does the scathing diatribes or the holier-than-thou vernacular. It just makes you look kooky.
Seriously. Maybe you should pick your battles a little bit better on a topic that counts, instead of getting worked up about a picture doctored up as "Batboy". Sheesh.
Trent,
I thought it was hilarious!!! Ive read Weekly World News, many times!
Geez people Lighten up!
OnTheStreet, you have your nerve comparing a jailbird like Jeffs to Jesus Christ!!
I got news for you people with NO sense of humor, Laughter is Good for you!
Ive seen funny pictures of the Pope to, its NOT blaspheme!
The Pope or Warren Jeffs either one arent God, their mere mortals, and you should be ashamed of worshipping a MAN! Im sure Christ wouldnt be to pleased with that either.
By the way Trent, Ive enjoyed all your photos and your blog.
Your very good at what you do!
Im sure there are many aspects of your work that is boring, like setting for hours to get the right picture.
But you can tell by your photos, you love what you do.
Trent:
I don't need to look down the sewer to know what's down there! You also lack in tact to think it's funny when you go fishing for what's 'on the bottom' and come rubbing it in our noses.
OH Please Cheese! this is a PUBLIC newspaper forum, NOT an FLDS OWNED newspaper, at least not as far as I know!
Cheese, Flds have allowed a convicted felon to start a website representing them.
Flds has disrepected a Judge who is crippled from polio, called her the guestopo! Threatened her, called her all kinds of names!
So, I get it now,, Its OKAY for FLDS do crap like that to a respected Judge, but its BAD for some Goofy magazine to publish a picture and call it batboy?
You and the other Flds posting here should be ashamed of what you say in other sites!
Marrie,
I suspect that if the judge had treated the FLDS case as she should have - without prejudice - then the FLDS and others would not have any reason to speak negatively about her.
As it is, even the 3rd court of appeals and the supreme court of Texas had to slap her down and get her to behave honorably. Then she had a hissy fit in the courtroom before she would follow the directives of the higher court, and she has done everything possible to make it DIFFICULT for the FLDS.
She has not permitted discovery so that the families' lawyers have access to the same information that CPS/Walthers and the DA have. She has chosen to remand one young woman into solitary confinement and restrict her communication with the outside world, placing her with a foreign culture and monitoring her every conversation, as if SHE were the criminal. Walthers has traumatized and tortured this young woman for the simple reason that she (Walther) could hurt this young girl and thereby hurt her parents. This young woman is in no danger, but Walther forced her into a foreign culture with strangers because she wanted to.
I could go on, but the evidence of Walther's bias has been so blatantly exposed that only that CHOOSE not to see it, still don't see it.
BTW - you don't have to be FLDS to see how illegal this whole mess is. Or are you gonna call the ABA journal FLDS, too?
I'm not ashamed of what I post here or other places. But then, I'm not maligning a whole culture because of the actions of a few, or on the basis of the tabloid stories of 3 spiteful disenchanted people that left their religion.
Song-
It absolutely amazes me how some of the folks who come on these blogs can be shown, concretely, how wrong their thinking is, and yet hold steadfastly to their faulty premises. No amount of logic or facts will sway them.
I think most of us, pre-raid, had a range of beliefs about the FLDS that were incorrect. Not because of malice or hate, simply because wrong information was really all that was available. That certainly is no longer true.
Unfortunately marrie is one of these people that has decided she likes thinking the worst about folks, so she does. Critical thinking, using available facts, that leads to logical conclusions that the FLDS were, and continue to be, mistreated, just doesn't fit into her personal need to hate.
Marrie, along with several others, seem to be so invested in their hate mongering that it leads one to believe they have a personal stake in this. For folks like Laurie, Flora, Carolyn, etc., we know they had individual experiences while living in fundamentalist communities that were bad and have completely clouded their vision and infected their thought processes. Doesn't make what they do right, but it at least allows one to understand them, a bit. These others, like marrie, present a mystery. The only logical conclusion is that they have a hidden 'stake'. Either they work for the courts or the prosecution, or perhaps, CPS. Or possibly some may work for law enforcement in some other capacity.
The only good I see them doing is, by their constant barage of crap, allowing the rest of us to constantly, and consistently, get out the message of how wrong they are!
Rericson
Cry me a river!
First of all, the picture trent had was hilarious! He didnt take it, but it was on his blog.
First, you interject the picture should be taken down, Then you try to make excuses as to why Brooke put it on her blog.
It was FUNNY!!!! Whether it was Warren Jeffs in the picture or if it had been George Bush, it was funny as hell.
Warren Jeffs is the least of my problem hes in jail where he should be and will be there a long time.
Ive said all along, protection of children from abuse of any kind is my poragative. I dont care if its some skinny whimpy dude calling himself a "prophet" to be worshipped. or just some pervert who gets a kick out of abusing children.
If adults will allow their children at such young ages to be married, have sex, and babies on the so called word of Flesh and Bones dude who they worship, then YES they are as responsible for the abuse as the "prophet".
I dont hate anyone, never have, but your right, I HATE the fact that people allow someone to RULE their every thought, action and teach their children guilt and fear, if they DONT do what they are told.
By the way, Judge Walther wasnt condemned for taking all the children, she was told to return them because there wasnt enough evidence to HOLD them ALL.
She still was given the right to investigate, keep them in Texas till investigations were over.
So far 278 children have been non-suited through investigations. Thats what due process means.
Anyone charged with any crime, has a right to take thier claim to higher court.
And by the way, you dont have to LIVE in a culture to know when things are not right! Nor do you have to live in a cult, to know things arent right.
So far, 9 men including a doctor have been indicted. So, I guess like the rest of America, we all just get to set and wait.
By the way, NO, I dont work for any government agency.
Marrie, you at least got one statement right
"Warren Jeffs is the least of my problem('s)"
everyone needs to take a step back on the photo issue, please! look at it from both sides of the picture: 1) those loyal to jeffs and the flds feel its very disrespectful; 2) those non-flds feel its either funny or it needs to be remove to respect the flds; 3) trent is just showing us another side of the media itself - trash mags which dont care either way as long as they sell papers and the media on its own manipulates itself. personally, i think its funny and distasteful at the same time.
I guess that's why they call it "Freedom of the Press"
You dont have to like what the press says, or pictures it takes, but they have a right to write or take pictures and publish them:)
Now I get it! Marrie writes for the WWN. It all makes sense now, they must have writers who believe their own nonsense.
And Moroni, I know you can think clearer than that. Just try. (Brother, Uncle, best friend etc) If you can't see how it is insulting it shows more about yourself. If it was a picture of me, I would laugh too, but it wasn't. It was a picture of an innocent man being railroaded by religious prejudice and a group of apostates, and then taking that picture and mocking him. The picture was not an accident at all, it is typical hate spiel against the FLDS, disguised as a bat boy story.
Pliggy,
You say: "The picture was not an accident at all, it is typical hate spiel against the FLDS, disguised as a bat boy story."
Are you kidding me??!!
Where is the attack? The article talked about the fictional superhero Batman and the fictional creature Bat Boy and NEVER ONCE mentioned the FLDS in any way AT ALL...
If that makes this anti-FLDS "hate spiel" then it was so well "disguised" that it ended up being the LEAST EFFECTIVE "hate spiel" I have ever seen.
That you even call it "hate spiel" is an offense to your own kind who have been suffered tremendous persecution for your beliefs.
For you all to cry about this is just laughable. Grow up and stop embarassing yourselves!
Pliggy,
You are right. If it was a picture of me, I would laugh. But if it was a picture of say, my dad, I would be upset.
Karen,
The WWN does not come up with stories and then find a picture. They find a picture and then make the story. I didn't say it was an attack, but it is not an accident either. They were mocking the man who was just in the news for being tortured in prison for trying to pray.
Pliggy
According to your logic the conversation must have been something like this
WWN editor 1: Hey look, an old photo of cult leader Warren Jeffs, the man who was just in the news for being tortured in prison for trying to pray!
WWN editor 2: Great, let's mock him by writing a story about Batman!
WWN editor 1: Great idea! This will really get under the skin of those polygamists!
You really pushing that line?
Karen,
Blinded by feelings of animosity toward a man who they do not care for, they look for a picture of him, and write a story about bat boy with it. It is obvious by their other "bat boy" stories they make up the story when they find a picture of someone they want to mock.
They were not concerned about getting under peoples skin, they never are. They are ALL about mocking people in the news.
I am sure that they think tying him to his bed, or force feeding him, is "justice", not what it really is.
Post a Comment
<< Home