To open, I wrote this post in anger and annoyance. Sorry!
Alrighty, so let's take a gander into the interwebs. The web is a somewhat marvelous place, filled with informative sites, entertainment, and also a huge bevy of things to be avoided. I spend a good deal of time online. I browse, surf, and generally waste too much time.
One of the sites I can waste a portion of the day away on is Imgur. It is a somewhat terrible site, if I am being honest. I would liken it to the movie Legend; it is not good, and yet I enjoy it. So the basis of the website is somewhat convoluted, but the most simple way I can describe the site, and the culture, is an open sourced, image sharing site where the most popular images are viewed in a gallery.
Somewhat more detail would reveal that the group is essentially ruled over by what the describe as "fake internet points." Each upvote is a positive point, and each downvote is a negative vote. The most upvoted reach front page, making it out of what is called "user sub," where content is introduced. Original content is deemed good, and yet reposted content is seemingly more often to reach front page. Memes rule, gifs are king, and themes (Javier, crappy Charmander, Travolta, banana for scale, cat tax) are almost necessity. The community is as harsh upon themselves for these own trends (posting negative comments regarding the ruling topics that reach front page) as they are supportive of them.
Anyway, I was recently browsing and found this post (some light vulgarity included in the post), the picture of which I included below.
However, I would like to broaden the scope a little bit. I was pleasantly surprised by the positive voices regarding other members' relationships with members of the church.
The definition, according to Urban Dictionary, of an Imgur user (imgurian) is "someone who resides on Imgur.com." The second definition is more precise, but slightly less accurate; "An oversensitive, depressed, person with very liberal views who spends hours upon hours on a website Imgur.com. Claims to belong to a community of internet people who all share sensitive emotions and prefer hearing nice lies instead of the harsh reality of the world. They are very gullible specie and will upvote anything that involves tragic events, cats, loss of fat, dogs, cancer patients, and other really gay stuff." A somewhat harsh definition, but not too far from the truth from my experience.
The reason I bring this up is more a rebuttal bourne from my vindictive nature. When I think of the sort of person who would post the above picture regarding my faith, I think of a young and opinionated college student at a liberal arts school or recent graduate who is angry at the world and voting for Bernie Sanders. 81% of the sites users are male, 75% have no kids, 60% are in households making fewer than 60k a year, and 72% are under 34, with 41% being under 25. These are simply basic demographics. But my thoughts aren't too inaccurate relative to these demographics (and just google "bernie sanders, imgur" to see how much support he has there).
I am reminded heavily of a dear friends brother. He was intelligent, from a religious centered middle class family (true middle class, not working), and attended a small college where he studied philosophy. His first summer back from college, he was a full blown atheist. He attacked my beliefs using a series of basic philosophical theories. It was annoying. He seemed completely intent on proving to me that I was an idiot to believe in God.
Now I will admit that I am religious. I try to follow the Gospel as I know it. I believe that I am a member of the true church. However, I think that I am accepting and welcoming of others. I do not try and force my beliefs of others. I allow my beliefs to shape my life and influence me, and hope that others ask me questions so that I can provide answers. I did serve a mission, and I loved it.
The reason this post irks me is simple; I know far more annoying atheists than I do annoying Christians. (Also, there are twice as many Atheists as Mormons in the US.) I view atheist the same basic way I do vegans; overtly vocal, and out to convince/offend you. LDS missionaries are spread across the world to spread the Gospel. They invite people to develop a personal relationship with Christ. They are one of the safest demographics in the world, with their death rate at 1/20th of the world average for their age group. They work hard, sacrifice a great deal, and are typically known to be polite, kind, generous, and knowledgeable.
TL;DR, I find it revealing and hypocritical that someone who hides behind screen name would go out of their way to bash the church for having charitable young men abandon everything to serve complete strangers.
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