I don't know how many of you are following the trial of Warren Jeffs, leader of a Mormon splinter sect, who is being prosecuted for arranging and advocating the marriage of young girls (14 years old and thereabouts) to much older men, with the parents' cooperation, of course.
One of these victims testified that she was made to listen to recorded sermons by this guy pretty much throughout the day.
CNN helpfully provided a snippet of one of his recordings:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/11/fleeing.polygamy.hammon/index.html#cnnSTCOther1
I am providing a transcript of the last bit, it's a howler, but it also sounds a little familiar
I was watching a documentary the other day, and on came these people talking about a certain Black man. In the program, it was revealed that this Black man was homosexual, immoral, on drugs...the worst kind of person. And then it showed the modern Rock group, The Beatles. It showed them as pingy, pangy, unnoticed, useless people;nobody would hire them. And so, the manager of the group called in this Negro homosexual, on drugs, and the Negro taught them how to do it. And what happened then? They went world wide. And all other music has followed that pattern, the most famous of what we call the Rock groups. So when you enjoy the beat, the rock groups, maybe even toned down with an orchestra, you are enjoying the spirit of the Black race. And that is what I emphasize to my students. And it is to rot the soul, and lead the person into immorality, to corruption, to forget your prayers, to forget God...
Now, if someone is even marginally a Beatles fan, you gotta wonder what this guy is smoking to come up with a story like this.
For someone more familiar with their early days, you can see little seeds of accuracy in what is basically a big fib.:
When the John Lennon and Paul McCartney started listening to Rock and Roll, and playing it themselves, they did have their favorites. One of Paul's biggest influences was Little Richard, who, in his private life, was a drug user and a homosexual. (He also quit Rock and Roll (for a little while, anyway) to pursue a career as a Minister, so I guess he and Jeffs have more in common than Jeffs would like to admit). As a group, the Beatles did not start out with a golden sun casting rays of success wherever they went. It was only after hard years of playing club gigs did they sharpen up their playing skills and their stage personas. Then it followed that they hired Brian Epstein as a manager (okay, he was gay too, but he wasn't black) who put them in the suits, and then they STILL had to be rejected by just about every company in Britain before they got hired by an oddball label called Parlophone, whose only other claim to fame was recordings of "The Goon Show". Not exactly hitting the big time right away. Actually, it wasn't until the height of Beatlemania a couple of years later that they finally did meet Little Richard, and by that time, he was becoming a has-been in the wake of The British Invasion. So, the pieces of Jeffs' story are there, but, wow! what a hodgepodge interpretation. Plus, as a bonus, we get the racist views of his, and believe me, mainstream Mormonism is just as racist, judging the things that one of my Mormon classmates used to say.
I just find it a funny picture in my mind, as described by Jeffs: Here are the Beatles, portrayed as some kind of sad sack, worthless group, getting locked in a room with some drugged out homo black guy, who waves his magic wand and shows them "how to do it"! Then, out the door they go, and now everybody in the world just loves their music, and their careers are well established as soul rotting, immoral Pied Pipers (come to think of it, didn't John say that they were "bigger than Jesus"? Holy cow! Maybe Jeffs is right!).
And what does "pingy pangy" mean, anyway?
If you listen to the audio, what I found unnerving is the way his speech is delivered. I swear I have heard these same words delivered in Sunday talks, in the same manner, and the same tone of voice, with the same innaccuracies. All you need is a captive audience, and no forum for dissent, and you can say whatever you want to say, no matter how off the wall or inaccurate it might be.
Anyway, thought you all might enjoy the laugh.