Ok, maybe the question in the title is a bit optimistic. But consider the headlines over the last year or so: Rocky calls for impeachment, BYU students protest Cheney, Rocky vs. Hannity debate sells out in under 2 hours...(I was sure there were more.) But those three stories alone could not have surfaced in Utah 10 years ago.
What does that have to do with the Devil and brown people? Well, perhaps for the first time in Utah history, someone who publicly squawks about the devil is today made to look absurd. See who and how and learn about Satan's Great Plot below the fold.
This is what happens when the John Birch Society breeds with self-righteous Mormon literalism.
Don Larsen, a district chairman, has submitted a resolution equating illegal immigration to "Satan's plan to destroy the U.S. by stealth invasion" for debate at Saturday's Utah County Republican Party Convention.
Referring to a plan by the devil for a "New World Order ... as predicted in the Scriptures," the resolution calls for the Utah County Republican Party to support "closing the national borders to illegal immigration to prevent the destruction of the U.S. by stealth invasion."
"As predicted in the scriptures?" What scripture would that be, Larsen? The one written in your head? I'd like to see the unedited resolution. Now, it's not that a GOP dude has said something so completely whacked that makes this story remarkable. Our congressmen and Senators say stupid stuff all the time (eg. Hatch's recent embarrassing ass licking of Abu Gonzo), drawing nary a murmur from the UT press.
This story is different because of its placement: the front page (above the fold) of the LDS church-owned Desert News. There's nothing newsworthy in the story itself, mind you. Don Larsen, righteous, is a district chairman--a low-level GOP lackey, who merely proposed that one county's GOP convention debate his resolution. In fact, the state GOP is already distancing itself from the insanity.
"I don't think you'd find very many Republicans to suggest that the devil is involved in the immigration issue," said Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who is serving as convention chairman. "I don't think you'll find much support for that sentiment."
Yaaawn. Why is this front page material? Because it's blatantly, embarrassingly, spectacularly moronic. It's sensationalism, pure and simple, to place it on the front page. The Deseret News editors know this and placed it there to capitalize on the inanity.
Also in today's Deseret News, another headline:
Salt Lake mayor flays Bush, Cheney in D.C. rally. That's a strong word, flay:
1 : to strip off the skin or surface of : SKIN
2 : to criticize harshly
Would that there were more flaying going on.