Big Love? Big Deal!

For those who are breathlessly awaiting the conclusion of our Disneyland series (I'm sure there are many), I hope to get that done on Sunday. But in the mean time, I had some thoughts that are just bouncing around my brain that are causing me to not concentrate. So if I write them down, then maybe I won't dwell on them as much and can move on with my day. Here goes:

For those who haven't heard, the HBO series Big Love, about a polygamous family in Utah (Shocker, how come they never have the polygamous family in Rhode Island? Just a thought), is airing an episode that will fully show the temple endowment ceremony. I am not crazy about that. In fact, I find it highly offensive. But several well meaning LDS members have started on-line petitions to boycott HBO, AOL and Time Warner. The Church has taken the stand that they are just basically going to ignore it because to do anything else would only give it more attention and that is the last thing wanted. I can't help but wonder what those who want to start a boycott hope to accomplish. First, asking Mormons to boycott HBO is probably akin to asking the National Organization of The Lactose Intolerant to boycott the dairy industry. I mean how many LDS families actually subscribe to HBO in the first place? Second, isn't there already a national boycott underway against AOL due to the fact that they SUCK and have sucked for the past 15 years!? Finally, an LDS boycott of Time Warner would probably be similar to the Southern Baptists boycotting Disney in the early 90's over the priest's knee being confused with another body part in "The Little Mermaid". After a few years, they called off the boycott and Disney's response was; "Oh, were you gone?"

Now please understand that I get the "it's the principal of the issue" argument. I really do. I guess I am just suffering fatigue from the amount of "it's the principal of the issue" issues that are out there. I seem to get an e-mail every other day or so telling me about another thing I should avoid or a petition to sign. Some I act on and others I take more of this kind of approach. When I look at it logically, I figure no more than 5 million people will see "Big Love". (Personally I believe that is probably stretching it.) That is less than 2% of the American public. Of those two percent, about half probably fall into the category of HBO viewer who believes if a scene doesn't have something naked or bloody in it, then it must be time to get more Cheetos. So with those kind of numbers, I believe the relevance of this whole thing only gets raised when LDS folks rise to the bait and bring it more attention. I believe that is what the producers were and are hoping for by showing it in the first place. By next week, I'm sure 98% of Americans will never even know what happened and another 1.5% will have forgotten. So to HBO and the producers of Big Love I say, is that the best you got? Then Big Whoop!