Mormons never bothered me, but one thing I had noticed was they are very insular and always prefer Mormon politicians over non-Mormons. Hence why we can't get rid of people like Romney. At least that was my image - but the other day I was listening to a gaming stream from Razorfist where he read a superchat on the topic of insufferable Mormon politicians, and he said that in his experience Mormons are instinctively RINOs. (let's pretend that means "someone not a true right-winger") He pointed to an example of a local Arizona politician Russell Pierce who WAS a Mormon, but his own church helped kick him out of office because he wanted immigration and election reform with the Protect Arizona Now initiative and SB1070. Apparently illegal immigrants are a source of new Mormon blood?
Here is the exact timestamp of the comment. (2:49:51)
What do you guys think? Was that a one-off or is there something about modern Mormonism that makes their "conservatives" non-conservative establishment cucks?
(Obviously I mean as a group i.e. The LDS Church. Individuals can be based.)
The leadership isn't allowed to get that deep into politics unless allowed to by the heads of it. If the church actually went against the bill, it was likely members, not the church itself, that did it.
All minorities use parts of their stereotypes as a way to protect themselves. Mormons use being nice. There have been multiple groups that have gone into Utah expecting to convert Mormons enmass, they go knocking on doors and try to argue a lot. The Mormons give them cookies and other food till they can't argue and leave.
One of the biggest ant communists in the entire world also became the prophet of the church. He had been in presidential cabinets and stormed against communists for years. So I highly doubt the church itself is doing these things.
On the other hand, they don't trust the US. They don't trust any government. When the US had a civil war with Mormons, and the US had newspapers and politicians declaring how they would wipe out the people completely even to this day, it would be difficult to trust everyone. Most right leaning Mormons believe the US to be divinely guided so they can have their religion.
The Mafia is in Utah, and it runs the usual Mafia stuff. The Mormons view this as part of the US culture, and not of themselves. My favorite example is Las Vegas. It was owned by members and had mostly farms until the 1950's. The strip and it's founders ran one side, while the Mormons ran the other. There is a temple there. While it was being built pamphlets were sent out across the Rockies and into the Northwest about how the church ran the casinos. In fact, they proclaimed the church was starting one soon. It was the temple.
Atari, and sierra were started by Mormons, who used Mafia money to pay for the company. However, in both cases the people who did this left the church because the Mafia used drugs to control them.
The church itself says to follow the laws of the land so long as it doesn't go against the faith. This is how there were members in Russia and Germany throughout world war ii, and the cold war. In fact a temple was built in East Germany while the wall was still up. The guy who helped get the temple built is now a high up member. There is now a similar story in mainland china. There is said to be members in places like North Korea, but I have no real proof of it.
If you want to get into videogame history, you expect to find Mormons. They show up all the time. I've asked friends about it, and no one really knows why. Amy Chua wrote a book about how Mormons are one of 4 groups that will likely take over the world based on culture.
I don't think Mormons are republican in the same way I don't think they are democrats. They can spout off about how their faith and political beliefs work, but ultimately admit their are faults. The church supported laws that didn't allow people to be screened based on sexual orientation, religion, or race. However the same church declares homosexual acts to be a sin. It's not an either or situation like so many proclaim or desire.
Every lefty friend who is a member uses the excuse that everything needs to be nicer for the church to work. They even push for the church to allow women to have the priesthood. Then they crow about all the people leaving the church. Of course this only works in Utah and other smaller Mormon strongholds. In South America and other places it doesn't work at all, and the church now has more members outside of the US than in it.
That was a longer answer than I expected, because Mormons being Rino's is the same as saying Mormons being communists. You might find members doing that, but the church and the majority of the faith are not.
About Mormons in video game history, I recall a funny exchange from The Masters of DOOM.
John Romero: "So, you're a Mormon?"
Sandy Petersen: "Yes."
Romero: "Well, at least you're like not a Mormon that keeps pumping out tons of kids and stuff."
Petersen: "Actually, I've got five kids."
Romero: "Oh, okay, but it's not like ten or anything. But you know five's a lot, but, um, at least you're not a really hard-core card-carrying Mormon."
Petersen: "Oh, I've got my Mormon card right here!"
Romero: "Well, at least you don't wear those garments and stuff, right?"
Petersen: "Got my garments on right here!"
Romero: "Okay, okay, I'm going to shut up."
Petersen: "Look, don't worry. I have no problem with the demons in the game. They're just cartoons. And anyway, they're the bad guys."
A lot of excerpts from Masters of Doom get talked about all the time, but this is the first time I've ever seen anyone mention this one.
It's really telling and shows precisely the sort of leftist Romero would go on to become.
I didn't know anything about his politics but realized he's a crazy loon when he added "he/him" to his profile. I ignore anything that anyone with pronouns says - that rule hasn't done me wrong yet.
He's always been the guy who wants to be cooler than he actually is. If it makes him feel cooler, he will do it.
People who know him have been sending the video of Eddy Munson playing guitar on Stranger Things because it fits his character.