I really respect creators who don't make you wait for the answer to the question in their title, but Wendover takes the cake here by giving us the answer as the first word of the video.
Utah resident, ex mormon here. I usually dont like hearing about Utah and the Mormon church online because people get a lot of things wrong. This was one of the most fair videos ive seen on the topics. Good and bad, it was accurate.
I think he captured some of the peculiarities pretty well. Could have gone a step further to explain why Trump is oddly unpopular for such a red state.
@@jesseoglidden Politicians in general are hugely unpopular, but Utah really doesn't like the other party as much, so they will continue to begrudgingly support Trump!
As a Wisconsinite, I take pride in the occasional news story about Wisconsin sports fans traveling to Utah for away games and drinking entire bars dry.
@tuckerbugeater I'm a wisconsinite and it's just our culture. We don't like alcoholics here. They are shunned and it's seen as you let yourself go. Just when we go out we go hard and there is a huge drinking culture. Not if you need to go to work the next day though.
@@josephkelly9239 I mean, in the eyes of the federal government, 2 beers a day (even 5% on tap beers) means you are damn close to being a binge drinker. There's aren't too many people I know who have a spotted cow with dinner and a Miller light in front of the TV every night and a couple at the fish fry/Badgers game/meat raffle and have a major problem. It's just how they choose to relax.
For the record, the beers are no longer watered down. Beer companies got together and told the Government that they would no longer be brewing, packaging, and shipping special 3% beers for a single state. 5%ish is the standard and available at gas stations and grocery stores, but if you want a highpoint you will need to go to a place with a liquor license
This was precipitated by Indiana, IIRC, changing their laws to allow for the sale of normal strength beer in regular retail, leaving UT the only state in the nation with such laws still on the books. So less initiative on the part of brewers than a reasonable response to changing economic conditions. 'Course, it all gets to the same place in the end.
Native Utahn here, served a mission, married in the temple, the whole 9, this was one of the most well done, unbiased, and informative video essays I’ve ever seen, I was worried that it would just be 25 minutes of you lambasting the dominant religion, but you did a great job giving an accurate view of the state, it’s origins, and its values! I served my mission in Oklahoma speaking Spanish, and it definitely softened my view on ilegal immigration! I learned a lot about what drives people to leave, and gain the sense of compassion that I had lacked otherwise
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves. Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
Utah is awesome. Mormons not so much, not that they are bad people. The problem is with the brethren who believe their values supersede all the values of other groups. They make a lot of mistakes to their detriment and when they fail, they lie about it. The dominant religion is cultish, which is actually not that unusual. Utah is only weird when compared to “mainstream” American culture, which is weird compared to British culture, etc. You get the idea. Utah is unique, but so is Japan. What am I missing. Utah is awesome; best skiing I have ever experienced. ❤
I have been in and through Utah many times.. The strangest had to when I spent two weeks in SLC in the 90's for work. At some point I remember telling a friend ..."I have to go to a good burger and beer place!" I was on the road all over the country at the time and was basically living at places like Chili's and Applebees. They took me to what appeared to be an Italian bar / restaurant. We sat down at the bar and I ordered a burger and beer. I could clearly see liquor bottles in the back with beer taps. The waiter said: "You have to have a membership and a sponsor for the beer." I had no idea what this meant. "Membership?" "Spenser?"....for a beer? An older Italian man (like New York / Jersey Italian ..think Tony Soprano) sitting in the middle of the bar said: "I'll sponsor him."....like it was soothing he said 100 times a day and... The waiter brought my burger and beer. Easily the oddest meal experience ever.
@@matthewblackwelder6487 No, that law had nothing to do with alcohol. That had to do with smoking indoors. In order for a place to allow smoking they had to be a private club and smoking and drinking go together so you ended up with a lot of places moving to being private clubs with memberships. This has nothing to do with republicans or the mormons this was a liberal push and yet here are the liberals trying to pretend that it is a weird right thing.
Great video! Thank you. As an attorney who practiced in Utah and now practices in Illinois, I would add expungement as one of Utah’s uniquely progressive areas of law. Utah has been one of the leading states in the nation in pioneering ways for those with criminal records to clean, expunge, or overcome their records. Utah’s law is still ahead of Illinois’s in this way.
It's like all of these "odd" policies are a result of all those Mormons taking what's in their scripture about forgiveness and taking care of their fellow man seriously or something. I don't agree with everything they believe, but I have to credit them for enacting a ton of supportive, social-justice-oriented policies.
@@stefthepef Do not co-opt Gospel Principle-themed practices with social justice. They are not the same thing. It's successful *specifically* because it's not "social justice"
16:18 So the interesting thing about that is the Provo City Center Temple wasn't a temple until very recently. It used to be just a tabernacle (a very large meetinghouse). However, in 2010, it caught fire, and the whole structure other than the outer walls burned down. This prompted the decision to renovate it into a temple - and it just so happened to be at the center of the Provo city grid.
Also, there is a town called Wendover, which is on the border of Utah and Nevada. West Wendover, NV is the go-to place for people to drink, gamble, visit the dispensary, etc. Basically all the sins that are restricted in Utah.
Yeah, it was built by the Mormon pioneers. It was a useful supply point since it's halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The Vegas we have today is the child of the 1930s, Chicago gangsters, and the influx of workers to build the Hoover dam.
Also, the Strip isn't in the City of Las Vegas. It's in Paradise which is an officially unincorporated territory in Las Vegas County. There was some drama when the City tried to annex the Strip to tax it and the County blocked the move because they wanted all of the tax revenue.
Here's the thing that no one talks about: We have a STRONG, decades long, multi-generational alternative community, and it's kind of growing. I work at the same goth nightclub my dad went to when he was my age (he still goes he's just not my age anymore), and I'm not the first nor the only kid of someone who regularly attend for most of their life currently working there. There's a goth club, multiple goth nights a month in various locations, multiple alternative themed thrift stores, goth community events (monday we're all seeing Abigail), goth camping trips, group migrations to out of state music festivals, post concert meetups.. It's a close knit, long lived community and It's so rarely talked about outside of maybe SLC Punk. Here's another thing I never see talked about: Do you know what Utah has disproportionately more of than most states, aside from children? Haunted house attractions. You have Nightmare on 13th, Fear Factory, Strangling Brothers Circus, Castle of Chaos, Shadows of Fear, Haunted Forest, Asylum 49, Haunted Kay's Cross, Dark Nightmare, Haunted Hollow, SO MANY DAMN CORN MAZES, and our local amusement park hosts at least 5-6 haunted houses on its property every fall. The thing that's always cracked me up about the premise of Five Nights At Freddy's 3 is that all of the games canonly take place in Hurricane, Utah, and Utah is no stranger to making haunted houses out of locations with confirmed deaths. I've named three already. I think these two factors are related. I think haunted houses, and fan conventions, and places like Evermore park (I know its closed at the moment but it's coming back as something similar to the original premise, just hopefully better funded) are the neutral middle ground where the least strict mormons and those who feel alienated by mormonism can meet and have a good time together. Halloween is a big holiday in this state because of that, too. For every family with 3 toddlers waddling from car to car in a church parking lot wearing massive coats over their costumes, there's a group of adults going to Nightmare on 13th and then going to eat at that horror movie themed burger resturaunt.
I am Colombian and member of the LDS church. I came to Utah for school and I love it here. I appreciate the nuanced and respectful tone of the video and the comments! Much love to everyone ❤
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves. Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
Beware, they are not Christians. Jesus is the Son of God who loves us, lived and died, and was resurrected for us. They do not believe that. Please do some research!
Hey, I’m a member. We actually do believe in Jesus, and that we are saved by His grace. This video was a pretty good, respectful look at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but it seemed to miss that the focus of the church isn’t on Joseph Smith or the angel Moroni or anyone else, it’s on Jesus Christ, who you correctly said is the Son of God who loves us and died for us, thanks for bringing that up! I believe that He lives, and atoned for my sins. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true and restored church, and its gospel has been and always will be the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you want to discuss anything else, I’d be happy to talk!
Moved from New York backcountry to Salt Lake City for my masters degree. You wouldn’t think Utah is weird until you leave the state and go somewhere else. I loved my time in Utah, people are friendly and outgoing, and the temples, while not my thing, are some of the most beautiful structures you’ll see.
I too enjoyed my years at Utah for college and a few years after it. Never again was I to be so immersed in nature for my recreation time. An absolutely beautiful place to live and play.
Oh man, that’s so true. I grew up in SLC and moved to Sacramento for college, and hoo boy some of the smallest things were such a culture shock for me. Mostly the less restrictive alcohol laws. I worked at a burger joint for a bit and was surprised that we could serve beer, and I remember once seeing a couple buy glasses of wine at a bookstore cafe and my brain just about shut down.
Native Utahn here, one of my old neighbors was from New York, we had some fun conversations! He was a really nice guy, but definitely a New Yorker, very blunt. Haha!
I had the complete opposite experience lol. Coming from the south it seemed almost impossible to start a conversation with someone random. Also whenever I held a door for someone or told someone thank you they just didn't say anything at all lol. It was a bit weird.
One important caveat for the high percent of Republican voters in Utah is the caucus/primary system. Because Democratic candidates are less likely to win, many voters with left-leaning values will register as Republican in order to participate in the Republican primary and elect more moderate candidates.
People's support for a candidate remains until they see their true colors. People tend to stick to their values and may reject a candidate in the next election if their values don't align.
This is true! I have a relative who is very conservative, and works in local government for a city, and he was ranting about how Utah is full of "milquetoast Republicans" who are just liberals running as republicans because they know they can't win as Democrats. I'm sure that's more true in other states too than a lot of people realize, but Utah is so damn republican it's totally a thing here. Though there's a lot of far right republicans too, so definitely mind the small print on the candidate's voter brochures about what they actually support.
Well done, Wendover Productions. This video kept cropping up in my UA-cam feed, but as a lifelong Utahn I was very hesitant to click on it. I couldn't help but think, "We've heard it all before, trust me." But tonight, after a little celebratory session after a trip to the dispensary up the street (You heard that right, folks. It's 4/20/24 and Utah has medicinal dispensaries.) and a few beers from the Utah State Liquor Store, I finally clicked play. Utah IS weird . . . and that's why I love it so, so much! I'm not gonna go through the video point by point because aside from some minor tweaks and pronunciation corrections (I swear you were mispronouncing "Brigham" on purpose, haha! There is no N in Brigham, my guy), you pretty much nailed it. I especially appreciated your occasional use of the word "nuance." As is the case with so many overviews and summaries, it's nearly impossible to emphasize the multitude of nuance surrounding us every day. Making broad, generalized assertions without mention of nuance is just poor journalism, in my opinion. I feel like you did a very good job of describing Utah in such a short amount of time without resorting to GIANT blanket statements. Others will surely disagree, but I think you did a helluva job. I grew up in SLC, then moved to St. George at age 15. I moved back to Salt Lake at 26 and have been here ever since, although I still consider St. Geezy and Las Vegas my other two "hometowns." I've also spent a lot of time in Massachusetts, LA, San Francisco, Denver, and Texas. I only bring this up because I want to mention how wonderful the people of Utah are. Not that people in those other places aren't wonderful as well, but there's a very unique spirit to Utah that I don't see or feel in other states. It's probably just my own biases, but I swear it's noticeable. I can only think of one way to explain what I mean; I've been to hundreds of concerts and comedy clubs all across the country and there is nothing like seeing a band or comedian in SLC for the first time. Without fail, every time, they're like, "HOLY SHIT! You guys are awesome!" Now, that could easily be low expectations on their part, but I've seen it from repeat visitors as well. Utahns have an extra-weird sparkle in their eye, haha. There are definitely militant Mormons and far-right lunatics here (a couple of my friends' parents spring to mind), but it has been my experience that most Utahns are fairly reasonable centrists with a lot of love in their hearts. Especially as the old timers age out, a younger generation of Utahns---people such as myself, in their mid-40s---are taking to leadership roles and dialing back some of the more outdated and outlandish quirks. Anyhoozle, this comment completely got away from me. Sorry for the essay. Utah's a weird, wacky, wonderful place. ✌️❤️
I love your essay. lol. I been living all over the world working with my jobs and in the USA too. I love living in Utah and being able to have the freedoms that we have here. Ski and Golf in one day, and flying fishing for big trout. My family loves to camp up in the mountains and do some hiking and mountain biking. And very close to Vegas too.
@coachanderson2704 Haha, thank you, that's very nice to say. And you're absolutely right! From the alpine mountain peaks to the palm trees of St. George, it's such a uniquely beautiful part of the world. My only complaint is our proximity to good surf spots, haha. Although the other side of that coin is being able to take the city bus up to Snowbird. 😆
As someone who lived in utah for years and used to be a member of the church I appreciated the unbiased view this video presented. Even though I personally don’t agree with a lot of the doctrine taught I still have a lot of respect for people within the church as my family and a lot of old friends are still members. It was nice to see someone cover a topic that is incredibly easy to politicize in a way that pretty much only covered facts and routed their arguments in logic and reasoning rather than hate. Props to the creator for showing people the actual causes for the mormon influence on politics rather than the biased crap the typical person would give.
His pronouncing "legislature" as "legislator" was triggering for me - by the third time I was yelling "legislaTURE!" at my laptop. Clearly an opportunity for me to practice patience...
Yeah, I cringed too, but there’s no way for him to know how to pronounce Mantua 😂 (Mant-away, for those who may be reading this from outside of Utah, or if spoken in the Utah accent, you drop the T and it’s pronounced more like mannaway)
As a Missourian, the stories of the church BEFORE Utah are amazing. The only violence order ever given by a governor in US history against its own people (Boggs). Its a pretty amazing gap in our history that people do not know.
Most Mormons don’t really seem to care what the people around them do as long as they can do what they want. Of course, what they choose to do is often a VERY different issue… (I once had a Mormon acquaintance who go pregnant as teen. Because the father wasn’t a Mormon, they couldn’t pressure him to marry her, so they sat the girl in the middle of a circle of elders, publicly shamed her, and then excommunicated her. After that, I can’t see the Mormon church as “harmless” anymore)
This was so well done. I grew up mormon, but left in my thirties. I learned a lot of things I didn't know much about our history. And you made me appreciate that our politics here is nuanced . Thank you for putting this together.
Thank you for being willing to go in depth and not just stopping with "Mormons = Weird". I lived for many years in that part of the country, and saw first hand how, for many people, the church played a positive role in their lives, organizing community events, encouraging family time, and building public institutions that helped the community. I'm not a member, but I respect what they have accomplished.
Good comment. I'm a Latter-day Saint. I embrace the weirdness of our culture, which is heavily influenced by our early church history, for better or worse.
@@loganbagley7822 Well said, and I think there is a certain amount of weirdness in any religion or culture, when viewed from outside. What matters is how the people treat others, and in that, I've been lucky to know many good, decent members of the LDS Church.
Yeah I’m an exmo and while I disagree with a lot of what the church preaches and stands for fundamentally, it’d be disingenuous to ignore the good that comes with the bad. For example, their humanitarian efforts during times of crisis in different parts of the world are something to be admired. A lot of the characteristic pragmatism taught to me as a young man was pretty positive and healthy, and helped me learn how to be more independent and self-sufficient. Not everyone’s experience is the same, and I have my own reasons for leaving, but to say they haven’t done any good is just ignorant.
These people bled their members dry to fight passing gay marriage legalization in California (Prop 8). That's not what religions should do. Any centralized power that imposes its mores on others is evil. People know right from wrong, but we elevate those who stand outside our general morals in order to fight perceived threats. Think hard on how that affects your daily life. Also, false sacrifice in the name of appeasing a mythological being creates community, but it breaks our character to do so, as we cannot justify it forever. Religions have come and gone and these will be no different. The good and evil that you attribute to the religions, the church, the government - that comes from us willing to follow those who stubbornly hold to the delusion of their importance. Narcissism, writ in vainglorious piety, religious, patriotic, or both, plagues our world. When will we finally see the weakness of withholding skepticism and reason as a species? Imagination is an amazing aspect of humanity. Chasing shared imaginings, fueled by FOMO, is the opposite of pragmatism.
I really appreciate this video. I grew up in a Mormon family in the Salt Lake Valley. While I long ago parted ways with the theology, I still see how that upbringing shaped my pragmatism, tolerance, and compassion - values that are profoundly Mormon and powerful counterweights to the broader U.S. culture war. I think this video paints a broadly accurate picture, shedding light on what makes Utah unique.
I'm honestly never been more impressed with the degree of research put into making this video as accurate and informed as possible. Hats off to you, my friend.
As a native Utahn, this is a very fair and accurate exploration of things that make Utah unique (for better and for worse). This video connected a lot of dots I'd never considered before, thank you! One very small point of correction - at 16:11, maps are shown with the streets always starting at temples, using Provo as an example. In these pioneer towns, the streets were based on the Tabernacle, as they didn't have Temples when first settled. Tabernacles are still religious buildings to gather in, but don't hold the same sacred regard as Temples. The Provo example, in particular, is confusing because the Tabernacle burned down in 2010 and was reconstructed and opened as the Provo City Center Temple in 2016. The photo shown of the Provo Temple after the maps is the original Provo Temple that was finished in 1972, that is not in the city center. Again, it's not a huge deal, but I figured I'd point it out in case anyone was confused!
As a Provo-a myself, I support this message. The Tabernacle burned down due to some electrical shorts in a lamp I believe. It was very terrible, but we are very blessed to have two temples nearby :) Well. Not anymore. The one that took the tabernacles place is staying, the other one is being demolished I believe, it’s completely closed down. I believe they are going to rebuild it though.
@@lightmare8591 Yes; they're calling it a renovation, but the new temple is (according to blueprints I saw) on a completely different footprint on the plot than the current one. So they're tearing the old one down and building a new one on the same plot. It will be called the "Provo Rock Canyon" temple.
While on a winter trip to Utah. We got stuck in the snow twice up in the mountains. What amazed us was how nice the people were. They stopped to ask if we need help and pull us out of the snow in the middle of the night(3am). One of them even gave us a pair of snow chains. Beautiful state and great people. Thank you Utahns.
Huh. I was ignored waiting to get seated a 2 restaurants while a bunch of other people were seated and served. 100% ignored in one restaurant. It was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had traveling. I couldnt imagine how Id be treated if i was black or brown.. A number of other people have told me similar or usually much worse discrimination. Utah would be great if it wasnt for the people
@@MM-hq2bd don’t understand why you have to throw in black or brown. FYI, we were a bunch of Asian students when they helped us in the middle of the night on the side of a mountain.
@@flyingbanana566 it's because lots of people are straight up program to see everything through the lens of race. Literally everything, even if doesn't even involve their race by the face they think it would be different if they had a different race. It's a sickness.
The only thing this is missing is an explanation of fry sauce. It's good! Everyone needs to try it. The most basic form you can make is (2 part mayo, 1 part ketchup, 1 part mustard. Mix well. Should be pink like a peach and taste tomato-y and tart. Goes well with heavily salted food.)
He forgot to mention the other big July holiday. Half of Utah celebrates Pioneer Day. The other half celebrate Pie and Beer Day. Good times for everyone!
My favorite Utah liquor law story: In the days when advertising alcohol was illegal, there was a convenience store on the road to the SLC airport that found a clever workaround. One side of their sign advertised "Cold Bee?" (a nod to the Beehive State moniker). The other side said "Cold Beer" with a much smaller "nuts" below it.
Also discrimination is why the church and it's people moved to Utah in the first place. It is something that we don't forget and want anyone to experience.
@@kettleshot6044 it's not a respectable or responsible moral position to take. It's one of many reasons there's a very large number of people who "Hate the religion and tolerate its followers." There's nothing "loving" about the way Mormons have treated LGBT people. At all.
The thing I've always been confused of though, is the notion of the harmless sin. It's believed that we are in danger when committing sin, yet time and time again, when we ask to show the harm, the "harm" that gets brought up is the harm to norms and traditions, the harm to those who might stray, the harm to our spirits and emotions, and the harm of accepting what we once thought unacceptable. I don't need to believe in the word of wisdom anymore to no longer think drinking beer isn't a good idea, science has shown me that. But I do need to believe the LDS church that having gay sex is harmful to those who are gay, even though science has shown theirs suicides galore to that belief. Do you believe your lying eyes? Sti's amongst the community is analogous to the straight community, same as marriage rates, same as financial rates aside from discrimination, same as happiness levels, same as can be aside from stigma. The actual harm, the actual sin, is believing I'm superior to someone on account of how I was born, and how I identify as. Straight is now legally equal with gay, and there's so many people who still see an issue with that. If you actually love the sinner, you no longer actually hate the sin, you just see the person you've been judging, and it's you.
@@softenbysam If you go looking for the bad that will be all you can see. There are many ex-members in this very comment section that based on what they say I feel would disagree with you here
Biggest cultural difference I noticed when I lived in utah: people always talk about outdoor activities as opposed to bars and restaurants and festivals.
Yeah that’s the easiest way to break the ice around here, start mentioning reservoirs or the west desert or recent excursions and suddenly everyone is breaking out stories
Nobody talks about outdoor activities unless you are into those specific activities and you know the other person is also. People mostly talk about the same things everybody else talks about.
@@seldomseenn Literally nobody does that unless you live right next to it or you know the people care about it. People are going to talk about the work, weather, movies, TV shows and the like. You aren't going up to a stranger and starting a conversation about utah lake unless you are right next to utah lake and are making up a question about it. You'd be much better off talking about what they do or what they like to do. This selective nonsense that is pretending that the exception is the norm is getting out of hand. I get you all want to feel special and like you have hidden knowledge and deserve attention but you don't, cut the crap.
@@thomgizziz It comes up naturally if you get past surface level small talk like at jobs or when I was in school. I get you aren’t gonna talk about fishing with the guy at the grocery store but it consistently makes good conversation whenever I casually mention anything like that and I’ve lived here my entire life
I am curious when this was, if it's fine for me to ask? I had a friend go to Albania for a mission a few years back, and from the pictures he took, it's a beautiful country.
I served a mission in Russia. We weren’t allowed to teach English by Russian law, but we held game nights and some people like to practice English with us. It was cool. I’m glad you had a good experience with missionaries!
@@wilfulbuckle13 You should get to know the missionaries, they are just people and many really just want to do good. did you know they pay the trip themselves to go on a mission? Many would work parttime in highschool middleschool to go on the trip. I don't believe the church so I did not go nore do I go anymore on Sundays, but I know the good heart many of those church members have!
I live in Taiwan and I'm a Taiwanese. I'm a "wierd person" because missionaries from Utah converted my mom. I'm grateful for their service and sacrifices.
As a big fan of this channel, an active member of the LDS church, and a Utah resident (not born here, recently moved), I would like to offer Sam and his writing team a huge THANK YOU. I was honestly bracing for this video to be a roast of my faith and beliefs. Instead, it was respectful and nuanced. Appreciate you!
I know the exact feeling. Any time our church is mentioned online, just can't help but brace in anticipation of scathing commentary and horror stories. This is a lovely, level-headed rundown, that neither leans towards or away from the LDS religion.
I dragged my heels in terms of clicking, but the algorithm was convinced I would like it and kept putting it up. Algorithm was right. 😊 Nice to see us reported on in neutral fashion rather than a whackos. 🎉
Yeah, but Utah basically ALWAYS has an LDS semianary building next door, and they get packed as full as any other elective (source, from Utah, 2/3rds of my friends had seminary even if they themselves didn't want to be Mormon, their parents just kept signing them up)
I'm from rural Utah. The best part of visiting grandparents was they'd take us on the trax into downtown. We thought it was the most high-tech thing ever! It's a nice and neat system.
I have old friends in the Mormon community around Phoenix. I’ve been a lifelong atheist/agnostic, and blurry borderline communist politics, so it’s an unlikely friendship, but we bonded over music (we were all in touring bands at the time). We engaged in plenty of political discussions, and found that our values aligned nearly across the board. We just had different ideas for how to approach solutions to societal issues. It’s a great idea example of how much we all have in common, and how much we could do together if we could abandon the counterproductive culture war BS.
"culture war BS". No, I don't think so, buddy. These are the most important questions in life. As Jesus said, he came not to bring peace, but the sword. Mormonism is a cult, by the way!
Awesome job. As an ex mormon (from idaho) i dont send most information to my family back home due to it being so disruptive. Im sending this video to my dad (who just got called to be a bishop in the church) because i hope it will lead to valuable discussion between us. Thank you
I grew up gay in Utah, and the irony of them finally banning conversion therapy isn't lost on me. My own parents attempted to make me go through this, but I ended up choosing (though not really a choice) of being homeless rather than go through with what they were demanding. But I think a lot of this happens to be because family groups are large and more tightly connected, one family member committing suicide because of being forced into conversion therapy can potentially impact the opinion of that practice to dozens if not over 100 people (my own family I have over 100 just first cousins) And from there these people become advocates within their own church organizations, which are also tightly knit, relaying personal stories about family members and what they went through. Many conservatives tend to not really see the negative impacts of things they support until it comes to impact them personally or a family member, at which point their views soften, and with as large as family and community networks are in Utah, it's little surprise that many of their points of view on things are more progressive than many other conservative areas, and not just on the issue I mentioned.
I dare raise a question, why on Earth does the LGBT support transing kids we know they are subject to suggestion. How exactly knowing all of this they do the same as the people they decry.
Back in the 90s I had a good friend and her brother carry out a suicide pact when he came out and was rejected by his LDS family. The resulting trauma in that family and in our friend group changed a lot of people. Mostly for the better, but not all. That was a pivotal moment in my life that I think about every day. Several years ago when the Mormon church released its edict punishing the children of gay parents it was too much for me. I hadn't be active in several decades, but I removed my name from the records and know many, many people who also took that step as well. I know a lot of LDS people who really had had their faith in the church serious shaken. The church quickly walked it back, but it showed their true position and too many LDS people were just fine with it. The suicide rate in the LGBTQ+ community here is off the chart and you're correct, the ripples are felt everywhere. I'm so glad to see the groups that have come together to help kids who are going through what you experienced. I hope you're doing okay and found your community!
@@markthomas6794 thanks! This was 20 years ago now, and I’m fine. Obviously not really close with my family after that, but I’m good :) And yeah same. I went through the whole process too to get my name removed. Partially over their stances and partially over them continuing to send people to try to reactivate me
@@markthomas6794 You say all that but the elephant in the room is that the lgbt movement is legit. Giving sex change hormones to kids your moral high ground is dead and buried.
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves. Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
As a Mormon from Utah I approve of this video. It correctly shows why and how we are different, for good or for bad. I especially appreciate how you have showed how much involvement the church has had in everything for good or for worse. To be honest, Utah is like a bubble, the community the laws the people, everything is different in big or small ways, and it all adds up to make a very unique community that at times is the most supportive, but in others can be the most hypocritical and biased on other matters.
Many religious communities are bubbles. Some can be brought to do terrible things while in such a bubble, especially when encouraged by powerful friends
The only beef I have with it (and it is minor since this video is approaching the subject from an outside perspective) is that he grossly misplaces the central focus of the theology. Often he shortens to “The Church of Latter-Day Saints” instead of the more accurate shortened “Church of Jesus Christ” and when he talks about seminaries, he says we go to “Learn about Joseph Smith.” Although it is an understandable mistake, the focus in LDS seminaries is Jesus Christ. One year out of a four year curriculum the focus is on what Joseph Smith himself taught about Jesus Christ, but the rest is purely out of ancient scripture.
@@theinquisitor3930 they both use the same soda brands and the same torani syrup, the only possible difference is if they kids who work there push harder on the pump or not...
It depends what kind of coffee you get. If you just get a black coffee, or a coffee with milk, then yes, coffee is going to be healthier. But if you get one of those fufufrapfrap libtard coffees with vanilla and sprinkles and whatever other nonsense, then no. Those coffees are always going to be way less healthy.
PA would be interesting to see, and not just because I’m from there. It’s the 4th most populous state, but much of the population is centered around Philly in the Southeast and Pittsburgh in the Southwest. Then there’s just a lot of small towns and rural areas. Would be interesting to learn about what drove the settlement
He didn't once mention how different Sundays are in Utah vs anywhere else. Many businesses close on Sunday, you should expect it to be one of the slower retail days out of the week. When I was a child it was a lot worse, grocery stores were like ghost towns. More people moving in makes a difference. Another HUGE factor for government and being such a Red state. Republicans can vote in the Democratic Caucus but Democrats cannot vote in the Republican Caucus. So many people (some of my siblings even) will register as Republicans but truly vote Democrat. Its a stupid game the government plays imo, but you've gotta play it if thats what it takes. AMA, born and raised!
I remember a BBC journalist who did two documentaries, one on Scientology and one on Mormonism. With Scientology he experienced secrecy, mistrust and sometimes hostility, this was a religion (or cult if you prefer) which didn't really care about public relations and tried at every turn to discourage him from digging any deeper, right up to having someone film him to intimidate him, and it kinda worked, he infamously lost his temper during one interview and again during a radio broadcast when famous Scientologist Tom Cruise was mentioned. Investigating Scientology basically traumatised him. So he was understandably nervous when doing a similar documentary on a controversial religion a year or so later. But he found Mormons to be almost the opposite of Scientologists, very keen to talk to him, happy to let him into their temples and show him around, and very transparent about their culture and beliefs. There was a clear desire to present a positive image to the media and pressure to maintain good public relations with outsiders.
It should be said that the LDS church has opened up quite a bit recently, not so much by the choice of leadership. For quite some time they made a lot of effort to suppress uncomfortable truths about their history, especially from their own members. But with the rise of the internet it became much harder to hide the historical record and leadership got dragged into a more open era by events like the Swedish Rescue, the widespread publication of the CES Letter, etc. I don't say any of this to attack the LDS faithful, mainly because I think the church's current, more open stance was built on the back of a lot of people brought up in the church in the past who suffered a lot of pain and anguish to slowly pull the uncomfortable truths of the faith's history into the light.
Mormonism has a "milk before meat" policy where it starts teaching the beliefs that are similar to main stream Christianity. And only once you join the faith does it start focusing on the more, shall we say "unique" beliefs that Mormonism has. Scientology does the same thing.
Good job. Utah is difficult to portray, but this was really accurate. And the mispronunciation of “Nauvoo” shows it wasn’t an insider-seriously impressive for anyone, let alone an outsider.
As a member of the church, I have to say this has been probably one of the most fair and well researched videos I have seen discussing the church in a social-political lens. Thank you for the good video
@@andy4an Misrepresenting our beliefs around who God the father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are. Mostly from evangelical Christians. Getting confused and thinking we still practice polygamy.
Some people don’t believe we are Christian’s because we believe that Jesus is the son of God and that Jesus and God are two separate beings. Although, we do believe that they are connected (they are part of the Godhead) That is how I understand it it at least.
@@andy4an Some people believe we teach that the Father literally had sex with Mary to make Jesus's mortal body, we don't teach that. Other people also teach that we teach that God the Father has sinned in His past. This is not true, we believe that Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Ghost have eternally been God.
I just want to thank you so much for your nuanced take-as a queer Utah Mormon, it can be frustrating to see Utah, and the LDS church, painted in a strictly wonderful or terrible light. It’s refreshing to see someone talk about it and acknowledge the good and the bad, as well as some quirks that are merely unique!
what's it like for LGBT? I work remotely from across the planet for a company there & practically everyone is LDS. Never came out or opened up that way because all I know is that LDS is majority & the stare is Republican.
y'all are pretty neat, and I am eager to see you all tell stories of how California's hideous culture and ecology absolutely destroyed that place in like 500 years
I am very glad that you eventually came around to talking about the missionary missions late in the video, it basically explains most of the other incongruities you mention early on about policies that buck traditional conservative patterns.
The only Utah city built around the temple was salt lake. All others were built around a tabernacle (a church building for the local congregation). Provos was converted to a temple after a fire destroyed most of the original building. It’s a fascinating construction story
One thing I always thought was kind of neat, though, is the Logan tabernacle is just down the hill about a mile from the temple and there are quite a few design elements (including a sculpture) that draw the eye upward toward the temple
My mom used to play for the Utah Valley Symphony in that tabernacle when i was a kid and I ended up getting married In that now temple when it got renovated.
As a mormon myself, I really appreciate the detail and research that clearly went into this video, as it’s so accurate and while showing our quirks and obvious oddities, it doesn’t paint members of the church as complete weirdo’s or cult-ish. I’m just glad to see a correct video on my religion, Thanks Sam!
I think Latter-day Saints have become overly tolerant when they say it wasn’t so bad or it could have been a lot worse. I’m guessing that what the Jews said of Hitlers political cartoons of them.
@@mattbrown6755 Ideas can and should be criticized. The mormon religion has historically and even today has morally reprehensible policies and their leader was verifiably a conman who could not translate ancient languages. Pointing these facts out does not mean I'm discriminating against mormons.
Utahn here, the state is changing. Im a deug using hippie and that crowd is getting more and more present here. There is a massive underground culture in SLC
As a Republican, I praise Utah for going beyond everyone else and actially building a good public transit network. One can get from Brigham City to Santaquin (distance of 123 miles) on ONE transit agency (UTA). A total of five rail lines (one commuter, one streetcar, and three light rail) and two bus rapid transit networks make the backbone of transit in the Utah Valley.
You don't need to preface it with "as a Republican". Your partisanship does not matter when it comes to praising them for having a sensible transit network.
I’d have a lot less problems with the Christians in the US as a whole if they acted more like the Mormons. I disagree with Mormons in almost every way but their hearts are in the right place, even if they are broadly abusive, insular, and toxic about it.
You can actually get from Brigham up to Cache/Logan through Sardine and UTA runs a rideshare van from Brigham up into Box Elder. UTA is really strong program.
@morenauer I'm saying it as if this should be what Republican legislatures are promoting because it is what the populous wants. It's more just to show that this is a bipartisan issue.
@@WhataMensch It depends on if you let people know where you are going ahead of time. if you do they can get to you as quick as 1 2 3 and boom they are there
It's honestly so refreshing to see a video talking about Utah that doesn't roast the Latter-day Saint religion, and I really appriceate that. Thank you.
I went to high school in deep blue New Mexico in Albuquerque and we had a Mormon seminary across the street from my high school and all the Mormon kids would go over there for seminary class in the middle of the day 20 some years ago
I live in Utah I'm Mormon and so are my cousins who live in Indiana, while they were visiting us we got on the topic of seminary, my cousin mentioned how she had to wake up early so that she could drive to seminary before school every day. She asked me how early I had to wake up for seminary and I was confused because I had it 6th period, so practically the end of the school day. She was very jealous to say the least that I could get a period off school for seminary 😂 to be fair though it takes a full credit so I had less electives that I could choose, but always nice to have some jesus time.
I live in Utah I'm Mormon and so are my cousins who live in Indiana, while they were visiting us we got on the topic of seminary, my cousin mentioned how she had to wake up early so that she could drive to seminary before school every day. She asked me how early I had to wake up for seminary and I was confused because I had it 6th period, so practically the end of the school day. She was very jealous to say the least that I could get a period off school for seminary 😂 to be fair though it takes a full credit so I had less electives that I could choose, but always nice to have some jesus time.
As a member of the LDS church, I am wildly surprised by how well researched this video is. Usually people just make things up theologically or historically and try to pass it off as fact to support whatever their thesis is. Well done.
To be fair they pulled their punches on church history completely substantiated by verifiable sources. The Nauvoo Expositor incident. 14 year old child brides The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Brigham Young’s framing of the Southern Paiute tribe for mass murder. LDS opposition of civil rights. LDS meddling in California’s Prop 8. The fact that Utah was a bastion of LGBTQ conversion therapy and the subsequent ban was a result of independent journalism in an otherwise Mormon-controlled media environment.
In my experience, that's common among nonmormon Christians. I get the sense that the video's creator is either nonreligious, or takes explicit effort not to insert it into his content.
This has been said so many times in these comments already, but you absolutely nailed the research and writing on this. I live in Utah and am a member of the LDS church and I've never seen such good journalism on Utah.
@@BostonElton Air quality in Vancouver is great. It was much much worse quite recently. When you took the ferry to the island on a calm sunny day, you used to be able to look all around you and it would be a yellow haze. Now it's crystal clear. From the US border you can see the mountains clearly. I work with tons of immigrants who are blown away at how clear the skies are here versus the cities they come from where everything is a gross smog.
Utah is weird because the GOP doesn’t have a grasp of Utah - conservatives do, and by conservatives, I mean the old kind. That’s why McMullin did so well
There are so many people here in Utah that refuse to vote Trump, even though they have been life long republicans. He is everything Mormons teach against. Many still vote Republican out of habit. But many are terrified what Trump will do if he becomes president again, and are looking for another party closer aligned with their values. Essentially they want a liberal party that has a focus on maintaining religious rights.
I appreciate all these in-depth videos on individual states; It helps people see the forest for the trees when it comes to what makes the United States as a whole.
When I stopped wanting to go to seminary during school, also right across a the street from it, my family at the time kicked me out and I had to live out a cold winter in a broken down car. Didn't realize it back then, but the school should've done something. Because they knew.
As a Provo native who is a member of the church, this video was very well researched for someone who is not a member nor from Utah. I might have made a couple corrections here or there, but it was pretty spot.
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves. Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
Utah an amazing state I've been there twice, I'm not Mormon but the ones I met when I was in my country were really nice they spoke good Spanish. They were good persons to us and treated us with dignity and kindness.
same i am an atheist but have been to their crurch a couple times because friends and they are really nice people. while I dont have faith myself I strongly believe some religions values make people better on average. mostly Mormons and evangelists and Buddhists. i also went every weekend for 2 years to an evangelical church while in HS just to hang out with the other teens after the service, liked being with them because they didn't smoke or drink. while catholic , Islam and judaism not so much since they tend to be quite confrontational with people not sharing their values. ofc I am talking about strong believers. i myself now a ton of Catholics that only put foot on a crurch or see a priest for baptisms, marriages, deaths. like my family that when I told my mom I was bi she was like ''ok''. while for Mormons and evangelist I meet very strong believers radical even that still where polite to me.
As a lds member we do facilitate a culture of understanding and welcoming as my religion was persecuted for generations. If we persecuted anyone else we would be hypocrites. Btw if an lds member was hurtful to anyone let this be a reflection of the person, not the religion. we are a Christian religion meaning we are taught the two great commandments. Love thy god and love thy neighbor
@@lucaskp16 As a lds member we do facilitate a culture of understanding and welcoming as my religion was persecuted for generations. If we persecuted anyone else we would be hypocrites. Btw if an lds member was hurtful to anyone let this be a reflection of the person, not the religion. we are a Christian religion meaning we are taught the two great commandments. Love thy god and love thy neighbor
@@lucaskp16 I’m on my own spiritual journey and have baptized in the Eastern Orthodox faith ( I like their services and learning their views) and I’m currently learning all I can about Sikhism and oriental orthodoxy. If your having a hard time finding a religion that floats your boat and gets your nearer god I haiku recommend the following faiths: Literally any Orthodox Church oriental, Eastern, does not matter they are based and have tradition, history, culture, and know how to set a young man who is having issues (such as addictions) straight Sikhism ( you get a dagger- nuff said ) Some Islamic schools of thought - highly focused on prayer gives off same vibes as a yoga class Pentecostals known how to party Seven day Adventist- they really like Jesus Lds church - really, really nice people and plan of salvation- check that out Hope this helps
I've lived in Utah for a long time, and one important note has to do with why so many people here register as Republican. The Utah GOP, up until this year, ran a closed primary election, while the Democrats held an open one. That means only registered Republicans can vote in the GOP primaries, but anyone can vote in the Democratic ones. A strategic voter who understands that Utah is a strong Red state will register Republican, even if they don't idealogically agree with the party, so that they can influence the State's Republican representatives.
@@GeorgeMaj15 I live in Utah and vote in the democrat primaries... you shouldn't be too proud, if enough people find out what you are doing they will make sure that your democrat candidates are more on the republican side.... which of course you will cry about it not being fair after years of you not playing fair.
Videos like this remind me how not normal a lot off the things I've spent my whole life around are. It's a shame most people won't get to experience Arctic Circle or fry sauce 🔥🔥🔥
18:05 contrary to all logic and reason, Mantua is actually pronounced *“mana-way”* Sorry about our local linguistic boobytraps. Also, (from your arms manufacturing video) Tooele is *“too-willa”* Thanks for highlighting our wacky state!
It is only said manaway if you crush your t's like saying mountain like moun-an. Otherwise it would be pronounced man-te-way. And the reason for that is that is close to how you pronounce it in Italy where the name comes from.
@@thomgizziz My understanding is that the weird pronunciation of mantua without the /t/ came about because of the influence of the danish immigrants who founded the town
Sam, I would like to sincerely thank you for talking about my church so respectfully. Having been born in Utah and visited there many times, you did a great job talking about it's cities and culture. It's great to know that honest and accurate information about Utah and my church is on a channel as well-respected as yours!
Another interesting thing regarding seminary where i went to school was the fact thst they didnt just adjust hours for seminsry, they also adjusted credit requirements so students could take less credits each semester (making room for seminary) and still graduate at standard times.
As a Utahan and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I really appreciate the quality of this video. I appreciate you using the full name of the church multiple times, instead of just using "Mormon," even though that would've been easier. I appreciate you referring to Joseph Smith "finding" the golden plates instead of saying "when Joseph wrote the Book of Mormon." It's THE contested question of the church: did he or did he not write the Book of Mormon himself? We, of course, believe Joseph was directed to where the plates were buried and was directed to translate them through the gift and power of God. Obviously a lot of people disbelieve this. But I appreciate the respect shown to our belief system that you referenced our history from our perspective, rather than mocking or dismissing it by just assuming Joseph was the author. Also, I am a huge fan of the soda shops!
Originally a Las Vegas native and moved to the Orem/Provo area of Utah back in 2020. The second I landed in Salt Lake City, I immediately felt like something was off. I was told by a few about the "Mormon Bubble." As the years went on, I can somewhat understand what they meant. Besides the countless number of Swig's, there are also so many different car washes, I haven't seen so many automated car washes in my life. Also a vast amounts of cookies such as Crumbl, Crave, and Chip to name a few. When I was getting settled in, I wanted a bottle of wine, so I went to Target only to find only beer, then with looking up information where to find wine, I was confused at first what the heck is a State Liquor Store. I talked to some older natives and they told me for the time you couldn't really get coffee let alone alcohol. That a lot has changed since their youth. Living in Provo for a year I felt a real strong presence with the church, let alone the weird humor they bring and ideals they have. But being in part of the faith myself for six years, the members here, with those I have experienced, are more passive aggressive. My long time friend has even experienced times where racism has occurred in a passive aggressive manner for her being African American. I've also have noticed that most of the members I have met in my wards I was in served in a Spanish Speaking mission, they will share their time in Argentina, Colombia, Peru, or Ecuador. And then new comers will be from a Spanish speaking country to learn English and build a new life for themselves. It's an interesting experience. In the end, I have a love and hate relationship with Utah, just like I did when I was living and growing up in Nevada.
I've lived here most of my life. I've been a member of the church most of my life. I love the western feel of this place. Only things i don't like about it is that sometimes it can get real yellow and grey and that the housing market is getting out of control. One of my favorite places to go used to be Porters place! They had piano, and great rootbeer floats and Buffalo burgers 🍔. I miss Porters place...
As a Utah resident, this was a very well-researched, accurate and informative video! The one thing that I think should be clarified is that the church teaches its members to treat LBGT+ community with kindness and respect, but they haven't changed their position on the morality of same-sex marriage.
@@coachanderson2704 BYU is its own terrible thing. I don't agree with a good chunk of the honor code and especially how it's enforced. And don't even get me started on how staff are treated at BYUI.
Most people seem to not know or realize that the Mormons were refugees themselves, and are in Utah/the west because in the 1840's they had to physically leave the united states (as the borders were before the mexican-american war) and go live in the desert where no other settlers wanted to live to survive due to persecution and violence. The state government of missouri even issued a literal 'extermination order' against them in the 1830s if I remember right. The reason pioneer day is important to them is because they see it as a significant step in their survival. Most Mormons that I've known, know personally what its like to be hated just because of who they are, and most I've met are more accepting of peoples differences than others I've known. (Of course not all of them but generally in my experience, and those that aren't tolerant are especially frustrating considering their own faith's history with intolerant people/government) but overall that may be why they seem to be more moderate rather than straight right/left.
Umm, their “persecution “ was that they were not allowed to have multiple wives lol. So they moved to the Utah region so they could continue practice their polygamy legally.
In both Ohio and Missouri it was mainly due to their leaders being involved in a lot of things that aren't on the up and up...then you had crap like mountain meadows. Only reason that they didn't get hammered for that one was due to the civil war breaking out
Funny enough, the picture of the Swig store they show isn’t in Utah. It’s in Mesa, Arizona on the northeast corner of Gilbert Rd and Brown Rd. Which also happens to be one of the most Mormon places outside of Utah! Bonus: if on street view you go one mile east, you will see a seminary building across the street from a high school, as described in the video.
I said "Mormons" as I was clicking the video, and then Johnny Utah confirmed: "Mormons."
Same
Yes, it's pretty obvious.
As a Mormon, yes. The reason is Mormons lolol
LMAO! Same!
Wait...who? LOL
I really respect creators who don't make you wait for the answer to the question in their title, but Wendover takes the cake here by giving us the answer as the first word of the video.
i mean, that's how you write an essay
It would be disingenuous to pretend that the church didn't influence our politics.
@@snow-in4zp Which church?
@@StanHowse LDS.
@@nephi246bro finally someone gets it, I see this all the fucking time people praise creators for giving the answers when THATS HOW WRITING WORKS
Utah resident, ex mormon here. I usually dont like hearing about Utah and the Mormon church online because people get a lot of things wrong.
This was one of the most fair videos ive seen on the topics. Good and bad, it was accurate.
I think he captured some of the peculiarities pretty well. Could have gone a step further to explain why Trump is oddly unpopular for such a red state.
@@jesseoglidden Politicians in general are hugely unpopular, but Utah really doesn't like the other party as much, so they will continue to begrudgingly support Trump!
same. This fella did his research
Yeah he did a good job. Most of what he said was true.
Dude can't pronounce "legislature"
For everyone wondering, yes even East High where High School Musical was filmed has an LDS Seminary across the street.
Every Jr high and hi school in the state do
@@kellybrandon1179 No. They don't... Highschools, almost certainly. But I can tell you already that my Junior High doesn't.
If it's not across the street, it's a short walk into a nearby neighborhood.
@@gaben9224I went to East High and it’s right across the street to the north.
@@kellybrandon1179not every Jr high.
as someone from Utah, I can confirm we are weird
Are you also a cultist or not?
If it’ll keep people like you out then yes
Have you ever had someone try to scam or con you? Utah is famous for its scammers.
as someone not from Utah, I agree that yall weird.
@@nikunjmundhra3119 as someone from utah, youre completely right
As a Wisconsinite, I take pride in the occasional news story about Wisconsin sports fans traveling to Utah for away games and drinking entire bars dry.
alcoholism is definitely not weird.
Yeah im sure they drink entire walls of liquor bottles and all the reserves. People are so dumb to believe shit like that.
@tuckerbugeater I'm a wisconsinite and it's just our culture. We don't like alcoholics here. They are shunned and it's seen as you let yourself go. Just when we go out we go hard and there is a huge drinking culture. Not if you need to go to work the next day though.
@@josephkelly9239 I mean, in the eyes of the federal government, 2 beers a day (even 5% on tap beers) means you are damn close to being a binge drinker. There's aren't too many people I know who have a spotted cow with dinner and a Miller light in front of the TV every night and a couple at the fish fry/Badgers game/meat raffle and have a major problem. It's just how they choose to relax.
I'll take "Things that didn't happen" for $1,000, Alex.
For the record, the beers are no longer watered down. Beer companies got together and told the Government that they would no longer be brewing, packaging, and shipping special 3% beers for a single state. 5%ish is the standard and available at gas stations and grocery stores, but if you want a highpoint you will need to go to a place with a liquor license
This was precipitated by Indiana, IIRC, changing their laws to allow for the sale of normal strength beer in regular retail, leaving UT the only state in the nation with such laws still on the books. So less initiative on the part of brewers than a reasonable response to changing economic conditions.
'Course, it all gets to the same place in the end.
@@BlindMarksman ah yes I think you are correct, Indiana changing the laws made Utah the last bastion of terrible beer !
Actually it was Utah, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma that left the 3.2 beer market leaving only Minnesota the last state that requested such beer.
Don’t defend this state it sucks
@@No-we6nf good, hope you stay elsewhere.
Native Utahn here, served a mission, married in the temple, the whole 9, this was one of the most well done, unbiased, and informative video essays I’ve ever seen, I was worried that it would just be 25 minutes of you lambasting the dominant religion, but you did a great job giving an accurate view of the state, it’s origins, and its values! I served my mission in Oklahoma speaking Spanish, and it definitely softened my view on ilegal immigration! I learned a lot about what drives people to leave, and gain the sense of compassion that I had lacked otherwise
Yep, same story here!
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves.
Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
Mormons are often very weird as hell but often very kind. Thank you for dirty soda, it came to my Colorado a few years ago and man, what a treat
Utah is awesome. Mormons not so much, not that they are bad people. The problem is with the brethren who believe their values supersede all the values of other groups. They make a lot of mistakes to their detriment and when they fail, they lie about it. The dominant religion is cultish, which is actually not that unusual. Utah is only weird when compared to “mainstream” American culture, which is weird compared to British culture, etc. You get the idea. Utah is unique, but so is Japan. What am I missing. Utah is awesome; best skiing I have ever experienced. ❤
May God bless you and reward you with goodness because you opened your heart to kindness and empathy
I have been in and through Utah many times..
The strangest had to when I spent two weeks in SLC in the 90's for work.
At some point I remember telling a friend ..."I have to go to a good burger and beer place!"
I was on the road all over the country at the time and was basically living at places like Chili's and Applebees.
They took me to what appeared to be an Italian bar / restaurant.
We sat down at the bar and I ordered a burger and beer. I could clearly see liquor bottles in the back with beer taps.
The waiter said: "You have to have a membership and a sponsor for the beer."
I had no idea what this meant. "Membership?" "Spenser?"....for a beer?
An older Italian man (like New York / Jersey Italian ..think Tony Soprano) sitting in the middle of the bar said: "I'll sponsor him."....like it was soothing he said 100 times a day and...
The waiter brought my burger and beer.
Easily the oddest meal experience ever.
Haha That was an old law! The Winter Olympics really helped get rid of the weirdest and strictest alcohol laws.
Lol like a reverse AA you need a sponsor to get booze
@@pyrotechnic96 Gotta have a cosigner for that beer.
@@pyrotechnic96We admitted that we were powerless to get alcohol-that our lives have become relatively boring and normal.
@@matthewblackwelder6487 No, that law had nothing to do with alcohol. That had to do with smoking indoors. In order for a place to allow smoking they had to be a private club and smoking and drinking go together so you ended up with a lot of places moving to being private clubs with memberships. This has nothing to do with republicans or the mormons this was a liberal push and yet here are the liberals trying to pretend that it is a weird right thing.
Great video! Thank you. As an attorney who practiced in Utah and now practices in Illinois, I would add expungement as one of Utah’s uniquely progressive areas of law. Utah has been one of the leading states in the nation in pioneering ways for those with criminal records to clean, expunge, or overcome their records. Utah’s law is still ahead of Illinois’s in this way.
I have worked in the expungement clinics. It is very cool!
Huh, I didn't know that. I like that a lot, its very indicative of the members focus on repentence, and forgiveness.
It's like all of these "odd" policies are a result of all those Mormons taking what's in their scripture about forgiveness and taking care of their fellow man seriously or something. I don't agree with everything they believe, but I have to credit them for enacting a ton of supportive, social-justice-oriented policies.
Illinois sucks big time.
@@stefthepef Do not co-opt Gospel Principle-themed practices with social justice. They are not the same thing. It's successful *specifically* because it's not "social justice"
Someone in Wendover calling Utah weird is the best part of this super accurate video.
I believe Sam is actually from Colorado.
16:18 So the interesting thing about that is the Provo City Center Temple wasn't a temple until very recently. It used to be just a tabernacle (a very large meetinghouse). However, in 2010, it caught fire, and the whole structure other than the outer walls burned down. This prompted the decision to renovate it into a temple - and it just so happened to be at the center of the Provo city grid.
I love videos that answer the title question in the first second. Anti clickbait.
It's refreshing, really.
FOR REAL! Other youtubers should follow suit.
Also, there is a town called Wendover, which is on the border of Utah and Nevada. West Wendover, NV is the go-to place for people to drink, gamble, visit the dispensary, etc. Basically all the sins that are restricted in Utah.
i also find it incredibly ironic that las vegas is no more than 120 miles away from utah
@@m4nc0owait until you hear who founded the city
@@m4nc0o thats because mormons founded it lol.
Yeah, it was built by the Mormon pioneers. It was a useful supply point since it's halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The Vegas we have today is the child of the 1930s, Chicago gangsters, and the influx of workers to build the Hoover dam.
Also, the Strip isn't in the City of Las Vegas. It's in Paradise which is an officially unincorporated territory in Las Vegas County. There was some drama when the City tried to annex the Strip to tax it and the County blocked the move because they wanted all of the tax revenue.
Here's the thing that no one talks about: We have a STRONG, decades long, multi-generational alternative community, and it's kind of growing. I work at the same goth nightclub my dad went to when he was my age (he still goes he's just not my age anymore), and I'm not the first nor the only kid of someone who regularly attend for most of their life currently working there. There's a goth club, multiple goth nights a month in various locations, multiple alternative themed thrift stores, goth community events (monday we're all seeing Abigail), goth camping trips, group migrations to out of state music festivals, post concert meetups.. It's a close knit, long lived community and It's so rarely talked about outside of maybe SLC Punk.
Here's another thing I never see talked about: Do you know what Utah has disproportionately more of than most states, aside from children? Haunted house attractions. You have Nightmare on 13th, Fear Factory, Strangling Brothers Circus, Castle of Chaos, Shadows of Fear, Haunted Forest, Asylum 49, Haunted Kay's Cross, Dark Nightmare, Haunted Hollow, SO MANY DAMN CORN MAZES, and our local amusement park hosts at least 5-6 haunted houses on its property every fall. The thing that's always cracked me up about the premise of Five Nights At Freddy's 3 is that all of the games canonly take place in Hurricane, Utah, and Utah is no stranger to making haunted houses out of locations with confirmed deaths. I've named three already.
I think these two factors are related. I think haunted houses, and fan conventions, and places like Evermore park (I know its closed at the moment but it's coming back as something similar to the original premise, just hopefully better funded) are the neutral middle ground where the least strict mormons and those who feel alienated by mormonism can meet and have a good time together. Halloween is a big holiday in this state because of that, too. For every family with 3 toddlers waddling from car to car in a church parking lot wearing massive coats over their costumes, there's a group of adults going to Nightmare on 13th and then going to eat at that horror movie themed burger resturaunt.
I am Colombian and member of the LDS church. I came to Utah for school and I love it here. I appreciate the nuanced and respectful tone of the video and the comments! Much love to everyone ❤
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves.
Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
Anarchy isnt permitted by the LDS church
@@The53732 Hahahha that’s the username I created when I was like 12 😂😂
Beware, they are not Christians. Jesus is the Son of God who loves us, lived and died, and was resurrected for us. They do not believe that. Please do some research!
Hey, I’m a member. We actually do believe in Jesus, and that we are saved by His grace. This video was a pretty good, respectful look at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but it seemed to miss that the focus of the church isn’t on Joseph Smith or the angel Moroni or anyone else, it’s on Jesus Christ, who you correctly said is the Son of God who loves us and died for us, thanks for bringing that up! I believe that He lives, and atoned for my sins. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true and restored church, and its gospel has been and always will be the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you want to discuss anything else, I’d be happy to talk!
Moved from New York backcountry to Salt Lake City for my masters degree. You wouldn’t think Utah is weird until you leave the state and go somewhere else. I loved my time in Utah, people are friendly and outgoing, and the temples, while not my thing, are some of the most beautiful structures you’ll see.
I too enjoyed my years at Utah for college and a few years after it. Never again was I to be so immersed in nature for my recreation time. An absolutely beautiful place to live and play.
Oh man, that’s so true. I grew up in SLC and moved to Sacramento for college, and hoo boy some of the smallest things were such a culture shock for me. Mostly the less restrictive alcohol laws. I worked at a burger joint for a bit and was surprised that we could serve beer, and I remember once seeing a couple buy glasses of wine at a bookstore cafe and my brain just about shut down.
Native Utahn here, one of my old neighbors was from New York, we had some fun conversations! He was a really nice guy, but definitely a New Yorker, very blunt. Haha!
I had the complete opposite experience lol. Coming from the south it seemed almost impossible to start a conversation with someone random. Also whenever I held a door for someone or told someone thank you they just didn't say anything at all lol. It was a bit weird.
As someone who has lived in both places, the south is a whole nother beast 😂. Full scale conversation in any interaction anywhere haha
One important caveat for the high percent of Republican voters in Utah is the caucus/primary system. Because Democratic candidates are less likely to win, many voters with left-leaning values will register as Republican in order to participate in the Republican primary and elect more moderate candidates.
As a UT resident, this is very very true in the Salt Lake Valley 👆
Never works
People's support for a candidate remains until they see their true colors. People tend to stick to their values and may reject a candidate in the next election if their values don't align.
This is true! I have a relative who is very conservative, and works in local government for a city, and he was ranting about how Utah is full of "milquetoast Republicans" who are just liberals running as republicans because they know they can't win as Democrats. I'm sure that's more true in other states too than a lot of people realize, but Utah is so damn republican it's totally a thing here. Though there's a lot of far right republicans too, so definitely mind the small print on the candidate's voter brochures about what they actually support.
liberal in utah here. can confirm, i'm registered republican as is everyone i know regardless of their actual politics.
Well done, Wendover Productions. This video kept cropping up in my UA-cam feed, but as a lifelong Utahn I was very hesitant to click on it. I couldn't help but think, "We've heard it all before, trust me." But tonight, after a little celebratory session after a trip to the dispensary up the street (You heard that right, folks. It's 4/20/24 and Utah has medicinal dispensaries.) and a few beers from the Utah State Liquor Store, I finally clicked play.
Utah IS weird . . . and that's why I love it so, so much! I'm not gonna go through the video point by point because aside from some minor tweaks and pronunciation corrections (I swear you were mispronouncing "Brigham" on purpose, haha! There is no N in Brigham, my guy), you pretty much nailed it. I especially appreciated your occasional use of the word "nuance." As is the case with so many overviews and summaries, it's nearly impossible to emphasize the multitude of nuance surrounding us every day. Making broad, generalized assertions without mention of nuance is just poor journalism, in my opinion. I feel like you did a very good job of describing Utah in such a short amount of time without resorting to GIANT blanket statements. Others will surely disagree, but I think you did a helluva job.
I grew up in SLC, then moved to St. George at age 15. I moved back to Salt Lake at 26 and have been here ever since, although I still consider St. Geezy and Las Vegas my other two "hometowns." I've also spent a lot of time in Massachusetts, LA, San Francisco, Denver, and Texas. I only bring this up because I want to mention how wonderful the people of Utah are. Not that people in those other places aren't wonderful as well, but there's a very unique spirit to Utah that I don't see or feel in other states. It's probably just my own biases, but I swear it's noticeable. I can only think of one way to explain what I mean; I've been to hundreds of concerts and comedy clubs all across the country and there is nothing like seeing a band or comedian in SLC for the first time. Without fail, every time, they're like, "HOLY SHIT! You guys are awesome!" Now, that could easily be low expectations on their part, but I've seen it from repeat visitors as well. Utahns have an extra-weird sparkle in their eye, haha.
There are definitely militant Mormons and far-right lunatics here (a couple of my friends' parents spring to mind), but it has been my experience that most Utahns are fairly reasonable centrists with a lot of love in their hearts. Especially as the old timers age out, a younger generation of Utahns---people such as myself, in their mid-40s---are taking to leadership roles and dialing back some of the more outdated and outlandish quirks.
Anyhoozle, this comment completely got away from me. Sorry for the essay.
Utah's a weird, wacky, wonderful place. ✌️❤️
I love your essay. lol. I been living all over the world working with my jobs and in the USA too. I love living in Utah and being able to have the freedoms that we have here. Ski and Golf in one day, and flying fishing for big trout. My family loves to camp up in the mountains and do some hiking and mountain biking. And very close to Vegas too.
@coachanderson2704 Haha, thank you, that's very nice to say. And you're absolutely right! From the alpine mountain peaks to the palm trees of St. George, it's such a uniquely beautiful part of the world. My only complaint is our proximity to good surf spots, haha. Although the other side of that coin is being able to take the city bus up to Snowbird. 😆
As someone who lived in utah for years and used to be a member of the church I appreciated the unbiased view this video presented. Even though I personally don’t agree with a lot of the doctrine taught I still have a lot of respect for people within the church as my family and a lot of old friends are still members. It was nice to see someone cover a topic that is incredibly easy to politicize in a way that pretty much only covered facts and routed their arguments in logic and reasoning rather than hate. Props to the creator for showing people the actual causes for the mormon influence on politics rather than the biased crap the typical person would give.
A former Utahan here. This is 100% accurate! Well researched and presented. (Aside from a few mispronunciations.)
His pronouncing "legislature" as "legislator" was triggering for me - by the third time I was yelling "legislaTURE!" at my laptop. Clearly an opportunity for me to practice patience...
I cringed hard at his pronunciation of Mantua.
Yeah, I cringed too, but there’s no way for him to know how to pronounce Mantua 😂 (Mant-away, for those who may be reading this from outside of Utah, or if spoken in the Utah accent, you drop the T and it’s pronounced more like mannaway)
True, especially the way he pronounced “Zion” and “Wasatch”
@@debbiemueller7067
Came here for this comment!
As a Missourian, the stories of the church BEFORE Utah are amazing. The only violence order ever given by a governor in US history against its own people (Boggs). Its a pretty amazing gap in our history that people do not know.
Yep, it’s “execute order 66” but real.
@@KnuttyEntertainment"Execute order 44"
@@Froggo9000 You got it.
As someone from Ohio, there's a lot of odd and criminal stuff even before that which the Mormons got up to...
@@AzraelThanatosas a Mormon, I can't think of any criminal activity in church history while they lived in Ohio but ok 😭
Most Mormons don’t really seem to care what the people around them do as long as they can do what they want. Of course, what they choose to do is often a VERY different issue… (I once had a Mormon acquaintance who go pregnant as teen. Because the father wasn’t a Mormon, they couldn’t pressure him to marry her, so they sat the girl in the middle of a circle of elders, publicly shamed her, and then excommunicated her. After that, I can’t see the Mormon church as “harmless” anymore)
This was so well done. I grew up mormon, but left in my thirties. I learned a lot of things I didn't know much about our history. And you made me appreciate that our politics here is nuanced . Thank you for putting this together.
Sam : "Mormons made Utah weird
That's why I'd like to thank our sponsor. "
End of Story
Would’ve been funny if he did that, but that sounds like a Half as Interesting typa joke lol
As someone born in and who grew up and reside in Utah, I can attest to the fact that Utah is weird. End of story. lol
Do mormons think Utah is the new Zion and what is Zionism?
Mormons believe in a holy land in Utah right?
@@IDFpartyboi972 yes. They think it is the modern Zion
Thank you for being willing to go in depth and not just stopping with "Mormons = Weird". I lived for many years in that part of the country, and saw first hand how, for many people, the church played a positive role in their lives, organizing community events, encouraging family time, and building public institutions that helped the community. I'm not a member, but I respect what they have accomplished.
Good comment. I'm a Latter-day Saint. I embrace the weirdness of our culture, which is heavily influenced by our early church history, for better or worse.
@@loganbagley7822 Well said, and I think there is a certain amount of weirdness in any religion or culture, when viewed from outside. What matters is how the people treat others, and in that, I've been lucky to know many good, decent members of the LDS Church.
@@rixter2244 yeah the mormon church is pretty cultish
Yeah I’m an exmo and while I disagree with a lot of what the church preaches and stands for fundamentally, it’d be disingenuous to ignore the good that comes with the bad. For example, their humanitarian efforts during times of crisis in different parts of the world are something to be admired. A lot of the characteristic pragmatism taught to me as a young man was pretty positive and healthy, and helped me learn how to be more independent and self-sufficient. Not everyone’s experience is the same, and I have my own reasons for leaving, but to say they haven’t done any good is just ignorant.
These people bled their members dry to fight passing gay marriage legalization in California (Prop 8). That's not what religions should do. Any centralized power that imposes its mores on others is evil. People know right from wrong, but we elevate those who stand outside our general morals in order to fight perceived threats. Think hard on how that affects your daily life. Also, false sacrifice in the name of appeasing a mythological being creates community, but it breaks our character to do so, as we cannot justify it forever. Religions have come and gone and these will be no different. The good and evil that you attribute to the religions, the church, the government - that comes from us willing to follow those who stubbornly hold to the delusion of their importance. Narcissism, writ in vainglorious piety, religious, patriotic, or both, plagues our world. When will we finally see the weakness of withholding skepticism and reason as a species? Imagination is an amazing aspect of humanity. Chasing shared imaginings, fueled by FOMO, is the opposite of pragmatism.
I really appreciate this video. I grew up in a Mormon family in the Salt Lake Valley. While I long ago parted ways with the theology, I still see how that upbringing shaped my pragmatism, tolerance, and compassion - values that are profoundly Mormon and powerful counterweights to the broader U.S. culture war. I think this video paints a broadly accurate picture, shedding light on what makes Utah unique.
I'm honestly never been more impressed with the degree of research put into making this video as accurate and informed as possible. Hats off to you, my friend.
As a native Utahn, this is a very fair and accurate exploration of things that make Utah unique (for better and for worse). This video connected a lot of dots I'd never considered before, thank you!
One very small point of correction - at 16:11, maps are shown with the streets always starting at temples, using Provo as an example. In these pioneer towns, the streets were based on the Tabernacle, as they didn't have Temples when first settled. Tabernacles are still religious buildings to gather in, but don't hold the same sacred regard as Temples. The Provo example, in particular, is confusing because the Tabernacle burned down in 2010 and was reconstructed and opened as the Provo City Center Temple in 2016. The photo shown of the Provo Temple after the maps is the original Provo Temple that was finished in 1972, that is not in the city center. Again, it's not a huge deal, but I figured I'd point it out in case anyone was confused!
As a Provo-a myself, I support this message. The Tabernacle burned down due to some electrical shorts in a lamp I believe. It was very terrible, but we are very blessed to have two temples nearby :)
Well. Not anymore. The one that took the tabernacles place is staying, the other one is being demolished I believe, it’s completely closed down. I believe they are going to rebuild it though.
@@lightmare8591 Yes; they're calling it a renovation, but the new temple is (according to blueprints I saw) on a completely different footprint on the plot than the current one. So they're tearing the old one down and building a new one on the same plot. It will be called the "Provo Rock Canyon" temple.
Should be helpful when I’m in Provo this summer
While on a winter trip to Utah. We got stuck in the snow twice up in the mountains. What amazed us was how nice the people were. They stopped to ask if we need help and pull us out of the snow in the middle of the night(3am). One of them even gave us a pair of snow chains. Beautiful state and great people.
Thank you Utahns.
Huh. I was ignored waiting to get seated a 2 restaurants while a bunch of other people were seated and served. 100% ignored in one restaurant. It was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had traveling. I couldnt imagine how Id be treated if i was black or brown.. A number of other people have told me similar or usually much worse discrimination. Utah would be great if it wasnt for the people
@@MM-hq2bd Nope black, lived here my whole life. Treated equally like everyone else
@@MM-hq2bd don’t understand why you have to throw in black or brown. FYI, we were a bunch of Asian students when they helped us in the middle of the night on the side of a mountain.
@@MM-hq2bd do you have any evidence that things would be different if you had a different skin color, or are you virtue signaling?
@@flyingbanana566 it's because lots of people are straight up program to see everything through the lens of race. Literally everything, even if doesn't even involve their race by the face they think it would be different if they had a different race. It's a sickness.
The only thing this is missing is an explanation of fry sauce. It's good! Everyone needs to try it. The most basic form you can make is (2 part mayo, 1 part ketchup, 1 part mustard. Mix well. Should be pink like a peach and taste tomato-y and tart. Goes well with heavily salted food.)
Arctic Circle's is best.
@@jesseoglidden agreed, almost makes up for the food lol (some of their menu isn't bad, but their burgers are a solid 4/10)
He forgot to mention the other big July holiday. Half of Utah celebrates Pioneer Day. The other half celebrate Pie and Beer Day. Good times for everyone!
What kind of mustard?-Sweet or hot/spicy or medium (hot)?
@@sirstamfordraffles6557 hot/medium is my preferred, but even just yellow mustard like you put on a hotdog works
My favorite Utah liquor law story: In the days when advertising alcohol was illegal, there was a convenience store on the road to the SLC airport that found a clever workaround. One side of their sign advertised "Cold Bee?" (a nod to the Beehive State moniker). The other side said "Cold Beer" with a much smaller "nuts" below it.
6:50 - The LDS Church does have a very strong "Love the sinner, hate the sin" approach to this kind of thing.
and it something I love about the church. Just seems to follow the true ideals and meanings of the scriptures more
Unfortunately… unless you are queer. Then it is much less so.
Also discrimination is why the church and it's people moved to Utah in the first place. It is something that we don't forget and want anyone to experience.
@@kettleshot6044 it's not a respectable or responsible moral position to take.
It's one of many reasons there's a very large number of people who "Hate the religion and tolerate its followers."
There's nothing "loving" about the way Mormons have treated LGBT people. At all.
The thing I've always been confused of though, is the notion of the harmless sin.
It's believed that we are in danger when committing sin, yet time and time again, when we ask to show the harm, the "harm" that gets brought up is the harm to norms and traditions, the harm to those who might stray, the harm to our spirits and emotions, and the harm of accepting what we once thought unacceptable.
I don't need to believe in the word of wisdom anymore to no longer think drinking beer isn't a good idea, science has shown me that.
But I do need to believe the LDS church that having gay sex is harmful to those who are gay, even though science has shown theirs suicides galore to that belief.
Do you believe your lying eyes?
Sti's amongst the community is analogous to the straight community, same as marriage rates, same as financial rates aside from discrimination, same as happiness levels, same as can be aside from stigma.
The actual harm, the actual sin, is believing I'm superior to someone on account of how I was born, and how I identify as. Straight is now legally equal with gay, and there's so many people who still see an issue with that.
If you actually love the sinner, you no longer actually hate the sin, you just see the person you've been judging, and it's you.
That's about half of my 7th grade Utah history class in only 25 minues. Can I have those hours of my childhood back, now?
The Utah history class was very pro-LDS church as well, glossing over much of the context that led to the church founding the state.
@@scottbmcqueennot mine in Murray. Where did you go?
When the rest of us can get back the hours the State consumed from us on every other subject (through incompetence or propaganda), sure.
@@scottbmcqueenvery true, at least in the middle school I went to
Each county and school district is so different that I can't keep up.
This video is perfect. I found it extremely informational and entertaining and you are right It really is a world of its own.
Raised in the church in Utah and the most taught thing is love one another
I always feel so bad when people are mistreated by church members because it makes it look like we teach hate. It couldn’t be more the opposite!
Are you also a victim of being forced to learn the sign language for the "Love One Another" song? 😂 primary burnt it into my brain! Lol
is that why basically all ex mormons have so many horrific trauma and abuse stories and suicide is the #1 cause of death for younger groups?
@@softenbysam If you go looking for the bad that will be all you can see. There are many ex-members in this very comment section that based on what they say I feel would disagree with you here
Biggest cultural difference I noticed when I lived in utah: people always talk about outdoor activities as opposed to bars and restaurants and festivals.
Yeah that’s the easiest way to break the ice around here, start mentioning reservoirs or the west desert or recent excursions and suddenly everyone is breaking out stories
Nobody talks about outdoor activities unless you are into those specific activities and you know the other person is also. People mostly talk about the same things everybody else talks about.
@@seldomseenn Literally nobody does that unless you live right next to it or you know the people care about it. People are going to talk about the work, weather, movies, TV shows and the like. You aren't going up to a stranger and starting a conversation about utah lake unless you are right next to utah lake and are making up a question about it. You'd be much better off talking about what they do or what they like to do. This selective nonsense that is pretending that the exception is the norm is getting out of hand. I get you all want to feel special and like you have hidden knowledge and deserve attention but you don't, cut the crap.
Outdoor recreation tends to be a big factor in what motivates both Mormons and non Mormons to move here.
@@thomgizziz It comes up naturally if you get past surface level small talk like at jobs or when I was in school. I get you aren’t gonna talk about fishing with the guy at the grocery store but it consistently makes good conversation whenever I casually mention anything like that and I’ve lived here my entire life
the mormon missionaries taught me english when they were in albania, was pretty cool. and they were extremly nice.
I am curious when this was, if it's fine for me to ask? I had a friend go to Albania for a mission a few years back, and from the pictures he took, it's a beautiful country.
That's how they get you
I served a mission in Russia. We weren’t allowed to teach English by Russian law, but we held game nights and some people like to practice English with us. It was cool. I’m glad you had a good experience with missionaries!
@@wilfulbuckle13may'n... heaven forbid anyone does anything good out of religious principles -_-
@@wilfulbuckle13 You should get to know the missionaries, they are just people and many really just want to do good. did you know they pay the trip themselves to go on a mission? Many would work parttime in highschool middleschool to go on the trip. I don't believe the church so I did not go nore do I go anymore on Sundays, but I know the good heart many of those church members have!
I drove through St. George once, but have never really been to Utah aside from on a technicality. Fascinating.
For the producer of this video, Thank you for your fair and balanced presentation on us and our State.
As a wierd person , I can confirm, i live in Utah .
*weird
As a wired person, I can affirm you do as well.
I don't live in Utah, so I guess I can't be a weird person. That's too bad.
I live in Taiwan and I'm a Taiwanese. I'm a "wierd person" because missionaries from Utah converted my mom. I'm grateful for their service and sacrifices.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 at least it’s not New Jersey
As a big fan of this channel, an active member of the LDS church, and a Utah resident (not born here, recently moved), I would like to offer Sam and his writing team a huge THANK YOU. I was honestly bracing for this video to be a roast of my faith and beliefs. Instead, it was respectful and nuanced. Appreciate you!
I know the exact feeling. Any time our church is mentioned online, just can't help but brace in anticipation of scathing commentary and horror stories. This is a lovely, level-headed rundown, that neither leans towards or away from the LDS religion.
I was thinking the exact same thing. I was scared of another hit piece but this is so much more fair.
I know, I was shocked when I realised how many people thought we were cultists and polygamists 😭 this was nice to hear.
100%. I almost didn’t click but I’m so glad I did!
I dragged my heels in terms of clicking, but the algorithm was convinced I would like it and kept putting it up.
Algorithm was right. 😊
Nice to see us reported on in neutral fashion rather than a whackos. 🎉
Allowing seminary during school hours isn’t only in Utah, they do it in plenty of other states
Yeah, but Utah basically ALWAYS has an LDS semianary building next door, and they get packed as full as any other elective (source, from Utah, 2/3rds of my friends had seminary even if they themselves didn't want to be Mormon, their parents just kept signing them up)
@bobthegamingtaco6073 That makes sense given the high percentage of members.
@@bobthegamingtaco6073What’s it like for a kid whose parents sign them up for seminary when they don’t want to be Mormon?
this is really, really interesting knowing more about the State that i am actually living in, right now
When I lived in Utah, one of my favorite parts was the public transit system, UTA. It's clean and efficient.
yessss i love UTA
I'm from rural Utah. The best part of visiting grandparents was they'd take us on the trax into downtown. We thought it was the most high-tech thing ever! It's a nice and neat system.
Yeah, but service on Sunday sucks. Could be worse.
I have old friends in the Mormon community around Phoenix. I’ve been a lifelong atheist/agnostic, and blurry borderline communist politics, so it’s an unlikely friendship, but we bonded over music (we were all in touring bands at the time). We engaged in plenty of political discussions, and found that our values aligned nearly across the board. We just had different ideas for how to approach solutions to societal issues. It’s a great idea example of how much we all have in common, and how much we could do together if we could abandon the counterproductive culture war BS.
Wild how "borderline communist" doesn't get you absolutely destroyed like saying "borderline fascist" despite how much worse communism was.
"culture war BS". No, I don't think so, buddy. These are the most important questions in life. As Jesus said, he came not to bring peace, but the sword. Mormonism is a cult, by the way!
Yall should've joined up and formed a supercult 😂
why hasn't Utah passed a land value tax yet? That seems like a common sense law that all sides of the political spectrum agree on
@grimaffiliations3671 it's pretty much all church, can't tax the church apparently 💀
Awesome job. As an ex mormon (from idaho) i dont send most information to my family back home due to it being so disruptive. Im sending this video to my dad (who just got called to be a bishop in the church) because i hope it will lead to valuable discussion between us. Thank you
I grew up gay in Utah, and the irony of them finally banning conversion therapy isn't lost on me. My own parents attempted to make me go through this, but I ended up choosing (though not really a choice) of being homeless rather than go through with what they were demanding. But I think a lot of this happens to be because family groups are large and more tightly connected, one family member committing suicide because of being forced into conversion therapy can potentially impact the opinion of that practice to dozens if not over 100 people (my own family I have over 100 just first cousins) And from there these people become advocates within their own church organizations, which are also tightly knit, relaying personal stories about family members and what they went through.
Many conservatives tend to not really see the negative impacts of things they support until it comes to impact them personally or a family member, at which point their views soften, and with as large as family and community networks are in Utah, it's little surprise that many of their points of view on things are more progressive than many other conservative areas, and not just on the issue I mentioned.
I dare raise a question, why on Earth does the LGBT support transing kids we know they are subject to suggestion. How exactly knowing all of this they do the same as the people they decry.
That's terrible you were made homeless because of your sexual orientation. Conversion therapy was wrong in so many ways
Back in the 90s I had a good friend and her brother carry out a suicide pact when he came out and was rejected by his LDS family. The resulting trauma in that family and in our friend group changed a lot of people. Mostly for the better, but not all. That was a pivotal moment in my life that I think about every day.
Several years ago when the Mormon church released its edict punishing the children of gay parents it was too much for me. I hadn't be active in several decades, but I removed my name from the records and know many, many people who also took that step as well. I know a lot of LDS people who really had had their faith in the church serious shaken. The church quickly walked it back, but it showed their true position and too many LDS people were just fine with it.
The suicide rate in the LGBTQ+ community here is off the chart and you're correct, the ripples are felt everywhere. I'm so glad to see the groups that have come together to help kids who are going through what you experienced. I hope you're doing okay and found your community!
@@markthomas6794 thanks! This was 20 years ago now, and I’m fine. Obviously not really close with my family after that, but I’m good :)
And yeah same. I went through the whole process too to get my name removed. Partially over their stances and partially over them continuing to send people to try to reactivate me
@@markthomas6794 You say all that but the elephant in the room is that the lgbt movement is legit. Giving sex change hormones to kids your moral high ground is dead and buried.
as a Utahn and an LDS member, the "dirty soda" is actually so true it's hilarious
also, this was very well researched and thanks for being respectful
Dirty soda is so good
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves.
Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
There's just so much variety lol, my favourite is blackberry dr. Pepper, plus any other flavours I feel like that day
Dirty Dr.Pepper is so good
As a Mormon from Utah I approve of this video. It correctly shows why and how we are different, for good or for bad. I especially appreciate how you have showed how much involvement the church has had in everything for good or for worse. To be honest, Utah is like a bubble, the community the laws the people, everything is different in big or small ways, and it all adds up to make a very unique community that at times is the most supportive, but in others can be the most hypocritical and biased on other matters.
Many religious communities are bubbles. Some can be brought to do terrible things while in such a bubble, especially when encouraged by powerful friends
The only beef I have with it (and it is minor since this video is approaching the subject from an outside perspective) is that he grossly misplaces the central focus of the theology. Often he shortens to “The Church of Latter-Day Saints” instead of the more accurate shortened “Church of Jesus Christ” and when he talks about seminaries, he says we go to “Learn about Joseph Smith.” Although it is an understandable mistake, the focus in LDS seminaries is Jesus Christ. One year out of a four year curriculum the focus is on what Joseph Smith himself taught about Jesus Christ, but the rest is purely out of ancient scripture.
you are in a cult
@@user-lo4me9oe9z Im Jewish dont tell me im in a cult
you're in a cult that was invented by a guy with schizophrenia. must feel good
I never realized how many channels you were in. I now have two new sources of amazing content :D
I love visiting Utah for my camping/hiking trips. Just love the hospitality and the nature
Swig: because downing 200g of sugar mixed with soda water is way healthier than drinking coffee.
Fiiz is better. Not saying it's less sugary just better. 😆
@@theinquisitor3930 they both use the same soda brands and the same torani syrup, the only possible difference is if they kids who work there push harder on the pump or not...
*processed sugar
*Black cofffee. You get a flavored coffee at Dunkin or SB and they put soda to shame with sugar content
It depends what kind of coffee you get. If you just get a black coffee, or a coffee with milk, then yes, coffee is going to be healthier.
But if you get one of those fufufrapfrap libtard coffees with vanilla and sprinkles and whatever other nonsense, then no. Those coffees are always going to be way less healthy.
California, Florida, Utah, West Virginia. Weirdness of four states explained so far.
Just 46 + 6 to go, Sam 😁
PA would be interesting to see, and not just because I’m from there. It’s the 4th most populous state, but much of the population is centered around Philly in the Southeast and Pittsburgh in the Southwest. Then there’s just a lot of small towns and rural areas. Would be interesting to learn about what drove the settlement
West Virginia isn't weird though, it is just broke.
I would say that LA would be an interesting state to make a video about. It is both quintessentially southern and a sui generis in its own right.
NC is also weird mainly because i've met like two republicans while living here but its still red, the triangle and rural areas are a lot different
Would be great if we could get UA-cam shorts as updates for the rapidly changing states like California
He didn't once mention how different Sundays are in Utah vs anywhere else. Many businesses close on Sunday, you should expect it to be one of the slower retail days out of the week.
When I was a child it was a lot worse, grocery stores were like ghost towns. More people moving in makes a difference.
Another HUGE factor for government and being such a Red state. Republicans can vote in the Democratic Caucus but Democrats cannot vote in the Republican Caucus. So many people (some of my siblings even) will register as Republicans but truly vote Democrat. Its a stupid game the government plays imo, but you've gotta play it if thats what it takes.
AMA, born and raised!
Love the video, very well made. I appreciate the respectful tone. UT is weird but great.
I remember a BBC journalist who did two documentaries, one on Scientology and one on Mormonism. With Scientology he experienced secrecy, mistrust and sometimes hostility, this was a religion (or cult if you prefer) which didn't really care about public relations and tried at every turn to discourage him from digging any deeper, right up to having someone film him to intimidate him, and it kinda worked, he infamously lost his temper during one interview and again during a radio broadcast when famous Scientologist Tom Cruise was mentioned. Investigating Scientology basically traumatised him.
So he was understandably nervous when doing a similar documentary on a controversial religion a year or so later. But he found Mormons to be almost the opposite of Scientologists, very keen to talk to him, happy to let him into their temples and show him around, and very transparent about their culture and beliefs. There was a clear desire to present a positive image to the media and pressure to maintain good public relations with outsiders.
There is plenty that the LDS church is secretive about, such as their finances and the temple ceremonies.
John Sweeney. Brilliant guy. Has done a lot for Ukraine recently.
Did he really get let into the temples? I always thought that was a no no. The churches are for everyone but the temples are only for members
It should be said that the LDS church has opened up quite a bit recently, not so much by the choice of leadership. For quite some time they made a lot of effort to suppress uncomfortable truths about their history, especially from their own members.
But with the rise of the internet it became much harder to hide the historical record and leadership got dragged into a more open era by events like the Swedish Rescue, the widespread publication of the CES Letter, etc.
I don't say any of this to attack the LDS faithful, mainly because I think the church's current, more open stance was built on the back of a lot of people brought up in the church in the past who suffered a lot of pain and anguish to slowly pull the uncomfortable truths of the faith's history into the light.
Mormonism has a "milk before meat" policy where it starts teaching the beliefs that are similar to main stream Christianity. And only once you join the faith does it start focusing on the more, shall we say "unique" beliefs that Mormonism has. Scientology does the same thing.
Good job. Utah is difficult to portray, but this was really accurate. And the mispronunciation of “Nauvoo” shows it wasn’t an insider-seriously impressive for anyone, let alone an outsider.
Also Mantua.
@@jesseogliddenwait im utahn how do I pronounce that? Is it pulling a Tooele?
@@circleception3916"Man-too-way"
@@awjensen467 ah of course. I see the W in the pronunciation now- (thanks)
@@circleception3916 Makes prefect sense right. :)
happy to hear someone talking about Utah I've lived here my whole life and there is nowhere id rather be.
Thank you so much for this informative video, telling objective facts while carefully avoiding subjective opinions!
As a member of the church, I have to say this has been probably one of the most fair and well researched videos I have seen discussing the church in a social-political lens. Thank you for the good video
What would you say are the most common "unfair" takes about mormons?
@@andy4an Misrepresenting our beliefs around who God the father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are. Mostly from evangelical Christians. Getting confused and thinking we still practice polygamy.
@matthewnielsen3017
Interesting.
What's a common misrepresentation regarding father, spirit or Jesus?
Some people don’t believe we are Christian’s because we believe that Jesus is the son of God and that Jesus and God are two separate beings. Although, we do believe that they are connected (they are part of the Godhead) That is how I understand it it at least.
@@andy4an Some people believe we teach that the Father literally had sex with Mary to make Jesus's mortal body, we don't teach that. Other people also teach that we teach that God the Father has sinned in His past. This is not true, we believe that Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Ghost have eternally been God.
I just want to thank you so much for your nuanced take-as a queer Utah Mormon, it can be frustrating to see Utah, and the LDS church, painted in a strictly wonderful or terrible light. It’s refreshing to see someone talk about it and acknowledge the good and the bad, as well as some quirks that are merely unique!
what's it like for LGBT? I work remotely from across the planet for a company there & practically everyone is LDS. Never came out or opened up that way because all I know is that LDS is majority & the stare is Republican.
Yeah nuance is just rare
y'all are pretty neat, and I am eager to see you all tell stories of how California's hideous culture and ecology absolutely destroyed that place in like 500 years
Wait does LDS allow gay marriage now?
@@tempy2440 Nope
Extremely well done and extremely fair. I expect nothing less from Wendover. Thank you for covering our odd home!
I am very glad that you eventually came around to talking about the missionary missions late in the video, it basically explains most of the other incongruities you mention early on about policies that buck traditional conservative patterns.
The only Utah city built around the temple was salt lake. All others were built around a tabernacle (a church building for the local congregation). Provos was converted to a temple after a fire destroyed most of the original building. It’s a fascinating construction story
One thing I always thought was kind of neat, though, is the Logan tabernacle is just down the hill about a mile from the temple and there are quite a few design elements (including a sculpture) that draw the eye upward toward the temple
@@jennarhodes2724 I lived between the Logan tabernacle and temple. It was neat having such prominent landmarks in my front yard
Rexburg, ID has a similar road naming scheme around the campus of BYU-Idaho.
My mom used to play for the Utah Valley Symphony in that tabernacle when i was a kid and I ended up getting married In that now temple when it got renovated.
To a non-believer this just sounds like semantics.
As a mormon myself, I really appreciate the detail and research that clearly went into this video, as it’s so accurate and while showing our quirks and obvious oddities, it doesn’t paint members of the church as complete weirdo’s or cult-ish. I’m just glad to see a correct video on my religion, Thanks Sam!
I think Latter-day Saints have become overly tolerant when they say it wasn’t so bad or it could have been a lot worse. I’m guessing that what the Jews said of Hitlers political cartoons of them.
There are some small innacuracies, but I've lived in Utah for the last few years and was also impressed by the amount of research that went into this.
@@mattbrown6755 Ideas can and should be criticized. The mormon religion has historically and even today has morally reprehensible policies and their leader was verifiably a conman who could not translate ancient languages. Pointing these facts out does not mean I'm discriminating against mormons.
Utahn here, the state is changing. Im a deug using hippie and that crowd is getting more and more present here. There is a massive underground culture in SLC
As a Republican, I praise Utah for going beyond everyone else and actially building a good public transit network. One can get from Brigham City to Santaquin (distance of 123 miles) on ONE transit agency (UTA). A total of five rail lines (one commuter, one streetcar, and three light rail) and two bus rapid transit networks make the backbone of transit in the Utah Valley.
You don't need to preface it with "as a Republican". Your partisanship does not matter when it comes to praising them for having a sensible transit network.
I’d have a lot less problems with the Christians in the US as a whole if they acted more like the Mormons. I disagree with Mormons in almost every way but their hearts are in the right place, even if they are broadly abusive, insular, and toxic about it.
You can actually get from Brigham up to Cache/Logan through Sardine and UTA runs a rideshare van from Brigham up into Box Elder. UTA is really strong program.
@morenauer I'm saying it as if this should be what Republican legislatures are promoting because it is what the populous wants. It's more just to show that this is a bipartisan issue.
They just need to expand the train up to Cache Valley. Currently the only way from Cache Valley to SLC is by car.
I live there.
So close on “Zion”, “Nauvoo”, and “Deseret”.
why is it called zion and if I fall in that park can i get aid quickly?
@@WhataMensch It depends on if you let people know where you are going ahead of time. if you do they can get to you as quick as 1 2 3 and boom they are there
@@IDFpartyboi972 Cool. I want to go biking there
Not even close on Mantua
@@TheSpursiest How close is zion to Mantua? Is the aid delivery in emergency situations good there in Mantua?
It's honestly so refreshing to see a video talking about Utah that doesn't roast the Latter-day Saint religion, and I really appriceate that. Thank you.
He didn't have to, the religion alone roast them.
Well done! Insightful.
I went to high school in deep blue New Mexico in Albuquerque and we had a Mormon seminary across the street from my high school and all the Mormon kids would go over there for seminary class in the middle of the day 20 some years ago
Mid day is so much better than going to LDS Seminary at 6:00 AM back when I went to high school in California. I envy them.
Yep. My brother attended a high school in Oregon that also allowed release-time seminary.
I live in Utah I'm Mormon and so are my cousins who live in Indiana, while they were visiting us we got on the topic of seminary, my cousin mentioned how she had to wake up early so that she could drive to seminary before school every day. She asked me how early I had to wake up for seminary and I was confused because I had it 6th period, so practically the end of the school day. She was very jealous to say the least that I could get a period off school for seminary 😂 to be fair though it takes a full credit so I had less electives that I could choose, but always nice to have some jesus time.
I live in Utah I'm Mormon and so are my cousins who live in Indiana, while they were visiting us we got on the topic of seminary, my cousin mentioned how she had to wake up early so that she could drive to seminary before school every day. She asked me how early I had to wake up for seminary and I was confused because I had it 6th period, so practically the end of the school day. She was very jealous to say the least that I could get a period off school for seminary 😂 to be fair though it takes a full credit so I had less electives that I could choose, but always nice to have some jesus time.
As a member of the LDS church, I am wildly surprised by how well researched this video is. Usually people just make things up theologically or historically and try to pass it off as fact to support whatever their thesis is. Well done.
To be fair they pulled their punches on church history completely substantiated by verifiable sources.
The Nauvoo Expositor incident.
14 year old child brides
The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Brigham Young’s framing of the Southern Paiute tribe for mass murder.
LDS opposition of civil rights.
LDS meddling in California’s Prop 8.
The fact that Utah was a bastion of LGBTQ conversion therapy and the subsequent ban was a result of independent journalism in an otherwise Mormon-controlled media environment.
In my experience, that's common among nonmormon Christians. I get the sense that the video's creator is either nonreligious, or takes explicit effort not to insert it into his content.
Your second sentence is a perfect synopsis of the LDS religion as a whole.
@@mathnerd97 It's also common among people who hate religion in general, they run with any rumor and don't want to find out what's really true.
I hope you get the help you need to escape the cult
This has been said so many times in these comments already, but you absolutely nailed the research and writing on this. I live in Utah and am a member of the LDS church and I've never seen such good journalism on Utah.
been to utah many times and have a friend that lives there. i’ve always noticed how weird it was but this was a great video to put words to it
Utahn here. You did a really good job explaining the history and politics of the State.
As someone from Vancouver, the city being surrounded by mountains and a huge lake on one side is ideal skyline quality!
not air quality though
@@BostonElton Air quality in Vancouver is great. It was much much worse quite recently. When you took the ferry to the island on a calm sunny day, you used to be able to look all around you and it would be a yellow haze. Now it's crystal clear. From the US border you can see the mountains clearly. I work with tons of immigrants who are blown away at how clear the skies are here versus the cities they come from where everything is a gross smog.
@@jasondashney i was talking about Salt Lake
I was expecting this video to end up heavily bashing the Latter Day Saint church, but it was actually really interesting to watch! Great job!
Thank you for making me and my state feel special :)
Utah is weird because the GOP doesn’t have a grasp of Utah - conservatives do, and by conservatives, I mean the old kind. That’s why McMullin did so well
The old kind? I'm pretty sure old conservatives won't use PFPs of communists.
There are so many people here in Utah that refuse to vote Trump, even though they have been life long republicans. He is everything Mormons teach against. Many still vote Republican out of habit. But many are terrified what Trump will do if he becomes president again, and are looking for another party closer aligned with their values.
Essentially they want a liberal party that has a focus on maintaining religious rights.
The CIA guy?
@@Sigma_Male_Anti_Female Me when I find out that people can have accurate knowledge of people with different political views
@@zorod5475 lmao yeah right. Religious conservative nuts LOVE trump.
I appreciate all these in-depth videos on individual states; It helps people see the forest for the trees when it comes to what makes the United States as a whole.
When I stopped wanting to go to seminary during school, also right across a the street from it, my family at the time kicked me out and I had to live out a cold winter in a broken down car.
Didn't realize it back then, but the school should've done something. Because they knew.
As a Provo native who is a member of the church, this video was very well researched for someone who is not a member nor from Utah. I might have made a couple corrections here or there, but it was pretty spot.
"[Brigham] Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native American person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude. Children between seven and sixteen years old were supposed to be sent to school three months of the year, but were otherwise put to work. Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 child slaves became a vital source of their labor, and were exchanged as gifts. Within a decade of settling the Salt Lake Valley over 400 Native American children were purchased and lived in Mormon homes. In 1849 a posse of around 100 LDS men in southern Utah chased and killed twenty-five Native American men in retaliation for some cattle raids, and their women and children were taken as slaves.
Leader Brigham Young advocated buying children held by Native Americans and Mexican traders as slaves, and encouraged Latter-day Saints to educate and acculturate the children as if they were their own. However, despite the requirement to educate the Native American indentured servants, the majority had received no formal education according to an 1860 census. Young's spouse owned a Native American slave Kahpeputz. At age seven she was kidnapped from her Bannock family and tortured, and later purchased by Brigham Young's brother-in-law and gifted to one of Young's wives and renamed Sally. She was a servant in the Young household for over a decade working long hours with the rest of the servants and was not taught to read or write."
Utah an amazing state I've been there twice, I'm not Mormon but the ones I met when I was in my country were really nice they spoke good Spanish. They were good persons to us and treated us with dignity and kindness.
same i am an atheist but have been to their crurch a couple times because friends and they are really nice people. while I dont have faith myself I strongly believe some religions values make people better on average. mostly Mormons and evangelists and Buddhists. i also went every weekend for 2 years to an evangelical church while in HS just to hang out with the other teens after the service, liked being with them because they didn't smoke or drink.
while catholic , Islam and judaism not so much since they tend to be quite confrontational with people not sharing their values. ofc I am talking about strong believers. i myself now a ton of Catholics that only put foot on a crurch or see a priest for baptisms, marriages, deaths. like my family that when I told my mom I was bi she was like ''ok''.
while for Mormons and evangelist I meet very strong believers radical even that still where polite to me.
As a lds member we do facilitate a culture of understanding and welcoming as my religion was persecuted for generations. If we persecuted anyone else we would be hypocrites. Btw if an lds member was hurtful to anyone let this be a reflection of the person, not the religion. we are a Christian religion meaning we are taught the two great commandments. Love thy god and love thy neighbor
@@lucaskp16 As a lds member we do facilitate a culture of understanding and welcoming as my religion was persecuted for generations. If we persecuted anyone else we would be hypocrites. Btw if an lds member was hurtful to anyone let this be a reflection of the person, not the religion. we are a Christian religion meaning we are taught the two great commandments. Love thy god and love thy neighbor
@@lucaskp16 I’m on my own spiritual journey and have baptized in the Eastern Orthodox faith ( I like their services and learning their views) and I’m currently learning all I can about Sikhism and oriental orthodoxy. If your having a hard time finding a religion that floats your boat and gets your nearer god I haiku recommend the following faiths:
Literally any Orthodox Church oriental, Eastern, does not matter they are based and have tradition, history, culture, and know how to set a young man who is having issues (such as addictions) straight
Sikhism ( you get a dagger- nuff said )
Some Islamic schools of thought - highly focused on prayer gives off same vibes as a yoga class
Pentecostals known how to party
Seven day Adventist- they really like Jesus
Lds church - really, really nice people and plan of salvation- check that out
Hope this helps
I've lived in Utah for a long time, and one important note has to do with why so many people here register as Republican.
The Utah GOP, up until this year, ran a closed primary election, while the Democrats held an open one. That means only registered Republicans can vote in the GOP primaries, but anyone can vote in the Democratic ones. A strategic voter who understands that Utah is a strong Red state will register Republican, even if they don't idealogically agree with the party, so that they can influence the State's Republican representatives.
Proud RINO here. Live in Utah and am republican so I can be in the primaries
They aren't closed anymore?
@@twentysixbit I'm not 100% certain on the openness of it, but they switched to a Caucus election this year.
@@carsonscott1107which means unfortunately you have to attend a caucus
@@GeorgeMaj15 I live in Utah and vote in the democrat primaries... you shouldn't be too proud, if enough people find out what you are doing they will make sure that your democrat candidates are more on the republican side.... which of course you will cry about it not being fair after years of you not playing fair.
my seminary building was like 50 feet across the concrete from one of the main highschool entrances. it was surrounded by parking lot
Videos like this remind me how not normal a lot off the things I've spent my whole life around are. It's a shame most people won't get to experience Arctic Circle or fry sauce 🔥🔥🔥
18:05 contrary to all logic and reason, Mantua is actually pronounced *“mana-way”* Sorry about our local linguistic boobytraps.
Also, (from your arms manufacturing video) Tooele is *“too-willa”* Thanks for highlighting our wacky state!
It is only said manaway if you crush your t's like saying mountain like moun-an. Otherwise it would be pronounced man-te-way. And the reason for that is that is close to how you pronounce it in Italy where the name comes from.
@@thomgizziz from my understanding its more man-chew-uh
@@thomgizziz My understanding is that the weird pronunciation of mantua without the /t/ came about because of the influence of the danish immigrants who founded the town
Also Zie-in not Zie-on and dez-er-rett not desser-it
Mantua is used in Philadelphia (a neighborhood) and Pennsylvania (a county). It’s pronounced man-chew-uh
Sam, I would like to sincerely thank you for talking about my church so respectfully. Having been born in Utah and visited there many times, you did a great job talking about it's cities and culture. It's great to know that honest and accurate information about Utah and my church is on a channel as well-respected as yours!
Fuck the church, it deserves no respect.
"Honest and accurate" more like incomplete and misleading.
Another interesting thing regarding seminary where i went to school was the fact thst they didnt just adjust hours for seminsry, they also adjusted credit requirements so students could take less credits each semester (making room for seminary) and still graduate at standard times.
As a Utahan and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I really appreciate the quality of this video.
I appreciate you using the full name of the church multiple times, instead of just using "Mormon," even though that would've been easier.
I appreciate you referring to Joseph Smith "finding" the golden plates instead of saying "when Joseph wrote the Book of Mormon." It's THE contested question of the church: did he or did he not write the Book of Mormon himself? We, of course, believe Joseph was directed to where the plates were buried and was directed to translate them through the gift and power of God. Obviously a lot of people disbelieve this. But I appreciate the respect shown to our belief system that you referenced our history from our perspective, rather than mocking or dismissing it by just assuming Joseph was the author.
Also, I am a huge fan of the soda shops!
Why did Mormons think black people were less than white people
🎉 agree with everything you put
Deseret: “Dez-ur-ette”
Mantua: “man-away” (yes, really”
Zion: zi-un not zi-on
Nauvoo: NAW-voo not nuh-VOO
Wasatch: WAW-satch
Let's correct Zion too "Zai-Uhn" this both relates to how it's referenced in the video and the national park!
It's leviOH-sah, not levio-SAH
Mountains: Mau-ns.
Dialects do odd things.
The beauty and variety of Utah's outdoors cannot be overstated. Otherworldy. What an exceptional place.
Originally a Las Vegas native and moved to the Orem/Provo area of Utah back in 2020. The second I landed in Salt Lake City, I immediately felt like something was off. I was told by a few about the "Mormon Bubble." As the years went on, I can somewhat understand what they meant. Besides the countless number of Swig's, there are also so many different car washes, I haven't seen so many automated car washes in my life. Also a vast amounts of cookies such as Crumbl, Crave, and Chip to name a few. When I was getting settled in, I wanted a bottle of wine, so I went to Target only to find only beer, then with looking up information where to find wine, I was confused at first what the heck is a State Liquor Store. I talked to some older natives and they told me for the time you couldn't really get coffee let alone alcohol. That a lot has changed since their youth. Living in Provo for a year I felt a real strong presence with the church, let alone the weird humor they bring and ideals they have. But being in part of the faith myself for six years, the members here, with those I have experienced, are more passive aggressive. My long time friend has even experienced times where racism has occurred in a passive aggressive manner for her being African American. I've also have noticed that most of the members I have met in my wards I was in served in a Spanish Speaking mission, they will share their time in Argentina, Colombia, Peru, or Ecuador. And then new comers will be from a Spanish speaking country to learn English and build a new life for themselves. It's an interesting experience. In the end, I have a love and hate relationship with Utah, just like I did when I was living and growing up in Nevada.
I've lived here most of my life. I've been a member of the church most of my life. I love the western feel of this place. Only things i don't like about it is that sometimes it can get real yellow and grey and that the housing market is getting out of control. One of my favorite places to go used to be Porters place! They had piano, and great rootbeer floats and Buffalo burgers 🍔. I miss Porters place...
As a Utah resident, this was a very well-researched, accurate and informative video! The one thing that I think should be clarified is that the church teaches its members to treat LBGT+ community with kindness and respect, but they haven't changed their position on the morality of same-sex marriage.
Marriage is just a social contract anyways
@@Law_desu15 Not in the church
the church may say that on the surface but the cultural undercurrent in the church is anything but nice
That is why they still do BYU shock treatments to the gay men at the BYU school. huh?
@@coachanderson2704 BYU is its own terrible thing. I don't agree with a good chunk of the honor code and especially how it's enforced. And don't even get me started on how staff are treated at BYUI.
Most people seem to not know or realize that the Mormons were refugees themselves, and are in Utah/the west because in the 1840's they had to physically leave the united states (as the borders were before the mexican-american war) and go live in the desert where no other settlers wanted to live to survive due to persecution and violence. The state government of missouri even issued a literal 'extermination order' against them in the 1830s if I remember right. The reason pioneer day is important to them is because they see it as a significant step in their survival. Most Mormons that I've known, know personally what its like to be hated just because of who they are, and most I've met are more accepting of peoples differences than others I've known. (Of course not all of them but generally in my experience, and those that aren't tolerant are especially frustrating considering their own faith's history with intolerant people/government) but overall that may be why they seem to be more moderate rather than straight right/left.
Fun fact: that "extermination order" was only retracted in the 1970s, because everyone had forgotten it until a very lucky lawyer stumbled upon it.
you seem to ignore their history of racism
The US as a whole was racist.
Umm, their “persecution “ was that they were not allowed to have multiple wives lol.
So they moved to the Utah region so they could continue practice their polygamy legally.
In both Ohio and Missouri it was mainly due to their leaders being involved in a lot of things that aren't on the up and up...then you had crap like mountain meadows. Only reason that they didn't get hammered for that one was due to the civil war breaking out
This is such a good video essay!
Funny enough, the picture of the Swig store they show isn’t in Utah. It’s in Mesa, Arizona on the northeast corner of Gilbert Rd and Brown Rd. Which also happens to be one of the most Mormon places outside of Utah!
Bonus: if on street view you go one mile east, you will see a seminary building across the street from a high school, as described in the video.
Can now confirm Wendover is from Wendover ❤
Which Wendover though, the one in Utah or the part in Nevada?
@@arevolvingdoor3836Buckinghamshire
I came to the opposite conclusion. He doesn't pronounce "Zion" and "Deseret" like a local.
or Mantua@@sambishop1667
I was wondering the same thing