Perception problem

[Anonymous]

You hear it all the time. There are kids who won’t ever even consider Utah. It’s not just kids but also parents. 

What do people think “perception problem” refers to?  Is it code?  For what?

[Sweetness]

White people and Mormons…

[User Suspended]

Lily white and a mormon culture sterotype of being exclusionary. You see what you want to see, but I do believe it takes more of an effort for a “non believer” minority to fit in.     

[Utah5410]

The more exposure Utah has in the pac-12 the less and less it will become. Each School has short comings. It is what it is. Recruit to your strenghs.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Old school stereotypes of the LDS Church reflecting on Utah as a state. 

In this age of enlightenment and easy access to knowledge, (for example) there are still people in America who honestly believe Mormons have horns. Until that kind of thinking goes away, there will always be a perception problem. 

[Anonymous]

It’s as Pace said earlier, Midwesterners and Easterners don’t know the difference between us and USU. 

It’s also why we need high profile eastern time zone games, NOT on PAC12 network. 

[User Suspended]

THIS^

When Utah came out to Ann Arbor I remember a few fans jokingly saying “Wow, Utah has some black guys on their team”. Yes, they where joking but it’s a sterotype nonetheless. ‘

You want Utah to crack the sterotype…stop scheduling byup, USU and Idaho every fricken year!  Minority kids need to see and hear about Utah football long before Scalley comes a knocking on their door.    

[Stone]

Those are some really sheltered Michigan fans that they would be surprised at that; funny to think that they think Utah fans are the sheltered ones. When I hear someone say stuff like that, it is painfully clear that they are the ignorant, uneducated ones that have no idea what the world is like beyond their neighborhood. We are quick to shame those that maintain stereotypes of races and call them idiots, but if they maintain a stereotype of Utah or Mormons, they seem to be given quite a bit of credit and justified.

[User Suspended]

I think it’s more of an out of mind out of sight mentality….and because of this, people fall into the easy sterotypes.  Utah needs to be proactive in reaching out to other regions of the country to improve it’s brand..because guess what, no one is making the effort to search out Utah.

The byup,USU and other MW games does nothing to improve it’s minority recruiting curb appeal…infact it makes it worse. 

 

[Stone]

I agree that reaching out to other areas is positive in that regard. I loved travelling to the Michigan and Notre Dame games and would love to see more of those (albeit, I understand the perspective of @Utah about scheduling down). The game at Northern Illinois this year was in that vein. But many complain about those games (with reason) because there are advantages to playing a team that is more interesting to Utah fans (e.g., a MWC foe or a Weber State or SUU). Ultimately, it is tough to please everybody.

[Puget Ute]

Even worse, they think we are byu.

[PlainsUte]

More than a stereotype, the Mormons did, for 150 years, blatantly discriminate against non-whites and it is still reflected in the church leadership, the state government, and in leadership of many businesses in the state.  I doubt a football recruit sees all that, but if they are used to being in the majority in their area and suddenly land in SLC, it might give a culture shock just on appearances. 

This recruit said Tempe “felt more like home”, not sure if that meant the weather, the African American head coach and Assistant Head Coach or what?

[Stone]

And yet SEC schools, where, you know, black people were actually slaves, seem to do fine. Those areas are also highly conservative religious.

I agree that there are stereotypes, but I think that excuse is overblown and perpetuated by people repeating the stereotype. Utah is not a sexy place (regardless of the majority religion). It is not a party school. It is not coastal. But it is a relatively clean, safe, beautiful, great outdoors place. It has advantages over other places, but many kids do not care about those advantages – some do, but most star high school players want to be at a warm party school. 

[FountainofUte]

I think our biggest problem is that we’re still perceived as the small-time mid-major that “luckily” got called up to the big leagues. That, while we’re in a P5 conference, we can’t offer a kid the trimmings of a P5 school; that somehow a kid will get a second-rate experience coming to the U. I think we’re tearing down that issue a little more each day and each season. We’re producing NFL players, All-Americans, All-conference players, etc.

Overall, I don’t think we’re fighting the issue of undoing negatives, but turning a lack of knowledge and apathy about Utah into insight and facts.

[Puget Ute]

SEC schools and the South in general were able to expose their history of open racism to sunlight, and to escape and move beyond those issues to build a new culture. That isn’t always the case and plenty of current examples exist (see voter suppression in NC, GA, and FL). 

 

[PlainsUte]

Correct me if I am wrong but slavery un the US ended in 1863, the Mormon doctrinal discrimination of non-white people lasted until 1978, 14 years after even the civil rights act of 1964.

[Tony (admin)]

You mean Mormon don’t have horns?

[GameForAnyFuss]

No, we’re horny. It’s different. 

[prestitute]

Current reality of LDS church’s role in local government and affairs impacts the views of those not part of the group. I have had this conversation with a lot of people outside of Utah. Note: I went to highschool and college as a White Mormon with lots of friends outside the group (non-white, non-mormon). They had a lot of insight into the culture, and it was often unfavorable.

[Utah]

There is one big issue and it is HUGE. 

These recruits are 18 years old. Their parents are 36-50 years old. That means they were born between 1968-1982, or there abouts. 

Those parents grew up when the mormons believed and fought for racism. It was disgusting and wrong and the mormon prophet, who supposedly speaks for god, wore his racism proudly, as did his apostles. 

If you were a parent, would you want your kid going to the racist, mormon state? 

And don’t say they’ve changed, because they are doing the same crap with LGBTQ+. Why would you believe they are any different? 

What Whitt has done to overcome this is amazing. 

[UtahFanSir]

This is very likely close to the issue. Also, Utah is a lot farther away than most programs for parents.

[S.CarolinaUte]

I like your posts mostly Utah, I am the one who down voted you only because i feel there is no room for the last anti mormon rant.

 

 

[Utah]

Anti-mormon rant…where was I factually wrong?

I just state beliefs. You that offends you because you know it’s wrong, then your problem isn’t with me, it with the beliefs. 

[Stone]

In answer to your question, I am a parent and I would be happy to send my kid to Utah to school over many other Pac12 schools (I would definitely want my kid at Utah over ASU or UA). Utah is a fantastic place to go to school. It is a great community. 

[Puget Ute]

You are correct. SLC IS a great community. And you know that because you experienced that.  But the discussion here is about perception, and not reality.

Perception is that the mindset of students at Utah is more like the insular and unaccepting byu-P of the 70s and 80s, and not the culturally-diverse place that reality tells us it is.

Perception informs people that Utah is extremely anti-LGBT, but reality is SLC ranks as a top-10 LGBT-friendly cities every year.

Perception is SLC is a tiny, backwater, small-mindset town, when reality shows it is a vibrant and exciting city (thanks to the last decade or so of growth) with a metro area population approaching 2 million and a powerful economy. 

Perception says SLC is a stodgy, old-time religion, one-horse town, but reality is SLC is an oasis of counterculture in the midst of the  crazies.

 

[Utah]

This is all true. 

Utah neeeds to find a way to seperate itself from the fringe that is here, who continues to make bad headlines. 

I worry with Nelson’s ramblings, and Oaks and Bednar in the wings, it may get worse before it gets better. 

[COFfrom83]

if you left, wed take a giant step in separating ousrselves from the fringe

[Stone]

Good grief. 

IglooDweller (three posts down): “Utah has a perception problem related to Mormons.” 

IglooDweller (here): “Perception problem, you hear it all the time. What do you think the perception problem refers to? Is it code? For what?”

Are you stuck in an echo chamber?

[Anonymous]

Dude, start a thread. Talk about whatever you want to. That’s what I do. 

[COFfrom83]

isn’t the team 1/3 black, 1/3 white, and 1/3 polynesian? if you want ethnic diversity this is the place

[SkinyUte]

Diversity on the team? Sure.

Diversity in the community? Not so much (although it’s getting incrementally better in that regard).

[Stone]

Depends on what type of diversity you are seeking.

[prestitute]

And the general population of SLC is broken up how? 

[ironman1315]

72% white. 20% hispanic.

[Utahute72]

So where do you slot the huge polynesian community.

[ironman1315]

They make up ~2% of the population, Asians make up 5% and African Americans make up ~3%.

[belli1976]

How does Wazzou get minorities to Pullman?? It is pretty much in the panhandle if Idaho that is well known for white supremacy. 

[ironman1315]

Perception v reality.

[1MNUte]

This place sounds more and more like ufn every day. Gonna be a long off season. . 

[Author]

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