My fellow Webmates: Be strong and of good cheer. This is not the end, merely the beginning. I live in a true theocracy where the distinction between church and state cannot be discerned, (if you doubt that such a state exists here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, I invite you to read The Mormon Murders)* and here is what I see happening in this situation. Based on years of observation of the LDS Church and their attempt at controlling all facets of the government and those dwelling along the Wasatch front (Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo) their efforts inevitably backfire.

A strip club opened a few years ago in Provo, not one with nudity, but pasties and thongs. The community rallied to shut the place down, as it was within close proximity to BYU University students, and well, we just couldnt have that. The media got hold of the story and all hell broke out strong editorials in the newspaper from both camps, a story on each of the networks local news every night for weeks, local talk radio hosts devoting hours every day to the subject.

The Provo city fathers (LDS elders) sought an injunction based solely on community opinion to close the place down. The result? The place was jammed packed every night for months, people drove from all over the state to come and see it for themselves. Business was booming, the guy who owned the place must have raked in a small fortune.

The more they railed against the club, the more popular it got. I have seen this happen over, and over again. It happened a coupld of years ago when Michael Moore made an appearance at one local college. Can you believe some wealthy guy filed a law suit against the school to stop him from appearing? The result: His appearance was sold out. Everyone tuned in to the story. Michael Moore got more publicity out of his appearance than the fortunes of the world could buy. If everyone had just kept their mouths shut and the attorneys at bay, no one would have paid any attention. These kind of events would be short lived and die on their own of public neglect.

But inevitably, some do-gooder who wants to prove his superior morality comes along and tries to shut the thing down, and it only results in previously unachievable attendance and attention.

The WTBS Im sure knows of this phenomenon, and hence, they play it smart keeping a low profile when they go on the attack. But even they cannot resist a good self-righteous assault like the one on the Quotes site. The more they rail against the big bad internet and all the evils that can be found there, the more people who are curious or have questions and doubts will visit these sites. It is the ultimate irony.

While I will miss the quotes site, what has happened will create a lot of internet chatter and attention. Those who find out that the Borg has shut it down will crave all the harder for the information that was there and that is no longer available. I also foresee a lot of sympathy for the underdog, another ironic phenomenon when someone is publicly attacked.

* The Mormon Murders: A True Story of Greed, Forgery, Deceit, & Death by Gregory W. Smith, Steven W. Naifeh, New York, N.Y.: Onyx Books, 1989. Three pipe bombs go off in Salt Lake City, one of them leads cops to uncover criminal forgery of a man, Mark Hoffman, trying to defraud the Mormon Church.

One of the people killed by the pipe bombs, Kathy Sheets, was a customer of ours when I was in the cleaning business. The bomb was meant to kill her husband.

The book is an indictment of the Mormon Church and its controlling nature in public and government affairs. Most notable is the books unrestrained appraisal of Gordon B. Hinkley, current president and prophet of the church.