Darwin award, anyone?

What is an LDS mission?

LDS mission is a Mormon mission that young men (and women) go on when they are about 18. They can go on more in their lives, but most do it then. That is when they show up at your front door with the Book of Mormon :)

LDS stands for Latter Day Saints, aka, Mormons. A missionary goes on a mission. So Tyler Poulson was a Mormon missionary.

Common sense is apparently not a prerequisite for said mission.

Also for what it's worth, I find LDS missions to be wholly disagreeable. Mormonism, like most religion (and perhaps moreso than mainline Xtianity) is disgusting, but when an integral part of it is going door-to-door pestering strangers with their hocus-pocus, that's enough to make me sit up and say, "Well wait a minute.... you're dumb."

RMs (returned Missionaries) should go through a 6-month debriefing/deprogramming before venturing out into the real world again.

RMs' primary focus is getting married and they're not as much fun as they were before they went on the two-year sabatical from life. They don't laugh as much until about a year after returning home. Forced celibacy does something to you.

YA THINK!?

Speaking of KSL:

Notice tonight's network presentation of SNL The 80's is being dropped by KSL. (Censored is such a strong word?) They're going to transmit a special presentation of Stanley & Iris instead.

That's KSL (Mormon owned Bonneville Station) looking out for the best of its viewers.

Bless their hearts.

I just have to stick up for SOME Mormons. A good friend of mine is a Mormon, although she is what is called a Jack Mormon, my favorite kind! She is incredibly open minded, accepting of homosexuals, all other religions, Atheists, you name it. Although a Republican, she is an avid environmentalist and works hard to protect the environment and is even a member of Greenpeace. She is more easy to joke around with than anyone I know and is never easily offended. She knows that I am an atheist and she never preaches to me. We can discuss our very different views in a civilized manner. When I first met her, she actually liked Rush Limbaugh, and had some rather harsh attitudes. But over the 15 years of us talking to one another, she has changed a lot and is a lot more open minded now. It is for reasons like this that I think that it is a good idea to embrace people and respect them, and in that way you might even be able to change their minds. Even though I am a bleeding-heart atheist liberal, I get along with some Christians, those with good hearts and open minds, and I attempt to raise the level of discourse with them.

Are they sure it wasn't an LSD mission he was on?

Been wasting my time trying to reason with these mind-fucked idiots, now I learn that all I have to do is swear at them and they kill themselves. How does that work then? Do the less offensive words merely incite self-injury? Is it only the words that actually refer to the sexual act that induce suicide? Can the profanity be directed, or will it take out every god-botherer within earshot? I prefer to maim, so I need to know just how far I can go before they top themselves.

I'm confused; isn't it supposedly a greater sin to kill yourself than to utter profanity. Did he think God was going to welcome him with open arms saying 'hey, you may have topped yourself for a trivial matter... but you got valuable column inches for the faith just by being a gigantic jackass. Come on in!'

ouch

Can a person really die from jumping out of a moving vehicle...especially at 35MPH? I know they don't in the movies but 35MPH isn't all that fast. I can see a few broken bones, cuts, scrapes etc..but....Was he hit by another vehicle when he jumped? Did he land on his head? And was he really that stupid to jump out of a moving vehicle in the first place? All things to think realistically don't ya think?

I also have a close friend who is a mormon, and he's absolutely insane. Maybe I should try cursing around him more often.

And glad to see someone beat me to the LSD joke... they could really use the enlightenment.

I've hit the road going just over 40mph when the back tire of my motorcycle slid out. With nothing but a bruised hip and shaken balance, I jumped up and chased the still-sliding bike.

One comment at Crooks and Liars suggested "he must have hit it at an awkward angle?"

Another: "What the story left out was that he was a member of a school diving team."

So it seems two general responses to this bizarre story have emerged:

1) 'Wow, there are some real nuts out there.' Darwin award.

2) 'I guess this goes to show that Mormonism and missionary work makes people so crazy that they are liable to prefer death to hearing profanity.'

After seeing #2, #1 again popped into my head.

"I'm confused; isn't it supposedly a greater sin to kill yourself than to utter profanity." Anon, you're right. We can see this obvious theological point quite clearly. But could we expect some nutball Mormon to grasp this? Heck no. That is, assuming he was trying to actually kill himself.

"Forced celibacy does something to you." Indeed, Cowboy. Your keen social-scientific connection between celibacy and sudden suicide is almost as sharp as the sunday school yarn about masturbation and blindness.

I'll have to agree with dende on this one. Strong emotions, often lead to Darwin Awards and what makes the story notable is the reaction was to a few cuss words. It seems obvious that he didn't intend to kill himself, but to make a rather dramatic point. It just turns out to his detriment that it turned more dramatic than he expected. I'm amazed that accidents of this sort don't happen more often, given the prediliction young men have for risky behavior.

Tyler was a wonderful person. It sadens me to know this happen. I work for a Satellite Company and Tyler was one of our installers. He was a good wholesome kid. I spoke with his father this morning. I am not mormon (actually Wiccan) but knowign Tyler he was not trying to kill himself, he was probably trying to remove himself from the situation. That is what there religion teaches them. Please don't be to hard on him, he was a young kid with a good heart!

It is common for those that don't question their religious authorities to overreact. Some Mormons react to violations of what I would classify as minor sins even for a Mormon as if they are of much greater import. I once attended a chess tournament at BYU the church owned university in Provo, Utah. The Mormons believe as part of their "Word Of Wisdom" that you shouldn't smoke or consume products with caffeine. I was crossing the street to the Student Center with several other Salt Lake chessplayers. One member of our party was smoking. Suddenly someone yelled. Hey you can't do that here. Based on the intensity of his voice you would have thought our smoker was crossing the street without his clothes on. The point is that those that rely on authorities to guide their lives often lose needed perspective. They abandon their common sense, and that I suspect is what cost Tyler his life.

As a point of clarification: The Mormon “Word of Wisdom” doesn’t mention caffeine. It’s only hot drinks. It was interpreted as being hot coffee or tea because of the caffeine content. The extrapolation of banning all caffeine came a couple of decades ago when BYU administrators couldn’t reconcile the difference in coffee and the caffeine in a cold Coke/Pepsi. They felt it was wise to just make a general rule at BYU to curtail all caffeinated drinks. It’s not hard-fast rule for Mormons to abstain from Coke/Pepsi (and even Mtn Dews). They still qualify as a member in “good standing” if they drink a big gulp. It’s just when they sip a hot cup of java that gets them in trouble with their Bishop.

And no, dende, I didn’t quite want to make that kind of connection. I just meant there really is a readjusting and acclimation process when Return Missionaries are just off their missions. It takes a while to get used to not having a living shadow with you all the time.

When I read Tyler's obit, it concerned me. Usually when read the obituaries of young people, I look to see how they died. "Tragic accident". In searching for "Tyler, Poulson, South Jordan" I came across the KSL news page, and this website. The reactions I've read are very interesting.

I'm LDS, and I have known a lot of returned Missionaries. From the information I've gathered from the obituary, and from my personal experience with RMs, I think that this really may be a "tragic accident".

Tyler probably was truly offended by his brothers swearing around him. They probably found it funny that he was reacting so fiercely to it. I'm sure that he was seriously offended by the vulgarity, but I don't think he thought he was going to die.

I'm sure there are a lot of questions that only Tyler's brothers know the answers to. All I know is that this really sucks for his family. I know that it probably happened for a reason, and what was mistaken as stupidity, may have just been Tyler showing his brothers that he really was serious. Maybe he planned on opening the door, and shutting it, to scare them. No one knows for sure what was going through his mind.

I think we can take from it that surely it was a "tragic accident".

Some Mormons do act brainwashed, I do agree with that. I think that common sense needs to be more widespread in this community. I feel sorry for Tyler's family, and his brothers. They probably feel worse than anyone can comprehend.

"It is common for those that don't question their religious authorities to overreact. Some Mormons react to violations of what I would classify as minor sins even for a Mormon as if they are of much greater import."

I see where you are coming from and I agree. But in my experience many Mormons are embarrassed by these kind of extreme reactions, or on the other hand think that's it's comical (except when it has lethal consequences as this story does). Perhaps I think that because I wasn't raised in Utah Mormondom or because my Mormon associates are almost all grad students, or are new members. But I don't think that my perspective that atypical. Most missionaries hear swearing all the time and very rarely in my experience do they ever make a big stink about it.

It is sometimes easy to take the strange behavior of a few and use it to characterize a group. Hugh Nibley's daughter recently published a book in which she claimed that in Provo, Mormon wives typically have to ask permission from their husbands to go to the supermarket (which is ridiculous). She also said that BYU's rule about the length of shorts is rooted in the doctrine that leg hair is the same as public hair. As a Mormon I've heard people say this, but if someone in a group of 6 Mormons said this, at least one wouldn't be able to keep a straight face and the other four would probably be thinking 'that's a load of crap' (which it is). To imply that it's seriously believed by either the average Mormon or BYU adminstrators is silly. Nibley's daughter isn't a non-member like Jon Krakuer or someone who's been away from the church for many years, so she has no excuse.

I like a good Morman bashing (verbally not physically) as much as the next person from a seriously Morman part of the country. But to be fair, post missionary craziness seems common in many faiths. Especially when the missionary is young. Lots of fundimentalist (So. Baptist, etc.) send their kids on summer missions while they are in high school and/or college. I would guess the percentage of real post mission craziness (to the degree where they would throw themselves out of a car) is pretty simular in both groups.

Tonight I began searching for more information with the accident that happened to Tyler. I am amazed at what some of you people have chosen to write. Does everyone always believe exactly what they hear on the radio, news, etc? Pretty naive don't you think? Has it ever occurred to you that the story always gets twisted around to make it a better one? They don't care how it effects this family as long as it sounds interesting. I cannot tell you that I was there but I can tell you that my family is friends with the brother that Tyler was fighting with. First off, Tyler died from a head injury which occurred while falling out of a moving vehicle. Do you really think that if he was jumping out of a car, that he would do it head first? Come on now and you say that mormons are dumb. How many of you have siblings? Have they ever just kept pushing your buttons until you have done something totally stupid? I hear stories about it all the time. In this case, Tyler and his brother were already in a arguement when Tyler wanted out of the car. I was told that he was let out of the car at one point and his brother drove back to get him. Tyler got back in the car and the argument continued. My bet is that the door wasn't closed all the way and he leaned against it and fell out. I don't think that anyone will fully know what happened to Tyler until his brothers are ready to talk about it.

RIP Tyler.

The comments that M made on November 14 are totally correct. Anybody can take what the news said and make fun of mormons or returned missionaries. But as a friend of Tyler's, I know that he wouldn't have jumped out, onto his head. He was a great guy who lived a good life. I hope that more people are like you, M.

The comments here from Tyler's friends are very gentle and not at all defensive. I think that this speaks volumes for Tyler himself. My sympathies to the family and may Tyler rest in peace.

Hey - When I read about this in the Magazine This Week, I rolled my eyes, because I knew it had to be some kind of conjecture since it stated "He was pronounced Dead at the Scene" How does anyone know what happened when the victim was dead? I am sure his brother's are forever damaged but that Tyler is indeed in a better place and has already forgiven whatever the wrong doing was.
That being said, I do think these comments are funny and I am conflicted because I also think of his family and how NOT funny this is. So basically I'm evil, but I have a good heart!