Creepy? Or....Not Creepy?

[AllieOop]

This is being posted around online. It shows Pres. Oaks mouthing the exact words as Pres. Nelson is saying them (in response to a question during the press conference). Others (who were there) have reported that it was not the only time Pres. Oaks did this, but apparently it's the only recorded one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwbHIT5pjuY

There's also this (where Pres. Oaks corrects Pres. Nelson):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUlrmNrMOAI

Comments include wondering if Pres.Oaks is really the one in charge and Pres. Nelson is his "puppet" or that Pres. Oaks is his "handler". That sounds a bit "conspiracy theory" much to me, but I agree that it is odd. I also do agree that Pres. Oaks has a very overbearing and controlling personality. And then there's the whole odd behavior by Pres. Eyring too. That press conference really didn't go so well, IMO.

(In case anyone is wondering, there were no teleprompters present which could have been one explanation for the mouthing of the answers as Pres. Nelson was speaking it.)

[wtfluff]

Odd? Yes.

Creepy? Well... I think Oaks is ALWAYS creepy. no matter what his lips are doing...

(Oh, Hi SCMC / COB lurkers... )

[Red Ryder]

Perhaps he was whispering in his ear like a child receiving a testimony from their parent at the pulpit?

Or the Holy Ghost conduit unexpectedly split and transmitted the same message to the mouthpiece of the Lord in a weird double ventriloquist sort of way? Almost as if God/Jesus/HG accidentally put both hands up the backside and into the puppets on accident.

Either scenario fits and is creepy!

[alas]

Or maybe it was an answer that they memorized ahead of time, like when school kids recite memorized poetry and several other kids are mouthing the words sort of testing themselves if they have it memorized well enough. But for adults in an nonscripted press conference, creepy.

[Jeffret]

Wow. Very weird. Such a strange press conference.

I've concluded that calling it a train wreck is a fairly good description.

[Just This Guy]

I doubt it is a conspiracy or anything like that. Most likely it was scripted and rehearsed beforehand. DHO was trying to keep up with where they were so he wouldn't miss his ques.

[Jeffret]

I doubt it is a conspiracy or anything like that. Most likely it was scripted and rehearsed beforehand. DHO was trying to keep up with where they were so he wouldn't miss his ques.

But, if they'd prepped it all ahead of time, couldn't they have presented something better than what they did? If that's the best they could do, even with plenty of time to script it and practice it, that's a pretty harsh indictment. And why would they have scripted Oaks correcting Nelson on the LGBT question? Was Eyring just staring off into space because he was trying to remember his lines and cues? And their responses to Peggy's questions make even less sense if it was scripted.

On the other hand, Oaks' behavior, his mirroring of Nelson, does seem very weird. Could be just coincidence.

Maybe the real answer is a mix. They had rehearsed and prepared a number of things but not everything. One possibility is that they knew ahead of time who would be asking questions, but not what questions they would be asked. This particular instance in the video is about the questioner. Perhaps they had rehearsed some things to say about the questioners, to make them look like they were savvy and aware and on the ball. But, by the time they got through the rehearsed part, making sure they had said their lines correctly, they had gotten lost on the actual question. It would make sense if they were focused on what they were going to say about the questioner so that they didn't pay enough attention when the question was asked. I think that's my favorite explanation so far.

[AllieOop]

Well, there’s now a picture posted that shows there was a Teleprompter. That’s weird too (prepared answers to read). But people are wondering why Peggy Fletcher-Stack stated that there wasn’t one. It’s big too....can’t miss it!

[Not Buying It]

Why the hell does someone who receives direct inspiration from God Himself need a teleprompter in a press conference? Remember that time Jacob had one when he confounded Sherem? Or when Alma and Almulek had one when they confounded Zeezrom?

(Why is it members never notice that modern prophets are so much less impressive than their scriptural counterparts?)

[Red Ryder]

Well, I guess that solves the conspiracy.

Elder Oaks CAN read!

[slavereeno]

Is it possible that they knew who would be there, they knew the general gist of the questions and had a pretty tight leash on the people asking the questions. Then they had a team of sharp wordsmiths in a back room with computers and the Internet etc, and that team was typing answers to the questions into the teleprompter to be read by the FP?

[Jeffret]

That teleprompter would certainly explain a lot of the oddities in the press conference, including Oaks mouthing along. Doesn't make it any less of a train wreck.

[Jeffret]

Is it possible that they knew who would be there, they knew the general gist of the questions and had a pretty tight leash on the people asking the questions. Then they had a team of sharp wordsmiths in a back room with computers and the Internet etc, and that team was typing answers to the questions into the teleprompter to be read by the FP?

Possibly. I'm still more inclined to think that their statements were scripted and read and they knew ahead of time who the questioners would be so they prepared personal tidbits, but the answers came from the FP themselves.

[wtfluff]

Without "knowing" that there was a teleprompter in the "news conference", I could definitely tell that they were using a teleprompter at the beginning, during Head-Media-Dude's™ introduction, and during the canned "speeches" that the new CEO and each of his assistant's gave. It was exactly like general conference with their sing-songy cadence, and their trained "glance at the teleprompter, look around, make eye contact, rinse, repeat".

Perhaps Peggy is saying that they didn't use the teleprompter for the "questions"?

Either way, still CREEPY.

[Jeffret]

Perhaps Peggy is saying that they didn't use the teleprompter for the "questions"?

Peggy just commented in a response to me on Facebook that she was wrong and stands corrected. It was way behind her and she was always facing forward so she missed it.

[Jeffret]

And she also clarified that my suspicion was correct. The Church / FP knew the questioners ahead of time and the sequence in which they would go. But they didn't know the questions.

[Kishkumen]

OK, it's rather interesting that we're analyzing this peculiarity to this extent. However, Mormons are a self-proclaimed peculiar people.

It's very likely that RMN was reading that response to Peggy, and DHO was mouthing the words of the teleprompter as RMN read them. Reading a teleprompter would also explain why RMN said "now what your question again?" because he just finished reading a script and forgot the subject at hand.

It's fairly simple to determine they planned the questioners and sequence ahead of time because they announced 5 local, 1 national and 2 international. The two international journalists were phone-in questions. And they never called someone to come forward. Each questioner knew when it was their turn. With that level of preparation and planning, you'd think they would have covered most of their bases.

But why was that their prepared response? It's still very bizarre. Like Jeffret said - still a trainwreck.

OK, now to go back to not caring.

[Jeffret]

OK, it's rather interesting that we're analyzing this peculiarity to this extent. However, Mormons are a self-proclaimed peculiar people.

It's an interesting mystery.

[AllieOop]

Perhaps Peggy is saying that they didn't use the teleprompter for the "questions"?

Peggy just commented in a response to me on Facebook that she was wrong and stands corrected. It was way behind her and she was always facing forward so she missed it.

That's so odd. She was up asking the question at the microphone and walking back to her seat (not always facing forward)....how did she miss the huge teleprompter lit up at the back of the room? Or miss it being set up prior to the press conference? I'm not saying that she's not being truthful, but just not very observant at the very least

[Jeffret]

That's so odd. She was up asking the question at the microphone and walking back to her seat (not always facing forward)....how did she miss the huge teleprompter lit up at the back of the room? Or miss it being set up prior to the press conference? I'm not saying that she's not being truthful, but just not very observant at the very least

I know I've done things like that before so I'm willing to cut her some slack. Come in, distractedly talk to people you know. The monitor is probably off at that point and not as obvious. Sit down and look ahead. Pay so much attention looking down at where you're going so as not to stumble. Besides, that is primarily focused ahead. After the question, pay attention to the response and to making it back to your seat safely. Chat to people on the way back out, monitor once again off.