Reflection on Social Media Case 9: Ponderize
Ethics can be a tricky thing when it comes to Social Media. Let’s take the example of the Durrant family and the Ponderize scandal. It went down like this: Elder Devin Durrant, a general authority in the Mormon Church gave a talk and coined a new phrase, “Ponderize” which is the combination of the words “ponder” and “memorize.” Members of the church were moved by the talk in general conference, and conveniently, there was a website selling shirts with “Ponderize” for sale immediately during the break. Who was selling the t-shirts? Well, it was Elder Durrant’s son, Ryan. Apparently, he set up the webpage about a week before General Conference. It didn’t take long for people to start complaining that Ryan and Elder Durrant were trying to use Elder Durrant’s position in the church for their own financial gain. According to Wikipedia, I think this could kind of be considered spiritual opportunism , or using religion as a path toward personal gain. Since Elder Durrant got to c