Christian Nielson (nienie's husband) is an elitist douchbag

[emesbe]

He recently published this loverly piece in the local paper.

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/opinion ... fe8cd.html

I can't even with this. I'm so glad to see that the consensus in the article comments and on various forums is that the dude is severely out of touch with life.

[lilwriter85]

Society owes their greatest support to parents who raise children, above all else.

I'm sorry, but this quote kind of bothers me.

[emesbe]

I'm sorry, but this quote kind of bothers me.

Yeah, who gives a shit about soldiers, or police officers.

[lilwriter85]

I think what bothered me about the quote is that Christian basically feels that only people/couples with families should be given priority in society/neighborhoods and when it comes to stuff like public transportation, housing etc. I'm on the fence about having/adopting kids and I would help my friends and relatives who have kids if they needed help. If I never have kids, I would have no issue with paying taxes that support public schools and other social services. But I just can't with Christian's attitude about society owing people who raise kids. Single college students need housing all the time and dorm life doesn't always work for all college students. I'm willing to bet there are some single or childless/childfree BYU employees who are happy to least have the possibility of living close to work. Oh, but Christian says that only BYU employees with families should have precedence.

The part about public transportation and bus routes uprooting families is pretty stupid. Some people with children do use public transportation. My cousin and her daughters will take the bus to doctor's appointment or to the mall to get a few things. Yeah, she would never take the bus to get groceries. But Christian doesn't think that maybe some families have to rely on public transportation during periods when a car can be in the shop or maybe the family is trying to reduce carbon footprint.

[feministxtian]

The comments are great! Pretty much 100% disagreement with the douchebag.

[lilwriter85]

The comments are great! Pretty much 100% disagreement with the douchebag.

I saw that. But I wouldn't be surprised if a Nielson family fangirl or fanboy posts a comment in agreement with the douche.

[Soulhuntress]

:angry-banghead: So families don't use the bus when the car breaks down? Or the older folks go to costco on the bus? Does he work at BYU? Seems like he is using buzz words to misrepresent the issues.

[lilwriter85]

One of the comments left on the Herald Extra site.

MaeJay98 - 1 hour ago

"Society owes their greatest support to parents who raise children, above all else"

But only to parents who can afford to drive their kids everywhere...right?

Christian and NieNie have lived very sheltered lives. They have never been extremely wealthy, but they grew up in upper middle class households. NieNie had a trust fund years ago, which IIRC was used to buy a house when they were in New Jersey. They have received tons of help since the plane crash. I'm not begrudging them for the families they were born into, but both are too fucking oblivious to what other people go through. For the past couple of years, they have shown their "We're entitled to things because we are perfect Mormons" attitude quite a bit.

[FloraKitty35]

It must be nice to be perfect.

[YPestis]

I liked the one commenter who noted that buses can still be used by parents to GO TO WORK. What's also missing seems to be the environmental issues surrounding having improved public transportation. Isn't it better that people are encouraged, especially if they don't need to go shopping, to get on the bus? And what's with all this nonsense about families not being used to using a bus? People in Europe and Japan have used their extensive public transportation system without complaining that it's anti-family.

I think Christian is a elitist prick who's stuck in the 1950's. He can't understand that it's not environmentally feasible for every single person to drive cars in the future, nor is it desirable. As more people are added onto this planet (and Christian contributes to this with his large family), adding more drivers to the road will only lead to congestion. Having a public transportation in place BEFORE roads get congested shows foresight. Plus, if public transportation slows down family growth, wouldn't there be negative population growth in the third world?

Furthermore, what's wrong with students and singles and retirees who may utilize the bus system? Aren't they also part of someone's family? Don't they deserve to have an economical and environmentally friendly mode of transport?

I suspect Christian associates riding the bus with poor people. He sees a bus system has bringing down housing prices and with bringing in undesirables. I won't touch on that classist attitude, but I feel he's stuck in the past with the assumption that the only the poor takes public transport. In fact, public transportation is increasingly popular with the young, educated crowd. My husband and I are M.Ds and we would love to have a public transportation available near us. Are we the riff-raffs that Christian fear will take over his neighborhood and stalk the local school? And of course, if we did have a public bus near us, my husband and I will suddenly decide to *not* have kids, right? What is wrong with some people.....

[lilwriter85]

I love that a few of comments on heraldextra.com are from GOMI members. If Christian and Nie have been checking the news site, they are probably pissed about that. They have been aware of GOMI for a couple years now and Christian's sister has posted over there. Christian is equally hated over there as Nie

ETA: Does anyone who is in Provo or familiar with Provo/BYU know if BYU has a bus system around the campus?

[ADoyle90815]

One of the comments left on the Herald Extra site.

Christian and NieNie have lived very sheltered lives. They have never been extremely wealthy, but they grew up in upper middle class households. NieNie had a trust fund years ago, which IIRC was used to buy a house when they were in New Jersey. They have received tons of help since the plane crash. I'm not begrudging them for the families they were born into, but both are too fucking oblivious to what other people go through. For the past couple of years, they have shown their "We're entitled to things because we are perfect Mormons" attitude quite a bit.

I agree that they had sheltered lives growing up in the Mormon bubble as Mormons in general tend to associate with other Mormons. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but their lifestyle restrictions make it difficult to be around many non-Mormons. BYU does have a shuttle bus system that goes to the student housing off campus, and that does include housing for married students if it's close enough to the campus. In that case, it's like other universities that have an off campus shuttle to nearby housing. One thing I did notice that makes BYU different is that they actually require anyone who has a car and plans to get a parking pass to register it with the campus, as a DMV registration isn't enough for them. My guess is that many students, including those who are married would rather take advantage of public transportation.

[amydamy]

I liked the one commenter who noted that buses can still be used by parents to GO TO WORK. W My husband and I are M.Ds and we would love to have a public transportation available near us. Are we the riff-raffs that Christian fear will take over his neighborhood and stalk the local school? And of course, if we did have a public bus near us, my husband and I will suddenly decide to *not* have kids, right? What is wrong with some people.....

I am eagerly awaiting the day the Silver Line , an extension to the DC Metro, finally gets done and I can take it to work. I have a nice car but I would rather pay a fare and read/nap/zone out than sit in traffic and pay a toll.

[amydamy]

I agree that they had sheltered lives growing up in the Mormon bubble as Mormons in general tend to associate with other Mormons. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but their lifestyle restrictions make it difficult to be around many non-Mormons. BYU does have a shuttle bus system that goes to the student housing off campus, and that does include housing for married students if it's close enough to the campus. In that case, it's like other universities that have an off campus shuttle to nearby housing. One thing I did notice that makes BYU different is that they actually require anyone who has a car and plans to get a parking pass to register it with the campus, as a DMV registration isn't enough for them. My guess is that many students, including those who are married would rather take advantage of public transportation.

I don't know if it's for the same reason but my friend had to register her car with her campus when she got a parking pass. It was tied to her car so if I put it on mine and tried to park I still would have gotten towed. It was because they had issues with people stealing and counterfeiting the passes to use the campus as commuter parking. It's a pain to park anywhere in the city her school was in so the school wanted parking to be for faculty and students.

[galaxy]

It all comes down to the fact that, for many upper middle class people who have never really lived in one of a few larger cities in the US (I would say DC/NYC/Philly/Boston/perhaps Seattle/San Francisco), their attitude that public transit and apartments are for The Poors. And they don't want to live around The Poors.

[mirele]

So glad Christian moved his elitist self and family out of Arizona and back to Happy Valley. He is a Mormon snob. Thankfully, more liberal Mormons are laughing at him on Facebook.

[Hane]

All of his "but what about the traditional FAMILIES????!!

?!???" made me wanna puke. Because, of course, these upper-middle-class white Mormon dynasties with lots o' kids are so superior to single folks and to everyone else.

The logistics of everyone else's lives are immaterial to douchelords like him. I used to see plenty of families on the public bus system when I worked in New Haven and Hartford. Of course, they weren't the right KINDS of families, not being Mormon royalty and all.

[lilwriter85]

Interesting how NieNie was interview by a Utah news station yesterday. I guess the family got good press on that front. I'm still suprised that the NieNie fangirls haven't flooded the heraldextra site with comments to defend Christian.

http://www.kutv.com/news/features/perso ... _152.shtml

The news interviewm is basically same stuff about the crash, that has been repeated. I wouldn't be surprised if Nie asked to be interviewed. She likes being a Utah Mormon celeb. Not to be a bitch, but I hope there is backlash against the Nielsons because of Christian's dumb ass article. They have never seemed to be extremely kind people. I hope some of Nie's fangirls wake up and realize that Christian and Stephanie wouldn't give a shit if their car broke down and they had to rely on public transportation.

[lilwriter85]

Isla Rossdale - 54 minutes ago

Mr. Nielson is my neighbor and I passionately disagree with him. I feel that Mr. Nielson and his family are incredibly out of touch with reality. Both of them come from very affluent families, and they do not know what it is like to live pay check to pay check. They don't know what it is like to be a one car family. They don't know what it is like for the middle class. They don't understand that families in their income tax bracket are in the minority, and that families WILL benefit from the BRT.

While I very much respect his right to express his opinion, I would say he is incredibly and totally wrong. And I would say to Mr. Nielson and his family that if they want to live in a community with out socioeconomic diversity they should move into a gated community.

I wonder if she lives near the McMansion that the Nielsons will be moving into soon or maybe she is a former neighbor who lived in the house that Paige gave Stephanie and Christian. On Nie's blogs years ago prior to the crash, she at times hinted at worrying about money, but I suspect that family members were helping them out. Christian and Nie lucked out in having a family member like Paige whose husband is a CEO and they were able to afford a house for Christian and Nie. If they didn't come from upper middle class families, who knows where they would be living now.

[galaxy]

My husband and I are a one-car family because we live close enough to public transit in the suburbs of a bigger city where we only need one car. It's great, we save a ton of money on car payments and insurance, and we're not polluting as much. And we're not hurting for money, I will be honest. Cutting back on car usage is a real movement in this country, no matter what this douche thinks.

[lilwriter85]

Love this. A Provo Mormon, who is also a public transportation advocate rips into Christian's article and calls him on the snobbery and classism.

http://busninja.blogspot.com/2014/02/a- ... l?spref=fb (not breaking the link, because the blogger probably doesn't care)

[mystikchick17]

This is why, no matter how much navel-gazing she might engage in, I infinitely prefer CJane to Nie and Co. CJane is so excited to teach her kids about the BRT and to value public transit and what it means for Provo to have this system in place. I wonder if this is another example of the passive-aggressive back and forth between the two.

ETA: That blog post was hilarious! I hope the negative feedback on the article pierces the Nielson bubble of speshulness. Just a bit. Realistically, they'll probably just see themselves as even more persecuted/misunderstood/whatever, but a girl can dream.

[lilwriter85]

This is why, no matter how much navel-gazing she might engage in, I infinitely prefer CJane to Nie and Co. CJane is so excited to teach her kids about the BRT and to value public transit and what it means for Provo to have this system in place. I wonder if this is another example of the passive-aggressive back and forth between the two.

ETA: That blog post was hilarious! I hope the negative feedback on the article pierces the Nielson bubble of speshulness. Just a bit. Realistically, they'll probably just see themselves as even more persecuted/misunderstood/whatever, but a girl can dream.

I also prefer C.Jane to NieNie. I wouldn't be surprised if Christian's article was passive aggressive towards C.Jane because it seems they had conflicts in the past, notably after the plane crash when C.Jane was caring for the Nielson kids.

No doubt that Christian and NieNie are pissed because of the negative feedback. There are 22 comments so far on the news site and some of the comments reference the fact that the Nielsons make money through NieNie's blog and there are references to donation money and lawsuit money.

The blogger who ripped Christian apart brought up a good point about disabled people using public transportation. My boyfriend's mom is a retired occupational therapist. She worked with disabled people and sometimes she assisted in helping them get modified vehicles. Some wheelchair bound people who are capable of driving modified vehicles have to rely on public transportation because they can't afford a vehicle and the modification process. Christian and NieNie survived a terrible ordeal and both had severe injuries. I wonder if Christian ever realizes that he is lucky that his back injury didn't put him in a wheelchair for life. NieNie has long term pain issues from her burns and she has indicated that her hands aren't in perfect condition, but she is able to drive children around.

[aelar]

Carless household, neither husband nor I even have licenses. We bought a house close to transit lines, partly with the money we've saved over the years from not having vehicles. We have a toddler, and I go grocery shopping with her all the time, sometimes walking to the closer shopping centers, other times hopping a bus or a tram to get to other places nearby with different stores. And since there's a Costco a short walk from the train station, we even go there, toddler in tow, once a month or so. (She loves the samples.) Sometimes I buy too much, and have to call the husband to meet me at the train station, but we manage. Can't wait until the kid is big enough to start carrying some of the groceries.

It's true that I only have one kid, which makes things easier, but I see families with two, three, and four kids on the bus every day. For short trips it can be more convenient than a car; kids get a little exercise and there's no tedious getting everyone strapped into car seats time-wasting. And of course, for many families there's not a lot of options. The parent-at-home with the kids might be the one that takes the bus everywhere, so the parent-at-work can use the family car to get to their non-transit friendly job.

Replacing single family homes with infill higher density development sounds like classic urban planning. Concentrate people along major transit corridors to enable more folks to get by comfortably with fewer or no cars, rather than building farther and farther out to find cheap land for low-density single-family homes, increasing traffic issues and making transit impractical. Well done, Provo.

The main bus we ride, while not --yet-- BRT, does use those articulated long buses. Kids love sitting in the bend, it's like a cheap carnival ride. But kids love all kinds of transit, they're much more open-minded, and appreciative of the greater freedom and entertainment transit offers over cars.

Lastly, even if express buses tend to go faster than normal buses, they're all operated by professional drivers, who are far more used to watching for pedestrians, including small children darting into the street, than ordinary drivers. It seems likely that anywhere that buses start to replace cars, the streets will actually become safer for families.

[Stynjen]

C Jane seemed to be enjoying snarking on Christian on her Twitter feed yesterday. :-)