Podcast memoir: how an idealistic young Mormon missionary threatened to blow up a plane

William Shunn sez,

In 2006 and 2007, over the course of about 30 episodes of my "ShunnCast," I serialized my memoir "The Accidental Terrorist," the story of how I, as a naive young Mormon missionary, came to be arrested for terrorism and permanently banned from Canada. The response was enthusiastic and overwhelming.
Now I'm serializing the book again, but this time in its own dedicated podcast. Starting today and continuing throughout 2009, I'll post a chapter from "The Accidental Terrorist" every Tuesday morning. Fridays I'll post a "Setting the Record Straight" segment to discuss exactly how true the preceding chapter was.

This just may be my favorite true-life amazing-but-true tale -- never has threatening an aircraft been funnier or more thought-provoking.

Memoir-go-round (Thanks, Bill!)

Previously:

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

Chorske: This is not apologia for pranks, incidentally. This is a story about how one person’s beliefs at a time in their life when they were spiritually vulnerable led them to do something drastic to try to save somebody else’s spirituality. Bill is saying he wasn’t a dumbass at 19 and I daresay it was one of the bigger mistakes in his life, but where it LED him to is an interesting tale. Incidentally, I believe this happened over 20 years ago. I don’t think this is a “haha, I called in a bomb threat, ain’t that funny” but a humourous retrospective about a time in one man’s life when he was trying to figure out who he was, and where the consequences of a major incident of his life took him.

(Disclosure: Never met Bill IRL, but I know him through the interwebs and mutual friends, and I’ve read the memoir before.)

(Also: The captcha kept giving me fractions. This is very annoying.)
Editz

@Clumpy

I’ve read the “it’s like a Jewish kippah/yarmulke” arguments too, but how effective can a pair of underwear be unless that’s the only thing you’re sporting around town? Isn’t a symbol of devotion meant to be displayed to others and not just yourself?
Editz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTlz3FA-Rjg
Anonymous

Er….That should be “Bill ISN’T saying…” Not that he is. Whoops. Also I used “incidentally” too much.
Anonymous

#17 editz: “Isn’t a symbol of devotion meant to be displayed to others and not just yourself?”

Not if you’re not seeking the approval of or recognition from others. It’s not *for* others, lurid curiosity notwithstanding.

Main post:
I’ve been subscribed to Bill Shun’s podcasts for a long time now. Sadly, he seems to be coasting on this memoir and the occasional mention from Mr. Doctorow. Shunn’s non-memoir podcast has been silent for years, and his bibliography looks a lot like the non-memoir feed: it wound down a couple of years ago and is out of commission.

Pardon me for being cynical, but it looks like he’s trying to drum up recognition for an older work because he can’t get traction doing anything else.

I don’t know how long he can milk the “Cory once liked me – I’m a former Mormon so I can give you the inside scoop on the psychos in UT, PLEASE REMEMBER ME!” -schtick.

I can’t imagine how everyone else feels, because this is how *I* feel, and I’m a *fan* of his work.
Darren Garrison

Clumpy: of course you are right– there’s no sport in picking the low-hanging fruit.

http://www.lds4u.com/Missionaries/rules.htm

http://www.libchrist.com/bible/mormonmasturbation.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy0d1HbItOo&feature=related

darn.
Chorske

#2, that sounds very interesting, and I’ll definitely tune in. I think I was thrown off by the fact that Cory listed this in the FUNNY category. As a frequent flier, I find fake bomb threats to be the opposite of funny. Or perhaps I am losing my sense of humour in my middle age?

Thanks for the info- C
Anonymous

I wonder what the response would have been he had been Muslim instead of a white, Christian, American? Even back in 1987 let alone in this ‘post 911 world’.
Anonymous

I got totally hooked the first time around (after it was recommended on BB 3 years ago). It is a funny story, and it’s fascinating in a lot of other ways, and Bill is just a really great storyteller on top of all that. I’ll enjoy hearing it again.
Takuan

has anyone made a zombie theme yarmulka yet? You know, cut-a-way skull and braainnnns?
Anonymous

HA! Takuan, you always hit it :)
Brainspore

#17 editz: “Isn’t a symbol of devotion meant to be displayed to others and not just yourself?”

God can see through your clothes. I hear He even watches you masturbate.
carriem

HA! Takuan, you always hit it :)
carriem

HA! Takuan, you always hit it :)
Takuan

so, we wank with god?
GregLondon

He called in a phony bomb threat so his friend’s plane would be grounded, hoping that his friend could then be talked into staying at his missionary in canada before the plane left.

news article.

Not the most coherent thought process.
Anonymous

I’ve been looking for the first round of podcasts – the first episode has me hooked! The earliest chapters available on iTunes are 16-17.
Hamish

>Not the most coherent thought process.< I can assure you. There is NOTHING about being a Mormon that involves thought. It is the most primitive claptrap imaginable and must be swallowed whole, without contemplation. Check out http://www.amazon.com/His-Own-Hand-Upon-Papyrus/dp/0962096326/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239142492&sr=8-3.

Darren Garrison

Shouldn’t there be a Godwin-like law for Mormon topics always leading to mentions of magical underwear?

They have magical underware, for spaghettimonster’s sake!

Takuan

hey, if we ALL starting wearing magic underwear, would that take the magic away from their underwear? Or is there enough magic to power all the underwear on Earth? Do they have some prior underwear magic legal claim? I mean, if underwear magic is indeed a limited commodity? Perhaps we need a governmental department to see to this allocation.

Brainspore

At least only your spouse knows how silly you look (or spouses, as the case may be).

Compare that to the magic hats and/or hair wrappings of other faiths and the Mormons start looking downright sensible.

Takuan

I dunno, some just end up looking like lobotomy patients
http://sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Turban_day
liatach

Not to be confused with Steven Lang’s award winning novel
“An Accidental Terrorist’

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=wniIn0o3P2MC&dq=accidental+terrorist+steven+lang&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=T5DIHAq5DM&sig=hVKOCsZBV7ZS5ZsEz8URgVfhiY8&hl=en&ei=yN_bSYXTOY36kAWrv72yCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPP1,M1

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accidental-Terrorist-Steven-Lang/dp/0702235202
Clumpy

@Darren:

Yes, or a “Godwin’s Law” variant for trolls who feel a need to constantly divert any discussion even tangentially related to a religion into a debate about its merit.

Incidentally, the whole “magic underwear” thing is a misconception; though some Mormon folk undoubtedly don’t understand this aspect of their own religion, these items of clothing are more of a symbol of devotion and personal covenants than any sort of supernatural spiritual defense. It’s certainly somewhat strange for a msintream-ish Christian religion to do something like this, but it’s essentially no more peculiar than any other symbol of devotion.
Chorske

I’ll listen, because the story sounds interesting and Cory is recommending it. But, having quickly checked the background of the story, I have to admit that I don’t feel much sympathy for him. I really don’t see what’s funny with making a bomb threat. I’m hoping that he acknowledges that what he did was incredibly irresponsible (even by a 19-year-old’s standards), or I’ll quickly lose interest in the podcast.

I also have trouble seeing how this is “accidental” terrorism- he intentionally called in a bomb threat, and frightened and inconvenienced a lot of people for selfish reasons.

You want accidental terrorism? How about the old guy in PEI who was imprisoned after he asked airport security if they expected to find a bomb in the change purse they were ransacking?