Letters to the Editor
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Incredible
[There you go, you grousers! This is exactly the type of article that only makes sense in this new venue. Where would it fit in, if not for the new Broadsheet section?]
[Ahem.]
Rebecca, you ask why the government isn't doing something about the despicable and inhuman treatment this cult is perpetrating upon women. That's a good question, and you're right to bring it up.
What I want to know is, in 2005, why aren't we all doing something about it?
Imagine if some sect decided that the only way to get into heaven was to own at least three black people . . . and then they actually put that theory into practice by buying and selling black people among themselves.
What would the mainstream media's reaction be?
What would your neighbors' reactions be?
How many people would be pressuring government to do something about it?
Yet we sit here while these women are treated as slaves. Sure, some of us talk about it, and there's an occasional article in the mainstream press, but is that really sufficient in the face of such blatantly inhuman behavior as this?
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A few thoughts
You know, this entry omits a few relevant facts:
With the exception of the assault, which is alleged and unproven, no laws have been broken here. A girl can marry at 16 in Utah, with parental consent, which I assume was granted. If she was previously married, she doesn't need even that. That's not an opinion -- it's the law.
This is a religious organization, folks. As much as you may disagree with their beliefs, they have the same First Amendment rights you do. And apparently the voters in Utah agree with this.
I think the last thing that's warranted here is yet more lawyers or cops inserting themselves into the private lives of law-abiding citizens. It's fascinating that the same people who want to keep courts and lawyers out of the lives of pregnant fourteen year-olds want to, by force if necessary, push their way into the lives of what, in the state of Utah, are consenting adults exercising their legal rights.
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Why not in our communities?
Because those guys vote Republican, that's why.
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To "Anonymous"
Polygamy is illegal. Everywhere. For everyone.
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What are you talkng about?
This religion allegedly teaches that polygamy is okay, but the article to which we're presumably all responding doesn't mention actual polygamous marriages anywhere. So, let me get this straight -- you want to punish them not for something they actually did, but for their ideas? I think there's a name for that ... let me see ... yes, it's called "Thoughtcrime."
Also, to get right down to it, why is polygamy illegal? Excepting accusations of child abuse and rape, which are a whole different matter, if it's okay to have a family with man/woman; woman/woman; woman/nobody; man/nobody, why isn't it okay to have a family with man/woman/woman, assuming everybody, again, is a consenting adult? Who is harmed?
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Why Polygamists Go Free
I've done quite a bit of research on the FLDS for other journalistic endeavors. The primary reason the FLDS continues to get away with polygamy -- and not just polygamy between consenting adults but with children as young as eleven years of age -- is that they have approriated the term Stockholm Syndrome. As an insider recently told me, Colorado City is a "hothouse that grows little girls." If young girls grow up in a community where plural marriage is not only tolerated but condoned and expected, when asked to prosecute their 'husbands' these young women side with their captors. The girls are sheltered, taken out school, and sequestered in their homes. This is not much different than young children of white supremacist organization members espousing racial hatred at tender ages. Children often naturally want to please their elders.
And it isn't only the girls who suffer. There is a tribe of boys from Colorado City known as the Lost Boys. Uneducated, penniless, and alone, these young boys have been shunted from their families and the only life they know as they pose a threat to older males who compete for young brides whose purpose in life is procreation. You can often see them working on construction sites around the Colorado City/Hildale community.
Unfortunately folks, this is only the tip of the iceberg with respect to the FLDS.
Best, MR
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Reply to Ransom
Ghettoizing articles like this as "women's news" rather than "human rights abuses" is exactly what people are grousing about. This is something everyone ought to see, not just people who happen to share the same biological plumbing with the people being abused. Why are abuses that happen to women relegated to women's issues, when abuses that happen to men are news?
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she's right and this is why we need broadsheet
I'm sick of all this pandering when it comes to polygamy. Is polygamy illegal in all fifty states? The last time I checked it was. Religion must play no role here. In fact it should get no respect. Since when does religion give one the right to break the law? Unless someone wants to argue that polygamy laws violate the first amendment right to freedom of religion. This has been rejected at the state level, most recently in Utah. You might argue that the state's interest in preventing plural marriage between consenting adults is weak. I agree. I don't believe the state has any interest in monogamy.
However, people like Tom Green and Warren Jeffs make us think long and hard about the definition of "consenting." Growing girls into wives does not make for a marriage between consenting adults. Trading wives and assigning wives like chattel also violates my definition of consenting adults. In fact it breaks several laws, including prostitution and inducement to prostitution.
This country always turns a blind eye to cults led by white male religious fanatics. The cops always say nothing can be done because there will be no witnesses. Wrong. People who escape are willing to talk. When people like Jeffs and Green literally take over a town and its police department and its political offices we have in effect a coup--people unwilling to live by U.S. law, only God's law. This is the same shit the Taliban tried to pull. I can't believe there is no way to break these communities up.
The argument that the girls grow up in the town and absorb the religion is no excuse either. That's a recycled argument from slave days: the slaves were happy and taken care of and did not wish to be free. Of course some of you will say it is not the government's job to police or interfere with family life. That is a recurring argument that deserves some thought. Yet you will I hope admit that there is an imaginary line in the sand that the government must cross, and must interfere. Cross the line when laws are broken. They perform sham marriages and trade on little girls who are brainwashed from birth. Human Trafficing. That's enough for me.