CNN is running a really weird piece about a polygamist group that was raided in the 50s, interviewing a bunch of women who were children at the time. The whole thing is being portrayed as some family tragedy, all noble fathers sneaking back to see their wives and the women hiding new pregnancies from the big bad authorities (since part of the men's release from prison was a promise not to, you know, keep it up. Iit was many years before some of the families were reunited." Which, yes, I'm sure that's hard and all, but it's a deeply strange perspective when not contrasted with any other view of the situation.
The Short Creek Raid. [link]
The public really turned on law enforcement once they saw the pictures of the hundreds of crying children being taken from their parents. For fifty some years afterwards officials just looked the other way... until the latest round of crazy abuses started.
OMG THIS WEEK IS EIGHT GAZILLION YEARS LONG.
The idea is that once you put is down it will stop swirling around in your head and causing anxiety.
It sounds like a simple thing but it really works. Write EVERYTHING down, from "buy brown belt that fits" to "start chapter 4 of new book" to "start calling mom more." For as long as the list is current your mind will buzz less with liminal reminders.
The public really turned on law enforcement once they saw the pictures of the hundreds of crying children being taken from their parents. For fifty some years afterwards officials just looked the other way... until the latest round of crazy abuses started.
There's really no way for the law enforcement people to come off looking good is there?
The public really turned on law enforcement once they saw the pictures of the hundreds of crying children being taken from their parents.
O hai, I can haz comprehension of Stockholm Syndrome now?
Allyson, if you are feeling overwhelmed it might help to write every single thing that comes into your head that you think needs doing (GTD technique). The idea is that once you put is down it will stop swirling around in your head and causing anxiety.
This is a fantastic technique. I just keep forgetting to put a damn notepad in my purse. Which, frankly, is telling.
There's really no way for the law enforcement people to come off looking good is there?
There seems to be no great way to deal with the situation at all besides making it legal.
Either you break of families that aren't hurting anybody* or you force them underground and crazy abuses start to occur.
As long as everybody is of age, I don't see how its anybody's business how many spouses people have.
* (This is based on the thinking that the marrying of young girls, throwing boys out on the street, and building a compound didn't happen until the latest head took over.)
FotC fans take note - they will be performing at Town Hall in NYC May 6&7! Tix go on sale Friday.
[x-posted w/ Premium Cable]
O hai, I can haz comprehension of Stockholm Syndrome now?
Exactly. I mean, I'm sure it was very traumatic for any kid in that situation. No, in any situation where they're being taken out of their homes and away from their families. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing to do, in this and any number of other cases. It wasn't the sympathy for the children that weirded me out, it was the lack of so much as a mention of any reason the authorities might have acted other than being mustache-twirling villians.
(Also, all the women they interviewed are current polygamists. Which, again, certainly a valid perspective. But I find it hard to imagine there aren't any other grown up Short Creek kids who see it differently.)
O hai, I can haz comprehension of Stockholm Syndrome now?
Or just kids wanting to go home.
THEY don't know its freaky to have two dozen siblings and four Moms. To them its not.
