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.

shrift, I may have linked you to mens' cargo pants. I like Orvis, though.

Allyson, good luck with the bureaucratic fuckus. I hope they fix their mistake and apologize for stressing you out.

Either you break of families that aren't hurting anybody* or you force them underground and crazy abuses start to occur.

I think the idea that the abuses common to these set-ups is a result of having been forced underground is a huge leap to make.

It sounds like the Short Creek families were functional and healthy, albeit with an alternate lifestyle that got dealt with way too harshly. By contrast, the cult being raided now is harsh and abusive, and, well, a cult.

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.

Well, you need to remember to write down that you need to put a notepad in your purse so that you can...write down things you need to remember...

Dang!

Both myself and my assistant gasped out loud when we saw that outfit.

THEY don't know its freaky to have two dozen siblings and four Moms. To them its not.

Or to be married off at 13 to a man five times their age, etc. Again, I'm not sure the five-year-old's perspective on all this is all that illuminating.

As long as everybody is of age, I don't see how its anybody's business how many spouses people have.

The thing about this particular cult that freaks me (besides the child molesting and forced marriages) is that they will throw a man out of the group and assign his wife and children to some other man.

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.

But it might have been a bad thing here -- at least that was the response of the public. You had dozens of clean, well fed, (and white, to be sure) children thrown into foster care.

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.

Sure, well that's just fucking creepy -- though I can see "we weren't hurting anybody" making a person very indignant.