just ramblings (polygamy vs. playmates)

Danny's playing basketball (it's Wed; pretty standard) and I missed my window to get a red mango tonight... and I wanted to rent Sense and Sensibility, but then I needed to take a shower after yoga, and that takes a lot of effort... especially when I've got the dishwasher AND the washing machine going... so I stood to have a lot of water pressure changes... not to mention a temperature roller coaster that is not delightful at all. 

So here's a few things on my mind tonight... I might offend a few people.  That's not what I'm all about... I'm just trying to sort a few things out so if you've got a point, or counter-point... I totally invite you to post a comment:

First off:  all this FLDS junk going down in Texas.  I wouldn't be so bold as to purport to know the in's-and-out's of what's going down there.  But there are some things that don't seem quite right to me.  First of all, I think it's disgusting... 

I think it was disgusting for Solomon and David to have wives and concubines.  I think it was pretty lame that polygamy was practiced in the early days of the church. While I'm certain there were some abuses in the system, and some horny men just taking advantage of a system, I'd like to hope that for the most part...it was used as a means for women whose husband's had been killed, died in war, or didn't quite make it to Zion; well, I think it was a chance for them to own property since everything was such a patriarchal order. So it was a means to an end... and then, it was to E-N-D.

That doesn't mean I'm condoning it.  Again, I think it's sick. If it's true that the allegations about rape, incest, abuse and the like turn out to be true; I think those folks ought to be prosecuted to the fullest extent.  My altruistic self would hope and pray for the sake of the children and families that these allegations are not true... and if they are, it's the EXCEPTION to the rule... like priests in the catholic church... or yes, even leaders in the LDS church I've heard stories about. I don't judge a religion by it's exceptions. (There are crazies across the board... God is no respecter of persons; and I think, as disgusting and unfortunate as it is, sexual and physical abuse is not limited to compounds in Texas or Hilldale.)  (sp?) 

One other point I'd like to make on this subject is that it really gets me going when people talk about how disgusting it is that these men get away with all of these wives and that they're having "s" with women sooo much younger than them.

I feel the same way about Hef and the girls next door.  There's 50-plus years between those folks -- and he's got a house full of honeys... but as a society, we seem to think it's much more acceptable for a man to sleep with a lot of women, not married to them (whether spiritually or legally) and hold that up as something grand and cache... instead of snubbing them too.

My question is.... if MTV came into Texas, gave all the women makeovers so they were scantily clad, with boob jobs, platinum blonde hair and hosted parties that A-listers attended... would the Media and the government really be as interested in what was going on at the compound?  

The playboy mansion is hard to get into also... and I'm pretty sure everything that goes on there is not within the "norm" of social decency... but we seem to be a lot more accepting of that "lifestyle."

• Is it because there are no children at the playboy mansion?
• Or is this more about people being different than us and that scares us? 

I had a friend in college whose dad used to beat the crap out of her and her brothers and sisters back home. The government didn't seem interested in stepping in to help her out...  

"But polygamy is illegal!" Was the cry ... well, yes.  It's legally impossible to be married to more than one person... so if it's legally impossible to be legally married to more than one person, we can't really prosecute them for a spiritual union, can we? 

Maybe it is just about the children.  And if that's the case, again... prosecute the hades out of them if it's true.

But like I said, I pray the abuse is not the norm... there seems to be stories on both sides... sounds like the FLDS lawyers are saying that there's no official evidence that the abuse is really taking place.  Don't get me wrong, I really think it's sick that these older men are sleeping with these younger girls... however they choose to define sexual abuse, that's just not right to me... 

My issues with this is an obvious double standard:

While the local news is talking about how horrible the situation is... and people are talking about how awful polygamy is (against the law, against the moral fabric of our country)... I can flip a few channels to mTV (or whatever channel that crap is on) and see Bridget jump out of a cake for her grandpa, excuse me, boyfriend... Hef; as she joins her two "sisters" for a nightcap and more at the mansion. 

Sick, all of it. 

Maybe I should go back to talking about the rats...