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First they came for the FLDS...
Apr. 17th, 2008 10:31 amBut I wasn't a Mormon or a polygamists, so I did nothing.
I'm neither a Morman nor a polygamist, but I'd sure like to do SOMETHING. And I don't know what to do. I am absolutely appalled that the US government, even in Texas, can get away with marching hundreds of children out of their homes and into barracks because of a possibly crank call from an unidentifed teen-ager who may or may not exist about a man who was in custody in another state at a time when the alleged incident occurred. Clearly this is all a lame excuse to break up what the government sees as a cult and what those people see as their homes and their lives.
I'm not a supporter of the communal religious communities that deliberately shelter their young people from the modern world and don't allow them to be educated or see alternate ways of life. I saw this in the Hutterite communities in Montana. The boys usually break out for a few years at least and can do so because they have saleable skills - ranch and farm labor. The girls don't break out because they have nowhere to go and no skills with which to earn a living. Most of the boys go back after a time. But Hutterites, Mennonites, and Amish are accepted as picturesque anachronisms. Can you imagine the uproar if the government marched into Amish homes all over Pennsylvania?
But my feelings about these other communities have nothing to do with my anger and disbelief at marching in dozens of police, carrying off all the children, separating them from their mothers, and then saying that their mothers aren't really their mothers and have no legal rights because there are no birth certificates. Taking away all their cell phones so they can't talk to each other or the outside world.
My powerlessness in being able to do nothing to even make my feelings known has me spitting angry. I've sent off a letter to my congressman and senator. Can anyone else think of any action that could be taken?
It's not about abuse, and it's not about polygamy, it's about power and difference.
mem
I'm neither a Morman nor a polygamist, but I'd sure like to do SOMETHING. And I don't know what to do. I am absolutely appalled that the US government, even in Texas, can get away with marching hundreds of children out of their homes and into barracks because of a possibly crank call from an unidentifed teen-ager who may or may not exist about a man who was in custody in another state at a time when the alleged incident occurred. Clearly this is all a lame excuse to break up what the government sees as a cult and what those people see as their homes and their lives.
I'm not a supporter of the communal religious communities that deliberately shelter their young people from the modern world and don't allow them to be educated or see alternate ways of life. I saw this in the Hutterite communities in Montana. The boys usually break out for a few years at least and can do so because they have saleable skills - ranch and farm labor. The girls don't break out because they have nowhere to go and no skills with which to earn a living. Most of the boys go back after a time. But Hutterites, Mennonites, and Amish are accepted as picturesque anachronisms. Can you imagine the uproar if the government marched into Amish homes all over Pennsylvania?
But my feelings about these other communities have nothing to do with my anger and disbelief at marching in dozens of police, carrying off all the children, separating them from their mothers, and then saying that their mothers aren't really their mothers and have no legal rights because there are no birth certificates. Taking away all their cell phones so they can't talk to each other or the outside world.
My powerlessness in being able to do nothing to even make my feelings known has me spitting angry. I've sent off a letter to my congressman and senator. Can anyone else think of any action that could be taken?
It's not about abuse, and it's not about polygamy, it's about power and difference.
mem
