Bare Branches

♠
Such problems are not merely theoretical. In northern Arizona, a polygamous Mormon sect has managed its surplus males by dumping them on the street -- literally. The sect, reports The Arizona Republic, "has orphaned more than 400 teenagers ... in order to leave young women for marriage to the older men." The paper goes on to say that the boys "are dropped off in neighboring towns, facing hunger, homelessness, and homesickness, and most cripplingly, a belief in a future of suffering and darkness."

-- Jonathan Rauch, "One Man, Many Wives, Big Problems" in National Journal

Mr. Rauch gives us the counter-argument to the positive view on polygamy, in a debate stoked by H.B.O. - the power of cable TV! (If only they would keep the nudity in The Sopranos.) I thought polygamy tends to corrupt, but was resigned with the proposition that more powerful men maintain several women anyway. Although we cannot be certain about how polygamy would play out in contemporary Western society, I can appreciate how it would seriously raise the stakes in our mating games and could lead to some dramatic, unintended consequences.

~
The world is not sugar and sweets
Because men always play for keeps.

( Rauch article )

xXx

Bare Branches

♠
Such problems are not merely theoretical. In northern Arizona, a polygamous Mormon sect has managed its surplus males by dumping them on the street -- literally. The sect, reports The Arizona Republic, "has orphaned more than 400 teenagers ... in order to leave young women for marriage to the older men." The paper goes on to say that the boys "are dropped off in neighboring towns, facing hunger, homelessness, and homesickness, and most cripplingly, a belief in a future of suffering and darkness."

-- Jonathan Rauch, "One Man, Many Wives, Big Problems" in National Journal

Mr. Rauch gives us the counter-argument to the positive view on polygamy, in a debate stoked by H.B.O. - the power of cable TV! (If only they would keep the nudity in The Sopranos.) I thought polygamy tends to corrupt, but was resigned with the proposition that more powerful men maintain several women anyway. Although we cannot be certain about how polygamy would play out in contemporary Western society, I can appreciate how it would seriously raise the stakes in our mating games and could lead to some dramatic, unintended consequences.

~
The world is not sugar and sweets
Because men always play for keeps.

( Rauch article )

xXx