Americans annoy me...

[glennantm]

So here's a surefire way to be looked at odd. Given the fact that it is a perfectly accepted practice in MANY cultures throughout the world, can someone please explain to me why polygamy is illegal in the U.S.? Sure, "I" firmly believe that when the crankiness factor gets going, dealing with one spouse with a bad mood is challenging, but hey that's

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[glennantm]

Well, as many may know, I usually don't give too much care to what people think. Primarily because I don't, nor do I think it appropriate to want to, control what anyone else thinks. (wow, that was a rather awkward sentence.)

At any rate, as I was watching news footage of children and their mothers being reunited I watched closely. The mothers didn't seem to give off the body language of abuse (hands held close to the midsection, bowed shoulders...the whole nine) and the children seemed absolutely happy. They showed court footage, and the person (whose name I cannot honestly remember) didn't seem to fit the "cult leader" demeanor. Not that the body language and appearance of adults can be trusted, but kids don't lie to that degree yet.

Couple that with the fact that our culture's opinion at large of anything has to be measured against their own success in that same field (the whole "judge not lest ye be judged" paradigm). The way I see it, as a culture, we have no fricken clue how to raise our children, have a healthy marriage, or even life a happy life in most instances. That leads me to honestly not think that, at least these days, the average American has any room to talk, or create ridiculous judgements of people simply because they view things differently. I wonder, how many people who support gay marriage also support the revocation of laws forbidding freedom of religion, or for that matter, marriage by consenting adults in any way they see fit so long as there are no "victims".

And should anyone jump in with the "they were abusing little girls" crap, from what I can best determine, that situation was an "arranged marriage" which though I don't personally think that's the best option, I also acknowledge that no one seems to be screaming at their Brahman co-workers who arrange marriages at birth (or very nearly after birth) and also consider, in India at least, a 13 year old to be perfectly suited to the beginnings of marriage. Of course, in a culture that views marriage as either A) a pointless concept that people enter because they are ashamed (not because they view it as right) or B) a way to enable them to have guilt-free sex, it wouldn't surprise me that people are disgusted by the concept of a married 13 year old. Let's face it, the average 13-14 year old female has already passed puberty and would already be considering how she would lose her virginity anyway, I was 13 once and many of the girls at school were speaking of just that and a few had already done the deal.

Long and short, they live in a "commune" environment, which means that they are part of a community...something the rest of this country loses more and more every day. I'm not down with the Mormon belief personally, but as a Christian, it would be foolish for me to deny that my personal faith has a history of polygamy. I don't practice it because honestly, there ain't enough sanity within me for that kind of patience in relationship, but the concept doesn't bother me at all. But hey, I'm a pervert so...whatever.