In between reading threads started by people with some serious anger issues/ superiority complexes/ Dunning Kruger, for the past couple of days I've been nursing my sore muscles and marathoning Big Love on HBO, a series about a polygamous family who have three houses connected by their backyards, and roots in the FLDS church.
As some of you know, the FLDS became what it is, mostly, because the LDS (mormons) began denying the sanctity of polygamy (or more accurately: polygyny), formerly a major tenet of their belief system. The FLDS, IRL, is led by their prophet Warren Jeffs who is now in prison on about a million counts of child molestation, among other things. They're known for forcibly marrying fourteen-year-olds to eighty-year-olds who already have twenty wives.
The FLDS ideas aside, Big Love is interesting, in that the family is fairly well-off, and regardless of their polygamous lifestyle, they attempt to pass off a "mainstream" LDS life in Salt Lake City. In the show, they're constantly trying to throw neighbors, officials, etc. off the scent of their polygamy to the point where it causes rifts in their relationships. They also make it a point to tell us that the husband is only legally married to the first wife.
I don't understand the problem/ illegality of this: if he's only legally married to one person, what's wrong with the way they live? Why are they always watching their own backs? Communes aren't illegal, as far as I know, or am I missing something? I also think polygamy should be legal for consenting adults, but that's beyond the scope of what I'm asking here.
In this scenario, which isn't all that uncommon, what is the difference between polygamy and communal living?
Anyone who has watched the show: please no spoilers! I'm only through season one
As some of you know, the FLDS became what it is, mostly, because the LDS (mormons) began denying the sanctity of polygamy (or more accurately: polygyny), formerly a major tenet of their belief system. The FLDS, IRL, is led by their prophet Warren Jeffs who is now in prison on about a million counts of child molestation, among other things. They're known for forcibly marrying fourteen-year-olds to eighty-year-olds who already have twenty wives.
The FLDS ideas aside, Big Love is interesting, in that the family is fairly well-off, and regardless of their polygamous lifestyle, they attempt to pass off a "mainstream" LDS life in Salt Lake City. In the show, they're constantly trying to throw neighbors, officials, etc. off the scent of their polygamy to the point where it causes rifts in their relationships. They also make it a point to tell us that the husband is only legally married to the first wife.
I don't understand the problem/ illegality of this: if he's only legally married to one person, what's wrong with the way they live? Why are they always watching their own backs? Communes aren't illegal, as far as I know, or am I missing something? I also think polygamy should be legal for consenting adults, but that's beyond the scope of what I'm asking here.
In this scenario, which isn't all that uncommon, what is the difference between polygamy and communal living?
Anyone who has watched the show: please no spoilers! I'm only through season one
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
