Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Who Do You Trust More: God, Your Cult Parents or Child Protective Services?

Or are you just brainwashed enough to trust only the first two?

There once was a popular daytime game shoe called Who Do You Trust? It was hosted by Johnny Carson. Trust pitted two people, then Carson would ask the man (first) "Will you, sir, answer this question, or will you trust this woman to answer it?"(one man one woman, but not a married couple) against each other (or in a sense themselves). The questions were typical game show questions but were asked in a serio/comical manner meant to educate and entertain the timeslot viewers (kids coming home from school). In a sense, it was a battle of the sexes mixed with Groucho Marx. One major difference between Carson and Groucho, was that Carson often participated in demonstrations of the contestants' interests or hobbies. On one memorable show he tried his hand at driving a miniature race car (and crashed into a wall).

After the above paragraph I wanted to embed several videos concerning the Texas Polygamous sect story, but I guess my software is all for polygamy.

The whole situation now boils down to who trusts who or WHO!

  • The women have been screaming for their children saying there was no abuse.
  • The men have given interviews, one saying that he thought girls in Texas could marry at age 14.
  • One former son of the compound tells of being kicked off the ranch for the silliest offenses simply because they were competition to the older men. Other male teenagers tell of the same kind of abuse: being taken to a road and abandoned and told "good luck"!
  • Former women who have "escaped" telling the media that girls getting "married" and pregnant as young as 13 was the norm.
  • Child Protective Services defending their actions by saying that they are protecting the children (especially the teenagers) from abuse and forced marriages with older men.
  • The DNA researchers who say that they'll be able to tell exactly who is related to who ...in about one month (!!).
Put in a different perspective: we're dealing with 416 children who can't tell you who their real parents are; with "lost boys"; with a religious system that hates the outside world.

And from the looks of the men on the CBS interview (please trust ME on this) look as if they are alien automatons in (slightly) human form. They are definitely NOT good advertising for home-schooling. They certainly can't answer the expected questions with any credibility. It's possible that they don't even know the names of their own children. That begs the question: were these guy chosen out of the group to be representatives for the FLDS or were they merely expedient?

There is something inherently wrong in a sect that can't put forth three men capable of a coherent sentence. Pat Robertson might approve, but not the rest of the country.

It's late and I have to wrap this up, but do I want to? NO. The children of this isolated sect were not treated fairly by anyone (not even by the CPS) least of all their parents. Do these women and men think that their selfish little sect will somehow be passed up by the modern world? Mennonites and Amish have absolutely no delusions about their world.

And their members are free to leave without fear of reprisal. These men and women both have stories to tell, but they aren't telling them to anyone.

This picture was taken after a standoff involving the search for Warren Jeffs the leader of the FLDS (who was later captured and sentenced to 10 years in prison). Can that little boy (now at least eleven) tell us anything? His face can, even if he's not allowed to.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They should have tested these kids before they removed them.

They should have put restraining orders on the aledged abusers, sorted things out, then acted.

This was the stupidest thing Child Protective Services has ever done. It was only a couple months ago that Texas stopped housing kids at the local CPS offices. What are they going to do with all of these kids?

DFV said...

I agree that your idea is right: test the kids before they remove them. Perhaps, however, that would have taken them too long and some of the kids could have been coached by mothers in what to say. Notice that people knew what was going on months ago, but didn't notify CPS or anyone.Some people like spying so much that they forget WHY they're spying. I can just imagine what kind of foster homes these kids will be going to.

I hope that these kids' frightened mental states and lack of exposure will be taken into account. Instead of fostering them out (creating more trauma) they should reconvert some space for living, eating and helping to teach the kids - and a central place where the mothers can visit.