Re: Texas Polygamists--sf in real life?

David Friedman wrote:

> I've been following the Texas polygamy case with interest and
> commenting on it on my blog. The first comparison that occurred to me
> was with the 19th century Oneida community, which practiced an much
> more bizarre marriage system--everyone married to everyone. The FLDS
> is accused of matching up young women with older men; Oneida not only
> did it (and young men with older women) but openly described and
> advocated their system. They survived for decades without, save at
> the very beginning when they were small, much problem from the
> outside, and their final breakup seems to have been due more to
> internal problems than to outside pressure, although there was some
> of the latter.
> 
> One possibility is that the 21st century is less tolerant, at least
> in some dimensions, than the 19th. On the other hand, the original
> LDS were also a 19th century odd group and got chased out of town, I
> think repeatedly, until they finally created their own society in
> Utah.
> 
> Another possible difference is that Oneida was a going concern, 
> employing at its peak about 700 of its neighbors--who presumably
> would not have been happy at having it shut down. Or it may be just a
> matter of chance--whether it happens to serve someone's political
> purposes to point out and attack their weird practices.
> 
> Or, finally, it may be that the basic mistake made by the FLDS was 
> simultaneously offending the left and the right, leaving almost
> nobody to defend them.

In their original home, they were close to the largest concentration of
orthodox Mormons -- who would probably have a certain bias against the
heretics.

Setting up a new community in rural Texas was almost certainly a bad
idea.  Eldorado's population was a bit less than 2,000 at the last
census.  Getting a whole lot of newcomers with a high birthrate and a
theology likely to offend locals who care about such things is likely
to irritate the locals.

I think they would have done better to try a large city which was
losing population, and buy up a bunch of vacant houses which no one
else was likely to want.

And:  Being reclusive probably didn't help them.
 
> It later occurred to me that the whole scenario was also at least
> mildly reminiscent of Heinlein's _Stranger in a Strange Land_. It
> isn't too hard to imagine replacing the FLDS with Mike's group, minus
> Mike's special powers and after a decade or two of continued
> existence.  Potential conflict between a small group with a very
> different social pattern and the surrounding society that views
> elements of that pattern with abhorrence seems like a natural for sf.



-- 
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers." 
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