Re: Texas Polygamists--sf in real life?

In article <4dkQj.15027$yD2.14708@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 Jette <bosslady@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> David Friedman wrote:
> 
> >> She was opposed to the "marriage" from day one.  
> > 
> > Evidence? Opposed as in "had to be dragged to the altar?"
> >
> 
> You really think this DOESN'T happen?

I don't know. The public discussion of the whole business is heavily 
prejudiced, at least in the U.S., which makes it hard to distinguish 
between social pressure and literal coercion. 

The London Times (online) published the full story of the fake phone 
call that started it, from which it is absolutely clear that it was a 
fake and who made it, six days ago. U.S. mainline media, at least the 
ones I saw, are gradually conceding that fact, but as unobtrusively and 
ambiguously as they can manage it. Earlier, it didn't seem to occur to 
them that the combination of the inability of the authorities to find 
"Sara" when they had all the minors under their control and the fact 
that the one testable fact in her phone call--the identity of the 
husband--turned out to be provably false, might be strong grounds for 
suspicion. Nobody I have seen has yet suggested that the Child 
Protective Spokeswoman who claimed that several of the kids said they 
knew the Sara in question but then clammed up might be guilty of perjury.

Given that we now know that the pregnant sixteen year old with an 
abusive 50 year old husband who made the call was a 33 year old Colorado 
woman with no connection to the sect outside her own imagination, we 
ought to revise down our assumptions about what was actually going on. 
You might add to that the fact that at present, with all the kids under 
the control of Texas authority and lots of publicity, not a single 
member of the sect, adult or minor, has visibly come out against the 
sect and in favor of the authorities. 

It's clear that they are polygamists. It's pretty clear that they engage 
in what they consider marriage at ages below those permitted in 
Texas--the age in Texas having been raised from 14 to 16 three years 
ago. It's unclear if any literal coercion is involved.

-- 
 http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
 Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
 Published by Baen, paperback in bookstores now