h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can't wear them, either.

Getting back to the FLDS story...there's really no possibility of a "Waco" happening in Colorado City or Hilldale, as they are quite spread out and have no really large buildings. The cult's leader (and to be clear, yes, I consider the FLDS a cult), Warren Jeffs, is a man who has little interest in furthering anyone else's agenda but his own. At last count, he had something like 25 wives, almost all of whom were quite young and, apparently, the prettiest of the town.

In fact, Jeffs' actions actually forced a split within the FLDS, and some of the members moved to British Columbia to establish themselves. They've given themselves another name, but damned if I can remember what it is. They practice plural marriage as well, but all parties involved are asked to pray on it and consent. While I still find it personally distasteful, at least the Canadian contingent isn't marrying 12 year old girls to 40 year old men.

A friend of mine is the product of a Hilldale family. To this day, he has no contact with his family, because he was kicked out for questioning Jeffs' demand that his mother divorce his father and marry another man, who was apparently in Jeffs' good graces at the time.

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<<"Polygamy is illegal in the US, but the authorities have been wary of confronting the FLDS for fear of provoking a siege or inviting political attacks for religious persecution.">>

If God said to do it, it must be ok. Imagine if people who weren't fundamentalist Christians proposed to home school their kids and teach them myths instead of science, teach them a variety of sexist and descriminatory ideas, and do other things that no one objects to Christian schools or home-schooler parents teaching their kids. Think they'd get away with it?

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I don't think a Waco situation is ever a good idea, because it just leads to more McVeighs and militiaists who believe that the Feds are out to get them and that it's time to start the third American Revolution by blowing up a building somewhere or something.

I was homeschooled myself for a while, because it beat both the public school, where I constantly recieved death threats for being German or the private Baptist school where Creationism was taught in maths class and the only black in the history book was Nelson Mandela, and he was bad for rising up against his God-given rulers... They even claimed American slavery never happened!

I wasn't objecting to home schooling--just to the fact that fundamentalists, either through religious schools or through home schooling, get away with giving kids bad educations because they're just doing what God told them to.

I agree in full with you there. It seems that the uS has a very difficult relation between religion and state, on one hand, freedom of religion taken to extremes, on the other, God mentioned in the Pledge of allegiance, on the money - simply everywhere!

Oy! The whole "one nation under god" was added in the 50's, by people in power who, unsurprisingly, were a lot like the people in power now.

There have been prosecutions of FLDS members over the years, it's just that it's very, very hard to get people within the group to testify against their friends/families/co-religionists, and thus making a case is terribly difficult. Most folks in Utah *want* the FLDS prosecuted, as do the folks in Arizona. The isolated nature of Colorado City/Hilldale, as well as the lack of hard evidence, makes these cases hard to prove.

Yes, the prosecutors *know* what's going on, but they have to have a certain minimum of legally provable evidence. Although I think these "lost boys" would be useful to them.

Yes, it's sickening what some people do in the name of God. Here's another one:



"Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4107524.stm



az

can I catch up?
noise and nehigbours... Malabarista, I was about to launch into a "you should try living in Germany" rant and then I remembered where you are you should know better than to have your washing machine on between 12:00 and 15:00 . funny though, some friends of mine had a neighbour from about 400metres away complaining about their grill. Frau Telescopic-nostrils they called her.

My neighbour, however, spent all of the summer of 2003 telling me not to mow my grass on Saturday afternoon (I work full time) because it disturbed his peace. (then complained if I didn't cut it...) he thought it would be acceptable for me to do it after coming home from work all day, doing the kids homework and stuff and getting them into bed, mowing would have been at about 9pm, later if I'd have had something to eat. (mind you: most of the time I ignored him. A lot of the time I couldn't hear him over the sound of the machinery from the farm next door... he moved to the country from a town, and complains about the bird noise, the horse noise, the cow noise, the smell of the horses, the flies when he's sitting outside drinking a beer and mostly the noise of my kids. fie on him)

I wonder what would happen to the sect (sorry, can't remember the initials) if it wasn't Christian but following Islam or something?

As for the nun... just another reason for me to dislike organised Christian religions. Individual Christians that I know have mostly been nice folks, but when people get together in a gang and make up their own rules they become very strange. And of course it doesn't just apply to Christians.

Actually, when I lived in the US we made friends mostly with Mormons simply because they had a more European mindset, similar family values, etc. They weren't very "good" Mormons, rather liberal, but still... It just goes to show one shouldn't lump everyone together...

?

Oh look everyone - shifty in yet another incarnation. Please do not feed. . .


az

PARDON?

"one shouldn't lump everyone together"
Very true.

So what do people feel about their 'local nutter' to put it in terms that tend to be bandied about? Whilst I am against demeaning and derogatory remarks to those who have mental illnesses (it could be me one day) there is nevertheless, usually one character in a town or village who, basically, out wierds all the others.
Currently there is a guy, perhaps late 30's early 40's in my area who is clearly educated. he knows a lot about the renaissance and history of that time. But for some reason can't hold it together.
I have, once, intervened when local kids where taking the p out of him. He didn;t really notice. Didn;t factor in his brain. But if we want to live in a friendly society, we as members of that society should care for our fellow human, yes? Even if he is ranting about the evils of the catholic church in renaissance times to someone only he can see.

I should point out this fellow is , as far as I can tell, harmless. Just a bit ranty.

Yes, there's a certain amount of human decency required. That said, I take issue that there are people that we should continually try to help against their will. There's only so many times we should put a crack addict who won't quit back on the street, or so many times we should allow the schizophrenic to stop taking his or her medications and start attacking other people.

At some point, you have to do something different, and by different, I mean lock them up for their own safety, and yours.

Top tip: Wear earplugs? Can't hear your alarm clock? Set the alarm on your mobile and put it under your pillow. The vibration will wake you even if the beeping doesn't. (btw - turn the phone off if you don't want to be woken by phone calls. The alarm will still work.)

Speaking of anti-social late night behaviour...

STOP PRESS: Satire is officially dead.

Apparently, late night drunkenness is *the* social issue of our time. According to one of the Sunday paper headlines this weekend, the government are mounting a big campaign against it. And they're bringing in....the army!

Whoever dreamt this up has clearly never visted Aldershot on a Saturday night.

>>the schizophrenic to stop taking his or her medications and start attacking other

I sould point out that very few people with schizophrenia actually do this. Plus, if their meds aren't working properly, stopping them may actually be a symptom.

Edward, I wasn't painting all schizophrenics this way. I was just making the point that there are a small minority of people who cannot be helped outside of an institutional setting.

Here's another moral dilemma for you:

My ticket allows me to take another person at certain times. If I'm riding alone during these times, and i see someone about to have to pay a fine for not having a ticket, should I claim they're with me? On the one hand, it would be a helpful thing to do. On the other hand, these people are making public transport more expensive for the rest of us, and it's their own fault if they don't buy a ticket...