Sister Wives vs. Breaking Faith

The other day a co-worker asked me about FLDS vs. LDS. The other LDS guy at work (a returned missionary) was quite content to sit back and allow me a 15-minute dissertation about the plural marriage history and subsequent FLDS situation.  Afterwards he did tell me that I had gone into way more detail than he ever would have….

Anyway, I come from pligs so while I can’t ever imagine being in a plural marriage I don’t harbor ill feelings for my ancestors that practiced it. That being said, I am also the child of a woman and family from Southern Utah, and was well aware of Short Creek and the Polygamous groups well before they became all the rage on cable TV. To me the stories around polygamous groups have always been sinister and it seems a very dark culture. My mother used to talk about some plig girls that came to Kanab and had a good time one weekend and mysteriously drowned shortly thereafter out at “the crick”. My Grandma Smirl would tease that we could go to Short Creek and find me a husband, and I remember driving around with her down there and seeing the children playing in the dirt, with their long dresses and braids. Now when I go visit my niece in St. George, plig watching is a pleasant way to pass the time at Wal-Mart, but trust me there was no appeal to my mind now or ever. 

So now we have the cable channels that want to glorify the polygamous groups as “just another religious group”. Most people can’t tell you the difference between LDS and FLDS thanks in large part to the idiot camera crews that like to feed the ignorant image of Mormons as backward provincials. Truth is told I have watched about 10 minutes of Sister Wives and was disgusted. I believe that culture is evil and if you want to read any books by Caroline Jessup or Irene Spencer I think you will get a much more accurate portrayal of polygamy. 

So when my co-worker brought up the newest polygamy show “Breaking Faith” I’ll admit that I was curious. I watched about half a show and was glad that they are showing a bit of the underbelly of those people.  For a long time people in Southern Utah have known what that group is capable of and I hope that people start showing a little bit of concern for those people that are trapped in the culture.  To say that they are brainwashed is an understatement.  These women are absolutely programmed from the time that they are born.  Is there a cure? I hope so, after all in the 1950’s the government had a chance to clean out that nasty little pocket of disgusting cult mania, they threw all the men in prison and sent the women to Phoenix, but because of the social outcry the government released all the men and allowed the families back.

I don’t know how that pocket of iniquity will ever be cleaned out, but I do know that supporting crap like Sister Wives certainly isn’t going to help. So if “Breaking Faith” starts people realizing the human trafficking that is going on in Southern Utah, then I am all for it and I will happily explain the difference to anyone that wants to know about LDS vs. FLDS.