Quick links of note...

[rivendellrose]

8 year-old Yemeni girl sues for divorce on her own, because her family won't help her. She got it. And don't worry, the judge, thank goodness, is smarter than to return her to the asshole father who allowed the marriage to happen in the first place.

Unsurprisingly, the abuse case that resulted in 400+ children being removed from a polygamous FLDS compound in Texas is turning into a complete nightmare for the courts, and, more importantly, for mental health officials called in to try to assist the children who were removed. Honestly, I cannot see a way for this to end well for those kids, but I certainly hope the men running that compound get their asses stuck in jail for as long as possible.

...and now it's hailing outside. Everybody is clustered by our office windows, staring in shock. The street under our building looks like it's alive with little teeny white bugs or something.

Comments

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

What an amazing, brave little girl.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Isn't that wonderful? I hope the organization they're passing her custody on to gives her a fantastic education - she sounds so impressive already, I'd love to see what she could become with the right opportunities.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

The thing that is disturbing me today about that abuse case, I saw one of the mothers on the news, all wide eyed and 'why have my children been taken away from me! I want my children back!'

Which... I suppose when so indoctrinated into the mindset, and not seeing anything wrong with it probably because they went through it too, and they turned out okay, so what could possibly be wrong...

I hope the kids are young enough to break the brainwashing.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It's sad, isn't it - they really don't get it, it seems like. And the media are having a total holiday with showing all these women and little girls in disturbingly pastel 19th century-style gowns, crying and confused.

I suppose there's going to be two kind of women coming out of this - the women who always had a niggling feeling that it wasn't right, and the ones who responded to the situation by swallowing it wholesale. Presumably they were all raised within the group, so they've probably been force-fed it from birth. The really sad thing is, what are these women going to do now? Go find jobs? Where? Most of them probably haven't got education past high school, job skills, any of that.

It's going to be one hell of a culture-shock, for both the kids and the parents. Very scary situation.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yes, very sad. Fortunately over on this side of the pond I'm largely isolated from the way the media are reporting it. (Ours are currently having a field day with 5 British teenagers who were killed in a bus crash in Ecuador. Which is annoying the hell out of me because I'd be willing to bet at least 5 teenagers are killed on the roads every weekend in car smashes in the UK, it's just in the press all the time because these ones were pretty rich upper middle class girls.)

(I digress.)

I suspect the women who come out of it with that niggling feeling will probably not be able to cope with the reality of what they have done - perpetrated the rape and abuse of their own children. Either their minds will crumple under the weight of that, or they will snap over to beleiving it was right all along and they are being persecuted for their perfectly valid and Holy religious beliefs.

The kids however will hopefully be young enough that they can escape from it. Providing the authorities have the right help on hand to offer them.

... yeah.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I totally get what you mean about the bus crash. People in general have no concept of how many people die in traffic accidents compared to all the wacky things the media goes nuts over. It's very sad.

The persecution thing seems most likely response, knowing the FLDS churches in general. They already have the attitude that they're woefully oppressed by the rest of the world - it's pretty much built into their world-view, from what I've read. I'm just glad I love in the northern part of the west coast - we get lots of normal Latter Day Saints folks, but most of the real crazies are farther south, or up in Canada.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yes, I sometimes think if people understood the true scale of the slaughter on the roads, they might... ach. Who am I kidding, people will never drive more safely.

1.2 million road deaths a year worldwide apparently. Which is comparable to Malaria or TB. With a further 50 million seriously injured.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't drive. It may mean people think I'm crazy (ah, the American obsession with cars...), but I feel safer. ...And given my bad depth perception, it's probably safer for everybody else on the road, too. ;)

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I can't deny that having a car is damned useful, I remember with horror the days when I had to rely on public transport. But then public transport around where I live is hopelessly useless, and you couldn't rely on it anyway.

If I still lived in the city though, with the cost and expense and hassle of parking... I think I would choose to use busses.

Besides, I enjoy walking anyway.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness, I live in a city with good transportation (and terrible parking), so I take advantage of it. Bussing and walking work really well in my area, unless I need to go out too far into the suburbs.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I assume you're able to do all of your grocery shopping locally?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my area is decently set-up for groceries and such. It's a good half-hour walk if I want to go to the cheaper of my two favorite stores, but only about ten minutes to the more expensive one. It's also a half hour's walk to the farmer's market on Saturdays, or a half hour bus-ride to the one that runs all week downtown.

The only real nuisance is when we're restocking on wine, beer and other heavy stuff. ;)