I guess a guy has to make a living.
But isn’t it slightly weird to see this man defending convicted polygamist Tom Green’s son? David Leavitt (younger brother to former Utah Gov. Mike) was the Juab County Attorney who prosecuted the elder Green. Back then, Leavitt considered it a crime to be doing more than one child-bride at a time. Now, son William is a victim of a system that lacks appropriate boundaries and this 19-year-old defendant has Leavitt pandering to the court for a lighter sentence.
Whaa?
Of course, you have to get your arms around Utah’s love-hate relationship with polygamy in the first place. I’ve never been able to do it. Mostly because, every now and then, I’m due back on Earth.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 2:34 pm and is filed under All, Community, Family, Crazy Utah, Law and Order.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I guess a guy has to make a living.
But isn’t it slightly weird to see this man defending convicted polygamist Tom Green’s son? David Leavitt (younger brother to former Utah Gov. Mike) was the Juab County Attorney who prosecuted the elder Green. Back then, Leavitt considered it a crime to be doing more than one child-bride at a time. Now, son William is a victim of a system that lacks appropriate boundaries and this 19-year-old defendant has Leavitt pandering to the court for a lighter sentence.
Whaa?
Of course, you have to get your arms around Utah’s love-hate relationship with polygamy in the first place. I’ve never been able to do it. Mostly because, every now and then, I’m due back on Earth.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 2:34 pm and is filed under All, Community, Family, Crazy Utah, Law and Order.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 10th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
July in Utah has always been a time for family reunions, big ones. My great-grandfather and his brother came to Zion in october 1847 and naturally embraced polygamy…now I have 40,000+ relatives of varying levels of closeness in the USA. I thought the number incredible but the family historian said it was all too true.
Not a family tree but more like ground-cover. Anyway, last reunion I attended I had my wallet & car keys stolen. Such a downer.
Anyway, aren`t the Leavitts the origins of the trout disease ? Famous throughout the West ?
July 10th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Love that last sentence! Couldn’t have said it better myself!!
Too bad more of us humans don’t actually get back here often enough. The place really goes to hell when we’re away. And the dirty laundry!!
July 10th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
“. . . Mostly because, every now and then, I’m due back on Earth.”
Whaa?
So, let me see if I am understanding you correctly: If I have ancestors who practiced polygamy, and if I have read their journal accounts, and if I have a little more complicated view of that subject than you do, then I am some kind of a space cadet?
Come on, Holly, you are a nicer person than that! I like you, and I don’t mean to be critical of you, but it seems like your blog is a magnet for Mormon bashing. And, it is getting so old.
Is living in Utah so terrible that folks who are not Mormon (or active Mormon) really have to bond together, and heal themselves, by constantly mocking their “stupid inbred, mindless sheep, tasteless vanilla, unsophisticated, Mormon” neighbors? Is that really necessary? If it is, then I guess I had better just broaden my shoulders and develop thicker skin. But, I am personally hoping for better things from you.
July 11th, 2007 at 10:18 am
After reading alienatedwannabe I feel chastised for having feelings. I too have polygamy in my ancestry. I too have not only read my family’s polygamist journals but worked in Special Collections at the U of U library while in grad school, where I compiled some of them for publication. I know a great deal about my polygamist history. I think I have as complex a view as others writing here. What exactly is wrong with expressing an opinion? I thought that was what a blog was about.
There are fine people who are Mormons and it’s an impressive and fascinating legacy. There’s also at times, a styfling quality to the dogma and pressure from staunch family to adhere to ‘the principles.’ That could easily be said about other relgions. Seems to me there’s a natural inclination to rebel by at least venting a bit.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:25 am
alienatedwannabe;
Feeling a bit paranoid are we ? On a personal level I`m proud of my 40,000 realtives…though not of my great-uncle living with 5 wives and 37 children (last count).
For cult status, I would compare the LDS Church with the Church Of Scientology…though L.Ron Hubbard was a much more gifted personality than Joseph Smith. Hubbard`s philosophy derived much from Alistar Crowley, but this is better than the “Reformed Egyptian” of Mr.Smith.
When Hollywood intellectual giants like Travolta and Tom Cruise expound on Scientology as a true faith..America listens.
Have a nice day.
July 11th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Dear Oregon pinot noir,
I do not want you, Holly, or anyone else to feel chastised for having feelings. And, I do not believe that there is necessarily anything wrong with expressing an opinion either.
For me, that is what having a blog is all about. And, as an American, I cherish that freedom — that right.
But, the fact is that when people like you, Holly, and me exercise our right to express our feelings and opinions, we need to recognize that other people have the same right to challenge our feelings and opinions.
That is what is happening now.
I have feelings too. I am expressing an opinion about something that concerns me. I recognize that I am going to have people come back at me. I welcome it. I want to have a conversation.
I want to know what I can personally do to make Utah a better place to live — for everyone. And, I want to give feedback to those who are willing to receive it as well.
We are all in this together. It would be nice if there were one clear bad guy, then we all could just blame him, insult him, etc. But, it doesn’t work that way.
We all can do better: Me, you, and Holly.
If we are going to share this state (or, this planet), then it only makes sense for us to learn how to be good neighbors. I am willing to try. I am looking for others who share that willingness.
In that spirit, I would like you and others to open up and tell me what issues you have with active practicing Mormons like me, and what you believe I can realistically do to be better. In such a process, I hope that we all will be respectful and constructive, because I believe that is the only way real change is ever going to come about. And, that is what I want.
Sincerely,
A.W.
July 11th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Dear Chardonnay,
Am I feeling paranoid? Well, now that you mention it, I have been feeling a bit uneasy lately.
But, for some reason, I know that I can trust you. I sense that you are a kind soul, someone I can really open up to and spill my guts. And, let me tell you, I am really looking forward to it!
I think this new found comfort level is based upon your demonstrable expertise in comparative religion. From what you have written, I now know that I am in safe hands.
Thank you, very much indeed.
Sincerely,
A.W.
P.S. Sorry about stealing your wallet & car keys at the last reunion. I just couldn’t resist. You know how weak-willed our family can be.
(I don’t suppose you might have just misplaced them. Often the simplest explanation is right one — Hakim’s Razor)
July 11th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Dear alienatedwannabe,
Thanks for your thoughtful response. Speaking solely for myself, I have no quarrel with active practicing Mormons per se. I respect many of the actively practicing Mormon relatives of my generation and my parent’s. Further, I respect those who engaged in polygamy in those early years when it was an accepted practice. I admire their hardiness and guts in taking on such an adventure of great peril (traveling to and settling Utah) back in the mid 1800’s.
I was raised on the periphery of Mormon culture, not growing up in Salt Lake but with regular visits to family living in Salt Lake throughout my childhood. At family gatherings I felt friendliness and genuine interest from some and felt marginalized by others, assuming (quite rightly) I was less interested in Mormon practice and beliefs…certainly less devout than they were.
I moved to Salt Lake as a young adult and attended the U of U, finishing up my undergrad degree and then a masters. I married and raised a family in Salt Lake and lived there until 1991.
Looking back on my years in Utah, I have only one major beef with the Mormons and that was their treatment of my son who felt ostracized and suffered as a young school kid. I learned (through listening and observation of him) that to be a non-Mormon, i.e., NOT an actively practicing Mormon child in the Salt Lake Valley was to be less than accepted by ones peers.
Our family is now scattered along the west coast from Seattle to L.A.. Again only speaking for myself, I have very mixed feelings about Utah, Mormon relatives and neighbors from that time. I felt more comfortable at the U and found that my connection for friendship and more(I married a professor).
Had I known more like you with an open attitude and similar tastes (as evidenced by your participation in mullentown) I would have been very open to dialogue… discussion and friendship.
July 11th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I have a very basic view of polygamy and I don’t have any problem defending it. It’s absolute subjugation of women and children and really only benefits men.
It’s been that way since Mormonism began, and in spite of all the dressing up of contemporary polygamous relationships, no one has yet convinced me of any true equality and dignity in these unions.
You know, I don’t even think it’s that complex. And to make it so just makes my head spin.
July 11th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
That said, I love, love, love “Big Love.” And as I’ve written many times on this blog, I love Utah and my LDS background, family and culture. Over and out.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
But Holly, isn’t that the “appeal” of Mormonism…the absolute subjugation of women and children and really only benefits men.” ?
Re:Polygamy…IF it’s between consenting ADULTS, I don’t see the harm. What I don’t like is having to support the “wives” and their offspring as they collect welfare and “bleed the beast” as they call it. You breed them, you feed them. Period!
July 11th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
“Big Love” IS fun! Seems even more so this year with all the plot twists and turns.
July 11th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Dear Holly,
The purpose of my comment above was not to get you to “defend” your view of polygamy. Frankly, I am not interesting in either advocating or condemning it one way or the other. That is not at all the point I was addressing.
My objective was a little more nuanced and modest:
I simply wanted you to consider the possibility that even though an intelligent and compassionate person (such as yourself) may see things fairly simply when it comes to polygamy, that it just might be possible that an equally intelligent and compassionate person may have a more complex view — and that such a condition does not necessarily make that individual a “space cadet,” altogether worthy of ridicule. (You know, “Crazy Utah” and all.)
Do you understand what I am trying to get at? Are you willing to discuss it with me? Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
A.W.
P.S. Dear Oregon pinot noir, thank you for your fantastic reply! I will respond when I have more time.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I believe it’s “Occam’s Razor”. Not “Hakim’s”. And I’ve always wondered what the whole “razor” thing was about…
July 13th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Ooops! You’re right, Sra. Sorry about that. I didn’t know how to spell Occam’s Razor, so I Googled my best guess and “Hakim’s Razor” came up. Since the expression was being used in the same way, I went with it. (How embarrassing!) Thanks for straightening me out.
As for your sincere comments, Oregon pinot noir, I feel like I should respond to you on my own blog. From Holly’s silence, I sense that she would prefer to not go any further with this topic here. And, I want to respect her space. Thanks!