Suffer the little children to come unto me
April 8, 2008 3:09 PM Subscribe
The YFZ Ranch, a compound owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was raided on April 4, 2008 following a report from a 16-year old girl who feared further beatings from her 49-year old husband.
from the article:
He was captured in 2006 after three months on the FBI's Most Wanted list. He had "three wigs, 15 cell phones and tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gift cards". He is currently serving ten years to life for two counts as an accomplice to rape.
from the article:
"Investigators determined that there is a widespread pattern and practice among the residents of the YFZ ranch in which young minor female residents are conditioned to expect and accept sexual activity with adult men at the ranch on being spiritually married to them," it said.Warren Jeffs [previously] was the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to Jeffs, "If you marry a person who has connections with a Negro, you would become cursed.")
"Under this practice, once a minor female child is determined by the leaders of the YFZ ranch to have reached child-bearing age, approximately 13 to 14 years, they are then spiritually married to an adult male member of the church. They are required then to engage in sexual activity with such males for the purpose of having children."
He was captured in 2006 after three months on the FBI's Most Wanted list. He had "three wigs, 15 cell phones and tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gift cards". He is currently serving ten years to life for two counts as an accomplice to rape.
This post was deleted for the following reason: seriously, this is already going so terribly badly that I don't see much of a reason for it to continue. what is there to "discuss" about child rape and how lousy it is? -- jessamyn
All that money, and only three wigs?
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:16 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:16 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
Ahem - that was one wig and two rainbow merkins.
posted by isopraxis at 3:18 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by isopraxis at 3:18 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
I wonder if those gift certificates were to Baby Gap.
posted by socalsamba at 3:33 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by socalsamba at 3:33 PM on April 8, 2008
the title of this diary wins some kind of tasteless award, that's for sure.
posted by ornate insect at 3:33 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by ornate insect at 3:33 PM on April 8, 2008
mullingitover: "I thought this was was worth discussing..."
Is it the best of the web?
posted by LarryC at 3:39 PM on April 8, 2008
Is it the best of the web?
posted by LarryC at 3:39 PM on April 8, 2008
The sltrib's Polygamy blog has some interesting stuff, but it seems there are few details at this point about what exactly happened and why.
posted by lampoil at 3:40 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by lampoil at 3:40 PM on April 8, 2008
I'm not clicking on a "ploygamy blog" link that has some "interesting stuff" about this story, no siree.
posted by ornate insect at 3:43 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by ornate insect at 3:43 PM on April 8, 2008
What started off as just a few dozen children being removed has turned into the removal of 400 people, most of them female. Frightening how some will allow themselves (and their children) to be subjected to such a degrading lifestyle in the name of religion.
posted by annieb at 3:46 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by annieb at 3:46 PM on April 8, 2008
In the title, isn't it sorta the other way around?
(I'm so, so, so sorry)
Also: if there were a club where 15 and 16 year old girls were forced to have sex with much older men, the republicans in this country would be frothing at the mouth. It's amazing what that thin little gauzy veil of religion allows people to get away with.
posted by nevercalm at 3:50 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
(I'm so, so, so sorry)
Also: if there were a club where 15 and 16 year old girls were forced to have sex with much older men, the republicans in this country would be frothing at the mouth. It's amazing what that thin little gauzy veil of religion allows people to get away with.
posted by nevercalm at 3:50 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
Where is the Polygamy Blog hosted? The SLC Tribune of course! ;-)
Seriously though, isn't what's on display here just pre-twentieth century traditional family values? I mean, biblically speaking, I think the case for child brides and polygamy is way more convincing than adult monogamy. Biblically speaking.
posted by wfrgms at 3:50 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
Seriously though, isn't what's on display here just pre-twentieth century traditional family values? I mean, biblically speaking, I think the case for child brides and polygamy is way more convincing than adult monogamy. Biblically speaking.
posted by wfrgms at 3:50 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
...where Prophet Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ are said to be building a temple. Of particular interest to Krakauer was a recent spate of rumors that Jeffs was predicting the end the world and that he had ordered his followers in Utah, Arizona and Canada to stay in their homes throughout the weekend.
I'm developing a new policy, it goes something like this: everyone gets to predict the end of the world. Once. When you are wrong, no one ever needs to listen to you again. You took your shot and missed. You don't get to pull a mulligan on the apocalypse.
posted by quin at 3:52 PM on April 8, 2008 [4 favorites]
I'm developing a new policy, it goes something like this: everyone gets to predict the end of the world. Once. When you are wrong, no one ever needs to listen to you again. You took your shot and missed. You don't get to pull a mulligan on the apocalypse.
posted by quin at 3:52 PM on April 8, 2008 [4 favorites]
"that thin little gauzy veil of religion"
you make it sound so sexy
posted by ornate insect at 3:53 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
you make it sound so sexy
posted by ornate insect at 3:53 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
Either this is LOLMORMONS or it's a yawn. Why is it good MeFi material? ("Best of the web"?)
posted by Class Goat at 3:58 PM on April 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by Class Goat at 3:58 PM on April 8, 2008 [1 favorite]
everyone gets to predict the end of the world.
If I worked at the Googles, this is the type of app I'd be working on. Like a universal calendar or something. But with brackets and betting.
posted by jsavimbi at 3:59 PM on April 8, 2008
If I worked at the Googles, this is the type of app I'd be working on. Like a universal calendar or something. But with brackets and betting.
posted by jsavimbi at 3:59 PM on April 8, 2008
Also: if there were a club where 15 and 16 year old girls were forced to have sex with much older men, the republicans in this country would be frothing at the mouth.
But if it was boys, they'd already be members.
posted by doctor_negative at 4:32 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
But if it was boys, they'd already be members.
posted by doctor_negative at 4:32 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
LarryC writes "Is it the best of the web?"
I'm glad you asked. The answer is yes.
Class Goat writes "Either this is LOLMORMONS or it's a yawn. Why is it good MeFi material? ('Best of the web'?)"
It's not about Mormons, it's about people taking child brides and abusing them. Perhaps I'm sheltered but I don't find large-scale child bride operations to be yawn. It certainly beats the unquestioned single-link obitfilter posts.
Feel free to flag if you disagree, but otherwise try to keep to the topic at hand, m'kay?
posted by mullingitover at 4:35 PM on April 8, 2008
I'm glad you asked. The answer is yes.
Class Goat writes "Either this is LOLMORMONS or it's a yawn. Why is it good MeFi material? ('Best of the web'?)"
It's not about Mormons, it's about people taking child brides and abusing them. Perhaps I'm sheltered but I don't find large-scale child bride operations to be yawn. It certainly beats the unquestioned single-link obitfilter posts.
Feel free to flag if you disagree, but otherwise try to keep to the topic at hand, m'kay?
posted by mullingitover at 4:35 PM on April 8, 2008
Either this is LOLMORMONS or it's a yawn.
Somehow I don't understand either reaction. Don't get me wrong; if you don't take personal interest in every tragedy in the world, that's okay. When the media can tell us about the troubles of each of the billions of people in the world, we've all got to tune out most of the tragedy to avoid going insane. But "yawn"? Even if you don't sympathize with any of the children who have been brainwashed, molested, raped, and/or abandoned by these groups, simple politeness would seem to suggest stifling the yawn, deciding whether or not you have anything constructive to say, then moving along in silence when the answer turns out to be "no".
And "LOL"? If you'd like to laugh about the magic underwear, the fact that these guys are wearing the original "long johns" style through Texas summers just triples the hilarity... but when the news stories develop from "crazy cult builds new compound" to "crazy cult is abusing teenage girls and impregnating them without their consent", at some point the jokes should start to get a little uncomfortable.
posted by roystgnr at 4:55 PM on April 8, 2008
Somehow I don't understand either reaction. Don't get me wrong; if you don't take personal interest in every tragedy in the world, that's okay. When the media can tell us about the troubles of each of the billions of people in the world, we've all got to tune out most of the tragedy to avoid going insane. But "yawn"? Even if you don't sympathize with any of the children who have been brainwashed, molested, raped, and/or abandoned by these groups, simple politeness would seem to suggest stifling the yawn, deciding whether or not you have anything constructive to say, then moving along in silence when the answer turns out to be "no".
And "LOL"? If you'd like to laugh about the magic underwear, the fact that these guys are wearing the original "long johns" style through Texas summers just triples the hilarity... but when the news stories develop from "crazy cult builds new compound" to "crazy cult is abusing teenage girls and impregnating them without their consent", at some point the jokes should start to get a little uncomfortable.
posted by roystgnr at 4:55 PM on April 8, 2008
This post is platinum next to the hydrogen of single-link flash game posts. Snark something else.
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:04 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:04 PM on April 8, 2008
roystgnr--all of what you say is true, and I agree w/annieb upthread that this is yet another horrific example of criminality and pathology hiding behind the bogus sanctity of religion, but it's also true, as you say, that our apparent jadedness or indifference is as much a psychological defense mechanism brought on by tragedy-fatigue as it is anything else (we are also blase now about random school shootings: something that has become so familiar it no longer shocks the way it once did, which speaks volumes both about how desensitized we are, and also how unbalanced we've become as a society)--but the truth is, other than repeating shallow sociological commentary or attempting black humor as catharsis, what are we to do? I still remember the David Koresh thing in Waco, and the media attention it got, and now I'm having deja vu. I suppose the most anyone can say is that we desperately need to begin to have mental health be an issue that is woven into our political narrative: mental health is something we still don't "do well" in America as a subject. We are still too glib about what it is, and how it manifests itself as a social problem (whether as abusive cults, homelessness, PTSD among returning soldiers, etc). Anyway, that's my two cents here.
posted by ornate insect at 5:16 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by ornate insect at 5:16 PM on April 8, 2008
How is Texas' CPS going to handle the influx of 416 children, all of whom have been indoctrinated by YFZ over the course of their entire lives? This story is crazy in ways I'm not even ready to count, but the sheer number of victims involved is staggering. Whatever physical abuse they've endured, the mental and emotional trauma is difficult to comprehend.
posted by krippledkonscious at 5:26 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by krippledkonscious at 5:26 PM on April 8, 2008 [2 favorites]
Frightening how some will allow themselves (and their children) to be subjected to such a degrading lifestyle in the name of religion.
Because it's all they've ever known? Daughter, mother, grandmother? They've never been to the mall, or argued on MeFi about blood diamonds, LOL cats, overweight, SUV, tattoos, etc.
Still, not really sure what new ground will be broken here since this is page one above the fold lead story on every media outlet pretty much everywhere.
posted by fixedgear at 5:28 PM on April 8, 2008
Because it's all they've ever known? Daughter, mother, grandmother? They've never been to the mall, or argued on MeFi about blood diamonds, LOL cats, overweight, SUV, tattoos, etc.
Still, not really sure what new ground will be broken here since this is page one above the fold lead story on every media outlet pretty much everywhere.
posted by fixedgear at 5:28 PM on April 8, 2008
How is Texas' CPS going to handle the influx of 416 children, all of whom have been indoctrinated by YFZ over the course of their entire lives?
I was wondering this myself. It's also complicated by the fact that a lot of them will be siblings and half siblings. There will likely be minors with their own babies. Imagine the culture shock for these children, some of whom have never been outside that compound in their lives, and they'll be used to a very tight knit community where they don't often see an unfamiliar face. The mop up is going to be huge, and a lot of lives will be turned upside down in the process, and a lot of hearts will break.
posted by orange swan at 5:53 PM on April 8, 2008
I was wondering this myself. It's also complicated by the fact that a lot of them will be siblings and half siblings. There will likely be minors with their own babies. Imagine the culture shock for these children, some of whom have never been outside that compound in their lives, and they'll be used to a very tight knit community where they don't often see an unfamiliar face. The mop up is going to be huge, and a lot of lives will be turned upside down in the process, and a lot of hearts will break.
posted by orange swan at 5:53 PM on April 8, 2008
Does the degree to which some people don't want this to be discussed here make anyone else a little... I dunno, suspicious?
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:54 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:54 PM on April 8, 2008
Will all of you who want to complain about this post step this way to MetaTalk, please.
posted by orange swan at 7:02 PM on April 8, 2008
posted by orange swan at 7:02 PM on April 8, 2008
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posted by mullingitover at 3:16 PM on April 8, 2008