There is a vast difference between a society in which teenage girls sometimes (not routinely) get pregnant against the norms and best advise of general society, and a closed society like the FLDS which institutionalizes the abuse of young women by grooming them from birth to accept sex from older men at the direction of older men and generally requires their use as baby making machines as norms and best advice of the society. IMO, the vast majority of these young FLDS women currently have no choice, no voice. They are essentially chattle to be traded by the men in their society. They are taught that their place in heaven depends on men rather than their own faith.
When I think of the FLDS today, I think of the pictures of Warren Jeffs with the 12 year olds. Warren Jeffs is in jail right now but Warren is just the tip of the iceberg. What about the people who took those pictures? What about the parents who agreed to those marriages, the fathers, THE MOTHERS, the brothers, the sisters, the aunts and uncles, the grandmothers? What about the people who attended the wedding ceremonies? I assume Warren didn't perform the ceremony himself? What about the man who did? Is he in jail too? What about the people who put the photo albums together? What about Warren Jeffs pictures on the wall during the house tour--no images of Jesus, no crosses, only photos of a so-called prophet who was 'husband' to at least two 12 year-olds and whose nephew said had sexually abused him!? Who put those pictures up? Child abuse is institutionalized in this culture and this culture seems competent at keeping the outside world from stopping it. Oh, we have Jeffs in jail, and a few others, but the assembly line of this religion just keeps on cranking out childbrides and men who take them. The church itself will have to stop the abuse. Ex members describe a culture that got more rotten over time, most of all under the direction of Jeffs. The age of marriage for women seems to have trended down over the past twenty years, which means it could trend back up. But will it when the people who let those girls get married at 12 to a 50 year old man ARE STILL OUT THERE? At one time, education did seem to be permitted more widely. That could happen again. But, will it when the same people who took those pictures of Jeffs and the 12 year old and put them albums ARE STILL AT LARGE. I'm not hopeful.
To me it seems, generally speaking, that when FLDS members write or speak, they do not show a willingness to admit, acknowledge or accept that any short comings exist within their group, let alone take any responsibility. They do agressively blame others--ex members, CPS, the government, the outside world. I didn't hear one FLDS man speak during the Texas case who didn't throw in some or other dig about the way other people lived, yet they are forever admonishing 'us' to accept them not to criticize them, when they don't accept and continually criticize 'us.' Their game plan seems to blame 'us' for everything they do wrong, even though they don't think they're doing anything wrong. You tube has Willie Jessop saying that NOW, after what happened in TX, the FLDS can't trust 'us.' Yeah, Willie, like you ever trusted 'us,' or ever would. But you trusted Warren Jeffs, didn't you? Don't you still? It's like Merrill Jessop's blaming Carolyn because their baby was seriously ill. It was her fault. It wasn't his. Yet, Merrill apparently permitted a marriage between Warren Jeffs and at least one of the 12 year olds in the photos who was his daughter. Apparently, he was the man in charge at YFZ at the time of the raid. But, according to Willie, none of what happened in TX is the fault of a group who allow 12 year olds to marry or their leader(s). Everything that happened to the FLDS, according to Warren's Jeff's body guard is society's fault. The FLDS thinks it's better than society. It wants nothing to do with general society but it thinks society needs to understand and accept it, without any reciprocation. In the meantime, where is Merrill, where is his daughter who married Warren Jeffs at 12? Where are the people who allowed those twelve year olds to be abused and took pictures of the happy event? There's still out there, aren't they?
