In English my class is currently reading Night by Elie Wiezel. It's about the Holocaust, and an extremely amazing book. While discussing, we had a lot of quesions to help us connect to the text, questions that put us in our time into the situation that was happening. At the time no one could really see something like that happening in our day and age. It's just too incomprehensible, it's impossible. I don't think that way anymore, now that in Eldarado Texas something similar has happened.
Just a few days ago property of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist sect (more than one wife/ mormon) was raided by Law officials after being tipped by a 16 year old girl who claimed to be sexually and physically abused by a 50 year old man she was forced to marry. There were over 400 hundred girls taken off the premesis wearing hand sewn prarie dresses. Many were pregnant and most underage -the youngest was 6 months.
It hurts my stomach to try and comprehend this large scale evil that's so close to home. What oppression! How berft these young girls must be! It's horrible, it's incomprehensible, it's impossible. But, it happened.
To think there are also similar situations in Arizona and Utah. Sex offenders, Rapists, underage, illegal, immoral marriges. For everyone that thinks this world we live in today has too much technology and service programs, and regulations for large scale abuse and oppression, you're wrong! I am wrong.
The worst part of this is that there have appearantly been an internal informant within the sect for four years. "How could this happen?" the first amendment. Government cannot interfere with such a sect religion assembly without enough credible evidence, or something! We talked about that in class, if the government should be able to step in and interfere with such a harmful program or if they should uphold the rights provided by the first ammendment. I was, against my will, on the amendment side. At the time I had made a substansial argument with help from some of my friends who were as equally outspoken as me on the subject. We even put up ideas that challenged the teacher, which she equally put up her arguments that did the same to us (if not worse).
But now, things change. My perception has changed. If I could, I would die without hesitation for those children (who some are probably older than me, yet I still refer to them as children). I am ashamed that I live in a world such as this, and that I contribute to its evil. pray for these girls, and the hearts of man, and pray for me.
Boys in those sorts of communities are also frequently abused - they're often forced out of the community so the older men can have more young wives. Urgh. x.x I strongly recommend the book "Under the Banner of Heaven" (can't recall the author offhand). Also, I'm going to be posting about this topic soonish, and you might be interested in that. :)
This is horrible.
The first part of your blog says you didn't think that something like the Holocaust could be happening now. But, not only is this kind of abuse going on inside the United states, but there is Genocide in Darfur, in China people are being put to death for going against the government, and in India untouchables are forced to clean up poop. The media just kind of sheilds our "pure" american eyes from this kind of oppresion that is still taking place even after we said "never again."
This is a good point. The extent to which the media obstructs real world events amazes me. I just learned about some of the major issues when I signed up for this site, such as what Darfur was all about.
I think we should have a "Real News" station for all of the things that are too "bad" for everyone else to see. At least this way those of us who want to be aware can find the information easily.
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few criticisms of Wiesel's work: he wrote amazing memoirs of his life during the Holocaust. He speaks out often against civil rights abuses and for humanitarian causes. Yet he holds to a principle that no mass murder, act of discrimination, or government endorsed torture can be compared to the Holocaust. Do not get me wrong: the Holocaust was a horrible time period, and the slaughter of six million innocent men, women, and children should not be forgotten. However, it is to easy to promise "never again" and treat genocide as if it has not occured since the 1940s.
"when you hold a pen, you are at war" Attributed to Voltaire