[Granville-Hough] 9 March 2009 - The Slippery Slope

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:55:34 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: The Slippery Slope - 9 Mar 2009.


        Well, it looks like the beginning of a good week in which to excel. 
Or, if one prefers the ancient Greek's admonition to young doctors, at 
least to do no harm.  About a year ago, I wrote the following which is 
again applicable while the California Supreme Court is considering 
Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage.

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    The slippery slope of same sex marriages may soon lead to legalizing
all sorts of weird relationships: Polygamy, which by traditional usage
means one man and several wives; Polyandry, which by the same
traditional usage means one woman and several husbands; and mansonry,
which by practice means several men and several women living together,
no marriages, just sex on demand all through the day (or night).  All
these things have been tried through time, and most have worked for
special circumstances.
    Let's take polygamy as it was historically adopted by Mohammed.  He
had a Jewish minority tribe which supported him but would not adopt
Islam.  So he killed all the warriors, then had the women and children
to support.  He more or less auctioned them off to faithful warriors who
believed they could support one, two, or three more wives.  Before we
criticize his action, one could say it looks like a more economical
solution than the present US welfare system which supports the mothers 
and children but asks nothing of the fathers.  It also solved Mohammed's 
shortage of warriors for conquering the world.  Mohammed probably did 
not plan that far ahead, but the population surge just happened to 
coincide with Jihad.
    Now consider the practices in Latin America and the meaning of "a la
derecha," and "a la izquierda," and their racial implications.  You get
married to someone of your own social standing, and you do the wedding
in church and you baptize all the children. In several countries, they
carry a new surname of the father and the mother as in
Marrero-Gonzales.  This is the family a la derecha, or legal, or by the
right.  Then some husbands will  feel the need for more sex than they
were getting so they find someone of lesser social status or different
race and she will settle for support and provide the sex.  Soon the
husband has a family by the left, or illegal, or a la izquierda.  The
children will only have the mother's surname.  Sometimes the two
families would know each other and sometimes not.  Eventually they must
know to avoid incest with half-siblings.
           For some men with multiple marriages, the situation would be
simplified with legalized polygamy.  Consider Larry King and his reputed 
seven wives, one at the time, I assume.  For some women with raging 
hormones and multiple
marriages, the situation would be simplified with legalized polyandry. 
Consider Elizabeth Taylor and her eight husbands, so far as I know, each 
worn out, one at the time.
How did polyandry develop?  It happens in some parts of the world, it is
very hard to make a living by hunting and herding.  It takes several men
to support a nuclear family.  The solution is to have one woman take on
a whole family of brothers and take turns with them.  All children are
accepted as sons of the oldest sibling.  Let's say there are five
brothers.  All take turn with the herds and only get home part time, so
the burden on the woman is not that great.  The
situation works out until the woman decides she wants only one of the
brothers and connives to run away with him.  They generally begin to
starve and cannot support either children or herds.  They learn sex is
expensive business and re-learn about Adam and Eve being sentenced to 
hard labor while wearing fig leaves, which cause allergies.  Are there
situations where polyandry would work in current life?  Indeed there
are.  Just consider the service wives when the Commander-in-Chief sends
your husband to Iraq time and time again, and your one husband's pay
does not support the family.  You might do better with two or more
husbands who are rotating to do the country's assumed tasks  Then, I
also remember an old movie which illustrated a form of accepted 
polyandry, and the popular name for the movie was "Never on Sunday." 
The Greek heroine had a different scheduled lover Monday through 
Saturday, but Sunday was a day of rest, repentance,  and church attendance.
    Some people have envisioned a world where birth control is
practiced, drugs are plentiful, times are good, and people are free to
do what they wish with no social implications, no children, no
marriages, no comitments.  Manson had such a setup, and apparently
everybody had sex with somebody when the thought came to mind.  This
type of situation must be called Mansonry.  Is there a place in the
modern world for such an approach?  There may be; but so far, history
does not record many successes.  Manson awaits his turn on California
death row for leading his assortment of males and females into mayhem
and murder.
    Meanwhile, in West Texas, you can ask a child of a local LDS cult the
simple question: "Who is your father?" And you will get a truthful answer:
"It must be one of those saints over there in that police lineup, I'll
let you know as soon as we complete the Ydna testing for everybody."
    Love to all, but please stay off the slippery slope.  Surely, 
Satchel Page would have considered that one of the the social scrambles 
which ain't restful. Grampa.