Making Money from Polygamy, Part One
Google "polygamy", and several sponsored links appear. Let's see who stands to make money from polygamy.
Today we'll follow the sponsored link to Polygamy Diaries. First we're taken to AZFamily.com where we're forced to reveal our email address and a brief profile, and no, we don't want to buy anything now or later. Then we're redirected to the diaries themselves, a series of annotated video clips which begin:
In one of the most remote corners of America's Southwest desert sits the little dusty town of Colorado City, Ariz., home to the largest concentration of polygamists in North America. [ ... ] It is a town run almost entirely by the all-male leaders of a fundamentalist sect and where critics say women and girls are often victimized on a scale that rivals the brutality of the Taliban. -- KTVK TV
Look around. You've entered the world of Mike Watkiss, who has been singlemindedly pursuing FLDS polygamists since forever, leaving behind a trail of video documentaries for KTVK. You've reached an epicenter of the anti-polygamy movement.
Is KTVK proud of this? You bet!
"Colorado City and the Underground Railroad" is an award-winning documentary that pulls together dozens of Watkiss' exclusive, groundbreaking stories that are the reason polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs is on the run. In fact, they are stories that have changed the course of Arizona history and reversed nearly 50 years of neglect and indifference. -- KTVK TV
The diaries are impressive -- about fifty annotated video clips. And a chance to win $60,000 by capturing Warren Jeffs, a FLDS leader in Colorado City (where Utah crosses Arizona). Talk about real money!
The thrust of the Polygamy Diaries is that polygamy rooted in organized religion is subject to abuse. No kidding! Child brides, lost boys, domestic abuse, and tax evasion are sensational! But isn't our longstanding national affair with mail-order brides [Hearts West : True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier and Meet Beautiful Russian Brides Online] equally sensational?
And is there really more abuse in FLDS families than in traditional relationships?
In the United States every year, about 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner. This translates into about 47 [intimate partner violence] assaults per 1,000 women and 32 assaults per 1,000 men. -- Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000.
Mike Watkiss has chronicled dozens of abuses in a community where thousands of polygamists live. No offense, but this seems consistent with the national average.
While I salute the quality and prolificacy of his video clips, I wish Mike's coverage weren't so one-sided. In the interest of being two-sided myself, I'll be adding Polygamy Diaries to my brief list of anti-polygamy resources online.
So how is KTVK TV making any money on this? A wider subscriber base? It can't be sales of Colorado City and the Underground Railroad -- it doesn't seem to be for sale. If it were, I'd buy a copy. -- Martin
To be continued in Making Money from Polygamy, Part Two.
Today we'll follow the sponsored link to Polygamy Diaries. First we're taken to AZFamily.com where we're forced to reveal our email address and a brief profile, and no, we don't want to buy anything now or later. Then we're redirected to the diaries themselves, a series of annotated video clips which begin:
In one of the most remote corners of America's Southwest desert sits the little dusty town of Colorado City, Ariz., home to the largest concentration of polygamists in North America. [ ... ] It is a town run almost entirely by the all-male leaders of a fundamentalist sect and where critics say women and girls are often victimized on a scale that rivals the brutality of the Taliban. -- KTVK TV
Look around. You've entered the world of Mike Watkiss, who has been singlemindedly pursuing FLDS polygamists since forever, leaving behind a trail of video documentaries for KTVK. You've reached an epicenter of the anti-polygamy movement.
Is KTVK proud of this? You bet!
"Colorado City and the Underground Railroad" is an award-winning documentary that pulls together dozens of Watkiss' exclusive, groundbreaking stories that are the reason polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs is on the run. In fact, they are stories that have changed the course of Arizona history and reversed nearly 50 years of neglect and indifference. -- KTVK TV
The diaries are impressive -- about fifty annotated video clips. And a chance to win $60,000 by capturing Warren Jeffs, a FLDS leader in Colorado City (where Utah crosses Arizona). Talk about real money!
The thrust of the Polygamy Diaries is that polygamy rooted in organized religion is subject to abuse. No kidding! Child brides, lost boys, domestic abuse, and tax evasion are sensational! But isn't our longstanding national affair with mail-order brides [Hearts West : True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier and Meet Beautiful Russian Brides Online] equally sensational?
And is there really more abuse in FLDS families than in traditional relationships?
In the United States every year, about 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner. This translates into about 47 [intimate partner violence] assaults per 1,000 women and 32 assaults per 1,000 men. -- Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000.
Mike Watkiss has chronicled dozens of abuses in a community where thousands of polygamists live. No offense, but this seems consistent with the national average.
While I salute the quality and prolificacy of his video clips, I wish Mike's coverage weren't so one-sided. In the interest of being two-sided myself, I'll be adding Polygamy Diaries to my brief list of anti-polygamy resources online.
So how is KTVK TV making any money on this? A wider subscriber base? It can't be sales of Colorado City and the Underground Railroad -- it doesn't seem to be for sale. If it were, I'd buy a copy. -- Martin
To be continued in Making Money from Polygamy, Part Two.
posted by Martin at 12:48 PM
Comments:
Martin - there were more assaults than that (47/1000) and 32/1000) just in my family - if you knock a zero off the 1000, it would be much closer to the reality of violence in fundementalism.