April 17, 2008

Fetus Art and Hype About the Polygamous Compound

Why am I skeptical of some claims being made against that FLDS polygamy cult in Texas? For the same reason that AllahP is skeptical of the claims being made by a Yale student who's senior art project, she claims, is made from fetuses she intentionally aborted. AllahP:

It’s too broadly parodic of too many things: the trivialization of abortion, modern art’s fascination with effluvium, amoral academic culture justified as a form of faux-profound “consciousness-raising,” etc etc etc.

[UPDATE: Yuval Levin also finds the claim hard to believe. Thanks to Insty.

UPDATE II: Oh gawd, video! h/t Michelle]

Stories like this seem believable only because an "artist" such as this is a conservative's worst nightmare. The "artist" is a caricature of all that is wrong in the world of art. A person which we can project our pent up hatred.

I think the same is true of the FLDS polygamy cultists. If the claim had been simply that there was statutory rape going on in the compound, that's believable. I would remind readers, though, that this practice was culturally normal until very recently--hence, why I find it believable.

[In fact, doesn't Barack Obama believe that rural Pennsylvanians marry their young cousins out of bitterness?]

I'm sorry, many of the charges being laid at the feet of the polygamy cult are just way too over the top to believe and I've been saying this from the beginning. Young girls forced to have sex ... in the compound's temple... while others watched [and I'm getting this from TV reports] ... doesn't this sound like something out of a bad move made for Lifetime T?

Yet, a lot of people are going to believe this because we know that's what must be going on with those people!

We tend to believe reports that reinforce our own world view and disbelieve those that go against them. This is the reason why I'm always skeptical of war crimes claims against our soldiers. The same applies to many on the Left who are quick to believe those same soldiers routinely rape, murder, & torture.

That's why my Father continues to believe to this day that Satanic cults routinely rape and murder children--because that's what Satanic cults do, right?

It could turn out that some of the allegations against the FLDS are true, such as claims of widespread statutory rape. But I have a pretty strong feeling that most, if not all, of the more sensationalist stories will turn out to be just that: sensationalist stories.

I could be wrong. Sometimes even the most sensationalist claims are true. After all, the moral of the Boy Who Cried Wolf story is not that there are no wolves, but rather that sometimes the wolf really is after the sheep. But 2 out of 3 times it just aint so.