A Baltimore Md., Radio Interview

                Before getting into the substance of the topic, my computer wise friend and web master has eliminated the tons of spam that has contaminated the comment section of this blog.  I now hope to acknowledge and post some of the great comments this blog has received. (Polygamybooks.org)

                In as much as some Baltimore listeners to the radio talk show I participated in (10-4-11) may click on this blog  out of curiosity or a desire to know  more about the actual state of Mormon polygamy I submit the following comments. 

                I don’t consider myself an accomplished orator.  After each media interview, in rehearsing my participation, I always think to myself, “I could have said ‘such and such’ better, I forgot to mention ‘such and such,’  or I wasn’t given the time to say ‘such and such.’”  This comment will attempt to address those “such and suches.”

                This Baltimore interview was unlike other interviews I have experienced.  I was contacted by email and lead to believe the discussion would be about Kody Brown and the Sister Wives’ Reality Show.  I was lead to think that Brooke Adams, a Salt Lake Tribune journalist would also be on the show and joining in the discussion. Maybe she came on after I was dismissed so she could challenge what I had said.  I don’t know. 

                Usually the producer telephones the guest.  In this case I was expected to telephone the producer.  I did so at the designated time and was promptly put on hold.  A minute later a voice came on saying I would be on the air in 5 seconds.

                There is usually a short discussion between the host and guest minutes before going on the air.  The guest is asked how he would like to be introduced and prepped as to what the host would like to discuss.  None of this happened.  Suddenly we were on the air and the host was interviewing the Joe Darger family and their book, Love Times Three.  For about 20 minutes I hung on, listening while the host and the Dargers “romanticized” Mormon polygamy.

                The Dargers were thanked and dismissed prior to my turn to speak.  I would have liked to have establish a dialogue with Joe as I related with much of what he said about plural marriage life because I had been there. 

                I hope I did not come across as rude but for about 15 or 20 minutes I dominated the conversation.  I did it so I could get in as much information as possible because on previous radio talk shows I was only allotted about 2 to 5 minutes.   I did not want the listeners to think the Darger family typified the Mormon polygamist subculture.  The host, Catheline Jesse, graciously let me talk.

                Although I did not debate the assertion that the Darger family was truly all they portrayed themselves to be, I pointed out that they were only the frosting.  Using a cake as a metaphor, I said to really know what Mormon polygamy was like you had to look beneath the frosting into the interior of the cake – that’s where you really see what Mormon polygamy is like.  I also wanted the listeners to know that Mormon polygamy is very much about sex – and the reason  I got out of it is because of the crime, corruption, illusion of priesthood infallibility, and abuse of women and children that is endemic to the subculture.  I pointed out that books like Love Times Three, shows like Sister Wives and Big Love tend to anesthetize the public against the abuses that are endemic to Mormon fundamentalism – and I quickly itemized some of the historic violence associated with feigned authority and plural marriage.   

                I will not demonize the Joe Darger family.  I am sure they are what they purport to be and do not have dirty laundry in their past like Kody Brown  – which is why I believe the Darger family was selected.    Selected by whom?

                In reading  the Internet reviews about their book, in watching the television interviews, and knowing the mindset of the Mormon fundamentalist decriminalization movement, this is what I suspect:

                The Darger family, which I happen to think are good people, are being used as fodder by Brooke Adams and Principle Voices to further their movement to decriminalize polygamy.  There is no question that there is a close association between the three.  The Darger’s claim that the book was there idea, but I have doubts.  And I have doubts about how involved they were in the actual writing.  In checking with Amazon .com Brooke Adams was not cited as an author, but during the radio show one of the Dargers stated that Brooke was a co-author.

                The agenda or game plan is unmistakable.  Portray the Dargers as eccentric monogamists – mainstream as possible in dress, composure and hair styles.  For the Dargers and Browns (Kody Brown) that was easy because they already fit that mold.  Next, keep the conversations away from religion as much as possible expect to admit that plural marriage is part of their faith.  In an interview that can be found on the Internet, Love Times Three website, the Dargers said they believed their Father In Heaven wanted them to go public.  Those comments open the door to a discussion about their religion, which I don’t think they really want.

                Have you noticed that the religious claims made by the Dargers are the same claims made by all Mormon polygamists that go public?   “It’s my faith, and God wants me to do it.” 

                Principle Voices, a pro polygamist group, is understandably a flexible organization for once they defended the pedophile, Tom Green, until it became prudent to condemn underage marriages.  Principle Voices was silent for years about the atrocities committed by Warren Jeffs until public opinion was so massive against him that it became advantageous to denounce him.  The ladies behind Principle Voices at one time were dead set against homosexuality and same sex marriages until it finally dawned on them that holding hands with homosexuals, adulterers and fornicators and using Lawrence vs. Texas may be a more optimal route to decriminalize polygamy than relying on religious freedom. 

                I’m no prude.  I’m not so much against plural marriage as I am against the religious narcotic that manipulates it , and of course I’m against the polygamy revelation itself which is intrinsically abusive and promotes a doctrine that bears the seeds of abuse and corruption.  I genuinely hope that Joe Darger and his wives actually make plural marriage work if that’s what they really want, but the verdict in not in.  I think the odds are against them.  Celebrity and ego can be detrimental forces.  Other polygamy media celebrates like Roy Potter and Tom Green have not fared so well.  In the early nineties the Salt Lake Tribune did a two page splash glamorizing Dennis Matthews and his five wives as the ideal apotheosis of Mormon plural marriage.  Dennis was a member of Owen Allred’s AUB inner circle and the kingpin in the theft of 1.54 million dollars from Virginia Hill.  Dennis is one of the most dishonest, unscrupulous men I have investigated.  Dennis deservedly lost all of his wives except one.  He did not have to pay one cent towards the 6.6 million dollar judgment awarded Virginia Hill in her successful law suit.   From what I can gather Dennis’ malevolent spots have not changed.   Reliable informants tell me that  Dennis has made an occupation of promoting the bogus illusion of Mormon plural marriage and while living near the community of Mayfield, Utah,  has recruited a petty following of “lower class” AUB acolytes .  I use the term “lower class” because from what I can gather, Dennis’ followers are from the bottom layer of the AUB pecking order.  Dennis is not one of the AUB prophet’s favorite people because it was Dennis who helped seduce the prophet Owen Allred and the now prophet, LaMoine Jenson into participating in what the Utah Supreme Court labeled a “pattern of unlawful activity.”

                The Darger family claims their polygamist lifestyle is not about sex although in their interviews sex seems to be the primary topic.  The same assertion has been made by Kody Brown, Owen Allred, and just about every Mormon polygamist celebrity except Tom Green who likened himself with movie star studs, and once told a reporter how he on occasion would grab one of his pubescent wives and knock of a quickie in a closet.  For a factual example of polygamy as the means to sexual gratification, read Polygamy’s Rape of Rachael Strong, a true story authored by yours truly. 

                Of course I have to disagree with Joe Darger’s claim that Mormon polygamy is not about sex.  He says it is about family – and in that I agree in part – at least with the serious polygamists who try hard to live the lifestyle as virtuous and honorably as they can.  But Brigham Young is on record saying polygamy is about raising up a righteous seed.  God instructed Adam & Eve, and God’s prophets instruct Mormon polygamists to be “fruitful” and to “multiple and replenish.”  The primary purpose of plural marriage is to have perpetual sex with your wives and keep them pregnant as often as you can.  In the Mormon celestial heaven only the polygamist will be able to continue to have sex.  To claim Mormon plural marriage is not about sex is simply not telling the truth. 

                Remember, I lived plural marriage and associated with other polygamists for nearly 20 years.  I watched men compete for the pretty hand of single women.  Although in public, plural wives behave as if they have conquered jealousy and are the best of friends,  in private they compete with their sister wives for the attention of their husband, often using their sexual charms.  In each family with three or more wives there will be a dominate wife, or in the least, competition for dominance.  Dealing with all of this competition and keeping the peace is stressful for a conscientious man.  Polygamy for men is not the bed of roses you might imagine.

                I have a mischievous streak and like to use satire when and where, hopefully, it is appropriate.  Going back to the radio talk show interview the other night I was leading up to the following remarks before I was invited to say goodnight. 

                I am very aware of how powerful and corrupt the male Y-chromosome can be.  I was a sex crime specialist for eight years and taught at the Utah Police Academy.   In my opinion the human male is by nature, polygamist and promiscuous when yielding to the mission of the Y-chromosome.  I know that many men convert to Mormon fundamentalism and Islam because of the prospect of having sex with plural wives.  Therefore, if a man desires to have sex with more than one woman I suggest he consider taking a mistress or mistresses.  After all, in most cases the polygamist man has a legal wife or favorite wife and the other wives are in essence, mistresses.  I suspect a secular mistress would be less stressful, less expensive, more above board, and with less responsibility than the deception, hypocrisy and chloroform of Mormon polygamy.   He might also consider prostitution as a release.  A few years ago I did a couple of stories about the two brothels in Wells, Nevada for a local weekly newspaper.  As it happened my floral company sold flowers to the brothels and their patrons which gave me an in.  I became acquainted with the owners, madams and working girls – and of course how well Nevada regulated the “flesh” trade.  Needless to say, from an academic point of view, I was impressed, which is another story.  But I will say this.  After working nearly every kind of sex crime imaginable, in observing how advertizing moguls exploit the sexual impulse, after studying the impact and influence of the Y-chromosome,  after researching the history of brothels in the Nineteenth Century, and in observing how religion has mismanaged the sexual urge, I think Nevada has the most realistic solution for controlling the male sex urge.  There is no associated crime, no disease, no ruthless pimps, no pretending, no drugs, no perversion, just normal genetically induced sex.  (A happily married man has no need or desire for extramarital sex, or Mormon polygamy.)

                In conclusion I would like to compliment Brooke Adams and Principle Voices for the impressive job they have done in promoting Love Times Three and the Darger family.  The publicist work there is remarkable in view of the lasciviousness that occurs in the subculture and as portrayed by Warren Jeffs and his FLDS cronies.  With the cooperation of the liberal media they (Brooke Adams & Principle Voices) have simplified Mormon polygamy by obscuring the concept of “Mormon” and downplaying the role of religion and concentrating on family.  And of course we know why. 

                But the truth is Mormon polygamy is an extremely complicated and convoluted issue that involves genes, memes, norms and deception.  The supernatural pretensions are easily scientifically debunked and  satisfactorily explained by neurologists.  Mormon plural marriage is nothing more than the product of Joseph Smith’s brain; Joseph’s revelation is a meme that is in complete harmony with the Y-chromosome.   Where other Christian faiths place inhibitions on the sex urge, Joseph’s revelation tends to lift most inhibitions. 

                Like it or lump it.

                I am a secular conservative who is concerned over the moral decadence, swept along by our liberal neighbors,  that unless checked by sound reasoning will become progressively worse.  I don’t think it is an embellishment to predict that the day may come when there will be a knock on the door of a stable Christian home and there will stand a fifty year-old polygamist man wanting to date your sixteen year-old daughter, or there will stand a fifty year-old gay man wanting to date your fifteen year-old son.  ….  And the liberal, democratic socialists would like to take away our shotguns!