Polygamy's Extreme dual standard part one with Kristyn Decker

Rebecca Kimbel talks with Kristyn Decker about the extreme dual standards in polygamy, where men live a life style every day that is increasingly better than that of their wives, where women are held responsible for that which they have no control over and where a wife's value is based on her willingness to martyr her emotions, desires and dreams for acceptance in eternity and survival in everyday life.

My Sisterwife’s Jewelry at The Silverton Hotel - Sister Wives

The Brown family started the family owned and operated business in June 2012 and it was created from hearts full of love. My Sisterwife's Closet has a line of fine jewelry and a Budget Boutique that are all original designs. The Silverton hotel gift shop has a unique display of various pieces for sale.

"Sister Wives" has a large fan base in Las Vegas, so when the word got out that they would be appearing at the Silverton, the fans came early and lined up to meet and greet the Brown family. read the rest of the story here: Las Vegas Informer 

To see our exclusive pictures and story here. 
Sisterwife's Jewelry at Guilt!

Little Couple - one of my new fav shows!

I stumbled on the the show "Little Couple" and just love this family. We may donate some time to it. These folks don't gripe, complain, and don't sell us anything. how refreshing! What do you think of this show? would you like to follow it to here on the blog? Tell us!
                                                                  



                  

                                       

Here's an article on them:

Little Couple Adopts Zoey

ADDED PIC! TLC Sister Wives - Coming up Short - bonus clip

I noticed TLC had put up this bonus clip. do you ever wonder how the business is going? they did make a good choice trying to make pieces more friendly to the average customer. Is it enough? Here the wives prepare for a jewelry expo to promote their new business. Will they have enough stock to get through the expo?
Let's explore this and anything Sister Wives. One more month before our first new polygamy show hits TLC!

ADDED! Janelle's Twitter Pic!

Polygamy Today with Ed Kociela, author, newspaper,and writer.

Rebecca Kimbel interviews Ed Kociela, who explains Warren Jeff's powerful hold on his followers and the injustices he demands of them by way of the telephone in his prison cell. Obedient, his followers remain prisoners of the mind and accept the destruction of their families and their capacity to choose for themselves they remain enslaved in polygamy.

Vacay for a few days!

Hi all!! I apologize for not being on top of things this week. Mister is taking me to see some family and hopefully refuel. I should be up and running as usual by Wed. Enjoy the blog, and I will see you in 3-4 days! I will occasionally check for comments. Looking forward to coming back and hitting it hard again here! Much love, Mister Sister

Rockdale Ranch and the Foster Family

Every report about the Foster family's Rockdale Ranch, near Moab, Utah, starts with photographs. The architecture is stunning. Brightly colored house fronts seem precariously tacked on to the enormous sandstone rock. Beyond the facades are large internal rooms carved into the sandstone. Ceilings, walls and floors reveal the rock they were cut from. 

The views from these homes are extraordinary: scrub and dirt spread out forever under the enormous Utah sky.

The ranch sits on 82 acres of state school trust land that is leased from the government at a cost of about $6400 per year.

Bob Foster

Bob Foster was a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1972 and convicted for bigamy in 1974, for which he served a prison term of 20 days. This experience motivated him to provide a place of safety where his family might be free of persecution.

Foster was also convinced that the end of the world was imminent. He started the ranch in 1979 with a 50 year lease. He did not expect that the government would last long enough to renew. He expected society to crumble amid disasters and wars. Foster taught that the future struggle and instability would not be the end of the world, but the movement of the world into a new and different epoch. "It isn't that it is coming to the end of the world, it is coming to the beginning of a different one," he said, adding that "I'm not the only one who sees we're headed for  brick wall."

Rockdale Ranch is the outworking of those two main elements of Bob Foster's beliefs. They also influenced his son, Enoch, who took over as leader after Bob passed away in 2008.

Foster's Family

Bob Foster's first wife divorced him. I haven't found any details about her, for example, how long they were married, why she left, how many children they had and what became of them. I don't know if he supported them after the divorce. This is important because of Foster's involvement in promoting plural marriage among LDS. He was considered an intellectual, who had taught at Seminary before his excommunication. He was closely affiliated with Anne Wilder, who is a pro polygamy activist in Salt Lake City.

According to the Denver Post article, Bob Foster had three wives, 38 children and 82 grandchildren. Of these, one wife, 6 children and an undetermined number of grandchildren lived in the community.

“When it comes to plural marriage, Foster admits he is considered a radical.

He urged his wives to find careers … Second wife Susan went to Durango to work in accounting. Fourth wife Carla went to medical school and is now a physician near Salt Lake City. Third wife Karen opted to stay at the rock, where she raises Yorkshire terriers, tends an organic garden and runs a trash transfer station several days a week in La Sal.

"You don't control peoples' lives," Foster emphasizes. "That is wicked. You set them free."

Susan and Carla spend time at Rockland. Each of them has a cavern blasted into the rock so that homes can be built for them if they should decide to live here full-time again.

Most of Foster's children have lived off the rock for periods with their mothers. Some want nothing to do with Rockland. But some are on board with their father's vision.”

Foster's son, Enoch, lives at the Ranch with his 2 wives and many children.

One of Foster's daughters, Melinda Morrison, claimed that only 6 of her siblings (including her) had chosen to live polygamy. 

In 2008, Melinda conceded that her sister wife had moved to Park City. Melinda said, “We had different ways of doing things.”

In 2012, responding to an article in The Atlantic, Melinda claimed to be living in a plural marriage at the ranch. She had some interesting comments about it.

“Just like all of our women do not choose this lifestyle. Not all of the Men do either.  I am one of six out of thirty eight siblings that Chose, Yes chose! this life style.    In fact I stunned my husband when I told him that I wanted to make the choice.   It is a choice that I continue to make everyday.   My children also have a choice.  I would never push it on my children.  I do not even want them to choose it unless it is absolutely what they want in their inner most heart.  We woman have a choice.  It is not pushed on us by powerful men.  In fact the Men here are some of the most descent (sic) humble and kind hearted  you could ever meet.  Which is why several woman are willing to share them.  They would rather have part of  very good Man than all of a  partly good.” (italics mine).

On the subject of government assistance, Melinda wrote:

“For your information we are very much against government assistance and live off the sweat of our own labors.  Be careful next time you make snap judgement about people  you don't know.”

                   

Another of Foster's daughters, Anna Knecht, lives at Rockdale and is monogamous.

Other Residents

In 2006, five families moved to the rock from Colorado City. There were claims that they had been kicked out of Colorado City because the older men wanted the young girls for themselves. The Fosters insist Rockdale is not at all related to the FLDS. It isn't a polygamous community. It's not even a Mormon community. Residents are Mormon, Baptist, FLDS and 'hybrids'.

One of Enoch's wives, Lilian, said anyone who wants to live at Rockland Ranch has to pass a six-month "trial period" where they are expected to spend time in the community and ingratiate themselves with their future neighbours before they can buy a home.

Self sufficiency

Foster raised his family to be self sufficient. Children at the Ranch work alongside their parents in cultivating their own food. They have an orchard, vegetable gardens, cows and chickens. They have a large water storage reservoir on the rock. They have solar panels and a generator. They minimise household utility costs as the rock moderates indoor temperatures. In winter, they use small wood burning stoves to keep their homes warm. Soot from these is discolouring the rock above the chimneys.

Rockdale Ranch is isolated, but the residents embrace modern technology. They have solar power and generators. They have the internet.

We get the impression that Rockdale Ranch is not as forbidding as YFZ Ranch or Hilldale. There are no prairie dresses or swarms of children. There is no temple either (although they have a baptismal font). People seem free to come and go as they please. We have seen that Foster's wives were able to live outside the community. Foster welcomed tourists to his place, until 9/11 happened and the tourists stopped coming. 

None of them admit to being on welfare or food stamps. There is no evidence of bankruptcies or bleeding the beast with this group (although, there is a question mark over Foster's first wife).

Foster described himself as an independent fundamentalist. Before embracing plural marriage, he was a seminary teacher in Salt Lake. Two of his wives had been theology students of his. He was known as a colourful character, popular enough with residents of nearby towns and always willing to discuss religion. Locals appreciated the group's hard working reputation and their efforts to be self sufficient.

Bob Foster and his son speak to reporters from time to time. They have allowed photographers on their property. They portray themselves as progressive. Their main concern with publicity is an unwillingness to be labelled doomsday preppers because that carries connotations of rednecks in the backwoods who are ridiculed by society at large.

Scratch the surface, however, and you discover signs that Foster wasn't as radical as he claimed to be regarding polygamy.

Bob Foster was a very good friend of Anne Wilde, a pro-polygamy author, associated with Principal Voices. Wilde knew Foster for 35 years or so. She even owned one of the houses at Rockdale for a while. She said he is the only person she knew who had a grand vision and then accomplished it.

In a post on the website4thefamily.us - Anne wilde reported, "I greatly admire him for his desire to provide an opportunity to raise their children in an atmorsphere where they learn to garden, raise animals, get water and power, repair machinery and build homes along with their academic schooling and religious training." "It's not a sex party..He is a friend to a lot of people and welcomes them down there," Wilde said.

Wilde and Foster appear in a book called Polygamy's Rape of Rachael Strong: Protected Environment for Predators by John R. Llewellyn, published in 2006. According to Llewellyn, Wilde, her husband Ogden Kraut and Foster actively promoted plural marriage among LDS and were seen as intellectuals, able to explain why polygamy should be practiced (even though it's illegal). This disturbing anecdote appears in Llewellyn's book:

One of their proteges was already married and his wife was pregnant with their 6^th child. The husband had been attending meetings with Foster and Wilde. As a result, he decided to live plural marriage and had been 'courting' a single mother behind his wife's back. When the single mother asked if his wife was in agreement, he lied and said she was. A phone call from the potential second wife to the first wife revealed the truth. The husband insisted that the theologians who had been teaching him were right. The wife thought she needed to meet these intellectuals for herself.

She wanted to save her marriage. The wife asked Wilde and Foster for help. They ordered her to submit to her husband's wish and agree to plural marriage. They used the Law of Sarah, from Joseph Smith's Book of Abraham. That 'law' said that Sarah 'had the privilege of giving consent but not dissent” - and that the poor woman's husband had the right to 'sacrifice her' if she didn't agree to plural marriage. (Llewellin pp 90 – 93). That meant that he could abandon his wife and her children and refuse to provide for them if she didn't agree with having sister wives.

So, although Bob Foster portrayed himself as fairly relaxed by not (publicly) insisting that everyone live plural marriage, he was enough of a fundamentalist to enforce the idea that women who don't agree with it can be abandoned. Although he taught his own family to provide for themselves, he endorsed other men's decisions to leave their wives and children with nothing if they refused to agree to polygamy. And there remains the mystery of his first wife, who divorced him. Did he follow his own advice and abandon her?

There are links between groups of polygamists. Even independent fundamentalist Mormon polygamists justify their beliefs and behaviour using the same texts, including the Bible, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. They seem quite heartless in their treatment of women who don't agree with them.

So when we see the Foster family describe the Ranch as " ...simply a place where we strive to respect each other's differences," we might wonder exactly what that means when a monogamous woman refuses to follow her husband into polygamy. Cutting her off without a penny is hardly respectful, especially if she is left to raise your children without support.
By Sister Katie

Sources: http://www.4thefamily.us/Bob_foster  http://www.flickr.com/photos/12150532@N04/7035823265/in/photostream/ 
 (http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/11/polygamists-in-the-rock/100406/)

Silly Saturday! Sister Wives Commitment Ceremony

It's Saturday again already! In addition to our free discussion, here's a good place to help the Browns plan their commitment ceremony. 
We've already had a post on what should be on a mission statement -
http://sisterwivesblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/brown-family-mission-statement.html

Now let us know what you think the Brown's should have going on during their commitment ceremony. And yes, we will be counting to see how many times they say this before actually doing it!

Book Review/Summary "Church of Lies" by Flora Jessop

"Church of Lies" by Flora Jessop 

 Flora grew up in the FLDS church, which is still controlled by the infamous self-proclaimed prophet Warren

Jeffs. Today, she is a well-known anti-polygamous advocate. This heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant, narrative begins in Flora's own words: "My name is Flora Jessop. I've been called apostate, vigilante, and crazy bitch, and maybe I am. But some people call me a hero, and I'd like to think they're right too. If I am a hero, maybe it's because every time I can play a part in saving a child or a woman from a life of servitude and degradation, I'm saving a little piece of me, too."

Flora, one of 28 children born to her father and his three wives, grew up in the bordering cities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah. Her childhood was anything but idyllic. Abuse ran rampant in her home. Her father, someone she should have been able to count on for protection and support turned out to be the worst perpetrator of all. At age 8, her father molested her. At age 12, he raped her. 

When Flora was 14 years-old, she managed to escape her abusive situation. Her freedom, however, was short-lived. Although the woman who took her in as part of the underground railroad was kind to her, she felt lonely and scared. The outside world was foreign to her. One day, she called her uncle to come take her home. Fred Jessop was her father's half-brother and the bishop of the FLDS. Instead of bringing Flora home, she spent the next two years a captive in his home. Flora describes living in a room no larger than a closet, being beaten and tortured by her Aunt Lydia, and made to be a domestic servant in their household. 

Eventually, she was given a choice: marry or be sent to a mental institution. Again, she chose freedom. Flora's husband-to-be was her first cousin, Phillip. He and Flora had enjoyed one another's company prior to their marriage. In fact, it was the "God Squad," a secretive group of men who patrolled the town, who had seen them talking together and reported it to her Uncle Fred. In twisted FLDS logic, this alone was a cause for marriage. Phillip and Flora were given a gun-shot wedding in Las Vegas by a Justice of the Peace. 

Ironically, this arranged marriage turned out to be a source of freedom for Flora. Although she was only 16 years-old at the time of her wedding vows, she was legally married. That meant legal emancipation. Flora chose to leave three weeks later and, with the help of her husband, she moved to Las Vegas. 

An out-of-the-blue call from a producer of the show 60 Minutes changed her life forever. Although Flora was initially startled, she eventually decided to give an interview. For her, it was "...the first of many media interviews I'd do and the beginning of my lifelong passion to tell the world the truth about polygamy and its abuses." Sadly, it wasn't all roses after that for Flora. She went through a drug bing to bury the guilt and shame of her past. She survived an attempted kidnapping by her Uncle Fred. Flora's life became something of a giant road trip, traveling from place to place, and from one bad relationship to the next. Flora also found stripping to be a lucrative career option. The one joy from this period of her life was the birth of her beautiful baby daughter, Shauna. 

The next chapter of Flora's life developed into something drastically different. During this time, she fell in love with Tim, the man of her dreams, and they and their children became a family. Flora also learned that she need not hate and/or fear God. Last, this new era ushered in Flora's declaration of an all-out war against the FLDS.

 In April of 2001, Flora's baby sister Ruby Jessop was forced into an unwanted arranged marriage to her step-brother, Haven Barlow. Ruby was only 14 years-old. Flora's unsuccessful attempt to protect Ruby meant that the family had to hider her away. Thus began more than a decade-long mission to rescue her sister. Flora's search for Ruby soon led to anti-polygamy activism. She became a member of the underground railroad, helping young girls to leave their abusive Mormon fundamentalist communities. 

She began an organization called "Help the Child Brides." Later, she was recruited to be the executive director of the "Child Protection Project." One of Flora's most interesting underground railroad experiences was with two 16 year-old girls-- friends and both named Fawn-- who were leaving the FLDS. KTVK 3TV's reporter Mike Watkiss came along for the ride, filming the rescue as it was happening. Later, Watkiss created a documentary from the footage, "Colorado City and the Underground Railroad." (see video below)

Flora's book highlights some of the heart-wrenching stories of those she tried to help. Their courage to leave seemed to be a mere first step in a long process to claim true freedom. Life on the "outside" would be filled with legal battles, all while trying to recoup from their pasts and trying to acclimate to their new lives. For the young runaway girls, simple things such as a haircut and new clothes were powerful experiences. So, too, were learning to make choices for themselves. 

Last, Flora recounts the arrest, trial, and conviction of Warren Jeffs as well as the raid on the YFZ ranch compound in Texas. For her, these have been victories. They have also served to help get her message out about the horrors and abuses going on within the FLDS and other Mormon polygamist communities. The tattered tapestry of Flora's past has helped to weave a safety net for others. She chooses to be grateful for the painful experiences of her past, for they have helped to shape her into who she is today: a survivor, an activist, and a heroine. 

Though her work is far from over, Flora works tirelessly on in her quest to bring freedom to an oppressed people-- those who live not in a foreign, far-away land, but men, women, and children right in the heart of America. ~ ~ ~ As a side-note, earlier this year in January, Flora's dreams of rescuing her sister Ruby finally came true. Ruby, now 26 years-old was able to leave the FLDS with her six children, ranging in ages from 2 to 10 years of age. She recently gave her first interview with Katie Couric concerning her ordeal. We wish Flora, Ruby, and her children all the best as they begin their new lives!   -- Review by PlygKoolAid 

What Love is This? Sister Wives Panel Discussion

Another outstanding What Love is This? discussing the UNLV Panel Discussion - and gives us a plug!

UPDATED Tweets "Sister Wives"

THE BROWNS ON THE RED CARPET AT MEAT LOAF'S CONCERT @ PLANET HOLLYWOOD: (of course Kody is front and center so we can't see Janelle's weight loss)

@JanelleBrown117 @realkodybrown @rosecolored6 behind the scenes interview pic.twitter.com/TqEXPz8GUi
— Alice Goldstein (@agelv) October 4, 2013

Janelle & Christine look good in this one. Another red carpet shot:

At the Meat Loaf Red Carpet with @realkodybrown @JanelleBrown117 @rosecolored6 pic.twitter.com/RlegcwEDC2
— Alice Goldstein (@agelv) October 4, 2013

@TheDargerFamily @justzainab @MuslimMatters @HenaZuberi PROUD INFIDEL!!!!
— becky hatfield (@BeckyLadydriver) October 4, 2013

2nd:

@TheDargerFamily Then the Quran must reflect poorly to your cult, it's all in there?!?!?!
— becky hatfield (@BeckyLadydriver) October 4, 2013

The Reply:

"@BeckyLadydriver: @justzainab @MuslimMatters @HenaZuberi " broad brush generalizations reflect as poorly on the painter as the portrait.
— TheDargerFamily (@TheDargerFamily) October 4, 2013

Our differences sometimes make agreement difficult to achieve, but they should never make us feel wrong.
— Iyanla Vanzant (@IyanlaVanzant) October 4, 2013

"@justzainab: Muslim Marriage Crisis http://t.co/3yUUXbkQqU @MuslimMatters @henazuberi" Polygamy? Takes away "not enough males" argument
— TheDargerFamily (@TheDargerFamily) October 4, 2013

Blog: Shutdown hampers civil rights case against polygamous towns http://t.co/ACkKFgqVz9
— Tribune Polygamy (@TribunePolygamy) October 4, 2013

"@whatevsmahntvd: why do you not like the term polygamist?" It's such a negative and charged connotation that diminishes the family aspect
— TheDargerFamily (@TheDargerFamily) September 29, 2013

"@carapivarnik: .. should monogamous families be called single unit families then ?" Just a family. "Single parent" if need be.
— TheDargerFamily (@TheDargerFamily) September 29, 2013

Plyg & polygamist are demeaning and charged terms. We prefer to be called a plural family.
— TheDargerFamily (@TheDargerFamily) September 29, 2013

Have had a great couple of days hanging out with dear friends & business partners. Looking forward to exciting times ahead! Go Liv!
— Meri Brown (@MeriBrown1) September 29, 2013

Release and detach from every person, every circumstance, and every situation that no longer serves a divine purpose in your life.
— Iyanla Vanzant (@IyanlaVanzant) September 28, 2013

This is the Brown's hairdresser:

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission!
— Victoria Carrillo (@Lillieebugg) September 29, 2013

Home after a busy, fun few days. Very exciting things happening in our businesses - but tonight -pjs and enjoying some peace with my babies
— Janelle Brown (@JanelleBrown117) September 29, 2013

"@AspynBrown: So I just bought my own toilet paper today. That was weird." You are officially a grown up now! Tear! :'-)
— Robyn Sullivan Brown (@LuvgvsUwngs) September 29, 2013

"@Lillieebugg: @LuvgvsUwngs ,....I have loved this quote for years pic.twitter.com/dDrxUcbskl" I love it! Turn their lemons into your lemonade.
— Robyn Sullivan Brown (@LuvgvsUwngs) September 29, 2013

Here I am in a radio interview with the BBC. It's time to take a stand. #rebeccamusser #WitnessWoreRed #truth pic.twitter.com/PRikeckoVM
— Rebecca Musser (@rebecca_musser) September 28, 2013

Today is National Family Health & Fitness Day! Get some inspiration from @JanelleBrown117's weight loss diary! http://t.co/PcMLGi98mB
— TLC Network (@TLC) September 28, 2013

@LuvgvsUwngs has already started her holiday shopping. U can start yours 2 with r BE line - http://t.co/TX7hc6YVM5 pic.twitter.com/2cgB4iPcXE"
— Kody Brown (@realkodybrown) September 29, 2013

@realkodybrown @MeriBrown1 would have been a better pic if I was behind the table I kinda look weird LOL pic.twitter.com/gKj18LsE5s
— kurt fitchett (@fitchettk) September 27, 2013

"@mariahlian: this day was happiness pic.twitter.com/98fQFx8uMv" Sweet reunion!
— Kody Brown (@realkodybrown) September 28, 2013

What happened to objective reporting and distancing yourself from subjects? @tamronhall @TLC @SisterWives_ pic.twitter.com/B4z9PrLULE
— Ed Kociela (@EdKociela) September 28, 2013

Robyn evidently is feeling that people pick on her. MS, Picture needs to be attached to make sense:

pic.twitter.com/kPOdxWJnHR
— Robyn Sullivan Brown (@LuvgvsUwngs) March 12, 2013

No words except agree with @ElysiumEve!

"@ElysiumEve: Don't let Kody "design" anymore jewelry. Who wants to wear a tree? @realkodybrown" Lots of people do! Awesome piece! :)
— Meri Brown (@MeriBrown1) October 1, 2013

@MeriBrown1 I've always been curious, do all the Brown kids consider each mom their own or do they really only have one MOM?
— Lo (@ElleBelleK) October 1, 2013

Retweeted by Meri, interesting:

You’ve got to find peace after betrayal, and it starts with forgiveness. #DrPhil #MotivationalMonday
— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) September 30, 2013

Cute picture!

Like honestly Y. pic.twitter.com/SuR7xnfPmR
— Dylan Sacenti (@DylanSacenti) September 30, 2013

This Thursday @phvegas @agelv clients @JanelleBrown117 @realkodybrown @rosecolored6 will walk the Red Carpet For Meat Loaf's grand opening!
— Alice Goldstein (@agelv) October 1, 2013

Ed Kociela's Thoughts....

The word is out, the Tawdry Lifestyle Channel, once named The Learning Channel, or, now, TLC for short, is adding yet more polygamy programming to its lineup.

It will, according to a piece in the New York Post, start broadcasting
"breaking The Faith" and "Escaping the Prophet," both, as The Post breathlessly recounts, intend to "blow the lid" off of the controversial FLDS church. 
Now, The Post has always been one of the liveliest papers in the country.

The front page of this bustling tab always goes big on photos and has been the home of some of the most incredible headlines in newspaper history, including one of my favorites: “Headless Body in Topless Bar.” I was a pretty fair headline writer in my day, coming up with such gems as “Bloody Mess for Red Cross,” which went above a piece about a PR failure by the agency when it found itself in the midst of a tainted blood scandal. But, I never came close to the cleverness of The Post.

Just before Thanksgiving we’ll get “Breaking The Faith,” a show about eight young men and women who were either tossed out of the FLDS group or escaped. A few weeks later, we will get a show called “Escaping The Prophet,” based on the life of Flora Jessop, who broke free when she was just 16. She, by the way, has a younger sister, Ruby, who also recently escaped.

We’ll get to see six episodes of each show.

It will be interesting to see how TLC handles these shows. Until now, it has been very sympathetic to the practice of polygamy, pretty well setting up Kody Brown, his wife, and his three mistresses as nothing more than some innocent kids practicing an alternative lifestyle. The network has another show in its fledgling stages called “My Five Wives,” which offers another family involved in plural marriage.

I highly suspect that there will be little connection of the dots here.

You see, the two new shows will aim at Warren Jeffs and his FLDS church, which he still runs from behind bars in a Texas prison where he is serving a life-plus sentence after being convicted on two counts of child rape for marrying a 12- and 14-year-old girl.

Jeffs is the self-proclaimed prophet of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), which has members along the Utah-Arizona state line; in Eldorado, Texas; Pringle, South Dakota, Mancos, Colorado; Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada; Ensenada, Baja California Norte, Mexico, and elsewhere.

The two new shows will, undoubtedly, be viewed as the negative side of polygamy as a result of Jeffs’ actions and others who have been convicted of crimes against children, with the FLDS, no doubt, positioned as the “bad polygamists.”

The Browns?
They will continue to be promoted as the “good polygamists.”

There’s a problem with this, however.

The Browns come from the Apostolic United Brethren, a fundamentalist Mormon sect located primarily in northern Utah.

Their roots, however – like almost every single Mormon fundamentalist group – are in what is called the Short Creek community, the twin cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, where Jeffs rose to power.

There were several splits in a series of power and leadership disputes that splintered the original fundamental polygamists who settled in the area – a place that Brigham Young, perhaps the most well-known LDS prophet and president, said would one day be “The head, and not the tail, of the church.”

It will be interesting to see how TLC addresses all of this, if it tackles the subject at all.

You see, the AUB is nothing more than FLDS-North.

I know former AUB members who tell harrowing tales that are just as tragic and sickening as those that have been told by former FLDS members. But, we have seen none of that raised in “Sister Wives,” because the network has chosen to sanitize it all.

Really, we cannot expect anything different from the new shows, which will, undoubtedly, not establish the link between the Browns, the AUB, and the FLDS.

We’ve seen TLC allow Brown to shrug it all off as a “lifestyle” choice, seen him express little reason or background into his world, seen the women in fanciful, farcical situations.

Cynical?

Maybe.

But reality TV has a way these days of making you look at it all in realistic terms.

My expectations are pretty low at this point.

Written by Ed Kociela