January 27, 2004
Another one goes to jail
The Great State of Utah is sending yet another polygamist to the pokey. This time, the polygamist in question isn't from southern Utah but from the Bountiful area of Utah, just north of Salt Lake City. He is being sent to jail for having sex with his 15-year old cousin. Apparently, the church that he belongs to has this thing about keeping the bloodlines pure, so they do a lot of intermarrying between cousins, etc. The founder of the church got the idea from using inbreeding with his dairy herds to increase milk production. Actually sounds like something he might have learned from Nazi Germany. "Ja, ja. Ve must keep ze blutlines pure, Jawohl, mein Furher!"
Posted by El-ahrairah at January 27, 2004 06:52 AM | TrackBackComments
To be fair, the idea goes further back than 1935. In the 19th Century some of the more affluent families had a similar program; the Rothschilds, for example, married cousins exclusively for a few generations at the behest of the familiy patriarch to keep power and wealth concentrated.
And certainly the whole dynastic system reeks of it. Scientific American published an article on the subject last fall, though I cannot provide a link (for now).
Posted by: TheMasterTimekeeper at January 28, 2004 07:46 AM
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