Posted on 03/17/2003 1:23:52 PM PST by varina davis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/866538/posts
I don't know if that works, but the article indicates that the 'reprogramming' is to counter those "feelings" she still has for them.
Pan_Yans Wife, I am really surprised that more people don't understand the profound IDENTITY SHIFT Elizabeth underwent that first night...the indictment only hints at the "ceremony". Certainly, by the time of the attempted breakin at the favourite cousin's house, the acceptance of her status as his "wife" was complete.
My deep interest is because I live here in the Mountain West, where Marriage by Capture is still practiced. You have to go to the Urgars of western China to find a practice remotely corresponding. The Urgars, a Moslem people, insist on Marriage By Capture but have twisted the rite to serve their needs for competent horsemanship.
Here is the way it works...a thirteen year old girl rides on horseback (yes, they ride, and no, they reject the veil and head covering) and Young men pursue her. The male who successfully snatches her from her horse WITHOUT touching the ground is her husband. PERIOD, end of discussion. She has no "say" in the matter, although she obviously can and does resist suitors she really doesn't like.
BTW, the fiercely independent Urgars have been targeted for Genocide at the hands of the Chinese at the start of the Iraq operation.
To return to the Mountain West, we have whole towns where everyone practices this Ancient custom, and Law Enforcement tolerates it. When Bruce Babbitt was Governor, a caller asked him why he didn't crack down on Colorado city.
His reply..."Now that is an interesting piece of AMERICANA!!"
The last governor to try was voted out of office in the 1950's. No one has DARED to try again.
Much of our customs of Marriage survive from the Marriage by Capture era, which predated our Marriage by Contract and Consent. The 'best man' was the assistant in Kidnapping the Girl, the 'Honeymoon trip comes from the One Moon period of time her relatives had to find her to nullify the marriage, the Honeymoon trip was to spirit her away so her relatives would be unsuccessful at recovery. the 'Honey' was a reference to the strong wine the Groom gave her to keep her from running back to her parents, and traditionally, it ras made from fermentrd honey.
Yes, at the Unconscious level, ELIZABETH IS STIL MARRIED
I apologize for the inappropriate capitalization
On long posts to FreeRepublic (and to no one else), my Win 98 first edition machine occasionally goes into cap lock mode spontaneously. If I try to remedy the situation, I lose control of the machine. That is why I crossed my fingers and posted.
We had a girl from MESA, AZ, who ran away with her teacher when she was 14 years old. It took literally YEARS to reprogram her. She refused to testify against her 'husband', and only when his real wife petitioned the court to reduce his 14 year sentence was her true feelings made known. The reprogramming effort was successful, but until she testified at the hearing, she refused to say how she would stand.
Look, I HAVE a young daughter, and I ABHOR Marriage by Capture.
But, living in the Mountain West, it is a Fact of Life, and LEO's can't be counted on to recover these girls. They really, REALLY don't want to get into it.
Truer words have never been spoken!
Our whole ceremonial way of Marriage is to enforce on the Unconscious part of our minds that we have a different IDENTITY as a marriage partner. We take our husband's last name (maybe fewer husbands would stray if we BOTH took a hyphenated combination name from both families), we stand before the community and publically proclaim our vows, etc, etc.
What happened that night, when Mitchell's wife undressed her, and stood there as Witness to what we now know followed, had to have an Epoch effect at the Identity level of her personality.
Now, reports leaking from Salt Lake City speak of compulsive playing of the harp, staring into the distance as she tries to become what she currently is not, namely Elizabeth Smart, rather than Augustine Mitchell.
The core of her personality is resisting this.
I pray that Wisdom prevails and that Elizabeth can recover a semblance of a normal life. She may REMARRY, but at the identity level of her personality, she HAS BEEN Married.
Yes, I do.
I'm not justifying anything that has happened to her. I HATE it with a real passion!
Yet I fear what will happen to her if she is not treated very carefully.
Personally, I accept her unconditionally, and my heart goes out to her and her family. There is a real depth of love I feel for her...and I can only pray that wise people help her cope with this life changing experience.
So the man who "married by capture" this 14-yr-old Mesa girl was actually previously married to another woman--and there was never a divorce btw him and that woman?
There is nothing in our laws or customs that would characterize their liaison as marriage, then.
To my knowledge, plural marriage has never been statutorily legal in the United States.
Yes, in some territories--where the law had not yet been "crystalized," polygamy was practiced. But it was not real marriage under any modern-era Western law that I've ever heard of.
Marriage by its definition must have a legal component. Marriage is not simply a state of mind. If it were, then you could say that all those gay people--the ones who are clamoring for same-sex marriages--have nothing to worry about, b/c in their hearts and minds, and under their own wills, they already ARE married. I assume you wouldn't say that.
Mitchell was already legally married to someone else--Barzee, I think, is his latest legal wife. He has not divorced Barzee. He could only be married to one person at a time.
Elizabeth was not married to this man in any sense of the word whatsoever.
Are all or most rape victims really just participants in marriage by capture?
One thing I will say is that the state of Utah is pursuing polygamists more fervently, but it is incredibly difficult. In the early fifties, the Short Creek raid occurred, LE swooped in and arrested all the men in Short Creek (now Colorado City) for bigamy. Families were broken up, etc, and there was an incredible backlash against these arrests. So for decades, it was "live and let live", as long as the polygamists were discreet, LE didn't bother them. But Tom Green was arrested and found guilty of practicing bigamy, failure to pay child support, and statutory rape a couple of years ago. Some of the Kingston clan have now been imprisoned for sexual abuse of minors. However, in order to prosecute, they have to have willing witnesses, and they are few and far between. There were 3 polygamist families who lived in my sister's neighborhood, very quiet, when Green was sentenced, my sister said they just moved abruptly. Anyway, I hate to take away from the focus of this thread, if you have questions, feel free to FReep mail me privately.
Oops one more thing, polygamists account for the majority of women and children on Medicaid, child abuse and spousal abuse are common within the polygamy clans because of the secretiveness.
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