For a while in the mid-19th century, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had its own special land, the provisional State of Deseret (which means Honeybee in Mormon-speak). Today it has its own state, Utah, with such saintly members as Mitt Romney, Bay Buchanan, and Orrin Hatch in the public eye.
The Mormons seem bizarre to me, maniacally patriarchal, uber-conservative, homophobic and invasive. They creep me out, in fact. As for the State of Deseret, it was whittled down to its present rump form as Utah by 1868, the same year that featured in my previous post on the Lakota.
To the north, there's Canada, subject to heady invasions from "below" in its earlier days (The Seven Years War, American Revolution, & War of 1812, to name a few), and loosely configured to include French-speaking Québec / Quebec, Anglos, Inuit, Métis and First Nations. The Québec chunk is a Gypsy Curse courtesy of the British Empire via the Seven Years War. Joke's on the Anglos.
The bottom line is, nothing's set in stone. There are many ways to organize people and territories. War changes things around. Some people(s) prefer living in boxes, some prefer living outside boxes. Some are stuck exactly where they are, and some are put there by the stronger powers of the day. In the immortal words of Chuck Berry, "C'est la vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell."
Today's Rune: Growth.
4 comments:
It's informative to remember that just because it "is" a certain way doesn't mean it has to stay that way.
Funny, I just played "National Brotherhood Week" for my kids for the first time a few weeks ago, before the election, when we were talking about hatred.
"The Mormons seem bizarre to me, maniacally patriarchal, uber-conservative, homophobic and invasive."
Sounds like the Christian right, to me (but I getcha...)
When I got my Canadian citizenship certificate, touting the benefits of joining our great country, it was signed by someone I'd never heard of; Lucien Bouchard. Years later he'd lead the fight for Quebec's secession from Canada. So much for "our great country." (I was suprised it was a very close vote in the end, with Quebec on the losing end.)
Lines make great dividers, things to fight & kill each other over, to distract each other from worse problems. Pity, that.
I think the greatest dichotomy in the 20th century Mormons is the difference between their conservative bent and the aid they gave to Las Vegas in becoming a gambling mecca.
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