Comments on: The FLDS and Relational Aggression http://www.bloggernews.net/119529 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:41:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Catherine Jefferson http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-938143 Catherine Jefferson Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:46:05 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-938143 I agree; I don't believe that Carolyn Jessop is a liar at all. I didn't enjoy "Escape"; it was too relentlessly negative. (Something Jessop herself commented on as a weakness in the book.) However, I think it was a mostly-accurate reflection of her life as a plural wife of Merrill Jessop. While I doubt that most FLDS marriages and families were nearly as dysfunctional as hers, that's because most men aren't Merrill Jessop. Most men do not enjoy mistreating people over whom they have control. Any abusive man in favor with the FLDS leaders, or who is a leader, can probably do what he wants, however, and his family has little defense or recourse. Carolyn was both courageous and very lucky to get out with her children. That she also convinced a court of the truth of her story tells me a great deal. Courts, unlike the public, are rarely impressed with histronics and sensational stories; they are impressed with facts. Someone using the nick "nosugrof" regularly posts or posted on message boards commenting on FLDS stories, by the way. I think that handle is used by one or more FLDS members whose job it is to try to spin the news their way. :/ I agree; I don’t believe that Carolyn Jessop is a liar at all. I didn’t enjoy “Escape”; it was too relentlessly negative. (Something Jessop herself commented on as a weakness in the book.) However, I think it was a mostly-accurate reflection of her life as a plural wife of Merrill Jessop.

While I doubt that most FLDS marriages and families were nearly as dysfunctional as hers, that’s because most men aren’t Merrill Jessop. Most men do not enjoy mistreating people over whom they have control. Any abusive man in favor with the FLDS leaders, or who is a leader, can probably do what he wants, however, and his family has little defense or recourse.

Carolyn was both courageous and very lucky to get out with her children. That she also convinced a court of the truth of her story tells me a great deal. Courts, unlike the public, are rarely impressed with histronics and sensational stories; they are impressed with facts.

Someone using the nick “nosugrof” regularly posts or posted on message boards commenting on FLDS stories, by the way. I think that handle is used by one or more FLDS members whose job it is to try to spin the news their way. :/

]]> By: Elizabeth Bennett http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-932734 Elizabeth Bennett Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:57:53 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-932734 Thank you Jason for that correction. nosugrof, I do not think Carolyn Jessop is a liar at all. As for her daughter, yes, she went back to the FLDS but she was also her fathers favorite daughter. I got the impression that she and her father were very close and he had some sort of hold over her. If you want my opinion, I think she sounds like a Barbara in the making. Plus, other stories have leeked out about this organization and these others have nothing to do with Carolyn Jessop yet the experiences are almost identical. Thank you Jason for that correction.

nosugrof, I do not think Carolyn Jessop is a liar at all. As for her daughter, yes, she went back to the FLDS but she was also her fathers favorite daughter. I got the impression that she and her father were very close and he had some sort of hold over her. If you want my opinion, I think she sounds like a Barbara in the making. Plus, other stories have leeked out about this organization and these others have nothing to do with Carolyn Jessop yet the experiences are almost identical.

]]> By: jason84109 http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-932644 jason84109 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:01:53 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-932644 LATTER-day saints... not "ladder". The FLDS faith is not a "Mormon belief system". Rather, it is a strict belief system that barely resembles anything Mormon (LDS). There are hundreds of such groups, all of them a little wacko, that broke away from the mainstream LDS church long ago. Strict Mormons follow LDS teachings which do not include polygamy. LATTER-day saints… not “ladder”. The FLDS faith is not a “Mormon belief system”. Rather, it is a strict belief system that barely resembles anything Mormon (LDS). There are hundreds of such groups, all of them a little wacko, that broke away from the mainstream LDS church long ago. Strict Mormons follow LDS teachings which do not include polygamy.

]]> By: nosugrof http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-930657 nosugrof Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:48:37 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/119529#comment-930657 Carolyn jessop is a liar. Her oldest daughter returned to the FLDS two days after her eighteenth birthday. She accused her former husband of physically abusing children. Yet as biased as the CPS was, they found no examples of physical abuse. If Carolyn was telling the truth, evidence of physical abuse should hsve been there. Why are so many people like you so eager to believe a liar? Carolyn jessop is a liar. Her oldest daughter returned to the FLDS two days after her eighteenth birthday. She accused her former husband of physically abusing children. Yet as biased as the CPS was, they found no examples of physical abuse. If Carolyn was telling the truth, evidence of physical abuse should hsve been there. Why are so many people like you so eager to believe a liar?

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