Is it morally and/or socially acceptible?
Are certain forms of plural marriage more or less socially acceptible than others?
Should marriage/divorce be by majority rule, choice of a figurehead, or some other method?
How should the fiscal, sexual, and child-rearing responsibilities be assigned or divided?

Please try to remain civil and not to flame. If the topic meanders naturally, so be it, but please try not to hijack the thread. Let's hope for a good discussion.

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Alt_Account's unholy Backstreet Boys obsession manifested in:
Today's topic is:
Polygamy.

Is it morally and/or socially acceptible?
Are certain forms of plural marriage more or less socially acceptible than others?
Should marriage/divorce be by majority rule, choice of a figurehead, or some other method?
How should the fiscal, sexual, and child-rearing responsibilities be assigned or divided?

Please try to remain civil and not to flame. If the topic meanders naturally, so be it, but please try not to hijack the thread. Let's hope for a good discussion.

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Let me put it this way: They did a study on a couple birds; found out that a female bird will "Settle" for some other bird who has a nest, is stable, etc., screw him, then two or three (!) of her "First picks".

She's essentially hedging her children's bets, so to speak, and keeping the gene pool diverse. Aside from societal inhibitions (I.E. the woman cheating is bad. Look at chicago; the girl's husband was just "A mealticket"), I see no reason why the human race couldn't be the same.

But there are a lot when you consider jobs, time, money, etc. Modern day is very complicated, mostly because it isn't a race to see who can kill that wildabeast better, it's a race of sometimes luck, and other times good behaviour (If you say "omg this job sux" in front of your boss, he won't promote you, kiss up, get promotions, etc.) to rank high in societal structure.. so dorks like bill gates get supermodels for being backstabbing, unathletic freaks, while actual atheletes that probably woulda been good at taking down a mammoth back in the day are too involved in being ABLE to take down that mammoth to have a kid or two.

Oh well.

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Ace in the Spade was naked while typing this:
What society are we talking about? Mainstream christian society? Then no, not really acceptable. Is it morale, for the same group proabbly not. To men of Islamic faith, yes and yes under certain circumstances. For me, I don't believe in morals/ethics due to the fact that they are merely things made by the masses as a method of control. In otherwords generational brainwashing and all.
All forms of marriage are ok by me. By soceity, depends on which ones you're talking about. In general Id say most no.
Marriage/divorce should be done by the people in the union thats it. No one else should be involved, except if its nessecary to work out monetary things and what have you. Even though I think men get the shaft when it comes to such split ups.
Everything should be determined by the people in the marriage. If they can't come to some conclusion then a mediator should be brought in. But I don't like the current method, where guys marry a girl and end up divorced and homeless and paying child support. How that works, I dont understand

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I'll agree that having a strong religious faith plays a big role in if you find it morally acceptible. Most western religions are deeply rooted in monogamy, which is why it's generally frowned upon to be a polygamist over here.

As for Morals and Ethics being something imaginary and made up by the masses as a form of brainwashing, I'll dispute that. You see nothing wrong with polygamy, so I'll take that to mean that you're not morally opposed to it. How about rape, murder, or child molestation? If you're opposed to any of them, then I'd venture to say that you're morally/ethically opposed to it, and thus displays that morals and ethics are not just a factor of what you'd been taught, but also based on your own choices and experiences. I'll say that your morals are affected by the society you're raised in, but not entirely dependant on it.

And what I meant for divorce / marriage. Let's take a small clan marriage, 2 men and 3 women. Let's say 2 of the women aren't getting along anymore and to save the marriage, one must go. Who decides who leaves? Does the head of the family decide arbitrarily, take a poll of all the husbands and wives and let majority rule? And for a new marriage, does it take universal consent of the entire family to accept a new spouse? Just a single person?

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Alt_Account stopped beating up furries long enough to write:
Today's topic is:
Polygamy.

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This is going to take some time.

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Is it morally and/or socially acceptible?

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Depends on the nature of the society, and whether there are safeguards built into it to protect those people in multiple-partner situations. Nearly anything in morality can be explained away in some manner, but societal acceptance is an entirely different matter. Generally those same social principles upon which polygamy is built are also the basis for considering the person able to take multiple partners in some way superior to the partners he takes. Female polygamy is often wed with male dominance, and male polygamy with female dominance. Both systems often lead to sex-based abuses.

I think it could work, if it was a universal system (anyone can take anyone else as a marriage partner, no matter what gender they are) and there were more safeguards built into it for the prevention of abuse. Also, there would have to be something involving the management of households and records - otherwise things would get very sketchy very quickly when time came to read a will.

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Are certain forms of plural marriage more or less socially acceptible than others?

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Should marriage/divorce be by majority rule, choice of a figurehead, or some other method?

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How should the fiscal, sexual, and child-rearing responsibilities be assigned or divided?

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So quoth Mr. Parcelan:
No.

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[ 09-14-2003: Message edited by: Ace in the Spade ]

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Ever a paragon of knowledge, Ace in the Spade said:
The reason why I'm opposed to it, is not because I think its amoral if you kill someone, or if its ethical. I do not consider rape to be an act thats wrong or right. Personally I cosnider very little to be wrong or right, because of how much things are based on peoples perceptions. But I do NOT agree with rape. I do not think any person has the right to force themselves upon another for any reason.
Just as a thought let me know what you think of this. If you take a group of humans, leave them completely alone from birth until death. No contact with any other group, do you think that when the women have sex, they will always be consenting? Would it be rape to them? Or is merely rape to us? Does not the societal context determine what the action means to us?
When an animal mounts an other animal is that rape or just procreation doing its thing. Its all entirely based on the society you grow up in or form. However I personally find the act of forced sex to be a horrible thing. I dont agree with it, condone, and would very much like to burtally hurt those who do. (emphasis mine)

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What the fuck are you babbling about? In your first post, you say that you believe morality and ethics SHOULDN'T be followed because they're a means of mind control. THEN you go and decry rape as a horrible act, but only after saying you find very little right or wrong, rape included?

Let's all take a moment to let that sink in.

....

Ah.

Wow, that about takes the cake as the dumbest thing I've ever read. No doubt your reply will trump this nugget of shit, though.

EDIT: Ah, even you realized the inherent idiocy of that post. Well, good for you!

[ 09-14-2003: Message edited by: Karnaj ]

Mental Note: Think before writing....

[ 09-14-2003: Message edited by: Ace in the Spade ]

If your partner's okay with it, and you're okay with it, everyone should be okay with it because it's none of their fucking business. If your partner isn't, no go.

There's no universal set of ethics or morals, so those of you who go "NO" need to get a clue.

Socially acceptable? Depends on where in the world you are.

-Tok

I'm with Tok.

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Toktuk wrote this stupid crap:
The whole point of marriage is to commit yourself to someone else. Just one person. If you can't do that, don't get married.

-Tok

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Much agreed.