Otaku, Cedric's weblog

Fun with unions

I was discussing with a friend about same-sex marriages the other day (for those of you who don't live in America, there is a big controversy sweeping across the country about whether same-sex marriage should be allowed or not.  It's currently illegal in most states but a movement aiming at making it legal is gaining a lot of momentum).  My friend pointed out that if marriage gets reformed, then maybe we should also consider making polygamy legal as well.

This idea is not the point of this post, although my opinion is that the two debates have nothing in common since the monogamy law doesn't violate the "equal rights" clause of the Constitution.

After this discussion, I did some research on the Internet for "polygamy" to gain some insight.

Sure enough, there is a Web site called polygamy.com, and that's where the fun starts.

First of all, their main page is quick to point out that they endorse the idea of a man having several wives but not the other way around.  Let's leave aside the fact that this idea is anti-constitutional for the reason cited above for the moment and focus on what this Web site has to say:

"Polygamy", as referred to on this site, is meant in its most popular usage, where one husband has more than one wife at the same time. Technically, Webster's Dictionary defines this practice as "polygyny."   Polygamy.com does not support "polyandry", where one wife has more than one husband at the same time.

It seems to me the authors of this Web site were so gung-ho about the idea that they decided to register the name polygamy.com and create a Web site.  Then out of curiosity, they checked the dictionary and to their horror, realized that their understanding of the word "polygamy" was...  inaccurate, to say the least.  It's too late to backtrack, so they go to all these lengths to justify that throughout their Web site, they will be using their own meaning for the word, not even realizing that they are actually undermining their goal for all the readers who won't bother reading their disclaimes.

But it doesn't stop here.

For more fun, check out their explanation why "polygamy (polyandry actually) is good for women".

The Onion would be proud.

 

 

Posted by cedric at March 14, 2004 08:43 AM