I just saw this play last week which was truly fabulous. It’s about, yes, love, but also about women’s and men’s rights. It’s about tradition and progress. But what I took away, was the message of freedom.
The premise is that 50 sisters have been promised by their father (before their birth) that they would be married to 50 brothers. The girls escape on the day of their wedding into the house of a stranger, who begrudgingly agrees to grant them temporary refuge.
The intro for these girls is the song “You don’t own me”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnjdCJoDji0
I would assume that by saying someone else doesn’t own them, that they believe that they own themselves.
“I’m free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want”
These are my people! Libertarians at heart!
One of them even makes comments about how they don’t want to be “taken care of, anymore”. She makes the point that they can take care of themselves. Hell yeah! You go sister! Self-sufficiency all the way. We don’t need government to take care of us.
One of the guys made me nervous though. He made a comment about how using physical force and violence is necessary for defending the homeland/wives/daughters. He was conflicted because he felt that women live in a bubble and are blissfully unaware of the violence that is necessary, and once they witness it, they condemn it, even though it’s necessary. This makes me nervous because this is what every politician says to spur his people into war. Yes violence is necessary, but yes it should be condemned.
There was one comment from a girl that made doubly nervous. She wanted a submissive lifestyle. She wanted an assertive man to take the lead and tell her what to do. Especially in the bedroom. I don’t remember the logic she used, something along the lines of: she felt that by submitting herself fully to another, she had the freedom to not make choices. I’ve been asked, “In an AnCap society, would there still be slavery? Could people still voluntarily sign their life away to another person?” To which I would say, no. At that point, it wouldn’t be considered slavery. It’s slavery, because it’s against their will. Unpaid interns are like voluntary slaves. The staff takes a dump on the interns, asks for coffee, generally abuses them, and the intern chooses to take it because they are star struck at getting the chance to work at this company. It’s unfortunate and it shouldn’t exist, but the only thing I can do is to show them the pros and cons and ask them to reconsider.
Is arranged marriage slavery? I would say yes. The only exception would be if the child asked to have an arranged marriage. There’s nothing wrong with matchmaking, and who better to do it than your parents. But if you decide they chose poorly, you should be able to opt out at any time. If it’s not voluntary, it’s slavery. You cannot be born into a contract. Just as it would be immoral to get a 10 year old to sign a contract (because they don’t have the full mental capacity), it would be immoral to get a 0 year old to sign a contract. The same goes for government. You can’t be born into a social contract. If you didn’t agree to it, then it’s not voluntary.
All in all, Big Love was a great play. I highly recommend it. It’s playing at the U of M Flint Theater.