During one of Jimmy Kimmel's dialogues, he mentioned the TV show Big Love. Having never heard of it before, I googled what it was and found it was about....wait for it... polygamy! This (along with homeland winning just about everything) made my day.
After the Emmys were over I did some research on Big Love and watched a few clips from the show. Here I have included my favorite of the bunch:
I think this clip - in its 3 minutes- says a lot. The main character, Bill Hendrickson, played by Bill Paxton, is a polygamist male who has just been elected for a senate seat in Utah. I thought it was very interesting that he chooses not to be straightforward and truthful with his voters until after he has been elected, but instead hides the fact that he has many wives until the general public cannot do anything about it. This is because Hendrickson knew that he would not be socially accepted and would not win the election if the public was aware of his polygamist actions.
After Hendrickson announces that his practices polygamy, the audience goes into shock. Some leave, some boo him, and others just sit there confused, but all of them immediately change their opinion of the man whom each of them voted for. This reaction does not necessarily seem wrong at first glance, however; Hendrickson is the same exact man he was when the audience voted for him. He still has the same beliefs, plans to enact the same bills, and wants to be in government. If these people voted for him initially, they should still support him because his marital choices will not change anything on his political agenda.
I think that by creating this scene, the show's writers are trying to speak to the point that society (the audience) is not willing to accept people that have ways of life that differ from the norm (Hendrickson) but that these different people can still be important members of society. After all, the community chose to elect Hendrickson because they thought he would help their state and be a beneficial addition to the Senate so, in the end, what do his marital beliefs have to do with anything?
I think that the video you chose is definitely fitting with your topic. It's so interesting to see how people's attitudes toward someone or something change after they realize that that person's lifestyle is very different than theirs. This ties back to ethnocentrism and how people judge others based on their own traditions and values without really trying to be more open-minded about different beliefs. This also reminds me of the separation between church and state, I think that it can also apply to how people vote, not just how the church's power might be influenced by the state's power or vice versa. I think that as long as people accept about a politician's political beliefs then it should not matter what their religious beliefs are.
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