Ravenwood - 05/19/04 07:15 AM
Last night's episode of Colonial House was pretty interesting. The underlying conflict of the colony surrounded the influence of laws and religion. When confronted with puritanical laws prohibiting swearing and mandating that people attend the Sabboth services, the colonists were in revolt. First only a few refused to go to church, then more than half. Eventually there were so many people being punished that the Governor had to suspend punishment for missing church services.
Now, as a 21st century Libertarian, I have no problem with people who cuss. Personally, I cuss all the time. I also have no problem with people who aren't religious, nor with those that are. But if someone is offended by being asked to attend church services, they sure as hell shouldn't volunteer to live by Puritanical laws. Were they too stupid to know what Puritans were? (Or why they no longer exist?) Puritans were all about religion and the moral code and they insisted that everyone else live by their rules. That is the primary reason they died out.
The so-called colonists aren't being open minded to Puritanical life at all. They are trying to apply 21st century U.S. views to a 17th century Puritan colony. They are expecting to enjoy religious freedom more than 100 years before the birth of the United States as a nation. Had there been reality in this reality show, there would have been lashings dealt out.
I am by no means validating the Puritan point of view. But lets be honest, if they weren't prepared to play by the rules, why did they volunteer to be on the show?
Um, their 15 minutes of fame?
Posted by: Ralph Gizzip at May 19, 2004 7:32 AMThat drove me nuts as well. Why did they volunteer for the show if they couldn't abide by the rules? Also, there was the guy who just left and went to a bar in town. I think the producers should have kicked him off the show and anyone else who doesn't want to play fair. It destroys the whole concept of the show. I think it should have centered around the conflict that 21st century people would have trying to live in the 17th century. This won't work if they just create a colony with 21st century values.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam at May 19, 2004 9:03 AMWhy did they volunteer?
Because they're publicity whores who can't sing, aren't willing to get married to someone chosen by the public, don't need plastic surgery, and aren't willing to eat raw earthworms or crawl around in bins of cockroaches?
I had hoped this show would be populated with publicity whores who were at least history buffs and interested in living in the past (rather than revising it), but it doesn't sound like that's the case. A shame.
Posted by: Kimberly at May 19, 2004 12:31 PMSo far I'm disappointed with this show. My main disappointment lies with the issues everyone is mentioning.
I'm 1/2 expecting the show to end with everyone moving into a hotel and just wearing the costumes.
-A
Posted by: Andy at May 20, 2004 11:18 AMWell, in defense of their ignorance, they've been told all their lives that the group called "The Pilgrims" came here to gain religious freedom.
They were not told that the actual idea was to be able to practice a particular form and suppress others. The "Pilgrims" had moved to Holland earlier, where they were quite free to practice their form, but were alarmed when many members and youngsters abandoned it in favor of other forms - thus the idea of making a sort of Ghetto in the Americas.
I doubt they were told the original economic structure, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need", was dropped after three disastrous years of seeing human nature assert itself under those conditions. Would that Marx and the Twentieth-Century Communists had learned from this small experiment in application.
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