Maugham's short story "Rain" comes to mind about now.

Lox, I was clarifying my point, I didn't take your remarks amiss.

This is a subject in which the bare facts are that a lot of men were in a position to take advantage of weaker individuals and those around them who knew about it turned a blind eye. Now, for the folks from ElDorado, it will begin with a hearing next week in a stadium, and they begin to try to sort out who are the mothers, who fathered the children, and which individuals turned a blind eye to the abuse they knew was going on, because that is a crime also. Mothers (and other adults) who knew what was happening to the daughters could be culpable. The article I just read said the last case like this was 50 years ago and it fell apart because of the complexity of the case. The laws are more complicated now, not less, so this one will be around for a long time.

There is one thing I find troubling about the case as it will unfold. Aside from the sex abouse, the women and children were in a self-sufficient community where there was little contact with society and media (television, cable) and the outside world. That may have been a simple and fairly carbon-neutral lifestyle going on. I get the impression that there was Internet, but I wonder at what level? Anyway, they'll now go into society and learn how to be good workers and consumers and shift into a social situation that we should all be trying to step back from to some degree, if we want to cut back on our general consumption of resources.

Who knows? Maybe someone smart will help them find some middle ground, autonomous and eco-smart.

SRS