Booze and Polygamy don’t mix?

Great Debates
#1

In Moslem countries Polygamy is officially permitted, while drinking of Alcohol is officially forbidden. In Western countries Polygamy is a criminal offence and drinking is officially permitted.

True, average Moslem man does drink and has only one wife. However, societal norms are clearly in contradiction. Western people extol monogamy, while Moslems extol abstinence in drink.

Is that just a coincidence? Or is there something in Nature that makes devotedly “dry” people polygamous and makes “wet” people devotedly monogamous?

Personally, I am on the side of Booze. I’d take an extra pint of Stout over an extra wife any time. But now I wonder, Why?

Is there anything inherent in Booze that stands in irreconcilable opposition to Polygamy?

It can’t be simply that Booze suppresses the libidinous drives, for Adultery certainly flourishes among Bakhus worshipers (That is another thing that Moslems take very seriously btw, making Adultery a criminal offence).

What could it be?

#2

Booze and pussy it is!

#3

My vague impression was that Mormons also have prohibitions against alcohol and once allowed polygamy. Note, however, that these religions are not allowing “polygamy” in any sense of being sexually free…I don’t think either one endorses women having multiple husbands.

And, there is where I think we get to the root of it: Some fundamentalist religions have both alcohol prohibitions and atrocious attitudes towards the rights of women. I think that is more what goes hand-in-hand.

#4

Hm. I’m effectively polygamous except for legal issues.

I homebrew.

Nope, no connection.

#5

With just two broadly interpreted points of data, you can ‘prove’ a loose correlation between just about anything eg.

"Hindus tend to worship many gods, and often eat chapatis
Westerners tend to worship one god or no god, and eat fewer chapatis.

Therefore chapati-eating and polytheism are linked".

Your proposition is inane.

#6

well, when drunkenness can result waking up to coyote ugly folk, no wonder a polygamous society would want to bad alcohol! Instead of chewing off one’s own arm, one would need a lawyer to do the chewing!

#7

Correlation is not causation.

#8

Are you for real, NI?
I think that joke threas go in Cafe Society or somewhere else.

#9

Does that mean that during Prohibition, everyone in the US became polygamists?

#10

NI: Is that just a coincidence? Or is there something in Nature that makes devotedly “dry” people polygamous and makes “wet” people devotedly monogamous?

Considering the number of human societies that have practiced both polygamy and alcohol use—including the Jews of the Old Testament, many Muslim cultures (irrespective of the formal scriptural prohibition of alcohol), many groups of Hindus, numerous societies in Africa and Polynesia, etc. etc.—I’d have to guess that it’s just a coincidence.

#11

You might be on to something. Didn’t “swing” become popular around that same time? :wink:

#12

Remember, kids, if you’re engaging in polygamy, don’t drink.

Interesting – it never occurred to me that both Muslims and Mormons both practiced polygamy and avoided alcohol. (polygamy is still practiced by fringe groups out in the hinterlands of Utah. They’re Libertarians, interestingly)

On the other hand, Muslims can and do drink coffee, and you can’t if you’re LDS in good standing. That’s why they have Snelgrove’s.

#13

Correlation is not causation blah, blah blah…

BUT

If you’re engaging in a relatively complex social interaction, one which relies on true honesty and great presence of mind to create a loving atmosphere for multliple sexual partners, and at the risk of alienating your family, co-workers and peers…

…ya might not want to be sloshed out of your gourd.

Just a thought. :slight_smile:

#14

Judaism allowed polygyny up until about 1000 years ago for Ashkenazim and there are still some Sephardim who practice it to this day, yet there is no general prohibition on alcohol in Judaism.

Zev Steinhardt

#15

It should be fairly obvious that if you’re you’re going to drink and marry lots of women, they should all have the same name so you can keep your stories straight.

#16

It should be fairly obvious that if you’re you’re going to drink and marry lots of women, they should all have the same name so you can keep your stories straight.

#17

Seeing double, Bryan? You’re shut off for the night.

#18

On the contrary: it should be fairly obvious that if you love and respect a woman and hence engage yourself in a marriage with her - a marriage with one woman solely or with more then one - that you have no need to invent any “stories” to make them believe that you love and respect them and that you hence engage yourself in a marriage with them.

Inventing stories is the way of people who have no respect for their partners and hence have no plans for marriage and loyalty at all, yet try to make them believe they do.

Salaam. A

#19

I would strongly recommend you get married to a sense of humour, posthaste.

#20

Quite true. It appears that for Moslems there is nothing licentious about Polygamy; to the contrary, they regard it as one of the pillars of their system of moral law and order. That’s what most Western people don’t understand, equating polygamy with some sort of legalized Adultery (which Moslems take much more seriously, btw). That’s how conditioned we are in the West by millenias of officially enforced Monogamy.

Combination of Booze and Polygamy was quite common in Pagan West, and it was recurring through Christian times, especially during Reformation (I vaguely remember a story about some “Ian of something” taking over a city, revelling and murdering there with his many wives). In that light it seems that combination of Booze and Polygamy might be just too dangerous for any civilized society.