So anyway, it's been about ten years since the brief few months when I was a devoted Oprah watcher. Even so, I can remember a program devoted to "religion" where she told the token Christian point blank that she believed in Jesus and also thought there were many ways to heaven, while espousing some fairly New Age-ish lingo. Hearing about her forays over the years into different ways, including the recent New Earth business, has therefore not surprised me. I understand that Oprah has enormous power and that many, many people are completely devoted to her -- she just doesn't hold any fascination for me.

Yesterday I flipped on the television, which happened to be left on NBC. Oprah talked in the background while I was scanning through the guide, and I eventually tuned in to the fact that she was talking about polygamy. I flipped the guide off and listened for awhile, then paused <don't get me started on the joys of TiVo> and went for a piece of paper to take a few notes.

I missed the first 10 minutes or so, but watched the rest of the show and was a bit stunned when I finally flipped the TV off. The first segment I saw showed a polygamous family living in a compound of like-minded individuals in Arizona. A man and his three wives and ten children were portrayed incredibly favorably in Lisa Ling's on-site report, then they came on to speak with Oprah in person.

The first thing I noticed, and frankly what caused me to go for a piece of paper, was when Oprah said something like this is a polygamous family. Excuse me, the politically correct term is plural family. The man and his wives answered at different times, but I heard things like this is about family, we take care of each other. There was an incredible exchange that could have been lifted right from several different arguments I can think of off the top of my head -- this is about choice. We want people to have the choice to live how they want. We're being prosecuted for choice. I'm standing up for choice. There are so many alternative lifestyles in America, we don't want to be considered criminals for choosing this lifestyle.

These folks had some slick preparation. There was no mention of the illegality of polygamy in the first several segments -- merely a lovely, rational discussion about how great their situation is, how much they love and support each other and enjoy their alternative lifestyle.

The next segment was when I really got stunned. Oprah turned to one of the Jeffs compounds in Arizona, especially emphasizing when she did the voiceover: the FUNDAMENTALIST Church of Latter Day Saints. The whole tone was different; it seemed to me the picture was even darker, like they'd tinted down the footage. Lisa Ling and a woman who had escaped from that compound went back and talked about the horrible life she'd led. Cars honked as they went past, lots of shots of people looking out from behind darkened windows, people not answering the door. Lisa called it "secretive," she had "chills" from being watched.

The next segment was back in the studio with Oprah, talking about how terrible this FUNDAMENTALIST branch was. I was amazed at how Oprah managed to separate the reasonable and loving folks who were just making an alternative lifestyle choice, from those other people. It seemed to me she worked really hard to humanize the first family -- telling them she'd been misinformed, thanking them for their courage to come on, calling them the "moderates," that they'd shown her another side and changed her mind. Whereas the FUNDAMENTALIST branch was presented as just plain evil all the time.

Now I'm not saying they aren't plain evil all the time, I'm just saying I found it extremely interesting and somewhat disturbing to watch a very calculated line being drawn between your regular-average-Joe "plural" family, and the fundamentalists who were taking it to the extreme and giving the lifestyle a bad name.

The show ended with a discussion about legality. Oprah asked the gal who had escaped whether she thought polygamy should be legalized. No, that'll never happen. Ok then, should it be decriminalized? <As an aside, can someone tell me the difference between legalizing and decriminalizing, other than Orwellian doublespeak?> The woman said yes, for sure it should be decriminalized, because after all you can't prosecute everyone. We need to bring children out of the dark, mainstream them. They referred to themselves again as the "moderates" and condemned the Jeffs compound, likening it to living in Iran.

I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert on the topic, but it seems from what I've read that one of the top arguments put forth against gay marriage is the "slippery slope" argument. If you take away the classical and historical meaning of marriage as one man and one woman, there is no legal way to stop any other combinations you can possibly imagine. In my opinion, Oprah's show couldn't have been a better opening salvo in the battle to have polygamous marriage legitimized.

Was it merely coincidence that the show aired on the first day gay marriage was legal in California?