The Amish

What's your opinion the Amish? Hard working, sincere people who value the simplicity of a traditional life, or do you find them to be socially backwards and ignorant?

I find it hard to trust people who absolutely without exception do not listen to music.

Chris wrote:

What's your opinion the Amish? Hard working, sincere people who value the simplicity of a traditional life, or do you find them to be socially backwards and ignorant?

That. I tend to have a "live & let live...do you" attitude when it comes to lifestyle choice, but the Amish take it a little too far. These people still live in the 19th century.

Nhaiyel wrote:

That. I tend to have a "live & let live...do you" attitude when it comes to lifestyle choice, but the Amish take it a little too far. These people still live in the 19th century.

I wouldn't want to know them, that's for sure.

Chris wrote:

What's your opinion the Amish? Hard working, sincere people who value the simplicity of a traditional life, or do you find them to be socially backwards and ignorant?

That

I admire them. Backwards by our standard, yes. But I do not think they are ignorant at all. In the event of long-term national disaster they are the ones who would carry on the best with food and self-sufficiency. The only obstacle is that they do not believe in guns to protect themselves from predators.

Bluesmama wrote:I admire them. Backwards by our standard, yes. But I do not think they are ignorant at all. In the event of long-term national disaster they are the ones who would carry on the best with food and self-sufficiency. The only obstacle is that they do not believe in guns to protect themselves from predators.

And as was proven a few years back, even Amish schools are not safe from psychotic gunmen.

Whatever. As long as they don't infringe on others....let them do them. I ain't gonna be hanging out with any of them.

I respect their right to live as they choose. While it's not my kind of life and I find that they're beliefs incongruent with my faith, I don't see them as any different than any other religious denomination. A line that has stuck with me for a while came from a comedy about them. I doubt it was intended to be as profound as it was but it speaks volumes. "It is not we who are hiding." ("we" being the Amish.) I agree with it's idea. So what they still live in the 19th century. That IS their choice, is it not? I myself wish to take advantage of many of the technological advances of the past century but if they'd rather not, isn't that their choice? I certainly don't find rejecting technology to be immoral. It doesn't violate natural law. Exactly what negative feelings should I have towards the Amish? (Plus, they cook really good. )

Whatever floats your boat. During rumspringa a lot of them leave the Amish life.

Kral wrote:20/20 did an expose on Amish life recently. There's a really seedy underside to it. Many of them are poorly educated, really naive and their family life is so condensed that they fear outsiders and molest & interbreed with each other.

I ain't sure I buy the interbreeding thing given the "gotcha" nature of media reports.

And "poorly educated" in our culture often means not having gone to college for further indoctrination. I'd like to see any of us "English" run our own farm without our modern conveniences and helps. Since they seem largely self-sufficient, I have to wonder if they are really hurt by not having a bunch of extra useless knowledge that they aren't ever gonna use. And as for naive, I think the "English" are plenty naive. And fear outsiders? Maybe because they are given some good reason to. lol

Not that I advocate renouncing all modern things, but the critical view I see of the Amish seems highly inconsistent with the modern era of "tolerance" and "acceptance." As long as we are not forced to be Amish, who cares about them being primitive? lol Some people from a certain modern protest movement obviously have no issue with returning to primitivism so what's the issue with the Amish? lol

Whatever. It's not a lifestyle I can relate to or even respect, but it's not my business if that is how they choose to live. I think it's sad though how they tend to shun relatives who choose to leave it behind.

Forgiveness Man wrote:I ain't sure I buy the interbreeding thing given the "gotcha" nature of media reports.

And "poorly educated" in our culture often means not having gone to college for further indoctrination. I'd like to see any of us "English" run our own farm without our modern conveniences and helps. Since they seem largely self-sufficient, I have to wonder if they are really hurt by not having a bunch of extra useless knowledge that they aren't ever gonna use. And as for naive, I think the "English" are plenty naive. And fear outsiders? Maybe because they are given some good reason to. lol

Not that I advocate renouncing all modern things, but the critical view I see of the Amish seems highly inconsistent with the modern era of "tolerance" and "acceptance." As long as we are not forced to be Amish, who cares about them being primitive? lol Some people from a certain modern protest movement obviously have no issue with returning to primitivism so what's the issue with the Amish? lol

I don't buy the interbreeding, either. Amish is a very large community that doesn't need to.

I respect their beliefs, and their right to believe it. Just because the culture is different does not mean we should put them down. i cannot imagine what it would be like getting up at 4am to milk cows, scrub floors, churn butter, sew quilts, bake pies, build community housing, make my own clothes, adn then start all over the next day! lol im exhausted thinking about it

Nothing wrong with the non-mechanized aggrarian culture that they choose to live. As a child I experienced a lot of that on the farm in Mississippi, and as an adult have lived without electrricity or running water both in the U.S., Guatemala, Costa Rica and India.

If it weren't for subscribing to their religious beliefs, I think I could live among the Amish quite happily.

CatEyes10736 wrote:I think it's sad though how they tend to shun relatives who choose to leave it behind.

While I agree to a point, us "English" aren't exactly much better. Only instead of a literal turning of our backs, we just stop keeping in contact. End result is still the same; we just feel better about it cause it isn't as blatant.