The Amish--do people get annoyed at them?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’m actually from southern York County (for non-Pennsylvanians, it borders Lancaster County on the west side, across the Susquehanna River).

You’re absolutely right - having been over there a few times during tourist season, the tourists are far more annoying. Most of the major roads in the vicinity of Lancaster are just one tourist trap after another - mostly gift shops selling “shoddily-made pseudo-Amish tourist crap” to SUV-driving yuppies from Maryland.

A couple of the tourist traps do stick out in my mind though. I remember one that was a replica of an Amish farm, complete with actors pretending to be Amish. Somehow that one seemed really kind of disrespectful to what is for better or worse a legitimate religion.

And the other one I remember - I swear, I’m not making this up - billed itself as the “Amish Multimedia Experience.” 'Nuff said.

Also, speaking of buggy safety, I remember being told as a kid - dunno if it’s true or not - the following bit about buggies: Amish buggies used to be lit with old fashioned lanterns (i.e. with a flame). The story was that they fought against it, but the state finally made them use a battery-operated light, and put an orange reflective triangle on the back of what would otherwise be a dull gray, poorly lit, nearly invisible at night vehicle. I know they’ve got the triangle and I’d bet money the government had to make them do that, but as for battery-powered lights, I don’t know. It seems like that would go pretty hard against their religion, and having learned to drive there I don’t recall seeing anything specific about vehicles having to be lit with an electric light, etc.

22

The lights are battery-powered around here. I dunno how hard they resisted, but when the option was to risk death and mutillation by night and/or to be denied the ability to drive after dark, I’m sure they came around quickly enough.

23

The only thing I had against the Amish was my fear that someday I was going to round a curve going 40 mph and wipe out a family of 7 doing 5 mph. Those country 2-lane freeways have lots of curves.

And I’ve never seen an Amish buggy driving on the shoulder, regardless of width, they were always just in the lane, trotting along.

(ohio amish that is, holmes county is where I grew up.)

24

The Amish buggies in Lancaster have used battery-powered lights for as long as I can remember.

There’s a popular misconception that the Amish are opposed to all technology newer than such-and-such a time. Not so. They’re just very picky about what they will accept or reject. Battery-powered lights allow them to travel from place to place in the dark, for instance to visit other families or to go to early morning worship services in the wintertime. This strengthens the community, so battery-powered lights are acceptable. On the other hand, electricity in the home would open the door to things like radio and television, which (from the Amish point of view) would weaken the community; therefore they reject electricity in the home. Each church community decides this for themselves, so there are variations in what Amish from different areas find unacceptable.

genie, the questions in your second post are quite different than those in your first. The best answer I can give you is that I don’t know. Amish adults have to make the decision to join the church, so in theory they’re all living that way by free choice. On the other hand, they were raised in a community that keeps quite a bit to itself, so saying they don’t want to join means leaving everything they’ve known. With only an eighth-grade education and only very basic knowledge of how things are done in the “outside world”, a person who didn’t want to join would also have to seriously consider how s/he intend to make a living. I’d venture to guess that at least some Amish adults aren’t happy about their situation but feel powerless to change it - but please note that I’ve never met such a person, nor have I heard about this through anyone I know.

25

A large one, yes. Hee hee hee.

The joke was based on my initial mishearing of the news reports, in which the presenters ran the words together like “Aumsh Inrikyo”, and I turned to my wife and said “Did they just say the Amish were involved?!?”. A second hearing clarified the issue, but I thought I’d throw that one into the discussion.

I’ve also done the “almost run into the back of a buggy on a winding country road at night”, and all I can say is, thank God (and the gov’t) for the red triangle and lights. And yes, I was probably driving too fast at the time for the conditions. Fortunately, I learned that lesson the first time and without incident.

Speaking of local stereotype exploitation, southern PA has a theme park called “Dutch Wonderland” with the whole windmill/wooden shoe/tulip theme. Except that the theme comes from the fact that they’re in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Who are of German descent (Dutch in this case being a corruption of “Deutsch”). So the whole thing makes no sense at all. But then, the sort of tourists who go for this are hardly that discerning.

26

A number of years ago, in the 1960’s as I remember, Iowa authorities (I think it was the County Attorney) got after the Amish in either Fayette or Johnson county because their children weren’t going to school but were home schooled. The County Attorney was responding to a formal complaint from either a school official or some citizen.

There were news pictures of deputy sheriffs chasing children wearing black clothes and (to the rest of us) funny hats into corn fields. I think that that time Iowa didn’t allow home schooling. The whole thing died down over time as home schooling became acceptable.

So yes, some people resent the Amish. But then some people resent anyone who is “different from us.”

27

I deserve the whoosh, jr8. I thought after posting that your post had to be a joke; no one could be that far off the mark.

28

When I lived in Chicago and rode Amtrak a lot I used to share some of the rides with Amish and Mennonite travelers (one of my fondest memories was an Amish family standing next to the Sears Tower asking a punk with leather-and-chains and pink and green hair directions on how to find a place to eat downtown. Only in America)

Also, now that I am in Indiana there are Amish communities in the vicinity.

Yes, they do annoy some people. Usually, I’ve found, the same people who are annoyed at anyone who isn’t “with it” or living life exactly the way they do.

Yes, a slow-moving buggy can pose a hazard on the freeway - maybe that’s why the interstates around here have signs that SPECIFICALLY forbid “horse-drawn vehicles” from entering? You know, the buggies were on the roads first. The only place I’ve ever seen the Amish trotting along has been on rural roads and other places where, guess what, you shouldn’t be driving at breakneck speeds anyhow. I guess the same idiots who get cheesed off at my driving >gasp!< the actual speed limit would also be perturbed by horse and buggies. You know what? I’m just not in that much of a hurry, I don’t find them annoying. Hey, I’ve never been tailgated by an Amish dude flipping me the bird.

As far as technology - they don’t reject ALL technology, they’re just very choosey at what they adopt. Battery powered everything seems to be OK. Wall outlets not OK. Solar power OK. Stand-alone generators sometimes OK, sometimes not. And it’s all based on how the technology affects the community.

Medical technology is OK - but not medical insurance. So, if an Amishperson needs, say, a kidney transplant the community usually kicks in and they pay cash (!). Because, in truth, some Amish are not poor, they just look poor because of their lifestyle and manner of dress. Some are struggling financially, some are quite well off.

If an Amishperson is not working the family farm or business, in other words, is working for someone else, they are certainly permitted to learn to use any technology required for the job. So, if they’re in a factory job they may well use power tools or computers if that is part of the job. But that stays solely on the job. And they don’t really like to work at such jobs.

Car and bus rides are permitted, provided the Amish are not the operators of the vehicles. Trains are OK for long distance travel. Airplanes are not OK, except in dire emergencies, like emergency travel to medical treatment. Cruise ships are OK - periodically Amish groups will take trips to Europe or the Holy Land or other locales via a cruise ship.

Last I heard, about 20-25% of the Amish children do not join the church when they grow up. They might move to a Mennonite farming community (where they’re skills would be useful) or set up stores making things like “Amish furniture”, but some have, in fact, moved on to advanced education. One of the psychology professors at the University of Chicago was from an Amish family, and was a man with multiple PhD’s. Because he never joined the church but left before being baptized he was still on good terms with the folks back home (after an initial couple of years of shouting and adjustments). The Amish aren’t always happy about the kids who don’t join, but voluntary committment to the faith is extremely important, so they do expect this to happen from time to time. So, while departure followed by higher education is rare it is not unheard of and certainly possible. Say what you want about the Amish teaching practices, they’re kids DO have a solid foundation in reading, writing, and arithematic which is the basis on which all higher education rests. And that’s more than you can say for the average public high brat.

As far as the idyllic protrayal of them - that annoys the crap out of me. They are, after all, human beings. They have their share of drunks, suicides, theives, murderers, and other assorted flavors of bad people, at about the same rate as the rest of the population. Why this surprises anyone I don’t know.

Fact is, any Amish person is free to leave the Amish community at any time. Would it be difficult? Sure. And it’s been darn difficult for the occassional person who joined their community, too. Life in general can be difficult, regardless of what you believe or who you are.

29

<hijack>
WISCONSIN v. YODER, 406 U.S. 205 (1972) - “Respondents, members of the Old Order Amish religion and the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church, were convicted of violating Wisconsin’s compulsory school- attendance law (which requires a child’s school attendance until age 16) by declining to send their children to public or private school after they had graduated from the eighth grade.”

The Court overturned the convictions. For details, see http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=406&invol=205
</hijack>

30

My grandparents are Mennonite and my grandmother used to be Amish. They live in the heart of “Amish Country”, Holmes County Ohio (where snermy is from).

Amish and Mennonite are way different, in my mind. My grandparents don’t really like the Amish. They don’t feel their religious views aren’t very Christian - like they don’t hear Bible stories in Penn. Dutch or English, but a German dialect which most don’t speak (sort of like Latin with Catholics). One of their Amish neighbors, who was 18, was thinking about joining their Mennonite church and my grandparents had to tell them all of the basic Bible stories they’d never heard (such as Noah’s Ark and the like) and explain to them the Mennonite idea of Christianity. However, once 9/11 happened, the fiancee of this girl decided he didn’t want to get drafted so they went and officially joined the Amish.

Don’t get me wrong - the Amish I know and grew up with are all very nice folks and extremely hard working. They’re humble and welcoming. But they have their problems, especially with teens who have lead such a sheltered life and ready to get their freak on before they join the order.

I think my grandma has said they are having problems getting kids to join the church, too. More and more kids are turning away and becomming “English” (their word for non-Amish.) However, they all have 10 or more kids, so there will always be a few around.

One other thing - it’s hard to stereotype Amish because every district (which can be very small, all based on geography) has its own set of rules - which is another thing my grandparents hate. Some can use indoor plumbing, some can’t. Some can have telephones, some can’t. Very colvoluted rules.

31

That reminds me…

Q: Why can’t the Amish waterski?
A: It’s too hard on the horses.

32

Bad Already in Use! <swats AiU’s nose with a rolled up newspaper>

I read a newspaper article the other day on lost languages that said that Pennsylvania German will likely die out in a generation. I guess the Pennsylvania Amish are more “English” than they realize…

33

There have been predictions of the immanent demise of the Amish and related groups for over 150 years… and it hasn’t happened yet.

Although they were wiped out in Europe…

I expect they’ll be around for at least a few more generations. For every person leaving their communities digusted with the culture and faith there seems to be at least one or two who stay because they genuinely feel at home.