# What did I see in the airport...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200 "2006-04-04T04:31:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/21 "2006-04-05T02:28:00Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Boy, that first part is contrary to my experience. Well, to be fair, I do sport horns like Old Scratch. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/22 "2006-04-05T02:54:53Z")
DocCathode, excellent explaination, although it sounds like the plight of those people having to follow those rules makes for a very unfortunate existence. If they are so concerned about the ground, theres much worse junk floating around in the athmosphere, mainly fecal matter from the myriad of washrooms around, or the international soup of germs in an airport. You’d think they’d stick him in some kind of bubble. Then there’s the radiation and other particles we are constantly bombarded with. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/23 "2006-04-05T03:38:20Z")
> [@mrrealtime](#): > > If they are so concerned about the ground, theres much worse junk floating around in the athmosphere, Remember that these traditions are centuries old, and founded on beliefs going back millenia. While there is some concern about dirt and the ground as physically unclean, it’s much more about ritual and spiritual uncleanliness. Jewish tradition is that after being in a cemetery, you wash your hands before entering a house. But Jewish law states that anybody entering a cemetery is ritually unclean. They may only become clean again through the slaughter of a red heifer. > [@](#): > > mainly fecal matter from the myriad of washrooms around We are commanded to keep the latrines at a seperate outpost, rather than having them in camp. Again, this is due to ritual cleanliness as well as physical concern. > [@](#): > > or the international soup of germs in an airport. Airborne germs aren’t really mentioned in Jewish law. The great sage Maimonides was a doctor and was exposed to sick people all the time. > [@](#): > > You’d think they’d stick him in some kind of bubble. Why just him? This wasn’t some plan to keep him from touching the ground. It was to keep all of them from touching the ground with anything other than the soles of their shoes. If the man had been able to walk with a cane, that would have been acceptable. > [@](#): > > Then there’s the radiation and other particles we are constantly bombarded with. Which, not being mentioned anywhere in Jewish law, cannot make one ritually unclean. Don’t think of Jewish law and tradition as coming from a scientific basis. The law was given to us by the Lord, who never justified any law beyond the occasional “For I am the Lord.”. The Chasidic tradition makes no mention of pathogens. The tradition does not exist because of pathogens. Unless a contaminant is mentioned in the law, tradition, or is covered by them, it cannot make one unclean. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/24 "2006-04-05T03:52:32Z")
There isn’t one group of “Amish” but a variety of sects of Anabaptists who each make their own rules governing how and when what technology can be used. At least in Lancaster County families have been enjoying baseball for many decades. You’ll even see nighttime softball under lights; many sects OK the use of electricity outside of the home. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/25 "2006-04-05T14:46:22Z")
The first time I saw Amish was on a third-grade field trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (the _science_ museum). Two or three whole Amish families were there learning about dinosaurs, 4.5 x 10[sup]9[/sup] years of geological history, evolution (this was in 1967 before “Lucy” was discovered by Donald Johansen of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, but they were on it, all right), and the ecology of the Western Reserve. Die _Frauen_ mit die homespun granny dresses und kleine weisse bonnets, und the Knaben with moustacheless beards, suspenders, and flat brimmed hats. My classmates and I had no idea who could be these Volk who just appeared out of the Old West. Some kids snickered “cowboys!” I went home and described them to my Mutter. Sie exclaimed, “Ah! The Amish!” This was how I first learned of Amish. We have quite a few in Northeast Ohio, you know. I was quite the junior scientist in those days and I practically lived at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Then I grew up and took my kids there. Muslim men wear moustacheless beards too, especially in the Indian subcontinent, and most of all Bangladesh. If you see a guy all in _white_ instead of black with a moustacheless beard, I give 10 to 1 odds he’s from Bangladesh. My next-door neighbor’s dad uses this look. I think it has to do with the Hanafi school of jurisprudence or something. Yes, Islamic law tells you how you should look, how to wear beards, etc. Very much like _halakhah_. My guess is that the airport scene was only coincidentally Mennonite. Probably the old coot just wanted to take his favorite chair with him on his travels. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/26 "2006-04-05T15:54:28Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > There isn’t one group of “Amish” but a variety of sects of Anabaptists who each make their own rules governing how and when what technology can be used. > > At least in Lancaster County families have been enjoying baseball for many decades. You’ll even see nighttime softball under lights; many sects OK the use of electricity outside of the home. Yeah, frankly the biggest problem I faced was not saying ‘Ow, GodDAMN.’ when the kid burned one in there. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/27 "2006-04-06T10:28:03Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > They’re allowed to use public transportation. It would take an long time to go cross-country in a horse-&-buggy. That’s why they use Amtrak or Greyhound. The Amish don’t fly, except perhaps in a medivac chopper after a horrific accident. I’ve heard of Amish taking boat trips to Europe or the Middle East as tourists, but never have I heard of them flying when there is _any_ alternate means of transportation. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/28 "2006-04-06T10:50:42Z")
In my experience, the Amish don’t have any objections to [modern medical technology](http://www.800padutch.com/atafaq.shtml#medi) at least as far as it is used to save lives. In fact, the Amish in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania have many uncommon medical problems - they are a small group that have intermarried for generations, so this is not unexpected - which are treated by and studied at [the Clinic for Special Children](http://www.clinicforspecialchildren.org/). There are differences among Amish groups about using _preventative_ medicine, so that for instance some Amish groups do not allow their children to be vaccinated, while others allow certain vaccinations. That might be why people assume they are opposed to _all_ aspects of modern medicine - plus confusing them with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists, I’m guessing. I agree, though, that these are not likely to have been Amish - the Amish rarely if ever fly. Besides, **mrrealtime** said they had moustaches, which is _definitely_ not an Amish thing - moustacheless “Abe Lincoln” beards are the usual style. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/29 "2006-04-06T12:20:47Z")
> [@mrrealtime](#): > > I’m pretty sure they werent Amish, they had mustaches and big black hats, and what looked like scarves. The really crazy part was the very old almost comatose old guy in the chair with wheels bolted on the legs, with all the wheels turning and four guys on each corner of the chair in long black flowing overcoats trying to keep the chair from spinning. If they had 'staches, they weren’t Amish. There is an Anabaptist tradition that moustaches are signs of military service, and since Amish and Mennonites are pacifists, they won’t wear any kind of moustache. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200/30 "2006-04-06T12:24:32Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > If they had 'staches, they weren’t Amish. There is an Anabaptist tradition that moustaches are signs of military service, and since Amish and Mennonites are pacifists, they won’t wear any kind of moustache. And upon finishing the thread, I see that the facial hair question has already been addressed. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-in-the-airport/351200.md?page=1)