Thursday, January 24, 2008

TO CRITIQUE, OR NOT

Everybody is a critic, but I think it's inappropriate for the Amish to take a swipe at the non-Amish. Doesn't their faith demand of them to be like "strangers in a foreign land"? Isn't the Amish interpretation of the separate and apart dictum a critique in it's self? So when they act out this double jeopardy scenario, what happens to the integrity of their original commitment to be Amish? What about the irony of their participation in the privileges of a free and open society, when their own culture doesn't condone the kind of criticism from within, that they're directing at the non-Amish?

Their partisan involvement in the 04 election evoked another double jeopardy scenario. Voting wasn't the problem. Allowing themselves to become partisan props was the culprit. My concern is that there isn't any push back from the non-Amish, why aren't they held accountable? If the blogger I linked too would've confronted the Amish carpenter on the spot (why is the guy building high end homes if he thinks it's so terrible, who is the money gruber)? about the issues I raised and reported on the conversation that followed, not only would've he had a story, he would've done the Amish and the non-Amish a service.

Friday, January 4, 2008

VICIOUS BASTARDS

I've complained about the inhumane tactics used by fundamentalist Christians when they're proselytizing the Amish. The Amish are capable of being every bit as vile when it comes to religious warfare. I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance who left the Amish about forty years ago. He recently attended his brother in law's funeral who was Old Order Amish. The minister doing the service delivered a blistering message damning wayward members and after the service a family member publicly accosted him for his lapsed membership in a demeaning fashion. By any rational assessment my acquaintance is a dedicated, committed Christian, I don't have any sworn testimony, but I bet a lot of folks think he's a fine human being. I could understand if they couldn't refrain from stepping up the vitriol for a heathen like myself, but damn, that shit ain't right!