Sunday, August 10, 2008

HEAVEN HELP US

If this is supposed to represent nuanced and intelligent dialogue. (He apparently fancies himself as an unofficial spokesperson for the Amish.)

The intellectual incoherence of his positions are almost too numerous to mention, but I'll try.

1. Using language that evokes physical violence (cut a gash) is unbecoming for a pacifist.

2. I agree that someone is going to burn in hell over the financial structure of our health care system, (that is, if there is such a thing as hell, and in this case I'm hoping there is!) but the separate and apart dictum embraced by the Amish precludes involvement, so unless he wants to sink or swim with the rest of us he needs to sit the hell down and shut the fuck up! Not to mention, the critique he is engaging in isn't tolerated in his own community, so if he believes in criticism why the fuck doesn't he advocate and promote it in his own community?

3. There's an adversarial tone of thinly veiled threats one might expect from a political lobbyist or a corporate litigator,

Surely the Plain folks gave the Lancaster County tourist industry a
substantial amount of business. For more than 70 years, the Plain lifestyle
seemed to be one of the county's main attractions. And just suppose all the
Plain folks hooked up to the electric grid. Eastern Lancaster County might
experience a mini blackout. Suppose we unhitched all the horse and buggies and
horse-drawn farm equipment and depended on fuel power instead of oats: Maybe gas prices would go up much more.

Consider if the Plain folks would decide to send their students to public
schools. School taxes would go through the roof.

how can that tone be reconciled with the "strangers in a foreign land" posture Amish faith demands?

4. If it's so awful for Amish folks to have their name in the paper, why the hell is his name in the paper?

To the extent that this guy represents Amish leadership or is condoned and given free rein by Amish leaders, his writings under score what I've been saying here for sometime, that there's going to be social discord between "the Amish and us". Meanwhile the folks who could be educating us on the issues that will need to be addressed are still portraying the Amish as this cute amusement, unworthy of serious dialogue.

2 comments:

holaolah said...

You've got issues. You should take your medicine like a good little boy and stop bothering these people.

easy said...

Yeah well, if they stayed on the farm like good boys and girls, I would leave them alone. What the hell is he doing writing an opinion piece?