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After a decade, South Dakota's Amish are moving on
- RickJWagner 4y agoI grew up in Mitchell, I know the area and the people. Those are some tough, resilient folks. They work with their hands through hard winters. They love their family. They don't have many material goods, but they have good hot meals with family and friends and they all go through life together. It's not an easy way of life, and it's not a common way. But it's not a bad way.
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago[flagged]
- wbl 4y agoWhy shouldn't they make money for reporting local news?
- gerdesj 4y agoBy repotting I take it you mean reposting. Noting someone else's original content and fluffing it up is sort of fine. Provided the fluffing involves original investigation then all OK but I doubt this is. The original source is generally the best source to quote, not an aggregator.
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y agoReporting, not reposting. Forum Communications did a big push against marijuana legalization in ND a few years ago when I think they should have stayed neutral. And I don't like some of their columnists
- ars 4y agoSo because you disagree with them you prefer they didn't exist? You don't think they have a right to their opinions, and the right to make some money?
- TylerE 4y agoYou are not appreciating just how far right some of these small rural outlets have swung. Some of ‘’em make Pravda look legit, and I’m only barely exaggerating.
- karaterobot 4y agoTo be fair, there are many excellent news outlets which were further to the right of Pravda.
- ars 4y agoWait, are you seriously implying that if someone is far right they don't have the right to speak?
- TylerE 4y agoI do not believe corporations should have the right to free speech. Look into the crap Sinclair is doing making local anchors a go in corporate-written screeds word for word , while speaking as if it was their personal opinion.
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago[flagged]
- coldacid 4y agoGiven that R and T are at lot closer on the keyboard than S and T, I'm pretty sure that "repotting" is supposed to be "reporting".
- juytuj 4y ago[flagged]
- oogali 4y agoThis is not an aggregator. The bottom of the article states that this is the original source. The previous poster meant “reporting” not reposting as you interpreted.
- alex_young 4y agohttps://archive.is/W7Ek3 https://archive.is/W7Ek3
- ilamont 4y agoIf you are using Safari, you can switch to reader view to get past the paywall. Last summer we were preparing to demolish a family property in a rural part of New York and invited some local Amish to take some furniture and other things we no longer needed. Two of the middle sons (aged 18 and 19; they have 5 brothers and 7 sisters) came with a giant wagon pulled by huge dray horses ((https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuBWNWKG2a327VkuFK9l7CbEz8hK0YggAq8vP8Pkx5sQwK33VoG0UYwI8d3sVzs2D0J_N91RQcN-acaVlkjYARjtonnhvCyvRiYDr6WYvHu5qsDe5W5XshHvjVoOjZMXJNx5zPNpX0aUmzzvBXvq7oqjsH0nauIlQsOCJxFj5qUz-8PUe9eCY/s649/amish%20wagon.jpg https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh...)) and took it all away. They said the wagon is usually used for harvesting hay and corn, and sometimes for long distance moves of up to 40 miles. It's basically a hay wain used for other tasks as needed. They took all of the old furniture including a sofa and a large table and box springs. They put the sofa on the front so they could sit on it on the way back to the farm, which they said is a bumpy ride because the wagon wheels are ringed with iron and most of the journey is on pavement. They also took the doors off the hinges which they said their father was going to use for a workshop as well as an old woodburning stove which must have weighed 200 pounds 90kg) and had a nonstandard exhaust. They managed to heft it out of the old cabin and onto the wagon, and said they would be able to do some metalwork to make the pipe fit in the workshop ceiling, as well as the doors which were narrower. After the wagon was loaded they pulled out tobacco pipes and lit them and started smoking while we chatted. My dad said "I used to have a pipe like that" and the young one chuckled, and replied "Don't see English smoking pipes. Except some old fellows. Maybe like you." We all had a laugh. The Amish moved to the area about 40 years ago. The winters up there are brutal and they live a tough life starting at a very young age, but this community has revitalized family farms and helped to stem the population decline in that part of New York.
- bmer 4y agoAmish in general do not usually smoke tobacco (they are more on the teetotal side of things). So those kids were probably being a bit rebellious, which is usual for their age. Some church districts are okay with it though (both for smoking and/or agriculture), so it's possible they came from such a district too. Most in such districts smoke cigarettes. So, it's not that the Amish smoke pipes just to be old-timey.
- burlesona 4y agoWhile I don’t think the rest of society needs to go to the degree the Amish have, I think there’s a lot we can learn from their thoughtful consideration of technology and whether it makes their life better. Among the HN crowd, I feel we get excited about tech for the sake of tech, but finding an appropriate and healthy skepticism about the effects of our inventions is probably the next level of maturity we need to develop.
- ChatGTP 4y agoI completely agree. I don't really understand the hurry?
- 4dayworkweek4u 4y agoThe Amish are also very wise to separate peacefully/voluntarily from others based on values... decreasing conflict/trouble/tensions.
- Swizec 4y ago> Among the HN crowd, I feel we get excited about tech for the sake of tech I feel like HN has a healthy skepticism about IoT at least. We seem to generally agree that fewer devices should have internet access.
- xwolfi 4y agoAnd crypto thank God...
- alwayslikethis 4y agoYeah, HN is ironically the most tech-skeptical crowd I've frequented. Maybe it's a part of the libertarianism inherent in hacker culture, which is less diluted in HN compared to other platforms due to a lesser influx of new non-techy users.
- goto11 4y agoHonestly there is also a lot of hipster contrarianism in it. Like the comment saying the web was better when everything was served from cgi-bin.
- ren_engineer 4y agoI'm curious on HN's thoughts about why it is that Amish(and similar groups)have succeeded where hippie type communes failed? They've been going strong for centuries while most of the non-religious equivalents fell apart quickly. The stated goals seem to be similar to me in terms of them being mostly self-sufficient communities that look out for each other
- waboremo 4y agoWhy do you consider them failed? Many are still around, and new ones start all the time.
- paulryanrogers 4y agoIndoctrination to a rigid set of beliefs (often from birth), backed by threats of shaming or shunning, are more difficult to leave behind.
- subpixel 4y agoAlso sex abuse and the normalization of controlling behavior are more common in these self-isolating communities, and even more impactful on a person who has little to no contact with the outside world.
- theonething 4y agoSo you're saying sexual abuse is more prevalent in the Amish community than in the greater society? What are you basing that claim on?
- subpixel 4y agoEven if it’s not more common, young people in isolationist authoritarian communities are literally more trapped than victims in the greater society. I’m not sure how this observation offends.
- 4y ago
- Dig1t 4y agoI would actually love to become Amish. Is it a community that outsiders can easily join? Or do you have to be born into it?
- littlelady 4y agoI think a lot of people romanticize the Amish... they are pretty much an oppressive cult with quaint appearance to the outside that does not carry over to the inside. The Amish in my former area were infamous for puppy mills[1], but there were also talks of rampant sexual abuse and domestic abuse[2]. There are a lot of problems in closed-off communities and they can be rife with abuse. While working at the hospital I often interacted with Amish patients, many were there because of drunk driving (they were racing buggies). If you want to embrace their ideas of simplicity, you can do so without needing to join them. Plant a garden and grow some of your own food. Choose minimal spartan furnishing for your home. Sew your own clothes. Learn woodworking. [1]: https://www.stoponlinepuppymills.org/amish-puppy-mills/ https://www.stoponlinepuppymills.org/amish-puppy-mills/ [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IUz0zCiVLI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IUz0zCiVLI
- bmelton 4y agoFrom https://lancasterpa.com/amish/amish-frequently-asked-questions/ https://lancasterpa.com/amish/amish-frequently-asked-questio... > “Can an outsider join the Amish church/community?” > “A local Amishman recently remarked, “You do not need to move here to adopt a lifestyle of simplicity and discipleship. You can begin wherever you are.” Yes, it is possible for outsiders, through conversion and convincement, to join the Amish community, but we must quickly add that it seldom happens. First, the Amish do not evangelize and seek to add outsiders to their church. Second, outsiders would need to live among the Amish and demonstrate a genuine conversion experience and faith that results in a changed lifestyle. Third, it is extremely difficult for anyone who has not been raised without electricity, automobiles, and other modern conveniences to adjust to the austere lifestyle of the Amish. And to truly be a part of the Amish community one would need to learn the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.”
- emodendroket 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- mwbajor 4y ago"Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage" Or in todays language: "You aren't free if you are bound by your desires". This is a quote by Emmanuel Kant and I think it applies well to the Amish.
- emodendroket 4y agoWell, maybe, but then again how free are you when living in a highly restrictive community with a lot of rules on your personal conduct either.
- draw_down 4y ago[dead]
- mantas 4y agoAre we still talking Amish or General population with cancel culture, overreaching codes-of-conduct, „positive“ discrimination etc?
- emodendroket 4y agoYou don’t seriously believe that being asked not to make discriminatory statements at work is anything like the level of control that the Amish exert over their members, do you?
- Chris2048 4y agoYou don’t seriously believe that cancel culture is being asked not to make discriminatory statements at work, do you?
- emodendroket 4y agoMaybe you could define it for me, since that seems to be the first hurdle that makes these discussions unproductive.
- NovaDudely 4y agoFor all the flaws that others have pointed out, I kind of like the idea of the entirety of industrial civilization crumbling to the ground in a dirty messy heap over decades - and the armish being none the wiser. Just continuing on as normal. Maybe only occasionally stopping to say "I don't see as many planes as I used too... oh well back to work."
- draw_down 4y ago[dead]
- boomboomsubban 4y agoThe story mentions many of them worked for the local greenhouse, so that's not a very realistic fantasy.