Nickel Mines Shootings: Photographing the Amish...

[mickeyfan2]

Mickeyfan2,

From what I read, it's more than an agreement. The US Supreme Court first ruled, when it was challanged by members of the Amish and others, that the initial compulsary nature of the SS program participation was unconstitutional. Congress then passed additional legislation to ammend the program to add an religious objection exemption to the SS program. But like you noted, it's a total "opt out" and you are waiving the rights to any SS benefits as a condition of not having to pay into the program. Such exemptions are extended to Medicaid/Medicare withholdings as well.

From what I was told it was first an agreement and then it ended up in the SC.

 

[mickeyfan2]

This doesn't seem unusual to me because I see it on a daily basis. The amish do use the services of banks and other businesses, so why wouldn't they use an atm.

Our favorite is when they got the the drive thru but walk up. I believe the horses would get spooked being in line with the cars, so they park the buggy and take their position in line on foot.

Many of the Amish farmers are millionaires. When a son marries the son's parents buy them the farm with cash (not all but the ones we know) and the son and his new wife then spend the rest of their time having kids and saving for the kid's future. The last son gets the family farm. They add on to the house and the parents move there and the newlyweds (who are actually married for a year by then and may already have a kid.) move into the original house.

 

[mickeyfan2]

And I thought the Amish eschewed the use of technology.

Misconeption. They evaluate each new technology and if it helps the family unit they use it, but if it does not then they don't. Take the phone. Having in the home makes it too easy for family members to retire to other rooms to talk to friends and not family, so no phone in the home. Having a phone to call for an ambulance is good, so the compromise was the outhouse phone at the end of the lane. Also there are the wires coming to the home. The Amish live in this world but are not part of this world. They feel the wires tied them to the world, so they keep their homes wire free.

 

[jann1033]

this is really too funny we're all so concerned about the amish but again that shows the difference..here when they build a house they have to wire it and put in plumbing which they supposedly don't use ( although i haven't seen nearly as many outhouses by the newer homes and so i'm guessing more use it now ) and here they use phones for their businesses, not just emergencies...we even have an "amish businesses" section in the phone book, no idea why they seperate it unless it's so you know to let it ring forever

one of the cutest things i ever "wish i had taken a picture of but didn't" was a tiny Amish girl and a little older boy driving a pony cart & pulling their slightly bigger brother who was wearing online skates..i know what you mean fitzperry it just seems like it doesn't go together i know here it used to be they couldn't own anything with rubber tires and some still don't but lots of the little kids ride scooters and stuff . i don't think I've ever seen any with bikes although some have toy cars and planes to ride in which i always thought was kind of funny too . and we joke because every year at our local fair there is an Amish man who looks like Elvis Presley in his skinnier days( same hairdo and skin tight pants too ) so that's where Elvis really is

i have a close friend who is married to an ex Amish man...she's out of the country for a few months but if i remember when she gets back( kind of likes 1 in a million chance with my memory) I'll ask her about the church/tax thing. they would definitely disagree with some things said here since I've heard stories about his childhood that would make your hair curl but I'm sure every case is different and the Amish don't( unfortunately ) have the market cornered on child abuse

 

[fitzperry]

so that's where Elvis really is

Sounds like the media circus is following the wrong Amish community.

 

[Geoff_M]

Misconeption. They evaluate each new technology and if it helps the family unit they use it, but if it does not then they don't.

I read a great article several years ago about how many Amish go about evaluating the use of "new" technology. It was, in of all places, in Wired magazine. The article said that the benchmark they use is "Does it bring us together, or draw us apart?" I actually found the article in their archive: Link It's a great read.

It talks about a lot of the things that Jann mentions and explains the rational used for their adoption. For example, the author visited an Amish harness shop and found modern electrical power equipment (though run from diesel generators), indoor telephone (it's impractical to take orders from one of the traditional Amish shanty phones), and even a PC (stand alone with no Internet connection) to handle the business finances. In each case the technology is narrowly adopted in an effort to stick to the "apart, or together" benchmark.

 

[jann1033]

Sounds like the media circus is following the wrong Amish community.

 

[T. Lynn]

I live about 15 miles (if that) away from where it all happened. So sad...