An article written for TV Pixie…
Channel 4 brought us more fish out of water docu-nonsense last night with Amish, The World’s Squarest Teenagers – basically The Undercover Princesses or Meet The Tribe but with a different set of aliens crash-landing in the back yard.
Read the rest here.
*end of football comment*
20 Comments
I watched a documentary a couple of years ago which depicted ‘the spring’ or some similar moniker,whereupon Amish teens are encouraged to go out into the world (well, still in the same state, but, you know) and experience the hedonism and influences that exist there.
They went off and had a wild time, and then most of them chose to return to their community. It was sort of a right of passage combined with a reaffirmation of their beliefs.
Do you think these teens were on their ‘Spring’?
One of them was, and he was loving it. I was pretty impressed that such a thing exists. Rather than shield them from it, they recommend they try it…
Yes I know, and I was genuinely surprised at the the numbers that chose to return (According to the stats that were given on the documentary).
Very forward thinking, I thought.
Is it called Spring, or is it called something else?
SPRING BREAK! *whips off top*
Really have got to go now. Nice review SH! I like the sound of these witnessy types.
Thanks JRME…
FM – Rumspringa apparently…
Does this mean that Kingpin was more or less an accurate protrayal of the Amish?
It was. They even milk horses.
Aha, thanks Swines.
WWM: It makes you cleverer
Arn’t there any white people left in London now ?
Yes, Barb… loads.
After failiarizing myself with the Amish lifestyle, it seems the documentary was a little fabricated. There are many sects of Amish, Older order being more strict than it’s offsprings of others including the Beachy Amish who are less strict and more like the Mennonites who drive cars. For e.g no Old Order Amish sect would allow themselves to be filmed as did the parents in the documentary, niether would they let their children on a plane bound for the UK regardless of Rumspringa (Have you ever bumped into an Amish person ever in the UK on Rumspringa?)
The last Amish in Europe left On 1937-JAN-17 from Germany, most leaving in the 18th century. However Southern Ireland now has a small Beachy Amish community that originates from Pennsylvania (America’s largest Amish community).
The Amish are amongst the fastest growing population, and communities exist in most of the America’s including Canada, Mexico and Peru. After Rumspringa an estimate of only 3% leave their faith and community to live an “English” lifestyle.
The chances of Amish settling in mainland Britain are very slim due to the expense of land, Little space and the obvious distance.
I would have found the documentary more interesting for the British public, had it given an insight to the history and facts of how and why the Amish live such a primitive lifestyle.
On this side of the Atlantic little is known of thier way of life. And I can not help but wonder how many viewers thought of them as freaks and concluded to say “Only in America”.
Something that could have made for a very interesting documentary, turned out to be more “Wife swap” with an Amish twist.
Gary – it was definitely far less incisive and far more simplistic than it could have been – but this is 8pm on Channel 4. You can’t expect a detailed anthropological study. Wife Swap sounds about right!
Yes Swineshead you are no doubt correct, this is unfortunately more TV showing simplistic viewing for viewers with little imagination. I guess I should not really have expected anymore. I am sure next sundays episode will not fair any better.
As far as I remember, KEO films who were behind the documentary were turned down by most of the Amish communities in the States. The kids chosen had to spend 6 weeks over here. Lucky them :-s
Gary…what is it about the Amish that interests you? BTW, my frist thoughts were if they were 100% Amish, then they would not agree to go on the telly.
When I went to London, there were – and I’m not joking here – hundreds of thousands of white people. Indeed, I’m no racialist, but isn’t it about time we sent some of these people back to the shires so we can make room for honest, hard-working, British black folks?
Hi Mikey, I visit the states on a regular basis mainly to 3 states inparticular to visit my best friend in Iowa. Iowa has a few Amish communities, one being the largest the West side of the Mississippi. It was here I became intruiged by the Amish and their way of life. Not so much their faith as I myself am agnostic. However their primitive lifestyle and values to which they adhere inspire me.
As in my previous posts I mention that there are many different sects of Amish.Rules differ from community to community and are set by an elder from that particular sect, some stricter than others.
It is quite plausable that the Amish whom appeared on the programme were either Mennonites or Beachy Amish or of a simular subgroup.
i like their lifestyle and did more research on these groups. Its seems they are split into various subsects of old order amish whom are more conservative. So im guessing these amish are memononite/amish rather then old order.
Overall im impressed by the way they live and the general attitude of forgiveness and subsistence way they live in terms of providing for themselves is the way to go to get ‘off the grid’. I plan on visiting one of their churches just to observe how they live. Its a definite lesson for all of us in a social sense. Deep down i know that their values are very similiar to mine in a spiritual sense(albeit some things being a little over the top) but
this program just illustrated for me the hedoistic & immoral ways people in the modern world live their lives.
Its only when we come into contact with people like this and learn from them do we realise how sinful we are.
I am not in the least bit sinful, Jim.
*chucks stones at you*
Hi Jim,
It would not be possible for you to visit an Amish church as…well basically they don’t have one.
They simply meet every other Sunday in one of the homes of a congregation member. Members attend worship services within the district they live. In Lancaster County for instance each district consists of about 25 households. Generally, there are about 75 adults in each district. Counting children, districts may exceed 150 members.
Tradition began in the 1500’s which was a period of severe persecution towards the Anabaptists. As a result of these persecutions, the Anabaptists were forced to hold their services underground. Since it was too risky to hold public worship services, religious services were held in secret in the homes of the congregation.
Having said that, it is important to note that the Mennonites, who have also grown out of the Anabaptist movement, do not hold worship services in the homes of the congregation. The Mennonites hold their services in church buildings, so a visit to one of these maybe possible.
Gary
“After failiarizing myself with the Amish lifestyle, it seems the documentary was a little fabricated.”………..
Lol, do you actually believe what you write??!! lol