Growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the concept of in-groups and out-groups has played a major role in my life. While in-groups and out-groups can be based on race, ethnicity, religion, or any of the other characteristics humans use to divide themselves, it is impossible for me to think of there being a divide as vast as the one I grew up within such a small area. I believe Lancaster County is the epitome of cultural division in the United States.
Lancaster County Pennsylvania, even with its incredibly rich history and cultural impact on the United States as a whole during the nation’s founding, is really only known for one thing in a contemporary context. It is the home of the Amish. For those who are not familiar with the religion, the Amish community is an extremely strict anabaptist faith that highly emphasizes the necessity of modesty and simplicity. For example, Amish people do not wear buttons on their clothes because they can become associated with fashion and therefore vanity. They are an incredibly hard working community who rarely, if at all, interact with “Englishmen”, as they refer to non-Amish people, outside of farmer’s markets. To separate themselves even further from society, they speak primarily Pennsylvania Dutch (similar to old-German). Even though some of the younger members of the Amish community are easing up on the strictness of their faith, the majority still maintain the old ways, which creates a very distinct out-group within the county.
I know several people who have voiced an opinion that the Amish should die out or dissolve into the surrounding communities. Their rationale is that their morals and traditions are relics of a past time and ought not to be perpetuated. That is not the opinion that I hold at all. While I would absolutely never become Amish myself, not that they would let me, it is their prerogative to live their lives the way that makes them the happiest. The United States was founded by people seeking freedom from oppressors, it goes against the ideological stance of our founding fathers to then oppress our own people. While Englishmen might consider the Amish to be the outsiders, they do not see themselves as such at all.
According to the few Amish people I have had the pleasure of speaking with (bare in mind it is difficult to communicate when one person is speaking PA Dutch and the other is speaking high German) have told me that we are the outsiders. Many Amish people believe that driving cars, participating in fashion trends, and many other luxuries that we take advantage of are extreme sins in which they have no interest in participating. Their ideological stance on their own position within the broader community has been the driving factor in the development of my personal perception of them, as it has been laid out above. My stance regarding the Amish is somewhat unique within Lancaster though. Their self-imposed isolation has led to several social and practical effects of “othering”.
When I asked my grandparents, all of which are Lancaster natives, about the Amish, their immediate response was to refer to them as a cult. While it isn’t necessarily wrong, the negative connotations of the term “cult” leads to a negative perception of the Amish among non-Amish people. It is very common for Lancastarians to talk about their hatred of the Amish community for a variety of reasons, mainly because they drive their buggies on the major highways.
In my opinion, it is really easy to fall into a hateful mindset. If someone does something differently than someone else, they might not be led to be curious as to why they did it one way instead of another. They might become stuck in the idea that their way is the only correct way to go about the task at hand. In regards to the Amish, it is readily apparent that they do quite a bit differently than non-Amish people. My question is, why hate them when all they want is to stick to themselves, their religion, and their cultural practices? They are not harming anyone, so why not let them continue their practice of self-imposed isolation and “othering”?
3 responses to “International Relations Blog #2”
I have passed through Lancaster quite a few times (as I live in Carlisle) and have seen the different way of life that the Amish live. It is a foreign idea to me that people would have such hostility towards the Amish community because, as you have said, they’re not harming anyone and have the right to follow their own religion within our country. Having a hateful view of a group of people solely on how they identify is not a healthy mindset. Do you think in an ever-increasing modern age, that the divide between the Amish community and the rest of the world will ever decrease?
Hello! I have an answer to your question, but it is a rather sad and morbid one. Within the Amish faith, there is a time period that acts as sort of a “coming of age” for young Amish people. During Rumspringa, as it is known, the 16ish year-old Amish kids explore and experiment with modern luxuries to test their faith and to ensure that they want to continue being Amish. If they choose to do so, they can leave the religion at that time. This practice, the presence of sickle-cell anemia within Amish communities, and the old age of many Amish people are leading to the steady decline of their populations. So to answer your question, yes, I do think the divide between the Amish and the rest of the world will decrease. It will decrease because as time goes on, Amish communities are going to fade away the way they have been for years.
Thank you, Gabe, for an interesting and insightful blog about the Amish community in your hometown. I only knew about the Amish through a brief youtube video I watched. Reading your blog has helped me gain insight into the Amish and how they are treated. I always thought Americans didn’t care about them. It is as you said America is the land of the free. Everyone is allowed to preach what they want. To answer your question they hate because they are different; People who are different are scary. My question to you is how is tax collected in the Amish community and is there different sects to their religion?