Amish in the City

[BluberryPoptart]

I HATE reality shows, especially American Idol and the relationship based ones, but my curiosity and interest in the Amish got the best of me and I watched this. I don't know what to think. Some say they are using the Amish for comedy, and if they are that's wrong. But you have to admit mixing a bunch of Amish with wild LA people is something that can create laughs, if only for the culture shock of both sides. Do you feel the Amish are being exploited here, since they didn't grow up with TV's and may not understand? Or do you think this is a way for them to speak out to a world that doesn't know about their lives?

 

[ylimeU2]

I think they are being exploited. If they are actually Amish (which I have doubts about, in the first place), chances are they have no clue what reality TV is, and how their lives are reported on constantly, long after the show is over and everyone but the media has lost interest.

 

[Tomer]

who doesn't?

 

[BluberryPoptart]

Yes I have wondered if they were really Amish too. If they were, I honestly can't understand how they were found and recruited for this show. Did they go into the communities and seek out someone who might be interested? How would that work? Even if they are in 'rumspringa' where young people are able to experience the outside world, I can't figure out how they found them and recruited them

 

[kariatari]

As someone who has worked closely with Amish people through Global Health Corps, I am am absolutely apalled at this show. It's downright digusting that TV producers would exploit the vulnerable time in their lives where the Amish leave their homes and explore the outside world to decide where they belong. It is perhaps one of the most important decisions they will ever make, and being on a reality show will definitely not give them an accurate view of what it's like living in our society.

 

[BluberryPoptart]

How do you go about getting into their community and talking to them? Do they consider you an 'outlander' or something?

 

[NYbrowneyedgirl]

How do you go about getting into their community and talking to them? Do they consider you an 'outlander' or something?

The Amish live in communites that are mixed in with regular folk. I recently visited Amish country in Pennsylvania and it is very easy to interact with them when they go about their daily business. Many of them work in stores/restaraunts that cater to the tourists.

I stayed at a bed & breakfast owned by an Amish family. The Amish people vary in their beliefs, some do not use electricity and cars, others do. The ones I have met are really nice people, and great cooks!

 

[ylimeU2]

But do you think they would actually do a reality show?

 

[BluberryPoptart]

If they aren't really Amish, or if they are and the Amish are offended, we'll never know, since the Amish can't watch the show

 

[BluberryPoptart]

The Amish live in communites that are mixed in with regular folk. I recently visited Amish country in Pennsylvania and it is very easy to interact with them when they go about their daily business. Many of them work in stores/restaraunts that cater to the tourists.

I stayed at a bed & breakfast owned by an Amish family. The Amish people vary in their beliefs, some do not use electricity and cars, others do. The ones I have met are really nice people, and great cooks!

Thanks! I haven't eaten with them, but I did buy something called "Amish macaroni salad" at a country store that had been made by them.

 

[kariatari]

How do you go about getting into their community and talking to them? Do they consider you an 'outlander' or something?

As I said, I went with Global Health Corps, an organization at my university that prepares and presents culturally appropriate health education programs. We got the "ins" because one of our member's mother taught at an Amish school and asked the Amish community if it would be alright if GHC came in to present programs. At the risk of sounding cliche, it's definitely been an eye opening experience for me.

Funny that we're talking about this now, because yesterday I saw a bunch of Amish people shopping at WalMart for school supplies...

 

[The Sage]

Funny that we're talking about this now, because yesterday I saw a bunch of Amish people shopping at WalMart for school supplies...

How did you know they were amish? Were they wearing bearskins or something?

 

[RocknRollKitty]

The Amish I've seen do dress like Amish- dark clothes, long dresses, beards, hats, just like you see on TV. There are semi-Amish Menonites who dress in similar ways, bonnets, suspenders, long dresses, etc. But they can wear brighter colors and more patterned materials. Menonites drive cars and have some modern conveniences. That might be who was seen in the store. The Amish go to town in their buggies. I have no idea where they park them, I haven't seen any hitching posts at the mall (This is the Rockingham County VA area I am talking about here)

I was once accidently caught in an Amish convoy once and I got a good look at them. Some of the older ones looked almost spooky (Sorry) like people in pictures from over 100 years ago. I saw some of them park their buggies, unharness their horses and put them away. I also had the (at the time) strange experience of seeing an older Mennonite lady dressed in baby blue gingham dress and bonnet, with old fashioned stockings and button up shoes (just like Little House on the Prairie) standing in front of her overheating car in the Long John Silver's parking lot. I told her she couldn't put water in it until it cooled down. She didn't know.

 

[neutral]

Leave it to UPN to raise the bar for tacky television. blah. Did anyone watch the premiere? The city kids were so rude to the Amish, I was embarassed for them.
I think the low point was one of the LA kids was making fun of the Amish to their faces, then saying "uhhhh dude when we're making fun of Amish people, it's not personal, don't take offense". Right. Good luck with that.

Not sure how they found the Amish cast but I do think they're real. I read an interview where they said they'd be on Rumspringa since they were 16.... The youngest is 18 and a couple are 24 so I guess they'd been out for awhile.

Interview if anyone is interested.
http://www.upn.com/shows/amish_in_the_city/pop1.shtml

 

[kariatari]

How did you know they were amish? Were they wearing bearskins or something?

They were dressed just as RockNRollKitty described.

 

[ylimeU2]

I caught part of a rerun last night, and what can I say, other than seeing it made me even more against it.

If those kids really are Amish, I think that they were already on their way out of that lifestyle. Come on! The girls swearing, running around in bikinis with their hair highlighted, talking about some "ugly-ass" Amish guy one of them use to date? The guys strutting around without shirts, and pulling their swim trunks off in the hot tub? You've got to be kidding me! Everything about this show strikes me as fake and I only saw 15 minutes of it!

I know they have thier Rumspringa, but I think that may be pushing it. I would imagine they take some of thier values with them.

 

[BluberryPoptart]

Yeah, they should have at least 'faked it' for a couple episodes before 'changing' so much

The oldest guy, I think his name is Mose, said he never had a rumspringa and this was his first time out in the world!

 

[mlojewski]

c

 

[BluberryPoptart]