A community founded on self-denial may appear attractive from afar but I imagine it would be fairly horrific to live in.

I suspect that you have fallen foul of a false dichotomy here, based on the particularities of the society in question. You oppose materialism/individual self-expression/satisfaction of desire to spirituality/self-sufficiency/frustration of desire. I think it’s important to separate the individuality/group-think dimension from the materialist/spiritual one. You can have societies in which both the alienation of materialism and the alienation of self-denial are absent.

A fair response. Amish life is certainly not as one-dimensionally blissful as the programme suggests – literature on the Amish shows them to be a complex and often conflicted community with their fair share of problems – but by all accounts, as a whole they are exceptionally happy by our standards.

For me, of central interest is the fact that the Amish are utterly convinced of the validity of the above-mentioned dichotomy, and consider that achieving happiness, community cohesion and spiritual wellbeing demands a near-total sacrifice of individual autonomy. Although I would not choose to live as the Amish do, I have great respect for the trade-off which they are prepared to make.

I shared a similar feeling of being, to an extent, enamoured with their lifestyles. But I was put off by the fundamentalist doctrine of abiding by scripture as if it were literal. It’s not surprising their society works if they follow the scripture word for word, and don’t twist that for personal means. I’m also not sure if ‘the doctrine that we should be free to live as we choose and do what we enjoy, as long as it does not harm others’ is actually practised at all, as we(most) often indirectly harm others via chains of production by simply even buying particular consumer goods from particular retailers.

Amish are living examples of old Western culture. What you see and like in the Amish culture is pretty much what your average American, German, Brit, etc, would have lived 100 or more years ago. Our modern culture is completely against everything rational and social that helps keep societies and cultures together.

We accept multiculturalism as this universal good. And, while it may be good that the world is multicultural – which helps give us new ideas, new taste, and experience different cultures.

On the other hand, however – it is bad for individual countries to force all this multicultural, diversity into such small countries like Britain. We have allowed our own culture to deteriorate while the cultures of others thrive in the UK. Our reluctance to assert our own identity, culture, lifestyle and promote to it, allows for our people to be consumed by materialism and greed, instead of consuming themselves with their family and their social responsibilities.

We don’t need to look at the Amish (maybe as a reminder of what we can achieve). What Brits need to do is look at home and how Brits themselves can better protect and promote their culture. Brits, and for the most all European societies have to re-introduce their culture to their young, and it can be done even in a modern society.

I’m in American, multiculturalism in America is a false, what exist is the same that exist in Britain different races, cultures squabbling over the resources and attention of politicians, creating tension, conflict, hate, misery, and confusion. Multiculturalism is good when you experience it from a far, like I’d love to visit Mexico and enjoy it’s cuisine, or Indonesia, China, Iran, Pakistan, or India, but bringing those cultures over to our countries is just not the same as experiencing it over there. Europeans need a barrier, a positive influence, a birth rate and social booster, and the solution is to revive our once strong and beautiful cultures that once influenced the entire world.

Today’s culture is not European culture, it’s globalism, multiculturalism, it’s poison, and un-healthy for Europe, and sadly it’s the obscure Amish which have shown us how far we have strayed.

Amazing, insightful TV if you liked watching this program you should watch the file ‘The Enigma of Kasper Hauser by Werner Herzog. To experience so much in life for the first time as an adult is a rare thing in the western world where experiences are pumped in to our homes by the internet, TV, and radio from such a young age. I only wish that they had stayed in Britain longer and been taken to see more of the western society. Think of the stunning architecture, historical sites, art galleries, animals in the zoos and much more they could have experienced.

American of Brit descent: You’re quite a case, aren’t you! So evil multiculturalism is stealing the white man’s way of life and the answer is to continue to become more like the Amish! Good luck convincing your brethren of that one.

You seem to have fallen into the illusion, illustrated quite ably by a Kurdish friend the other day, that eating in a foreign restaurant makes you multicultural. It doesn’t. Read the books and explore the ideas of other cultures and then you might get somewhere. Or just live in the woods where the darkies can’t get you if you prefer 🙂

the Amish are also really really sexist

so you think the Amish way of life can survive in the modern world?

Corin, I really like this show, and I also like your article. You have clearly expressed my sentiments exactly.
Mik, I didn’t read the same tone into the comments of American of Brit descent that you seem to have. I don’t agree that they don’t understand real multiculturalism, nor that they have confused multiculturalism and racism. They seem to be someone who believes all cultures have merit, no matter what colour their skin is, and there was no indication that they weren’t sophisticated or experienced in the manner you suggest. It is unreasonable to extrapolate their expressed desire to maintain their own distinct culture, rather than being subsumed, into racism – that’s an illogical jump. I think American-of-Brit descent’s trying to tie the Amish thread into their argument was stretching it a little, though.
Sofia, all religions have gender biases.
the Rhino – they have so far, so I can’t see a reason for them not to continue to survive in the modern world.

One of the Amish girls was very sad after talking to the British teenagers because she knew for a fact that these Brits would go to hell, and yet she found them nice people. And even her prayers wouldn’t have helped. She knew that, because God would enforce his law.

These Amish live in constant fear of hell. Throughout the ages belief in hell and the devil was useful. Church elders agreed that when it came to keep the masses on the straight and narrow, fear of the devil was a stronger force than the love of God.

Shackled by their superstitions, kept dumb by their education system, these Amish trudge through their monotonous life, not knowing that there once existed an Egyptian, Greek, Roman civilization, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, Einstein, not even knowing that there has been a first and second world war and a man called Hitler.

Empty minds, only geared to farming, eating, reproductive sex and praying to an imaginary friend in the sky, still believing that the sun revolves around the earth, not aware that the Milky Way is but one of a hundred billion galaxies.

But when they are ill, they do take antibiotics, a product of science not mentioned in their Bible.

Being Amish equals child abuse, not in the physical sense, but mental child abuse. These kids are denied the wonders of our human progress.

And since Amish men only marry Amish girls, inbreeding is rampant. They have been stricken with some very nasty genetic diseases (see under Health in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish)

The Amish reject Darwin, but evolution works, it shows itself in their diseases !