Michigan Mary

Comment on Amish Mafia Website (December 11th, 2012 at 15:37)

Amish Mafia Website

On a related note – and for a good tongue-in-cheek giggle, check out:

http://amishmafia.com/index.htm

It takes a minute, but it soon becomes apparent that the guy that put this together knows something of the culture and is making light of the current buzz over Amish Mafia – be sure to check out the UPDATE button – it all becomes very clear with the photo on that page!
Sign me, Still Laughing in Michigan!

Laura

Comment on “Amish Mafia” Brain Drain (December 11th, 2012 at 21:13)

I refuse to watch the show “Amish Mafia.” I also refuse to watch most of the other shows about the Amish that you find these days, with the exception of a couple of documentary-style programs that you find on PBS; most are simply exploiting people who aren’t in a position to object to the misrepresentations being made of them.

I understand that people are fascinated by the Amish — I will admit to being interested myself — but there’s learning about them by reading, talking to actual Amish people, etc., and then there’s this kind of stupid exploitational TV fiction. I suspect the Amish are having a hard enough time coping with the world; the kinds of stupidity that people will end up thinking about them after programs like this one will only make that even more difficult for them!

Ultimately, the Amish are people who have chosen not to live in the modern world but to separate themselves from it because of their faith, and I think they deserve a lot more respect and “hands-off” treatment than they’ve been getting. Whatever happened to the old philosophy of live and let live? Or even the Golden Rule?

Nicole west

Comment on “Amish Mafia” Brain Drain (December 12th, 2012 at 00:35)

This show is distasteful, shameful, should be banned and canceled.
I lived in a small town where there was amish they are the kindest,
nice, people. When people homes burn they are always the first there to help, a death in the family amish or not they bring food, neighbors need help building a barn or whatever they lend a helping hand. They do not believe in tvs or modern technology who are we to judge them for their beliefs. I think this falls under the heading of dumb and dumber. The producers and directors must have been bored with themselves and found this amusing in their eyes so perhaps they need to find a new way to amuse themselves produce and direct some half way decent show not trash.

Lattice

Comment on “Amish Mafia” Brain Drain (December 12th, 2012 at 20:56)

Okay, well I didn’t get home until the program was half over. I watched 7 or 8 minutes of it.

Karen

Comment on A review of this silliness (December 13th, 2012 at 10:45)

A review of this silliness

So I watched this silliness yesterday. And thought it through and here’s my observations:

This is most likely fiction. It does, however, seem to be based on some facts and real things in the Lancaster community. This includes one of the “members” really have a long police rap sheet and being involved with the things “Levi” tasks him to do.

Having worked with young adults in a religious setting, I can imagine a group of them feeling they have a “responsibility” to protect the community’s’ mores and members, even to the point of allowing themselves to transgress those same mores “because it’s necessary.” Would Amish or ex-Amish young adults feel the same? I need to leave the definitive answer to experts who know the Amish better than I do, but I will hazard the guess that this would not be tolerated by the community leaders as is implied in this show.

Most of the things they run around doing are actually jobs for the deacons: calling people on immoral or straying behavior, supporting widows and protecting their reputations, working with business owners to find solutions that meet the Ordung’s requirements and the businesses needs. Would the community tolerate a group of extra-judicial young men playing at the deacons’ role in this manner? I doubt it.

The claim of “insurance” is really extorting protection money. The Amish, as we have been told, don’t buy insurance. I cannot fathom a business paying protection money for many of the same reasons. As a people who wish to emulate their martyers, they’d rather their business be burned down than pay protection money. All, this Levi’s claim that his little gang throws rumpsringa parties as a safe place for the teens to let loose is also just a cover up for running an illegal dance bar/speak-easy. Again, I don’t see it tolerated. One anonymous phone call would shut that down pretty easily.

The soap-opera of “our dad had Levi’s position and so our brother should have it now” is intriguing. To be a father, this dad would have to had be baptized – but Levi makes a point of stating his little gang is unbaptized so to intentionally be outside of the bishops’ control. So the elder generation, which we are led to believe have died, had to have been baptized. They couldn’t have done the things this current generation claims to be doing and claims to have been done before them. That is the biggest whole in this entire script.

Also, the whole thing with the Chinese made “Amish” goods being sold in the stores, which is causing store owners to pay less in protection money. How these young men claims to have “solved” it is the biggest and silliest point of fiction. There are lots of English store selling cheap Chinese made imports as Amish good – true. But by scaring the heck out of one driver and stealing the shipment to one store, you cannot solve this problem! It makes a good story, but it is the least realistic part of this silliness.

So, there’s your review. My guess is these are ex-Amish wanna-be thugs who are neither in nor out of the community, because real mafia do terrible things – including murder, which these young men seem reluctant to do – and certainly wouldn’t be on TV with their secret gang of Mafiosos. While I can see a group of older men “discussing” situations that are unbecoming, this just doesn’t make sense to have these young, unbaptised men doing the elders’ job in a threatening way. Young men’s Amish fiction is what I’d call it.