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Originally Posted by debaser
Where have I denigrated the Amish? The title of the thread is "why I can't respect the Amish". I have given you my reasons.
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The Amish as a collective have done nothing to warrant a lack of respect from you. So yes, you're denigrating them.
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The Amish, do not. They live in an insular society that does not permit the free association with other groups, and discourages the exhange of information and ideas.
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Where the hell did you get that notion? Of course the Amish can associate with other groups. How do you think they sell all those quilts? It's no big deal in Amish country for Amish people and non-Amish people to be wandering around in the same place. They even talk to each other. Hell, you probably don't realize this but the Amish take vacations just like you do. One of the coolest train rides I ever took was one where I sat and talked with an Amish family on their way to the mountains for 3 weeks. If they can't freely mingle in "our society" then why were those guys on the train?
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Shakran:
If you are suggesting that I am a racist, you are an idiot.
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Then it's a good thing I'm not, because calling another user an idiot would be a really stupid move wouldn't it. Considering the Amish are not a race, your poorly-thought out attitude toward them, ridiculous though it may be, is not racist.
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The ramification of me dissapearing? None. But I am an individual, and they are a cultural group, so thats not a very good example, is it?
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OK, let's take an average American town. What if a town just up and disappeared. Would the country crumble? No. In fact the majority of the country wouldn't even notice it was gone. Therefore by your (lack of) logic the town is not contributing and therefore does not deserve respect.
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It is funny that you mention individuality, when that is one of the least valued traits to the Amish. Their actions may occasionaly differ, but the overall attitude of the Amish towards people outside their culture is similar to the very racist groups you rather patheticly attempted to lump me in with above.
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Again I didn't try to lump you in a racist group - but thanks for trying to distract everyone from your lack of reasonable arguments by making up stuff about my arguments.
I will note, however, that denigrating a group, and then claiming you're not really against that group because you played with their children is the SAME line of reasoning USED by the racists to excuse their racism.
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Also, I was in no way suggesting that because they don't support a record label or some similar bollocks that they have less intrensic worth than any other American, I am just saying that all of their energy goes into supporting their little group, and does not benefit the American people as whole.
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No, all their energy does not go to supporting "their little group." If it did, they wouldn't have rebuilt that guy's house. If someone in the area, Amish or not, needs help, the Amish are right the hell there, and that's a DAMN sight better than I can say for most "contributing" Americans.
They will go FAR out of their way to help where help is needed, no matter who needs it, and they don't ask or want thanks, recognition, or payment for it. There's a very valuable lesson there, one that the majority of us would be much better off taking to heart. But you won't learn it until you stop worrying about how different they are from you.