I did my Ph.D. dissertation work (Anthropology, with a minor in genetics) with the Amish in Lancaster county. They have issues just like any other community -
they also have a lot more of them, because of their tremendously high inbreeding coefficient. I've been in hundreds of their homes - I've seen mentally
retarded children, and children with severe physical ailments, including one baby with severe microencephaly (tiny head). The family's rationalization was
that they would love that child for as long as God let her live. I've never heard a hint of scandal about them doing away with anyone. They aren't a
group that believes in perfection - they love children as gifts from God, and believe the more, the better. Pride is a sin among the Amish - there's no
shame in a family member who isn't perfect, so no reason to spirit them away in the middle of the night.
I did want to comment on the 'organic and healthy eating' hypothesis. With all due respect, bullshit :) They use pesticides, and if you've ever eaten in an Amish home, you'll know that 'healthy' is not the word to use. It's like us Southerners - we never met a vegetable we didn't love to drown in butter and bread crumbs. A typical Amish meal is loaded with carbohydrates and they cook the crap out of most of their vegetables. They use Western medicine. If anything is 'weird' it's that they like to visit reflexologists (manipulate the feet kind of thing) and chiropractors. Frankly, in my years of working with them, I discovered they're very similar to my relatives in Minnesota and the Dakotas who are farmers. Half the time I'd walk into an Amish bathroom and look for the light switch because I forgot I was in an Amish home. Their gas ranges would put my little stove to shame. The men tell dirty jokes, and the little boys play with Matchbox cars.
You won't find an African-American Amish person. The Amish don't accept converts. The last true convert into the Amish community in Lancaster county was in the 1800s when they were in desperate need of new blood.
Finally, you can't take incidence rates of something like autism and extrapolte to the Amish community. They are so very inbred that they are not representative of the overall population, so saying there 'should' be 130 or whatever autistic children is not a valid scientific hypothesis.
So, sorry, end of science lecture. Wish I could think of the guy who makes movies who is famous for being a controversy seeker - Oliver something? I wanted to use his name in my post title. Drawing a blank though.
I did want to comment on the 'organic and healthy eating' hypothesis. With all due respect, bullshit :) They use pesticides, and if you've ever eaten in an Amish home, you'll know that 'healthy' is not the word to use. It's like us Southerners - we never met a vegetable we didn't love to drown in butter and bread crumbs. A typical Amish meal is loaded with carbohydrates and they cook the crap out of most of their vegetables. They use Western medicine. If anything is 'weird' it's that they like to visit reflexologists (manipulate the feet kind of thing) and chiropractors. Frankly, in my years of working with them, I discovered they're very similar to my relatives in Minnesota and the Dakotas who are farmers. Half the time I'd walk into an Amish bathroom and look for the light switch because I forgot I was in an Amish home. Their gas ranges would put my little stove to shame. The men tell dirty jokes, and the little boys play with Matchbox cars.
You won't find an African-American Amish person. The Amish don't accept converts. The last true convert into the Amish community in Lancaster county was in the 1800s when they were in desperate need of new blood.
Finally, you can't take incidence rates of something like autism and extrapolte to the Amish community. They are so very inbred that they are not representative of the overall population, so saying there 'should' be 130 or whatever autistic children is not a valid scientific hypothesis.
So, sorry, end of science lecture. Wish I could think of the guy who makes movies who is famous for being a controversy seeker - Oliver something? I wanted to use his name in my post title. Drawing a blank though.
