Comments on: Technology Crunch http://thortrains.net/blog/2008/03/28/technology-crunch/ Thoughts from Heathenism's Most Independent Author Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:01:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: SiegfriedGoodfellow http://thortrains.net/blog/2008/03/28/technology-crunch/comment-page-1/#comment-11 SiegfriedGoodfellow Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:35:56 +0000 http://thortrains.net/blog/2008/03/28/technology-crunch/#comment-11 Well, I know the Amish get their share of critique -- some of it well-deserved -- but my understanding from reading is that each Amish community takes the time to evaluate technology to see how it fits into the total order of life before it is approved. The standards may be similar across different communities, but each community as such decides them. My understanding is that it is expected that the young, who are often in their more rebellious phase, will experiment with new technologies, and then the rest of the folk watch to see what happens, to see how community life is affected. I do think there is a notion that novelties take time to grow into the community. (Now it may be that from the perspective of the rest of us that the Amish perhaps take too long for our liking! But be that as it may, they have the right to their difference.) Many Amish communities allow telephones, but only away from the house in a barn. They don't want telephones to interfere with real life communications and visiting, but it is there -- placed in an inconvenient place -- so it may be deliberate rather than habitual and impositional. I'm not ready any time soon to go off and join an Amish community, but the fact of the matter is that however Anabaptist (and therefore Radical Protestant) they may be, they do come from a Germanic background, and so perhaps some of the old folkways -- however exaggerated here -- may still be living. Our ancestors weren't phobic to new crafts, but I do think it's true that in general, things take time to find their place. In a sense, new things are like immigrants : time is needed for assimilation and for everyone to readjust and for the immigrants to find their way into the community. Well, I know the Amish get their share of critique — some of it well-deserved — but my understanding from reading is that each Amish community takes the time to evaluate technology to see how it fits into the total order of life before it is approved. The standards may be similar across different communities, but each community as such decides them. My understanding is that it is expected that the young, who are often in their more rebellious phase, will experiment with new technologies, and then the rest of the folk watch to see what happens, to see how community life is affected. I do think there is a notion that novelties take time to grow into the community. (Now it may be that from the perspective of the rest of us that the Amish perhaps take too long for our liking! But be that as it may, they have the right to their difference.)

Many Amish communities allow telephones, but only away from the house in a barn. They don’t want telephones to interfere with real life communications and visiting, but it is there — placed in an inconvenient place — so it may be deliberate rather than habitual and impositional.

I’m not ready any time soon to go off and join an Amish community, but the fact of the matter is that however Anabaptist (and therefore Radical Protestant) they may be, they do come from a Germanic background, and so perhaps some of the old folkways — however exaggerated here — may still be living.

Our ancestors weren’t phobic to new crafts, but I do think it’s true that in general, things take time to find their place.

In a sense, new things are like immigrants : time is needed for assimilation and for everyone to readjust and for the immigrants to find their way into the community.

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