Dissident Veteran For Peace: Anarchy, Technology, the Amish & Rumspringa

Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Anarchy, Technology, the Amish & Rumspringa

As part of thinking about technology and anarchism, I've been doing a mini-study of the Amish. They are so anti-state, i.e. anarchist, that they refuse to take up arms for it and generally separate themselves from civil authority as much as they can. Furthermore, they have chosen to forgo most of the technology that many Americans embrace readily, even recklessly. Contrary to popular opinion, the Amish don't reject all technology and they don't reject it for primarily religious reasons. They are keenly aware of the deleterious effects that technology can have on the social dynamics of their families and communities and they take these into consideration when evaluating technology.

In my study, I've read one book and watched two documentary films. The most recent of the films was Devil's Playground. When Amish children turn sixteen they are allowed to indulge for a period of years in the material and sensual pleasures of the surrounding "English" or American society. This period in their lives is called the rumspringa--lit. "running around"-- and is meant to afford them the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether they want to be Amish or not. Many Amish teens get jobs with non-Amish employers and, thereby, obtain the cash to buy cars, beer, cable TV, crystal meth, etc.

The question posed on the DVD cover (top right) is "Which path will they choose?" The interesting answer is that, according to the filmmakers, 90% of Amish youth reject 'the world'--mainstream American society--and choose to join the Amish church. "This retention rate," we are told, "is the highest ever since the founding of the Amish church in 1693."

To me, this is a powerful statement that people who have been exposed to viable alternatives will reject American society as morally and spiritually repugnant and vacuous, even after they've been exposed to all--which is really very little--it has to offer. It is this bankruptcy, in part, which fuels the fundamentalist and charismatic religious movements in the US. It also helps explain global resistance against the imposition of American culture and economic restructuring. The pity is that more Americans cannot imaginatively expose themselves to other ways of living and build just, peaceful, and sustainable alternatives to stop the death machine that is America.

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