2005-12-14 23:06:04.795492+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments
Amish man extorted out of $67k by prostitute who threatened to out him to his community and publish pictures of him on the net.
Sad that his community was so judgemental and narrow-minded.
[ related topics: Religion Sexual Culture Community ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2005-12-15 11:32:01.894005+00 by: meuon
I've had several people try to hang various things over my head over the years. Since )^(, I can just say: "Man, there are mpg videos of me dancing naked in the desert on the internet.. and I'm ugly. you can't shame me" - smile and walk off.
Being shameless is freedom.
But then, I don't do things I'd be shameful of.. my rules are just different.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-12-15 18:41:44.081458+00 by: Larry Burton
Actually the article doesn't mention a thing about community attitudes. In fact it goes on to state how
A deacon at Byler's church helped videotape Webber receiving Byler's final $500 payment, authorities said.
Now getting an Amish deacon to help videotape something is a major deviation from their avoidance of technology. Mr. Byler was probably shunned by his congregation until he repented, which was probably a total of five minutes, and then his church appears to have rallied behind him to support him and help catch the theives that took his money.
To me this shows how forgiving and supporting Mr. Byler's community is toward their members. Am I missing something?
#Comment Re: made: 2005-12-15 20:48:54.826187+00 by: petronius
The Amish are what they are. The rules are completely clear. They give everybody a chance to try out the ways of the "gentiles", and they are far more aware of what goes on outside their community then people give them credit for. Those who don't follow the ways of the group are asked to leave. And they do not proslytize or force their ideas on others. So, what's the problem?
#Comment Re: made: 2005-12-15 22:40:14.3979+00 by: markd
And they're incredibly hard, careful workers. We hired some Western PA Amish to replace our barn roof and fix up some of the walls and internal supports. They wouldn't transport themselves (the Amish Pimp we were using transported them), but they did use power tools along with manual tools.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-12-18 04:11:58.575744+00 by: Mark A. Hershberger
The Amish don't collect social security, collect unemployment, or other forms of government welfare. Given this, they actually live out many of the libertarian ideals that many Flutterby residents seem to revere. Yet, because they choose to exercise some form of control over who lives in their communities (e.g. the moral standards here), they're ridiculed.
Still, as meuon points out, people shouldn't make themselves vulnerable to blackmail. If you live in and benefit from a community, you should know enough not to violate its standards to such an extent that you are in danger of being expelled from the community.
By Dan's standards, they're "judgemental and narrow-minded", but I'd argue that they must exercise control over who can be in their community in order for it to have continuity. Futher, they don't seem that judgemental: a deacon in the man's church helped him with the prosecution, which leads me to believe that they aren't judgemental to the extent that they lack compassion for their members.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-12-18 15:11:52.731904+00 by: Dan Lyke
I ctually didn't mean to single out the Amish in my jibe at community support: I believe that most subcultures in the U.S. both look askance at prostitution and try to pretend that sexua ldesire doesn't exist after some indeterminate age.