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Genetic Research In The Heart of Amish Country
FrenchyinOntario writes "Insular, inbred communities like the Ashkenazi Jews and Indian tribes can be a bonanza of genetic information for researchers, and the Amish & Mennonite communities in the United States are proving to be fertile ground as well for scientists who want to better understand the nature of genetic diseases and how rare illnesses occur more frequently in such closed-off communities. The Amish, famous for their renunciation of a lot of technology, are embracing a lab that has been built in the centre of their community because their faith teaches them to "help their fellow man", recognizing that helping scientists better understand the genetic causes of diabetes, mental retardation, and some of the rarer diseases in their families, helps themselves as well as others. For a better understanding of the Amish and their approach to technology, Wired magazine ran an excellent story a few years back better illustrating why they are not just mindless kneejerk technophobes."
Of course they are not mindless technophobes. For one thing every member of the sect is given a period in late adolecense where they are to go forth and experience the rest of society before they join the church. This insures that they have made a choice that is at least somewhat informed. They are an interesting group of very deeply religious folk who have very good reasons for believing as they do. Hell one of my favorite vacations was one where I didn't touch an electronic device for an entire week, it was SO much more relaxing than any other vacation I have ever taken that I have to sometimes wonder if I wouldn't be more happy if I were to give it all up and live life in the simpler fashion of the amish.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
If you spent a single year living as Amish people do, then you'd want to come back here, too. They send them out with little education and little support and no friends in the outside world. Of course they are going to come back after a year. They may think they are giving people the choice, but in the end, it's adding to the indoctrination because they come back thinking that they know what it's like outside their little community.
I'm not criticizing the Amish here. I have no doubt that they mean well by doing this, but it is not a fair way to do the comparison.
The Amish are an extremely important cultural group, IMHO. I'd be lost without my computer, but aside from that I consider them a positive example to the rest of us (at least in some respects) where sustainable living is concerned. I've believed for a while now that despite having had some people laugh at them, it may well be that the Amish themselves will have the last laugh once peak oil hits. Their lifestyle also has numerous sociological benefits as well. It's fairly self-evident that the level of communal interaction is higher among less technologically oriented societies, as well as overall levels of apathy being a good deal lower. People from such communities tend to care a great deal more about their fellow man, and on a day to day basis, as well...not just when disaster hits. The rest of human society could learn a lot from them.
illustrating why they are not just mindless kneejerk technophobes."
As opposed to mindless kneejerk slashdot technophiles?
Anyway time to get out Weird Al's Amish Paradise.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
So yeah, it's not a good time to buy a new car, but the gears of industry aren't exactly about to come to a screeching halt.
Of course, depending on how rough the transition is, the Amish very well could have a lot to teach us.
"Native Americans"? I'm a native American, seeing that I was born and raised in America. However, I'm not Indian.
I'm sorry you dislike it when people, usually citizens of the United States (notice I am being politically correct here too and not using the term Americans which one might argue includes Canadians, Mexicans, and Latin Americans), use the term "Indians" to refer to the people who were native to the land when Columbus arrived. I even agree with you that people should use the term "Native Americans" more often because it minimizes genuine confusion. If I had to speculate, the reason the term is still used is because that is what people are taught in Kindergarten and because it is much more fun to play games with Indians and Pilgrims than it is to play games with "Native Americans" and "Immigrants Predominantly Fleeing Religious Persecution in Europe" since they sure weren't actually on a pilgrimage anywhere. Sadly, this probably isn't going to change, but if you wanted to be productive you could make polite comments about the inherent confusion in using the term "Indians" to refer to Native Americans that would at worst be ignored rather than moderated -1, Offtopic but more likely at least encourage the use of the term "Native Americans" in /. submissions.
That being said, and in hope that maybe this comment won't be moderated totally offtopic, I found both articles very interesting and I suggest that anyone who hasn't read them to do so. Research like this will help many people with rare genetic disorders and I sincerely hope it can continue for many years. Now go ahead and moderate me offtopic anyway.
While some Mennonites drive cars, not all of them do, and not all of them are plain. When my aunt and uncle lived in Cape Coral, Florida, they went to a Mennonite church that you would have no idea was a Mennonite unless they told you it was. They all dressed like everybody else, the music was contemporary, it basically looked like the modern American megachurch. And, even with the plain Mennonites who shun cars and electricity, you can tell them apart from the Amish if you know what to look for, they drive different kinds of buggies, the women wear different prayer caps, and there are several other distinctions.
And, to make things more complicated, you also have to factor in the various Brethren groups, which may be more or less plain (my grandmother grew up plain brethren, I think it was after she married my grandfather that she became lutheran, which is what my dad grew up). Then there was the United Brethren, which was the first American grown denomination and was started by a Mennonite preacher in my great-great-great-great-great uncle's barn in the 1767, and which much of my mom's side of the family belonged to(at least those who didn't marry Mennonites). The best I can gather, at some point in the late 1800s they split, some of them joined up with the Evangelical Brethren to become the Evangelical United Brethren, which later merged with the Methodists to create the United Methodists. And so, in a nutshell, much of American religious history can in some way tie itself back in history to the Amish by way of the Mennonites (which are of course an offshoot of the Amish).
Eagles may soar, but weasles don't get sucked into jet engines...
The Amish have an incidence of autism that is less than 1/10th of the general population of the US.
Do we really know this is genetic? Their environment is very different from outsiders'.
Hmm, I never thought of Whites and Indians having any issues, except with the displeasure with outsourcing.
Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
Any follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ is a Christian. That's what the word means and no amount of wordplay is gonna change that.
Does a Christian soccer team even need a goalkeeper?
> why do they depend on us for medical care?
Think of it like a Debian user does.
Debian has several repositories:
* SID -- contains the latest and greatest, but it can be unstable and things may be
* Testing -- contains those parts of SID that have been around a while don't seem to break anything
* Stable -- contains those parts of Testing that have been around for a while and don't break things. Stable isn't updated that often, but receives constant security patches.
Given this, let's describe how the Amish see it:
* SID -- Geek enthusists who'll by anything new and shiny
* Testing -- the rest of society who'll only use stuff that's actually useful
* Stable -- Amish-like communities who'll only use generally available technology that is both useful and has a positive impact on their society.
Now you might claim that the people who rely on Stable are in this privileged position because of all the people who use SID or Testing. You'd be right. But who cares? SID users are happy on the cutting edge, Testing users are happy with the less wild and wooly pace, Stable users are happy with the tried and true. Everyone wins.
I would say it's probably average, at least in my experience. I went to an Amish Mennonite elementary and middle school and we took the state educational evaluation tests every year. EVERYBODY in my grade placed above state average, even the *dumb* ones.
Amish and Mennonite intelligence is applied differently maybe. And in some sense even the ones that try to assimulate into the larger culture are always on the outside looking in. Its not a bad thing. It gives great perspective.
Using the best knowledge of today to create the problems of tomorrow.
>By contrast, most non-mainstream indigenous or technologically regressive societies are based on the concept of *strengthening* both individuals and communities,
I hate to break it to you, but having grown up in a very conservative, evangelistical religion where contact with outsiders was very much frowned on, I cannot help but find your words utterly, completely naive, and myself in complete agreement with the parent poster. Sure, such a society benefits some people, those who are happy to fit in and play the part.
However, in any society there are always those who don't fit in, the outcasts, such as the nerd, the artist, etc. Our "individualistic" society creates a place where these people can lead normal, productive lives. It protects the right of the minority (to a greater or lesser degree.) The right to make your own informed choices, to have something called an "imagination", to create art, to think critically about situations without others telling you what you are allowed to think (or not think), to learn about the universe and the world around you, the right to be curious and ask real questions and get real answers (instead of say, creationism).
There is a basic human need to fit in. Naturally any community can fill this need. Cults fill this need. Crazy nationalistic groups can even fill this need. When you break free from such a group, you discover that the world is not clear-cut black and white, and there are no easy answers to life's problems. And suddenly the community sees you as evil.
You see, the "communtity" is an illusion. They were never really your friends to begin with, their friendship was _conditional_ on your going along with their beliefs.
There is this trend nowadays to think that the low-technology of the past was some kind of panacea, forgetting that a couple centuries ago, before modern technology, how many women died at childbirt, how the average life-expectancy was half of what it is now. Truly naive. Without the dissenters, the individuals, without the scientists who broke from the strong religious communities of the past, we would still be dying from TB and the plague, and marvelling at the heavenly sphere that revolves around the earth, and fearing hellfire.
Yes, it is not easy to live in this society. But would I ever go back to where I was before? Hell no.