Amish

Flightless Bird

David Farrier

Comedy, Flightless Bird, Documentary, Society & Culture, David Farrier

5 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier sets out to understand the Amish, a group of Swiss Germans slash Alsatians that chose America as their home away from home. Why does a country that embraces fast cars, fast money, and fast food also embrace the very slow-moving Amish? David discovers why back in 2000 there were only 178,000 Amish in the US, and why that number has climbed to well over 367,000 - an increase of 106%. David sits down with Susan Trollinger, a professor from the University of Dayton, to talk about Amish tourism and culture. He also talks to Misty Griffin, who wrote a book critical of the Amish called “Tears of the Silenced” and consulted on the Peacock documentary “Sins of the Amish.” She discusses why she had a terrible time being Amish and the problems she says exist in the Amish community.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm David Ferrier, a New Zealander who accidentally got stuck in America, and I want to find
0:06.2	out what makes this country tick.
0:08.5	Now ever since I've been here, there's not a day goes by where I don't pinch myself and go oh my goodness what's going on over there and that's
0:16.0	definitely how I feel about the Amish.
0:19.4	Before getting stranded in this strange tapestry that is the United States.
0:23.0	The only things I knew about the Amish came from that weird al parody of
0:27.2	gangsters paradise.
0:29.0	I'm a man of the land. I'm into discipline.
0:32.0	Got a Bible in my hand and a beard on my chin. I knew the Amish, hated electricity and
0:34.4	technology and loved beards,
0:35.4	I knew the Amish hated electricity and technology and loved beards, farming and God.
0:40.9	Beyond that, I had nothing. Since I've been here I've watched some breaking Amish and learned about Rumspringer,
0:47.2	that period where teenage Amish leave the fold and go buck wild in the big city,
0:52.0	experiencing all America has to offer before deciding if they'll
0:55.5	go back and be baptized into armishness for life. At least that's what I think Rum Springer is.
1:00.7	Whatever it is it makes for great reality TV.
1:04.0	So much going on in New York City, we just want to do and see as much as we can today.
1:09.0	Dude, this is nuts.
1:11.0	I didn't know what a subway is.
1:12.8	I didn't know where they go.
1:14.7	But who are the Amish, really?
1:16.7	And why the heck did a bunch of Swiss German slash Alsatians
	...

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