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| Courtesy www.zorger.com. |
schentlijch, en Glottskopp
An interesting thing about Blogger™ is that it provides a certain
level of reporting back to you regarding the audience, search terms, how
readers find your blog, etc.
A while back, I posted a piece titled American Voyeurism and the Amish, in
which I expounded on some terms and
concepts recommended by The New York
Times television critic Neil
Ginzlinger regarding the recent PBS special on the Amish. In his piece, he made three points – the American
obsession with the different or the other, America’s mostly superficial
knowledge of their fellow Americans, and
what he felt to be the carefully managed public image of the Amish
(though I had pondered if it was not rather the American public that was in
fact manipulating the image of the Amish for their own social psychological needs).
So my Blogger™ reports tell me that most people
access the blog via various international Google™
searches, other blog sites and then Facebook™.
Most search terms revolve around people
looking for photographs and information on Russian Mennonites, Ruβländer
Mennoniten, etc. Interestingly, most
searchers in this vein seemingly combine the two terms – Russian Mennonites,
indicating that there is a strong ethnic identity revolving around that
historical experience and evolving under the name Russian Mennonite. Russian
Mennonites also apparently do like their horses – and pictures of horses.
The second largest group of searchers is
seemingly looking for family history or genealogical information.
Finally, it is really mostly the French,
the British and the Germans who seem to be more interested in the Postmodern
aspect of the blog and Eastern Europeans in the Baltics, Russia and Romania who
seemingly keep up with the news-based essays.
Back to topic, the two posts with an Amish bent – The Sheepish Identity of the Amish and the aforementioned voyeurism
piece, are the most popular reads for the Amish label.
Somewhat disturbingly, a large number of search terms leading to the
Gentzlinger essay topic combine the terms “voyeur,”
“Amish”, “Amish girl”, and “erotic”, or somesuch very similar. There
has yet to be a search term relating to “PBS
special” or “Amish Grace” or many
of the less loaded terms. Regrettably, I
am not able to generate a permanent report or record of these terms.
I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. First, I did mention the fact that there
seems to be a sort of Amish or plain clothes fetish. The prevalence of
the search terms relating to this fetish is truly a bit eye opening and
disturbing (hence the feeling of wanting to wag my finger at the reader and say
“Shame on you!”
Secondly, there really is a sense of public objectification of the Amish
and the Amish lifestyle manifesting itself through these search terms. This objectification demonstrates the
potential failure of the American identity to fully compensate for a sense of
otherness or to demonstrate an historic elasticity as to the factual diversity
of the American experience. Also, it
might indicate to a certain extent that the Amish have failed to establish
personal ties and an identity to which the general public relates. While the voyeuristic attitude is probably
quite small and an insignificant minority, there is a small danger that objectification plus voyeurism might often result in either
an attitude of paternalistic interference such as might be occurring with Federal
justice approaches to the Amish trials currently under way, or in a sense of
victimization – such as had been the initial concern with the Schoolhouse Shootings.
In the worst case scenario (and there is no reason to believe that such
is the case now), my perception from various readings is that there seems to be
a link between certain attitudes of objectification leading to a feeling of
release from basic or personal moral boundaries or impulses that would
otherwise prevent a person or group from being targeted for certain crimes. I am thinking of the bullying of a special
needs person, certain reported attitudes towards rape in certain cultures or a
false sense of privilege vis-à-vis the rights and property of another.
Regardless, objectification robs individuals of their inherent rights,
dignity and equality – even if this happens only theoretically or to a limited
extent – it represents a less than acceptable attitude that must be addressed
and prevented in terms of legal and social justice and in terms of personal and
religious morality.
While there is in fact no “fetish material” available on my site, I am a
bit disturbed that people are looking for it on the web. When individuals meet Amish women, they
should be approaching them as equal, personable individuals, not as fetish
objects, personally or socially.
In closing, a couple of other surprising search terms that I have found
include strings for “gay” “Mennonite” and “gay” “Amish”, seemingly from
university settings and Latin America.
While one would expect social and identity norms of assimilated
Mennonite groups in the United States and Canada to reflect the social
realities and identities of the larger society, it is a bit interesting to see
indications of alternative social identities manifest in Mennonite universities
and the less assimilated Mennonite communities of South and Central America.
I wish it would be easier to draw these identities and attitudes out with
a general survey or census as one would do with research groups in Canada or
the USA.
Regardless, we are seemingly a much more complex society than is at
first apparent or generally assumed. The
trick is to avoid being objectified by our ethnicity into social fetishes that
prevent our ability to relate to others or to be known of them.
American Voyeurism and the Amish
Discuss:Does Marv Kohlbeck's recent article in the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune represent a personal understanding or social objectification? How accurate is his perspective? Does this reflect a realistic and polite understanding of Amish individuals and culture or is he forcing them to conform to personal nostalgia?
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