Tentative “Amish in the City” draws concerns
Lawmakers meet with Amish in Pennsylvania as they make plans to address the proposed UPN show, “Amish in the City.” The reality television show would place Amish teenagers in an urban setting during the time before they decide whether to join the church.
Picture this: five Amish teenagers in Los Angeles coexisting with five worldly teens. Sound far-fetched? Not to the UPN television network.
The network is looking to capitalize on one of the few untapped resources in today’s world of reality TV. The show, which will likely be called "Amish in the City," focuses on the Amish teens during their rumspringa, the "running around" period where Amish youth in some communities act counter to church guidelines before they make their choice about joining the church. They begin dating, are allowed to attend youth outings, and some even learn to drive cars.
Christian and rural organizations from around the country are protesting the show. On www.christianitytoday.com, the show is discussed. Many would say something like, "This is a chance to make fun of people that we think are less enlightened."
The show is described on this website as "absurd and ridiculous...a cultural slap in the face," and on www.ruralstrategies.org as "ridiculing hard-working rural people and religious minorities just to line their own pocket."
The proposed show has caused so much controversy that a Congressional letter signed by 51 members of Congress was sent to CBS president Les Moonves (CBS oversees UPN) and Viacom CEO Mel Karmazin. The signatures included Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Joe Pitts, Republican Chris Chocola of Indiana’s second district, and Republican Mark Souder, whose Indiana district covers the largely Mennonite Elkhart County.
Some EMU students feel that it may not be as offensive as certain organizations are making it out to be.
According to first-year student Kevin Ressler, “If this occurs during part of the rumspringa time period of Amish youth, then even the Amish faith does not doctrinally object with it. We as Christians do not have the right to dictate the boundaries of others’ faith and tell them what they do is wrong or unacceptable simply because it goes against our desires or image of their faith.”
Seth Miller, of Sarasota, Florida, did not agree with the show’s principles because, as he said, “I assume it will portray the Amish as stupid, ignorant people that have very little knowledge of the world, and this is not true, and it's degrading.”
The show is the supposed replacement of CBS’s failed reality version of "The Beverly Hillbillies," in which the network hoped to pay an Appalachian family $500,000 to live in a Hollywood mansion for a year (www.cnn.com). According to Moonves, the decision to make a show about Amish teenagers was reached because "The Amish don’t have as good a lobbying group."
The Rural Realities website provides a place to petition the show and also contains the actual letter Congress sent to Moonves and Karmazin. The website also contains links to other articles about the controversial show.
Wendy Nagle, the president of the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in a February interview with the Lancaster New Era, "To take (the Amish’s) reputation and sully it not only hurts the Amish but hurts the county’s reputation as well."
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