Amish Assasins

[Denise]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/09/04/cornfield.killing.ap/index.html

MOUNT HOPE, Ohio (AP) -- It's an annual prank in this tranquil Amish community, where men wear straw hats and women bonnets and plain dresses: Youngsters hide in cornfields and hurl tomatoes at passing cars.

This year, the mischief turned deadly.

A motorist who had been pelted several times on Labor Day got out of his car and fired three to five rounds into the 7-foot-high corn, killing 23-year-old Steven L. Keim.

Ok. It was the other guy who was the assasin. But what in the heck are the Amish doing with paint ball guns? And shouldn't they be canning them there tomatoes instead of hurling them at passing cars? Can't we get the young Amish a community center or something?

[Ipecac]

Yeah, this is pretty sad. No one deserved to die over this. I hope they catch the guy quickly.

On the other hand, throwing tomatoes and shooting paintballs was going to eventually result in someone crashing their car and getting hurt. Let's hope the "prank" stops here.

[Nie Trink Wasser]

There is a documentary I want to see about the period of time when an Amish youth is allowed to go out into the world and do what he likes before deciding if the Amish lifestyle is for him...cant think of the title though.

[Segnosaur]

Originally posted by Denise
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/09/04/cornfield.killing.ap/index.html


Ok. It was the other guy who was the assasin. But what in the heck are the Amish doing with paint ball guns? And shouldn't they be canning them there tomatoes instead of hurling them at passing cars? Can't we get the young Amish a community center or something?
Or get them doing what all teenagers are doing...
Downloading pr0n from the internet.

[sirenbrian]

Hi,
I saw this documentary by renting it from Netflix.com

http://www.devils-playground.info/

It was pretty darn good. I think they're pretty messed up myself, but if that's what they want to do with their lives...

[Frostbite]

Originally posted by Denise
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/09/04/cornfield.killing.ap/index.html


Ok. It was the other guy who was the assasin. But what in the heck are the Amish doing with paint ball guns? And shouldn't they be canning them there tomatoes instead of hurling them at passing cars? Can't we get the young Amish a community center or something?

I hope you're kidding when you're blaming a tomato tossing youth rather than a gun wielding cromag for the incident.

[Ipecac]

Originally posted by Frostbite
I hope you're kidding when you're blaming a tomato tossing youth rather than a gun wielding cromag for the incident.

I don't believe that was what Denise was doing. She was merely commenting on the other part of the article which did address some very questionable behavior.

[Tricky]

Originally posted by Ipecac

I don't believe that was what Denise was doing. She was merely commenting on the other part of the article which did address some very questionable behavior.
Interesting. This ties in almost exactly with what Suddenly said (http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&postid=1870078349#post1870078349) on the Modine thread about the difference in causality versus culpability.

Did the young man contribute to causing his own death? Certainly, especially in light of having been threatened twice. Is he guilty of suicide? Not at all. The shooter shoulders all the blame for such an unmeasured response.

[Frostbite]

Yeah. Whatever happened to kicking someone's ass or calling the cops?

[Denise]

Originally posted by Frostbite


I hope you're kidding when you're blaming a tomato tossing youth rather than a gun wielding cromag for the incident.

No, I was not blaming the youths!:D
It is interesting thought that the Amish youths, some of whom were over 20 years old, got enjoyment out of throwing stuff at cars. I would imagine that in the non Amish culture that kind of thing peaks at about 14-16 if not earlier.

Not intending the following to be humorous...
Let's face it, the young Amish are not allowed to have a lot of fun in their lives. They can't listen to music, they can't watch TV, there is no real way to sup up a buggy. Isn't it just a little pathetic that a 23 year old found throwing tomatoes at cars a fun past time?

[American]

Originally posted by Denise
Isn't it just a little pathetic that a 23 year old found throwing tomatoes at cars a fun past time?


Well well well. Miss I-Know-Everything wants to tell me how to spend my freetime during harvest season. Have you lost your bonnet???

[Denise]

Originally posted by American



Well well well. Miss I-Know-Everything wants to tell me how to spend my freetime during harvest season. Have you lost your bonnet???

I will ask for my bonnet back you brazen fellow and tell you to mind the elders. Keep your horses on walking past my house and do not stop.:D

[Glory]

Originally posted by sirenbrian
Hi,
I saw this documentary by renting it from Netflix.com

http://www.devils-playground.info/

It was pretty darn good. I think they're pretty messed up myself, but if that's what they want to do with their lives...

I have seen this as well. They call it "Rune springer" (spelled phonetically. I can't for the life of me remember the actual spelling of the term). It is a tradition of giving teens the opportunity to be free of the restrictions of Amish society for about two weeks. They can drink, have sex, do drugs, literally anything they want and come back home and be excepted no questions asked. The trick is not get arrested during that time though. Secular laws still apply of course.

Three things jump out at you immediately.

One, Interesting how many of the Amish teens return to the fold after RuneSpringer. By far, most of the kids long for the familliar life they had in the Amish community.

Two, Amish kids are just as screwed up as our own teens. All that repression does lead to an explosion of lust and insanity just as we all suspected. Of course, the Amish community knows this better than anybody. Hence they have this tradition.

Three, seeing Amish kids in their amish clothes and bonnets throwing back a cold one and lighting up a doobie looks really weird.

Glory

[LW]

Originally posted by Denise
I would imagine that in the non Amish culture that kind of thing peaks at about 14-16 if not earlier.

I think I was 11 when I last threw a snowball at a car. Several older boys (13-15) participated in that event.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally posted by Denise
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/09/04/cornfield.killing.ap/index.html


Ok. It was the other guy who was the assasin. But what in the heck are the Amish doing with paint ball guns? And shouldn't they be canning them there tomatoes instead of hurling them at passing cars? Can't we get the young Amish a community center or something?

When tomatoes are outlawed, only outlaws will have tomatoes?

Actually, I think the kid that got killed was a Mennonite. And from what little I have read, Mennonites are like liberal Amish. They drive cars, etc.

[Pyrrho]

Couple of things.

When you drive your car past a field, and someone hits your car with rotten tomatoes or paintballs, why drive past the same field again? Not once, mind you, but at least 3 more times? The sane thing to do is to take another road, and to call the police.

When you hit someone's car with rotten tomatoes or paintballs, and the driver threatens to shoot you, why throw tomatoes at the same car again? Not once, mind you, but at least 3 more times? The sane thing to do is to stop throwing tomatoes.

Sorry, but I think people were nuts and/or incredibly stupid on both sides of this incident.

-- edited to add a final comment: It's a popular pastime, at least in Ohio, for city folks to drive on down to visit what they call "Amish Country". While some Amish and Mennonite folks will gladly sell things to these tourists, chances are they really don't like those people, and I wouldn't either.

[Glory]

Originally posted by Pyrrho
Couple of things.

When you drive your car past a field, and someone hits your car with rotten tomatoes or paintballs, why drive past the same field again? Not once, mind you, but at least 3 more times? The sane thing to do is to take another road, and to call the police.

When you hit someone's car with rotten tomatoes or paintballs, and the driver threatens to shoot you, why throw tomatoes at the same car again? Not once, mind you, but at least 3 more times? The sane thing to do is to stop throwing tomatoes.

Sorry, but I think people were nuts and/or incredibly stupid on both sides of this incident.

-- edited to add a final comment: It's a popular pastime, at least in Ohio, for city folks to drive on down to visit what they call "Amish Country". While some Amish and Mennonite folks will gladly sell things to these tourists, chances are they really don't like those people, and I wouldn't either.

Yeah, I can't imagine I would enjoy being a tourist attraction. Living near one is bad enough but actually being the thing that people in fanny packs want to take pictures of? No thankyou.

Glory

[Agammamon]

So let me see if I understand this.

We've got members of one religious group specifically attacking/vandalising members/property of another.

Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is a genuine hate crime.

Still sad that the guy was murdered. What ever happend to just beating people up. Haven't any of these people heard of the force heirachy?

[Ed]

It's the Jewish influence. Ask AUP.

[Iconoclast]

Originally posted by Glory
They call it "Rune springer" (spelled phonetically. I can't for the life of me remember the actual spelling of the term).
Rumspringa. The documentary Devil's Playground mentioned earlier explains everything nicely.