The Worldly World of Tourism
By G.T.
In bygone eras, people attended the circus or carnival sideshow when they
wanted to see people who were considered unusual. At places like Coney Island, if you paid your money to
the ticket taker, you could see the bearded lady and the incredible strong man. Today we as a society
have moved past the novelty that once surrounded the circus sideshow. Indeed, it seems that the unusual
has become the norm, not the extreme. This does not mean however, that we have abandoned our fascination
with the unusual entirely, but merely shifted our focus. Today, instead of gawking at the sideshow
"freaks" of days past, we have turned our attention to the Amish. In a society that prides itself on
"progress", many tend to view them as a novel throwback to the days of yore. This tendency has led to a
tourism trade specializing in the Amish. While it is true that these tourists bring money into the Amish
counties, it is also true that they bring potential threats to the Amish way of life. These threats
range from potential problems maintaining nonconformity to concerns about being able to work towards the
afterlife in the midst of a circus atmosphere. These problems have left the Amish struggling to find
peace within a country that is fascinated by their very existence.
Today, there is a proliferation of web sites that claim they will let
you see Amish society as it really is. Many of them tout opportunities to ride in an Amish carriage with
an Amish man, or to have dinner in the home of an Amish family. As one web site put it, "you can take in
the Amish (Dillon)." Apparently implying that you can "take in the Amish" in the same way that you can
"take in" the changing aspen leaves in Colorado, or "take in" the turtles of the Galapagos Islands. For
the writer of the Family Life article, this is a grave concern. The Amish are rightfully
reluctant of being treated like a tourist destination such as Disneyland. Indeed, it seems that many
Amish wish to have no part in the tourist trade that draws millions into their towns every year.
According to Hostetler, the Amish view the tourist industry as being a pleasure seeking industry. The
author in Family Life even reminds his readers of this by saying, "It is sobering to think
that we as a nonconformed people do not only need to preach about keeping the world out of our hearts and
the church, but also need to be careful that the culture that results from that teaching does not serve
as a diversion and a pastime for the unregenerate society around us." Because the Amish believe that the
purpose of their life on Earth is to prepare for the afterlife, the tourist atmosphere distracts from
this serious task.
Besides their general ideology against tourism, the Amish have found
that the tourist trade within their towns has the potential to lead to a wide variety of problems. Some
of the concerns, such as the massive amount of traffic, are inconvenience, while others like daily
interaction with worldly people may lead to greater problems in the long run.
One of the primary problems that Amish may experience form the
tourist trade comes from their exposure to large doses of the outside world. Since the Amish believe
strongly that they must be separate from the world and be nonconformist, this intrusion by worldly people
has the potential for a great deal of problems. The interaction between the Amish and the worldly people
could possibly lead to Amish people slowly becoming more and more worldly. For example, since these
tourists come through the community wearing dress that is normal for our society, after seeing this day
in and day out over the years, how long will it be before some Amish youths begin to want to dress like
this?
Along those same lines, many of the Amish within a community are selling
their goods and services to the tourists. Some of these Amish have most likely even become dependent
upon these tourists for their income, especially in areas where farmland has become scarce and expensive.
However, according to Hostetler, these tourists spend close to 300 million dollars a year in Amish
counties. Even though the Amish are not the primary benefactors of this money, there are a percentage of
the Amish who allow their homes to be used for dinner tours or their carriages for carriage rides. The
author of the Family Life article wonders particularly about them, stating, "when we joined
hands with an organized, structured tourism venture where the object is money and public appeal, then we
need not only wonder what the world has come to, but where the Plain People are heading." Certainly, the
author is correct to assume that when people join forces with the tourism industry, that they will begin
to buy space in those pamphlets that are available at tourist centers. People who sell their crafts may
be tempted to make fancier designs in their quilts or carvings in order to sell more to support their
family. This emphasis on fancy things is in direct opposition to the Amish belief in simplicity in all
things. By making fancy sorts of things to meet tourist demand, they would be forced to compromise one
of their fundamental beliefs. While some Amish have considered moving, since they believe so strongly in
community, it is likely that they would have to relocate to another Amish community that may likely be
experiencing the same problems, though perhaps to a lesser degree. It seems today that wherever there is
an Amish community, there is a tourism bureau ready to sell it.
In some ways, the Amish have managed to isolate themselves from the outside
world of tourists. Because many Amish are reluctant to have tourists traipsing through their homes and
riding in their carriages, a great number of pseudo-Amish attractions have popped up. These are
restaurants and other places that claim to provide an authentic Amish experience without one actually
being in true Amish society. Because the Amish are seen only at a superficial level, it is easy for
outsiders to view they as being perfect. Perhaps it is partially because of the notion that the Amish
are without fault that they have become so fascinating. The author of the Family Life
article even mentions the fact that they are "often held up as a model." This depiction places
unnecessary demands on the people within an Amish community to live up to this notion. In this respect,
the tourist trade has taken away some of the comfort and security of the idea of a redemptive community.
With tourists crowding the streets of the town, the atmosphere changes. People are forced to concentrate
more on trying to maintain their normal existence that trying to better themselves and watch out for
others. Suddenly, instead of having community members who understand that everyone has weaknesses they
are working to overcome, you have hundreds of people watching you, thinking you are above reproach.
Because so many people are seeking out the Amish, there have been a
number of booklets and guides printed about the different societies within the United States. The author
of the article even mentions that in many of these guides, there are such things as top ten lists of the
best communities or places to visit in a town. This aspect of the tourism industry likely makes many
Amish people quite wary. As we have learned in class, the Amish do not believe that anyone should be
placed above another person or feel that they are above another person. In fact, one of the central
motifs of Amish society is humility. Therefore, what the travel guides are doing is creating
difficulties in maintaining humility. The Amish are then forced to weigh their desire to be as courteous
as possible to tourists with their need to have a modicum of normalcy. In this respect, the Amish are
essentially helpless. They cannot force the tourists to stop coming or the guidebook writers to stop
ranking their cities. Since the idea of being humble is meant to help with group cohesion, these
rankings threaten to create an environment where people begin to compete over which city is the
friendliest or the nicest. Such competition would introduce many dynamics that would threaten the Amish
way of life.
Perhaps one of the largest problems with the entire Amish tourism industry is
that it focuses on areas of life that are unimportant to the Amish. Instead of focusing on the Amish
turning away modern conveniences because they believe worldliness to be contradictory to the teachings of
the bible, tourism touts them is being a group of people that "embrace a lifestyle that disappeared from
America generations ago (tourquest)." It seems that people forget that they are
experiencing a culture rather than a staged situation like they might see at Universal Studios. People
tend to forget that they are interacting with people who have chosen this life because of a strict belief
in god. Instead, they focus on how novel and different it is from their everyday life. Family
Life even reminds its readers, "In making Biblical applications of Christian principles, we as a
church are pledging our allegiance to an Authority not our own or of the world…We are not pointing to
ourselves, we are pointing to Christ."
All in all, the Amish are having to contend with the great number of
problems, all of which originate from the fact that the more they as a society try to maintain their
traditional values, the stronger the lure they become to American society at large. This situation
leaves the Amish with two choices. Do they as a society become more active in the tourist trade in order
to present a fuller, more accurate view of what Amish society is like, or do they continue to allow the
tourism industry to parade people through their towns, presenting only the most trivial sides of Amish
life? Perhaps if they were to become involved in the presentation of Amish life as it truly is, half of
the Disneyland atmosphere would go away and maybe half of the tourists along with it. In the end, maybe
the Amish will do as the author suggests, and realize and react to the world's needs, while at the same
time maintaining the strength and conviction necessary to truly live as God wants them to.
Works Cited
"In the World But Not Of It." Family Life July, 2000: 8-10.
Hostetler, John A. Amish Society. 4th ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,
1993.
Hartman, Joel. Class Lecture. Rural Sociology 150. University of Missouri-Columbia.
September 2002.
"Central Motifs in the World View of the Old Order Amish and Plain Mennonites" Class
Handout. Rural Sociology 150. University of Missouri-Columbia.
"1 day 'Amish Tour'." 16 September 2002. web.tourquest.com/tripamish.html
"Dillon Amish Tours." 16 September 2002.
web.daviescounty.net/Indiana%20Amish%20Tourism.htm
"Amish Kitchen Tours." 16 September 2002. amishkitchentours.com/tours.html