<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1141" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>This makes me quite happy --</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><<A href="http://nytimes.com/2004/03/04/arts/television/04AMIS.html">http://nytimes.com/2004/03/04/arts/television/04AMIS.html</A>></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good for the Amish, telling Viacom to essentially fuck thyself. This is the bottom logic of the corp media -- using average people as props in soulless efforts to maximize profit share; and if we "smart" folk get a good laugh out of the rubes in the process, big plus. "COPS" was first wave of this sewage tide, and now, thankfully, some of the average citizens are pushing back. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>'Course, many working people buy into stunts like the above, having been programmed from youth that fame and exposure, however brief and rancid, are the highest callings in the Land of the Free. But most Amish don't watch TV, so this, if you'll excuse the term, is a no-brainer.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>After I graduated high school, I worked on a garbage truck in upstate Indiana, near Goshen, where the second-largest Amish population in the US resides. Amish pick-up days were the easiest of the week -- their garbage was tied neatly into brown paper bags, very light and compact (unlike trailer parks, which were the hardest, longest days). Once when our driver hit a soft shoulder and ran the truck into a ditch, throwing me and my co-worker onto the pavement, a bunch of Amish came to help us out. There wasn't a phone within two miles, so the driver had to get a ride on a horse-drawn buggy to find one. While I and the other guy waited, we had a pleasant chat with Amish teens, many of whom were naturally curious about the outside world. We learned that some of them, esp the girls, would sneak into Goshen and change into t-shirts and jeans in gas station bathrooms, then walk among the Modern people, trying to tap that vibe. It excited some, frightened others, but this was a healthy expression of curiosity, and not part of a cynical corporate effort to amuse high-end consumers. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>By the time another truck arrived, it was a beautiful summer dusk, and one of the Amish elders shooed the teens down the road. It was an interesting experience, one you could not fully appreciate had Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie been there, whining about the smell of horse shit. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>DP</DIV></BODY></HTML>