Growing up in PA, I had been to Lancaster County many times, but this summer we actually took a tour of the Amish country. I am disillusioned with the Amish and a lot of their silly beliefs.
I had thought that the plain clothes and no buttons was a symbol of austerity, but it turns out, it’s a symbol of how much they hated the Prussian soldiers who wore double breasted jackets with big brass buttons. That’s the claim, anyway. In reality, it’s a means of control of the women, like a Muslim burkha.
When a little girl is four years old, they are no longer allowed to wear buttons and instead, use straight pins, to pin their dresses and aprons together, in such a way that no man is going to be able to get the clothes off against the will of the girl. In my opinion, it is child abuse. Can you imagine trying to play with straight pins all around your waist and up and down your back?
The other thing that I learned is that the Amish can own companies that use electricity, power tools and trucks, as long as they pay someone else to turn on the lights, use the tools and drive the vehicles.
Yes, they (depending on the local church) often have electricity in their barns, but not homes.
The button issue is mostly a matter of modesty as I have been told. It is a rare sight to see woman show her hair in public, and a man’s beard declares to the world that he is married.
It is always interesting when the youth go through their “sowing of the oats” period in life. Before committing to church membership, they often don “Yankee” clothes on weekends and hang out in bars. They even wire their buggies with high dollar sound systems and rattle the town’s windows.
Just as a comment, the "it's OK to have others run machinery for your business" idea seems similar to the old Orthodox Jewish practice that strict observance of the Sabbath requires a Gentile or two be hired to cook Saturday meals for the family (either that or Mama cooks a couple days' meals before sundown Friday).
The variety of rules of conduct within specific cultures and religions that humanity has come up with is truly amazing. But at least in most cases they are not lethal to the members of those cultures or outsiders.
The Amish aren’t as wonderful as you would think.