Please support Mary Haverstick in her effort to fight the exploitation of the Lancaster County Amish and their culture by joining her Facebook page Lancastrians Against Amish-sploitation Films & TV shows.
Fraud News America has a good article on the subject as well – ‘NO, THERE REALLY ISN’T AN AMISH MAFIA.’
This is the full text of the statement on the Respect Amish movement, issued jointly on Wednesday by the the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau.
One of the many positive benefits of Lancaster County life has long been our ability to both respect and accommodate our Amish community.
While our economy has thrived, our arts and culture have diversified and our growing population has discovered the many assets of Lancaster County living, we have remained steadfast in our support and appreciation for living side by side with our neighbors in the Amish culture — a support and appreciation that begins with respecting their lifestyle.
Over the last few years, a growing number of TV-based attempts have been made to exploit this lifestyle. These attempts, often under the guise of “reality television,” raise serious questions of religious and cultural bias.
Additionally, this exploitation consistently portrays the entire county in a negative light and stands to significantly damage our overall reputation as a wonderful place to live, visit and do business.
It is for these reasons that both The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau support the tenets of the “Respect Amish” movement and encourage the business community and the community-at-large to refrain from providing any assistance to these destructive attempts to exploit the Amish lifestyle.
