A meth lab gets busted in the Shire

I don’t care how irrelevant it is it, I simply must share this delightful photo.

The Law has finally caught up with the Seven Dwarfs.

Amish jailed by Kentucky judge over warning triangle fine non-payment (The Guardian, 16 September 2011):

Eight Amish men have been jailed by a judge in Kentucky for non-payment of fines after refusing to fix reflective orange warning triangles to the back of their horse-drawn buggies.

The unusual suspects, whose mugshots have been published online, were arrested for misdemeanours. A ninth man was arrested but not jailed.

The group hail from the stricter Old Order Swartzentruber sect and objected to the bright triangles on modesty grounds, saying they were barred from wearing or displaying anything bright or colourful.

[MORE]

Note the interesting, more spiritual notion of “modesty” alluded to in the last paragraph.

Comments

[TM Lutas]

Actually, this is quite relevant. The orange triangles are mandated to prevent night accidents as there are no hour limits on when a horse drawn carriage can go out and the amish do drive at night. Google amish road accident to get a feel for the carnage.

The principle that if your religion is getting non-believers hurt or killed, your religion is just going to have to accommodate some rule changes is a pretty deep unwritten ruleset in the US. Muslims are not alone in being inconvenienced and it is important for them to understand that. Populations with a feeling of isolation and alienation are where America's enemies recruit.

[svend]

Interesting point, TM. Thanks for pointing out that connection. I agree that public safety concerns should outweigh their religious liberty here (as I do in the--very few--cases of Muslim women arguing they should be able get IDs issued while wearing veils). The interplay between the two ideals is evident even in the article--the police gave them special clothing to accommodate their beliefs.

[Lisa]

Re: the photo caption. It isn't nice to make fun of people.

[svend]

Thanks, Lisa. Your point is well taken. It may not be obvious, but my intention certainly isn't to mock the Amish--to the contrary, I have enormous respect for them and think there are a lot of things the rest of society could learn from them--more to riff on the incongruous juxtaposition of this extremely old fashioned aesthetic with a "Cops"-style line-up. If anything, the commentary is really about "us" (mainstream observers).