Well, so much for the Amish being nice folks. Hmm...
Well, considering we've got thriving subcultures I would say that the public shaming has mixed results at best. In sufficient numbers you can force conformity, but it's probably easier than ever these days to find other people like you. That, and there's always been that one stubborn person who just wouldn't conform.
You can't change anyone with public shaming, only keep whatever property isn't tolerated by society in private, which can sometimes be for the best.
I can't say I have a problem with shunning, as freedom of association implies freedom from association. Forcibly shaving a person is assault, plain and simple.
Chaotic Greedy
It's strange: At first, I thought This Is Unforgivable!, then I read it was Amish-on-Amish, after which I thought "let the weirdos handle it by themselves". I guess I am intolerant after all.
Also, the public shaming concept is quite hard to grasp when it's done in a fashion you're not sensitive to (such as beard cutting or Nice Hat removal, versus acts more "universal" in our culture such as stripping people).
edited 14th Oct '11 1:00:56 AM by Medinoc
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
I thought this topic was going to be about the practice of 'naming and shaming' criminals, which is something that's been suggested for minor crimes. For example, if a teenager shoplifts, then they make them stand on a busy street corner wearing a sandwich board that says "I am a shoplifter".
Be not afraid...
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That shirt may lead to a couple of figures that have not shop lifted to wear that shirt for "street rep."
Public shaming can be... subjective. Not only in what class as shame but also how it effects the liberty of the figure counters any effectiveness in dealing with issues.
As for the Amish mob... not good for the Amish's public relations.
I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok. I sleep all night and work all day.
I could of sworn I read something about them packing up a buggy with some muskets and doing a roll by.![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
I would think this would ultimately make the cause of the breakaway members more popular, what with the addition of a beard martyr to their ranks.
cannot into space
This would make a great parody trailer. Something about "the amish mob is coming... to shave your beard!"
Go play Kentucky Route Zero. Now.
Is that cake frosting?
Yeah, it's assault, nothing else.
I get how shaving sounds funny; but at the end, it's a way of publicly humiliating people by damaging their physical integrity (albeit, thankfully, in a reversible way).
It kind of reminds me of how, at the end of World War II, some Partisan groups went around shaving the women who had been married to fascists (or, in some cases, those who some partisan happened to dislike for whatever reason) in order to humiliate them.
But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
I see why it can be funny, but it is still people assaulting and humiliating other people because they are "weak in faith". Sorry, I can't laugh. 
Some people find a lack of faith disturbing.
I understand that completely, I also find some things disturbing. Still, I don't go around shaving people on the street who think a bit differently. For example Amish. (Not that I have a high chance of meeting them here, the closest colony is somewhere around Germany I think)
Damn you Amish, you're supposed to be pacifists!
Indiana Solo
I read more abbout this. the ones who cut beards off are some guys that broke off and hate other amish people. I don't find any humor in this at all. This was kind of like beating up a Jewish guy and burning his yamica.
I'm baaaaaaack
I will vigorously note I was entirely serious in my previous post.
I'm sure people are going to laugh at the news story, but it is (to the best of my knowledge) true, and I've got two different news stories to back it.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/280229/71/Amish-mob-violently-breaks-into-homes-and-cuts-off-hair
Now, the group is the focus of four police investigations in Ohio.
Police say the assaults are the work of members of the "Bergholz Clan."
In one attack, the men allegedly packed a horse-drawn buggy, rode to a home and cut the hair off some men and women in the house.
The violent haircuts are meant to humiliate and punish those Amish who are supposedly weak in the faith.
It's left the police baffled.
"Well it's pretty bizarre for us, we've never had anything like this happen here before," said a Steubenville officer.
In Holmes County, the suspected bandits may face assault, burglary and kidnapping charges.
The Holmes County sheriff's office charged Eli M. Miller, 32, and Daniel S. Mullet, 37, on Tuesday with kidnapping and aggravated burglary in the attack. Those charges came the same day three men charged earlier in the case — brothers Johnny Mullet, 38, and Lester Mullet, 26, as well as Levi Miller, 53 — waived extradition from Jefferson County to Holmes County.
A Holmes County Municipal Court judge on Wednesday set bond for each of the five at $50,000. They were released in the afternoon after Lester and Johnny Mullet's father, Sam Mullet, posted bond for the men.
Sam Mullet, 66, organized a compound of buildings near the Ohio River in Bergholz, Jefferson County, after breaking from the Amish community.
It was unclear in the affidavits how Daniel Mullet is related to them or whether Eli Miller and Levi Miller are related.
Late Oct. 4, six men broke into the home of a 74-year-old Amish man and tied him to a chair, cutting his beard with scissors and clippers.
Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla has said he is investigating whether the group was involved in at least two other such attacks.
But what I actually started the topic to talk about was the concept of public shaming. Their alleged motive is to shame those they don't feel are "sufficiently" devout. It's the same kind of behavior often used on the social "outcasts" of society - taking away something they value because they're not measuring up to the expectations of society. I know that, statistically, the more outcast have higher rates of suicide and depression, and that isolation (whether self-imposed or externally imposed) can result in mental issues. But how often/well does it actually work to change people's behavior or attitudes? What are people's experiences with it?
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw