They settled simply because at the time of founding had more freedom than the feudalism they escaped from.
Many such cases.
Their lifestyle is perhaps threaten more. Perhaps even existentially.
This is new to me, but now, when you've said it...
Supposedly violence although don't they employ corporal punishment?
I don't know any of that, but is plausible as part of their religion.
Since the unibomber, we are now fully branded, today, look at these vaccine passports.
This was literally one of Ted's concerns.
I didn't know that the Amish are about peace, but that checks out.
This has happened before. There was old science on natural remedies, new science (paid by rockefeller) showed that it was all superstition. New science has started or killed several diet fads: tea and coffee bad, milk good, chocolate bad, cholestrol bad, chocolate good, tea good, milk bad, coffee good, etc.
Never forget that 19th and 20th century scientists were already fully valid scientists, most books were much more carefully peer-reviewed (and edited) that today's books and less carefully politicized.
it also imprisons and becomes oppression
This is what any society is all about. Individuals have to make decisions on the extent to which they comply with societal norms. This is always a struggle and a compromise because both compliance and basedness come at a price.
it could lead to persecution by your own community
All communities go after their mavericks one way or the other, only the norms and penalties vary.
Sane societies and sane parents educate their children not only on their norms, but also on the price for basedness vs. compliance as well as odds, so that their offspring can make an informed decision on which balance between compliance or basedness will work out for them or how to assess options in different situations.
I know virtually nothing about the amish, but I keep hearing that they give adolescent community members a year in the outside world for trying the sweet life on the grid. This suggests that the Amish are a sane society in terms outlined above. The practice also shows immense confidence in their education and lifestyle.
American culture has always idolized the maverick who makes it, although most misfits probably don't. This is productive for a civilization with an expanding frontier with rapid technological progress and lots of opportunity, but probably a mistake for anyone else. Mavericks are good for innovation, including societal innovation, but this is obviously not what the Amish are all about. Innovation or technical progress is not automatically a good thing, btw., although an absolute requirement for war and self-defense. This makes Amish self-reliance somewhat doubtful if you look under the surface, because they could not have an effective army if they were a country.
Upon your last gasp, some random conscious being in some random cosmos will become aware of itself for the first time. This will be you without the memory of your current life. There is no way to prevent this. The ride never ends, only memories do. Good deeds or religion play no role, it is not a supernatural process. Your next self could be another human being (very long odds), a chimp in a Pfizer lab, a stoat in siberia, a stoat-like animal on Rigel IV, a sentient space-probe built by stoat-like animals on Rigel IV, a simulated cat-brain built by the Department of Energy, or, most likely, some other random consciousness based on unknown physics in a universe inaccessible to us. NO REFUNDS. He who exists is a cursed nigger living in ignorance and pain. No end in sight, because there is none.
Amish are also anti technology.
The operative word is "disconnected". Afaik amish are not antivax or anti-technology. They are more like anti-grid. Some amish use electrical generators but not grid-power. Amish wear glasses but don't watch tv. It's not like technology is haram for them, it's more like umbilical cords connecting the Amish to a degenerate idiot slut society are haram, because it destroys self-reliance. At this point I wonder if they haven't been on to something all along.
I think it's more or less random. Brother Nathanael got banned in 2019, long after Alex Jones, Ry Dawson and Sandman.Terrence Popp got kicked out this week, probably in the same purge.