NATIONAL FEMA ALERT OUTS AMISH MEN AS PHONE OWNERS AND GETS SHUNNED BY AMISH COMMUNITY

On October 4, FEMA conducted a nationwide emergency alert test in which all smartphones and devices in the United States were activated, including those set to vibrate. For some, it was an embarrassing inconvenience or some kind of jump scare, but for one group in particular it posed a problem. Former Amish TikToker Eli Yoder reports that some Amish men were "removed" from their church after an alert revealed someone with a smartphone. "Several Amish men were banned from an Amish church because they had their smartphones in their pockets when the emergency alert system went off," Yoder said. He says he has helped "quite a few Amish men" get phones. “Now three of them replied back to me and said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna have to lay low for a while, I just got shunned,' and I said ‘How'd that happen?' They said, ‘That emergency alert that went off? Yeah, we had our phones on vibrate and it still went off.' ” 

Yoder even told the story of a man whose phone went off just when the community elders were pulling over to his house to talk to him about something that might get him shunned. “Right when that was going on, the alert went off and [it] was in his pocket,” he recalls. “Now he is getting shunned for both whatever they were after to shun him and also the cellphone.” 

While “shunning” doesn't mean that the men were kicked out of their Amish community, they will be punished in an effort to maintain the integrity of the church. Those shunned can be cut off from community activities like eating or taking rides with others in the community, and it can certainly hurt their chances to earn a living. However, others can also talk to them and ask for help if it is absolutely necessary. 

 “From now on, I think we need to remember to let all our Amish friends know when an emergency alert inspection is scheduled,” Yoder added.

Watch Yoder's Video on TikTok Here:  https://www.tiktok.com/@yodertoter40/video/7286229524608535850