The Amish, an Anabaptist group living primarily on the eastern coast of Pennsylvania and Maryland, may be viewed by the everyday American as a somewhat unconventional group, but still peaceful. It's debatable whether or not you would call the Amish lifestyle "extreme." Extremism in context means outside the social norms of everyday life. Although all extremist groups are known to be aggressive and dangerous towards society, this is not always the case. The alternative lifestyle of the Amish is in fact "extreme" due to their living conditions, religion, worldview and educational system. The living conditions of the Amish are seen as too extreme for the average American. Many Amish farms; continuing to use their horse-drawn equipment despite improvements in agricultural technology in recent years (Hostetler 14). They also rely heavily on these horses, as well as basic scooters, bicycles, and carts to get from place to place as a replacement for the modern vehicles driven today. Their mode of transportation is extreme, meaning that driving a horse and buggy on a busy highway carries great risk. They could be hit by a car or lose control of their horse and cause injury to themselves or others. There are children who ride scooters down the street in the same dangerous manner, all for the sake of keeping life “simple.” The Amish also tend to not have much, if any, electricity and rely on gas lights, leaving them literally, as they say, “in the dark.” For the Amish, English technological improvements distance man's connection with God. Technology is not seen as progress; but regression (Hostetler 14). The Amish maintain a certain primitive sense when it comes to technology, disconcerting those who... amid paper education systems combined with their religious and worldly views which certainly place them in the category of being a community "extremist". Works Cited Denlinger, A. Martha. Real People: Amish and Mennonites in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 1993. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Network. December 2, 2013. Hostetler, John Andrew. Amish life. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 1983. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Network. November 28, 2013. Hostetler, John Andrew. The Amish. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 1995. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Network. November 30, 2013.Olshan, Marc Alan and Donald B. Kraybill. The Amish's struggle with modernity. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1994. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Network. November 30, 2013. "Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish." Publishers Weekly 253.11 (2006): 60. Business Source Premier. Network. December 2. 2013.