Bishops of US-Canadian Anabaptist communities [Hutterites] blast TV series as ‘distorted,’ ‘contrived’

[aicirt]

There does seem to be a problem of inbreeding among North American Hutterites. Their colonies were founded in the 1870s by 900 individuals, but genealogical records collected in the 1950s and 1960s indicated that all living Hutterites were descended from fewer than 90 ancestors, who lived in the 18th century.
evolution.unibas.ch/teaching/evol_genetics/3_Population_Genetics/lecture_notes/Pop_Gen_6.pdf



Did you mean you think they should enlarge the gene pool?

Bringing in converts might seem the easiest solution. But according to the FAQ on a Hutterite website, converts typically don’t last.

hutterites.org/day-to-day/faqs/

I suppose another possible way to enlarge the gene pool would be to import some Hutterites from elsewhere in the world. But I am not sure whether the same problem of everyone being descended from the same small pool of ancestors doesn’t exist elsewhere.

Yes, I think the medical community should bring this to the attention of the elders and the members. If they don’t have a problem now (and I certainly saw something), they will.
The Amish apparently have had problems with in breding too. Result has been some being born with mutiple digits.

 

[Nine_Two]

And she had been adopted, right? I think it would behoove the medical community there to address the problem of draining the gene pool.

She had been adopted out of, not in to.

 

[manualman]

Sounds like National Geographic has really gone downhill in their standards.

Have people seen this show? Does it appear to give any sort of insight to what the lives of these people are like or would it be like watching Jersey Shore and drawing conclusions about what Italian-Americans from New Jersey are like?

 

[robwar]

Sounds like National Geographic has really gone downhill in their standards.

Have people seen this show? Does it appear to give any sort of insight to what the lives of these people are like or would it be like watching Jersey Shore and drawing conclusions about what Italian-Americans from New Jersey are like?

Yes, I thought it was sad and did not portray them in a good light. I feel sorry that they were probably manipulated into doing the show and I am sure they regret it. The bickering swearing, tensions etc were well emphasize. They are a pacifist group and the one scene had a fist fight of sorts between 2 men, I think it was after drinking. The show left me thinking why would anyone want to stay in this since they all seemed unhappy and tense.
I think it is also along the same lines as their other series “out of order” about Amish that have left. Nat Geo seems to want to target these sorts of religious groups. I wonder if they are going to try to a “reality show” about Catholic monestaries.