Redleg – thank you for resetting the tone. I mean it.
I am not sure what you mean about him being right and me being wrong. Him being right that the yeshiva system stinks? Me being wrong about not wanting half dressed people in my face?
The problem was that we weren’t even talking about the same stuff! I have shared his opinion of “the system” but as someone who lives much further from it than he, I have learned to find a new group of peers and work around it. My visits here often remind me of those behaviors/feelings but it is not right to say that if someone (me) decides we should be careful around pritzus, I must be one of those ‘narrow minded chareidim’. Lehefech, prove yourself as someone who is just as makpid in things that matter even when you aren’t chareidi.
Regarding your post script – I thought about what you said about me responding angrily first. I had thought about it before I posted. Really, you are right, and you are wrong. If you read his short response in relation to his other posts, you will know that it was plenty angry. He had my whole persona nailed because “who else would push for a filter?”
my later comments weren’t about his view of the internet, it was about the assumption that I could ONLY care about such things if I am chareidi. That, to me, is the same garbage that the chareidim throw back at him. (see DY’s comment, case in point, assuming/accusing you two don’t learn gemora or mussar.) I happen to HATE that fighting. I HATE it. I HATE the hamster wheel that they spin on. I would give anything to live in a world where Torah Jews can inspect a halacha for what it is, not for who is “wearing” it, and to stop making sick assumptions about each other based on awful community experiences.
I wish you many long years, Redleg. Thank you for your post. And when you turn 120 and meet HKB”H and see the truth, just know that I will be so jealous of your vision.