Neville – there really was no other way to read it. he said that i was reading into the comment as an attack, and the NEXT sentence was that left wingers can be quick to assume that right wingers are attacking. But i would rather drop it because its a no win. I hate nitpicking conversations and he has already stated he didnt mean it.
As for the rest of your post, we are really talking about two different things. Firstly, and i really wasnt interested in opening this can of worms you say “People on this thread have been calling a minhag silly”. well guess what? Zdad wasn’t the one who did that. it was frumnotyeshivish. zdad was off on some crazy tangent about prices and imposing costs.
and lastly, you are wrong that we all get i am defending zdad the person not the stance. and really, its not about defending him as much as being sick of the way people who claim to be(or possibly are) more learned can treat other people (not just him) who were raised with less information or don’t understand the things you spent decades learning about. even on things that are benign, the assumptions are there and the behavior is really unbecoming of people who seem to be learned (although i have my own theories about people who seem to be learned spending time online).
This behavior turns people away and gives the very false impression that this is how all of US right wingers believe and behave. And it’s wrong. but because it is so ingrained there are a handful of posters who are oblivious to their inappropriate attitude and behavior and are willing to deny it purely on the premise that they themselves don’t see it.
THAT is the problem. And the fact that it misrepresents Torah life and makes a sort of chilul Hashem in a way is why I can’t let it go. But it is a literal blind spot for them so now i will get comments about how Hashem really wants them to make annonymous people feel like dirt because their interpretation of the persons intent is the right one.
If the comments were REALLY and sincerely to the vitriol, then flatbusher would have been the target, not some stupid conversation about pesach food that legitimately isn’t anti religion as it is just silly.
Im really tired. i really didn’t want to bother with any of this because blindspots are blindspots. I have mine too but that’s why i work very hard to listen to the responses i get and when i hear responses that dont match my comments i run them past other people (not like minded people) for perspective.
i don’t care who agrees, i just want us to be more of what Hashem wants of us. And if you find apikorsus, and KNOW itis apikorsus and not lack of exposure, understanding, opportunity etc, then go for it. But if you are in an online forum, then explain yourself. Throw in a comment that says, “I cannot sit back and let Hashem’s Torah/minhagim/leaders be spoken about that way.”
Do you honestly think that when you stab someone for a reason that is only obvious to a smaller group of people that you aren’t causing collateral damage?
P.S. If the response to the vitriol was to defend minhagim, it would probably have gone thru even if it wasn’t cordial.