Yserbius123,
“And why didn’t it work specifically in Lakewood in the 21st century? Every other city, country (besides Chareidim in Eretz Yisroel), and time period in the post-Holocaust world strongly encouraged it.”
So do you agree that the NYT-led crusade against Yeshivos in NY (Lakewood is in NJ) is completely baseless?
“It’s an ideological thing, plain and simple. A silly, misguided, ideology that people have fooled themselves into thinking is Torah.”
So you feel intellectually and morally superior to those “Lakewood” Jews. It’s not true, but whatever. If you have an interest in convincing someone, however, talking down to them from a place of disdain usually isn’t the way to go about it. I personally think that Jews living in Lakewood are thinking and intelligent human beings who know themselves and their community, their values, hopes, dreams, and fears better than you do.