CS: “I think the term kiddush lubavitch is a defensive term which you could ask yourself why it needs to exist…”
The same could be said of Kiddush Hashem. We only need that term because there are forces – physical and spiritual – who fight against Hashem’s Will. So when Hashem’s Will wins, so to speak, it’s a Kiddush Hashem. Nonetheless, when one group or another “wins” against those who malign, they don’t say “Kiddush Lita” or “Kiddush Satmar”. Only Lubavich has this chauvinistic attitued, and, as I have written in the past, I believe it’s a crutch because they know that the chareidi world has JUSTIFIED complaints against them. By being insular and only thinking about Luabavich, you find it easier to ignore those complaints rather than rectify them.
“It does seem that the bigger a group gets, the harder it is to know everyone within the community/ group, and we know “outsiders” even less.”
You don’t have to know all the details of all the chareidi groups to know of major personalities in those groups. It is only Lubavich who totally ignores those major personalities…. unless they can be quoted saying something in support of Lubavich.
Or unless they are from a long time ago and have no hemshech to their chassidic line. That’s why Lubavich can quote RLY of Berditchev, and Reb Zusha of Annipoli and the like, while it’s much rarer for them to quote, say, Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk. With the former there are no “yorshim” who can possibly pose a threat to Lubavich’s world view. Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk has many yorshim in different lines, and they usually pose a threat.