@ YYA
You wrote: “If you open up a Rishon and see something that appears “outlandish”, do you also feel competent to declare it “patently false”?”
It depends. There are other principals for accepting / rejecting propositions other then an appeal to authority. For example, there are Geonim and Rishonim who held the earth does not move. Obviously, once we have the benefit of observing it move that is grounds for rejecting that opinion.
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ARSo wrote: had you been around 400 years ago would you have said it is not our business to dispute (and denigrate) S”T…” You responded: “It wouldn’t have been our business. The גדולי תורה of that generation decided how to deal with him. These things aren’t the responsibility of every individual Yankel. At the time, the דעת בעלי בתים chevra were all for him, and mocked the גדולי ישראל who opposed him…”
I disagree with this on 2 counts:
1) Those who had sufficient information / reason to oppose him had every obligation to do so. One does not need to be a Gadol to know the Emes. Consider this, If your Rav tells you to speak lashon HaRa you are forbidden to acquiesce to his request. You don’t say “Well he is a Gadol, what do I know”.
2) In fact many Gedolim where initially taken in by S”T.
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You wrote: “Nowhere does the חפץ חיים permit saying לשון הרע in order to “irk” someone. If it is clear that there is no possibility of convincing someone, then there is no obligation, and ממילא no היתר, of תוכחה or תועלת or anything else.”
The Toeles is creating an environment that is not conducive for spreading their falsehoods. The importance of this toeles is amplified by the fact that they are propagandizing these falsehoods with significant resources.
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“Be honest. Whoever is posting these comments here is just doing it for fun. Not to “save” anyone.
Honestly, No. There is nothing “fun” about this
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You wrote: “To trigger a ספק דאורייתא of איסורי לשון הרע it is not at all necessary to be a גדול, only to be עמיתך,”
This is true. And for this reason, it is very important to stick to the issues without disparaging anyone personally.
There is more to say about this but this is all I have time for at the moment