this is ridiculous. joseph and his comrades can’t come up with a single issur or even a legitimate halachik problem with the situation, yet they are tripping over one another to bemoan how terrible it is, how these bochurim already on their way “off the derech”, etc.
perhaps joseph, et al. should be a bit more precise, and state that by going into a bar, the bochurim in question were not maintaining the frum/yeshivish IMAGE expected of them, as defined by joseph (much as they would not be if they were caught wearing a (gasp!) blue shirt or brown shoes).
in light of this attitude, its really no surprise that there is such a problem nowadays with frum kids (really) going “off the derech.” when kids/teenagers see that the ‘ikkar’ of yiddishkeit for most people has become this silly ‘chitzoniusdike’ IMAGE (i.e., wear this hat, go to this yeshiva, talk using these yiddish words, etc.) instead of the true values of our torah and halacha, its sadly no wonder that many of them reject it.
going around saying that everything under the sun is ‘assur’ (blue shirts – assur!, not wearing a hat – treif!, going to college – chas veshalom!) is not only silly and wrong, but it is also destructive as it cheapens and degrades the importance of TRUE torah and halacha. do you really think rabbi akiva or moshe rabbeinu only wore a black suit, white shirt, and black hat?? lets get real, people.