“Oomis, it seems to me that you are thinking in a manner that reflects paranoia. Really, people do not walk around with nasty thoughts about you, and are busy with their own lives, just as you are. I now understand better your very strong feelings against certain manner of dress, and perhaps one day you will rethink your stance, for your own peace of mind.
Just like YOU don’t wish to see all Jews dressed as you do, others have no agenda to make the hamon am dress as they do. You are ascribing thoughts and intentions that have no bearing on reality, although I am certain you have had some painful experiences that have lead you to think in so unusual a manner. “
Kind of you to be concerned, but my manner of dress is perfectly fine, and I have peace of mind. I do not think people walk around having nasty thoughts about me, as I happen to be a very nice person, so if they were to have nasty thoughts it would reflect more on them than on me. My thoughts about manners of dress of others relate to my experiences with people who (whether you admit it to yourself or not) do feel smug and superior bedavka because they dress a certain way. I do not feel superior because I DON’T dress that way, but neither do I feel I am on any lower of a madreiga. And therein lies the problem. Too many people keep saying what a higher LEVEL it is to dress that way. WHY? Because the Yeshivah says so???? That’s not a reason to feel that way, and it reflects the very divisiveness that I mentioned earlier. As soon as you think that I need to rethink my stance (what about the Yeshivishe world re-thinking ITS stance about wearing inappropriate clothing in the heat of the sumemr?) then you have made a judgment about me that is based on no real knowledge of me.
The Hamon Am, FYI, does not dress Yeshivish. The frum world altogether constitutes a very small fraction of the total Jewish population (unfortunately). There are shivim panim laTorah, and shivim panim of religious Jewry. I promise you there is an entire world of extremely frum Yidden who look NOTHING like the Yeshivah bochurim of Lakewood. It is a big world out there. We are not all alike, and we are all part of a very beautiful Torah tapestry. And there are more colors in that tapestry than only black.