MW13:
You are horribly mistaken with your perception of what you call the “Modern World”. First of all, lets be clear. The “Modern World” you refer to can in no way shape or form be summed up as simply as you have put it.
You said “The modern world, on the other hand, tries have a good time both in this world and the next. They tend to be much more open to
(and influenced by) the culture around them, and this shows in how they conduct themselves. (The more influenced one is by the secular culture around him, the less of a Torah-oriented life he/she lives.) They keep and follow the Torah, but it is not all they live for.”
What an awful misconception by someone who has obviously not done their research. What you are referring to are people who are not orthodox. That’s not “MO”. What MO really means, and what YU’s slogan means, is people who are both Modern AND Orthodox, striving to keep shulchan aruch in its entirety, which includes the part about placing Hashem and his torah first.
Now, this is where you’ve exposed yourself for being closeminded. There is another derech that is different than yours. MO believe not in the standalone value of madda, but in its potential to bring us closer to Hashem. That bzeiyat apecha tochal lachem means get a job, that being an ohr lagoyim means interacting with goyim, and that studying biology can give one insight in to the niflaot of Hashem. But, all of this is because we (oh no, one of those!) believe this is the best way to serve Hashem; and this IS putting Hashem and torah first. The frum crowd in YU put in a 7 or 8 hours of learning, fit in around their studies in the afternoon. And you better believe they fight for it, and appreciate their torah.
Now, what you were referring to are people who are not going about it in its proper form; however those exist in every circle–yeshivish chasidish etc.
So to reiterate, proper MO does only live for torah, and it all revolves around Hashem, it’s just a different way than you are used to so you’ve automatically written it off as invalid.
So to address your last point: You’re right, technically “this conversation” is about what the OP said, but as always, the conversation in the coffee room digressed, and OUR conversation became about something else. And you’re right, how someone dresses does say something to some people about one’s hashkafa, but as I said above, this is a sad reality. Get to know somebody before you make judgements, because just because you’re reading someone one way doesnt mean they mean to give off a specific message. And just because someone is dressed one way that according to you gives off a certain message doesnt mean they really are that way.
The point is clothes dont really say anything. And they shouldnt. So get to know somebody before you make any judgements either way.