@LAB – I’m personally horrified that a young person would actually hit an elderly man over a difference in hashkafa. Who is he to act that way to a Gadol? That’s just sick.
I really don’t know much about Rav Shteinman’s perspective on things, but after that video where he chewed two men out for being too arrogant with regards to the “open-minded” family of a girl in their school, I count him as one of my heroes.
Personally, I don’t think this has anything to do with America. Rather, it reflects badly on our nation as a whole. If kids are hitting elderly people over a difference in hashkafa, it might seem to any outside onlooker that a) frum parents stink at raising well-behaved children, and b) we’ve got a lot of achdus issues.
And this is just food for thought, but would we deal just as harshly with other people who have committed similar offenses against people of lesser social stature?
(On your note, you’re absolutely right that there are people who use those excuses legitimately, but more and more people are just parroting them back to “cry wolf”.)