(Skip ahead six paragraphs to get to a response to Rabbi Beckerman about yeshivah students and army.) It's almost impossible to overstate the effect that the Internet has had on the parameters of discourse in the frum community. This first became apparent to many people during the controversy over my books, when myself, Rabbi Gil Student and several others were able to publicly present a defense of the rationalist approach to Torah and science, and many people were able to voice their distress and fury with the ban. This put the other side in a panic. They were used to controlling the public discourse, via the Yated, the Jewish Observer, and so on, which never allowed criticism to appear. They were not used to people being able to talk back and get their side of things across to the public. They can't figure out how to operate in a world where everyone can make their views available to a public, which enables people to (hopefully) make intelligent choices as to which side is presenting correct conclusions.
The Terror Of Freedom Of Speech
The Terror Of Freedom Of Speech
The Terror Of Freedom Of Speech
(Skip ahead six paragraphs to get to a response to Rabbi Beckerman about yeshivah students and army.) It's almost impossible to overstate the effect that the Internet has had on the parameters of discourse in the frum community. This first became apparent to many people during the controversy over my books, when myself, Rabbi Gil Student and several others were able to publicly present a defense of the rationalist approach to Torah and science, and many people were able to voice their distress and fury with the ban. This put the other side in a panic. They were used to controlling the public discourse, via the Yated, the Jewish Observer, and so on, which never allowed criticism to appear. They were not used to people being able to talk back and get their side of things across to the public. They can't figure out how to operate in a world where everyone can make their views available to a public, which enables people to (hopefully) make intelligent choices as to which side is presenting correct conclusions.