Monday, February 14, 2005

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPIDITY

Town Crier, a Jew, a Liberal and a fine American, has uncovered a Jewish Press Letter to the Editor so idiotic it makes previous Jewish Press Letters to the Editor seem profound and wise.

Town Crier is all over the fallacies, but let's pile on.
Being that our children are priceless to us, we should forbid boys from returning from weddings the same evening. Notwithstanding the bittul Torah, the roshei yeshiva cannot allow this situation to continue. Pikuach nefesh is docheh Torah! Only if a chartered bus can be arranged would it be permitted to come back the same night. Only boys 21 years and older with experience of having driven on highways at night would be allowed to drive other boys to and from weddings. Finally, no boys should be driving in winter.

Hopefully, with these takanos in place and with the blessing of rabbonim and roshei yeshiva, there will be a dramatic decline in what we have recently been seeing.
What I find most insulting is the LW's basic assumption: Jews need a big daddy rabbi to do the hard thinking for us. What are we? Catholics? Since when do we need to address every new emergancy with a new takanah? That's Judaism? A bunch of unelected clerics with the power to micro-manage our lives?

If I hadn't lived in Brooklyn for too many years, I'd believe this letter writer represents only himself. Unfortunately, I know these people. And when they aren't busy blaming the troubles of the world on short skirts and/or modern Jews, they are dreaming up remedies like this one.

And the truly amazing thing, is that these same people almost always vote GOP. They don't want the democratically chosen government to run their lives, but it's fine if a group of long beards in a herring-filled room ban (and there's that pesky word again) boys from driving in the winter.