Q&A: Stay Silent Because It Disturbs ‘Domestic Peace’?
Stay Silent Because It Disturbs ‘Domestic Peace’?
Question
I live in a community that is almost entirely made up of Bibists with weak minds—not wicked, just literally a pile of fools.
Of course there is also a WhatsApp group with hundreds of members.
Every now and then I write there a bit about the situation among the people and the responsibility of Bibi, the poison-machines, and the Bibist groups.
Sometimes I also upload a video.
I think it’s healthy and important that anyone who has the desire or ability to think should occasionally get such an opportunity.
Naturally I get insults, curses, threats, abuse, and all the other wonderful things people at that level have to offer, along with songs of praise and glory to the marvelous and mighty leader who maybe is actually the Messiah…
But I don’t give up, and every so often I bring it up again and again, out of praise and thanks to God for giving me enough understanding not to be like them.
They came to me with a real claim: it is known of at least one couple in the community that the fact that I occasionally raise this issue causes a disturbance of their “domestic peace.”
My assessment was that one of the spouses wants to slander me, insult me, and so on, as is their custom in the group—and indeed does so from time to time. There is still a problem, though, because the other spouse protests on their behalf, since I do them many kindnesses.
Is that a sufficient reason not to occasionally offer people the chance to think again, and to keep quiet?
At the end of the day, this is a group of hundreds.
Answer
I don’t think something like that justifies silencing a person. If they can’t get along with one another while holding different views, that’s their problem.
Discussion on Answer
Personally, if I were the group admin, I’d block you, regardless of domestic peace. Constantly pumping opinions against basically all the members of the group is roughly like setting up a stand for leaving religion in the middle of a yeshiva. Trolling for its own sake.
Avi, you’re mistaken.
In a yeshiva people come to study Torah, not to do the opposite.
In this case, he lives in the community for his own reasons (education, or who knows what), and it’s only basic that he should voice his opinion just like everyone else does.
And in a yeshiva too, in my opinion, one can and should voice any opinion as long as it is reasoned. Certainly when we’re talking about adults.
I agree that different opinions can be voiced.
As I understand it, Avi is talking about a person who frequently voices criticism of the way of life / the place where he lives, and then the question arises what he’s even doing in such a place to begin with, if not for trolling.
*Challenges the way of life…
Avi and Yitzhak, in your opinion is it legitimate to set up a tefillin stand in the middle of Dizengoff or near a secular high school?
Should a religious person who lives in Tel Aviv leave because he doesn’t fit the area, or are your rules one-way only?
What do you think about a Torah-oriented community group that settles in Tel Aviv? Legitimate, or is that chutzpah / trolling?
I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
There’s a small minority that thinks like I do.
True, I’m the only one who isn’t afraid and voices my opinion publicly.
I’m not challenging the entire way of life—I’m part of the community.
I am challenging the intellectual feebleness that leads to Bibism.
Every now and then the admins threaten me privately that they’ll throw me out of the group,
and I reply that I am meticulous about the commandment of “do not be afraid of any man”; they don’t dare.
I would judge them favorably. Not that they don’t dare, but that they don’t want to. They are tolerant and accepting and don’t want to silence and reject opinions and people. That’s also one way to look at it. In my opinion, you are too absolute in your views, and not only here. You see everything in black and white. And it seems that this is also how you relate to your community. I would recommend that you try to look at things in a more balanced and generous way.
Gabriel,
A. Legitimate.
B. No.
C. Legitimate.
I didn’t understand what all the outrage was about.
It seems to me you didn’t understand what I said: in my first message I wrote my opinion, and in the second I explained Avi.
More power to you.