Braindrops

On Common Sense

First, apologies for my absence, in the unlikely event that anyone has noticed. (Mom doesn't read blogs, of course.)

So the past few days, I've been pondering the bet-this-happens-more-than-you-think travails of the blogress dysphemistically titled Frum Affair.

My reaction actually surprised me, because I'm an innately intolerant sort. Rather than pontificating (to myself, that is - my office has no door, and mutterings aloud would draw far too many raised eyebrows) about the horrendousness of said affair (apparently an "all but" deal, likely cold comfort to the betrayed spice), it seemed plausible to me that - had I not been fortunate enough to land Frau Potemkin when engaging in premature engagement (an all-too-common malady of the jejeune Orthodox) - I myself could have been the subject of some other frustrated Bais Yangster's many postings.

Longwindedness aside, life must really suck when you're stapled to one person and desirous of another.

So, where am I going with this? I think that the current American yeshivishe version of Orthodoxy is so chock-a-block full of stifling rules and protocols that the muscle responsible for common sense is atrophying. All well-intentioned and such, but here's an unintended consequence of some consequence.

Watch her blog, if it dosn't make you weep. Watch the confessionals rack up in the coming days and weeks. If even half of the episodes likely to emerge are true, we've made a horrifying wrong turn somewhere.

Anyhow, that's that. I'll get back to autodidactic misinterpretations of John Stuart Mill soon.

- Moishe Potemkin

Posted by MoisheP at December 23, 2004 07:02 PM