Censoring...

I've been getting involved in what's turning out to be a nice, lively, healthy discussion on tuition over at YWN. I've put a few posts up there and the tone of the discussion is suprisingly civil and intelligent.

I made some interesting comments in a few of my posts. I suggested that our entire community (laymen and leaders alike) have possibly had our collective heads in the sand in ignorance of basic economics vis a vis our current and future tuition obligations and burdens as they relate to COLA (cost of living). I merely brought up the issue of family size, without really alluding to it as such, but did not advocate or condemn. I suggested that perhaps the very likely burden current and future families will have may not be the true ratzon Hashem (chas rachmana al m'mona shel yisrael), as the tuition issue and crisis is largely of our own making.

My posts got posted, oh yes. But these salient points which I INTENDED to be included to merely stir discussion and which I tried as carefully as I could to word innocuously got left out; lost in the cyberspace mail perhaps? Hardly. I saw a big fat EDITED at the bottom of all my posts that contained this "salacious" material.

This really P***** ME OFF. I don't think anything I wrote is beyond the pale at all. What, I'm not allowed to even obliquely suggest mild criticism of communal leaders? Not even when I lump everyone, the whole community in together?? What, is a subsection of Yahadus so perfect and omniscient as to be beyond any human reproach whatsoever?? Is merely suggesting that leaders are human and may take, from time to time, constructive criticism from the klal a heresy? Or do we live under ideals that Kim Jong Il would be proud of...? I'm not allowed to suggest issues and thoughts that are intended to get discussions moving, such as ratzon Hashem, number of children, etc? Not allowed to mildly inject things into the discussion just to try to open people up and face and tackle tough issues in an attempt to consensually solve a very serious problem??

It's not the censorship itself that really bothers me. It's the thinking behind it: All leaders are completely beyond reproach. Their actions are inviolable and not subject to even mild questioning or gentle criticism. They are all knowing and can see into the future. Tough, gnarly subjects such as family size, the will of God, etc are to be avoided at all costs in any discussion. These are inviolable, even if they're used as a tool to hash out issues and help with possible solutions to very complicated questions. I'm not suggesting that our leaders are doddering, that we should all have no more than two kids, and we can always deign to know exactly what the razton Hashem is. But these are complicated and tough issues, the introduction of which may help in opening up other issues and helping solve problems within the discussion. But for fear that someone may get the wrong idea about all this and be 'porek ol', etc, etc, etc....

The faint sense of paranoia just seems to linger on and fester and suffocate our ability to dialogue and thrash out very complicated issues and complicated answers. And, as Steve "Turtleneck" Jobs would say, oh, and one more thing. This was in reference to a discussion on tuition. If we pay so much $$$ for quality education, why the paranoia that even the slightest hint of a suggestion of a hint will cause 'prikas ol' en masse? If we are so convinced of the frailty of our billion-dollar chinuch system's message, wouldn't it then be better to just have cheaper, "1984" and "Brave New World" style education modalities where subliminal messages are played into our kids' ears as they sleep and all our kids sit on chairs in an auditorium and throw garbage at the Satans of this world as they appear onscreen...?