Blog Review: Thoughts of A Secular Jew

My recent exchange with Chaim Rubin has got me thinking. How does a blogger, who insists on criticizing a certain lifestyle and philosophy, strike the correct balance between intellectual, rational criticism and sarcastic cynicism? After all, once you have heard all the arguments, seen the evidence and critically evaluated the system in question, it can be difficult not to approach future critiques with a sense of beleaguered and jaded skepticism.

Recently, SJ (apparently short for "Secular Jew") left the following comment on an earlier thread: "everyone read my blog XD." The fact that SJ committed the ultimate offense against blogging netiquette, namely leaving a drive-by, shameless, self-promoting link dump, should have been the tip-off that the content of his blog would leave something to be desired. And yet I clicked anyways.

Amusingly, one of his posts is titled:

"WE [ORTHODOX JEWS] ARE NOT TOO STRICT! THE TALMUD IS ONLY 5,422 PAGES LONG!!!"

I hope he's never seen a copy of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Uniform Commercial Code or even Waddams on Contracts.

First of all, it is worth noting that SJ seems to feel that such trivialities as spelling, grammar and punctuation are for the birds. Fine. But he also seems to feel similarly about clear thinking and reasoning.

Bizarrely, he seems to be motivated by an Orthodox girl who spurned his advances:

"Today I saw that girl who in an earlier post I said how she was pissy with me...Her name is ############ Whine.....someshitlikethatiforgotexactly."

Boo hoo. I do not know how I can live! I take that back, yes I do know how I can live. Who do these religious girls think they are? I'd say something along the lines of self righteous.

Please, religious girls, save me your harassment. I prefer my weekends to be fun, which is one thing that synagogues don't understand either.

As an expression of hormone-infused, pubescent angst, SJ writes:

SHOMER NEGIAH IS NOT NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHOMER NEGIAH BELONGS IN AFGHANISTAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why someone who is a guy not born into orthodoxy, want to join into that society where talking to girls is greatly discouraged?

I will end with this final example of the crystal-clear thought and superb reasoning powers of SJ:

Let us presume that God intended Judaism to be a Judaism that the majority of jews can follow with minimum difficulty. This would make sense because, any more difficulty beyond the minimum would be self flagellation and self flagellation is retarded.

(I don't even need to mention that the above example of mental excrement appeared in a post entitled "Rav Moshe Feinstein: BURN IN HELL".)

Reading his blog makes me think a little bit more about the way I post. I do my very best (although I'm sure I often fail) to be clear, precise and articulate in my writing. The sort of boorish, puerile rants that SJ engages in, truly scare me. You see, I pray I never turn into him. In truth, I highly doubt that possibility, considering that I possess both a college education and an IQ above 75.

Don't get me wrong. I see many flaws in Orthodox Judaism in general and the Chareidi world in specific. I take issue with the lack of intellectual honesty, the failure to embrace critical scholarship and modern thought in addition to a general sense of xenophobia. However, if SJ thinks that his temper tantrums will do anything but further the Chareidi perception that all critics and skeptics are sexually obsessed lunatics, he is sadly mistaken.

He may just be an over-medicated fifteen year old, ravaged by ADHD, but in any case, SJ's blog makes for a pretty pathetic read.

J.D.