Do Rationalists Need Special Protection?

When they will do anything to flee the debate

We are witness to a very interesting phenomenon on Rationalist Judaism. On any controversial post, Natan has currently blocked all discussion in the comments, unless you are willing to fork over $8 to be his yes-man. The reason is simple. Ever since the war started, business in the museum has been slow.

Very slow.

So instead of lifting a finger to help the war effort, Natan has decided to dedicate his life to attacking his enemies. That means a post about chareidim every single day. Sounds fun. Sounds like real, intellectually rigorous scholarship befitting a “rationalist”, doesn't it?

But wait. 

There are people pushing back in the comments. And not just pushing back, but counterattacking. He is losing the narrative. Really badly. He cannot tolerate this. So instead of defending his arguments, he simply bans all opposing voices. 

Problem solved, right? 

Not quite. Now some people are upset at being arbitrarily banned, so they open up new accounts every day or multiple times a day, using a site like temp mail, and troll the blog while evading bans. 

Chaos ensues. 

At this point, Natan has totally lost control, so in desperation, he bans all discussion completely (unless you are willing to fork over $8 to be his yes-man, don't even think about disagreeing, you will get instantly banned and pay $8 for the privilege).

So much for “rationalism”.

All of this was avoidable. Natan could have allowed normal discussion. He didn't have to ban debate that was no more inflammatory than the posts the debate was about. But he couldn't tolerate the undermining of his narrative, especially when he has now made that his entire life about it.

How ironic it is that that the torch bearer of "rationalism", which is characterized by logical argumentation, cannot even defend his own arguments, and instead flees like a frightened little girl and locks the door behind him. He believes that he believes that his rational arguments are convincing, but he doesn’t really believe it.

About his most recent post, I won't even bother responding to such stupidity here. You can discuss in the comments, as I mentioned in last post. Just keep in mind, this is the genius who thinks that chareidim are hypocrites because they use exterminators when they have a rat problem.

Using the same reasoning, I will end off noting the hypocrisy of those who composed Al Hanissim. 

וְאַתָּה בְּרַחֲמֶיךָ הָרַבִּים עָמַדְתָּ לָהֶם בְּעֵת צָרָתָם רַבְתָּ אֶת רִיבָם דַּנְתָּ אֶת דִּינָם נָקַמְתָּ אֶת נִקְמָתָם

You, in your enormous mercy, stood up for them in their time of great need, upheld their cause, judged their case, and avenged their oppressors.

מָסַרְתָּ גִּבּוֹרִים בְּיַד חַלָּשִׁים וְרַבִּים בְּיַד מְעַטִּים וּטְמֵאִים בְּיַד טְהוֹרִים וּרְשָׁעִים בְּיַד צַדִּיקִים וְזֵדִים בְּיַד עוֹסְקֵי תוֹרָתֶךָ

You delivered the mighty into the hands of the week, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the degenerates into the hands of those who cling to your Torah

Hmmm. If it was God who brought about the victory, why was there a need for soldiers and fighting? Clearly Chazal believed that they believed that God brought about victory, but they didn't really believe it.