Wishful thinking

I have a lot on my mind, yet I'm struggling with the presentation and organization of this series of posts.

There are several topics that I'd like to discuss.

Skepticism

Cynicism

Bans

Gedolim

Slifkin

Trust

I'll address them in separate posts and I'll then attempt to tie them all in together.

Here's my fantasy wishful-thinking take on the concert ban.

The Gedolim are fed up. They know it's all a sham yet people seem to listen to them no matter how absurd, no matter how preposterous the issue at hand. So they need to come up with a way to foment outrage & incredulity at their pronouncements.

"I know! Let's ban Strawberries! Let's ban going to Miami
Beach!" You read it right! All but the aged are forbidden to go to Miami
Beach even to visit their own elderly parents!


But no. That still did not shake the faithful.

So they tried again. "Let's place a boycott on sheitel stores that display
pictures of women in Sheitels!"

But still not. The sheep are following in step.

So they finally got together and did the almost unimaginable. Gedolim in
the US banned a separate seating fund-raising concert!

I thought that's the final straw.

But rabboisai, guess what?

I was wrong. This was not a concerted effort to get people to lose faith in Gedolim. This was not a concerted effort at all. There was even a public admission of sorts that the gedolim were never even on the same page regarding this costly fiasco. Yet some of them let themselves be manipulated into a ban that should never have happened.

Unbelievably, on theYeshivaworld.com, that annoying web site with those flashing ads, where seemingly intelligent internet-connected Chareidim hang out, there was still almost unwavering support behind the ban. That is, until the Jewish Star broke the news about the Askanim behind the ban. At that point, when the Chareidim were able to deflect some of the criticism away from the Gedolim, some of the true feelings of the Chareidim, resentment against the ban, started to come out. But even now, there are still many Chareidim, who blindly and mindlessly back the ban. To do otherwise would of course be admitting that the gedolim and their actions do not deserve mindless approbation.

So readers. What do you think? In the spirit of Dov Bear contests, can you suggest what Takanah or action (not including blatant violations of Halacha) would it take for the Chareidi world to wake up and smell the coffee?