Sand and Bans

The latest ban (covered by GH, Yeshivishe News, Zionist Conspiracy, and others) brings something to mind. When you go to the beach and pick up a handful of sand, you cup it in your hands. If you try holding it in a fist, the sand falls out of your hand and through your fingers, leaving you with a lot less, more compacted, but still diminished.

These bans accomplish the same thing. The small core, which will listen to everything, is further compacted. Through outside (read: peer) pressure, a core, with a strong sense of community remains.

That core retains a respect for those who issue bans. The others lose all respect. The blame for this loss rests at the feet of the issuers.

Bans have a place. But the more they are used, the less force they have. Eventually they become a laughingstock to all of us, who have long since fled the enclosing fist.