"fake yeshivish."

i think it was robert k merton who did some neat stuff in the sociology of science by studying networks of citations. i also recall seing a study about reading habits of liberal and conservative Americans, which found that the networks of books read rarely overlap (not too many republicans read Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, for example, and not too many people who read that astute piece of social commentary read the conservative analogs...). i couldn't find that study but this analysis of blogging networks is similar - especially look at the pretty picture on page 3 ; )
all that by way of introduction...

being back in manhattan, and once again among the west side and YU type people whose myopia prevents them from seeing off this smelly island, i have had numerous occasions to laugh, or get indignant, at the designation, often with a derrogatory undertone, of some YU community or other where peope happen to wear dark suits as "yeshivish." I always reply, smugly, "those people are fake yeshivish. i lived in brooklyn." but what do i mean by that besides "your xenohobic identity politics are annoying"?

basically, and this is not a super interesting point, i think "Modern" vs. "yeshivish" circles could be mapped very much like the liberal and conservative map cited above, based on two basic sets of factors:

1- the authorities generally cited or studied (eg: the "fake yeshivish" still quote a lot of the Rav, whom they often even call that, and very little of Rav Pam, Rav Belsky, etc. they read the jewish press or the jewish week and the Times, not hamodia or the yated. the real yeshivish often fill their bookcases with random compilations of achronish torah, the fake yeshivish generally don't. )

2- the sociological/cultural background or awareness of the members (even if they "frummed out," anyone who went to dayschol still knows a lot about secular movies and books that your average touro student doesn't. particularly on the books end ;) fake yeshivish are more likely, too, i would guess, to associate socially with people who would clearly not be defined as yeshivish -eg, their kippah-sruga sporting brother in teanech - than they are to visit boro park on a regular basis. and they probably still know a lot more about YU than Lakewood.)

caveat: the children of the fake yeshivish may go to real yeshivish schools and become real yeshivish themselves, or they may themelves go to fake yeshivish schools and continue to corrupt "Modern" communities with their black hats and strange sense of fealty to halachah.

anyway, perhaps an aspiring sociologist of orthodoxy could make more out of this...

ps - as this sudden spate of blogging may suggest, i am officially on vacation. for real. carefree (aka plan-free, but whatever...) smile for me!