Walmart vs. Monsey

Walmart is a discount department store. The idea that it is a threat to the way of life of Hasidic Jews is nuts. The NY Times really flopped on the coverage of this story, writing that some say the store, "Will pollute the spiritual environment" of the holy Monsey community. Well actually it will replace a drive in theater - where only sacred activities occurred - and thus for the first time it will bring sin into the camp of the holy.

Funny thing. There is a rabbi in a nearby community who is accused of real moral turpitude. It is nutty nutty nutty to think that interloper Walmart - the largest retailer in the world - will generate moral shortcomings for this area. The Monsey folk do very well without foreign intervention.

So how did the Times get into this situation - declaring a moral battlefield has emerged in the leading unincorporated hamlet of shteibeldom?

The guys at the NYT love the theme of modern and progressive vs. traditional and regressive. It is one of their favorite tropes.

So our conflict stirs up images of David vs. Goliath, morals vs. sin, the sacred vs. satan... the drama that newspapers love to "discover".