Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I found this interesting blog Here is the essence of how it began.
Well Steve has a blog and so he reported in episodes and the story quickly was framed as a little David versus a opwerful Goliath that had to, for the public safety sake, be destroyed.
It grew with angry in blogs and a cacophony of calls blocking up various business telephone lines, companies being expelled from verious trading arrangements wiith purported involved or related companies without any proof of who was actually guilty! This thing took a life of its own.
Worse than this, someone is smart to connect these companies with "hasidic Jews". That was really sad and totally uneducated.
As a start, mothers should tell their children that valuable things that are a bargain mostly are not! Not a very difficult concept one would think, yet grown men and women who are smart enough to earn money imagine they can get a $7500 1DSII for $4,000!
Anyone who thinks they are getting a bargain has to think twice or check in to the local center for the brain challenged!
The smart thing to do is to check reputation with resellerratings.com or ask in a forum related to what you are buying, be it camera or car or sewing machine!
The unfortunate proliferation of many stores by one or two unscrupulous switch and bait retailers should not be used to tarnish the character of true hasidism.
The latter by definiton would never bring shame to the Jewish people by doing anything dishonest.
A good example of typical Hasid behavior is that of B&H Photovideo. Yes they close on saturday and the Jewsih holidays and that can be an issue if you don't know about it. However, all over the world, B&H are recognized as the most honest and reliable dealers.
A case in point. I ordered a 21mm Distagon for my Canon cameras as I needed a great wide angle lens. None were available since Contax was going out of business. I ordered in October for $1600 and gave up by December since the lens was now selling used for up to $4,000!
Sure enough, out of the blue in february 2006, a little brown box arrived and I thought it must be a mistake as I had forgotten about the order. It was a brand new unused 21mm distagon in perfect wrapping. Now any lesser company would have simply sold it for more than double!
I called B&H and my salesman told me "We couldn't have done that as it wasn't ours to sell, we had already made a contact with you and couldn't then go back on our word."
These other guys who might masquarade as Hasidim are in fact a disgrace to themselves and everyone else. I cannopt fathom how the Attorney general in NY doesn't jail them for all the harm they cause.
There is a moral to the story which should not be overlooked.
Ethics involves not just what you can do but the distinction between that and what you should do.
B&H are the epitomy of ethical. If they do err, they''l correct it rapidly. The prices are fair and their word is real.
The bait and switch crooks are, of course, beyond unethical. Yet there's one more group to be examined, ourselves!
Sure blogs have the power to rise up and destroy Goliaths. However, all Goliaths are not deserving of being destroyed. That is where ethics comes in.
A blog can be enlightening or just entertaining. it can also be a light shining where we need to go.
Unfortunately it can also be destructive and we need to be very careful in using this huge power. It is not that a blogging "David" has just a little sling against a giant goliath, rather a lighted match to throw where it might cause more destruction than ever imagined.
In this case, it is probable but not certain that bad guys were harmed. However, we do not know. We haven't the faintest idea. One blogger has, in fact, perhaps unwittingly, been the judge and jury.
Still, i like his photographs. That is where he is on good ground, not the police work where because of his bad experience he is not seeing clearly perhpas the consequence of what can so easily happen. One might without evil intent, spread an infective rumor where someone else becomes an enemy of the people! For that to happen in a civil society with laws and accountability, is a tragedy akin to lynching.
Asher
Comparison Shopping on Sale - Forbes.com said:
Well Steve has a blog and so he reported in episodes and the story quickly was framed as a little David versus a opwerful Goliath that had to, for the public safety sake, be destroyed.
It grew with angry in blogs and a cacophony of calls blocking up various business telephone lines, companies being expelled from verious trading arrangements wiith purported involved or related companies without any proof of who was actually guilty! This thing took a life of its own.
Worse than this, someone is smart to connect these companies with "hasidic Jews". That was really sad and totally uneducated.
As a start, mothers should tell their children that valuable things that are a bargain mostly are not! Not a very difficult concept one would think, yet grown men and women who are smart enough to earn money imagine they can get a $7500 1DSII for $4,000!
Anyone who thinks they are getting a bargain has to think twice or check in to the local center for the brain challenged!
The smart thing to do is to check reputation with resellerratings.com or ask in a forum related to what you are buying, be it camera or car or sewing machine!
The unfortunate proliferation of many stores by one or two unscrupulous switch and bait retailers should not be used to tarnish the character of true hasidism.
The latter by definiton would never bring shame to the Jewish people by doing anything dishonest.
A good example of typical Hasid behavior is that of B&H Photovideo. Yes they close on saturday and the Jewsih holidays and that can be an issue if you don't know about it. However, all over the world, B&H are recognized as the most honest and reliable dealers.
A case in point. I ordered a 21mm Distagon for my Canon cameras as I needed a great wide angle lens. None were available since Contax was going out of business. I ordered in October for $1600 and gave up by December since the lens was now selling used for up to $4,000!
Sure enough, out of the blue in february 2006, a little brown box arrived and I thought it must be a mistake as I had forgotten about the order. It was a brand new unused 21mm distagon in perfect wrapping. Now any lesser company would have simply sold it for more than double!
I called B&H and my salesman told me "We couldn't have done that as it wasn't ours to sell, we had already made a contact with you and couldn't then go back on our word."
These other guys who might masquarade as Hasidim are in fact a disgrace to themselves and everyone else. I cannopt fathom how the Attorney general in NY doesn't jail them for all the harm they cause.
There is a moral to the story which should not be overlooked.
Ethics involves not just what you can do but the distinction between that and what you should do.
B&H are the epitomy of ethical. If they do err, they''l correct it rapidly. The prices are fair and their word is real.
The bait and switch crooks are, of course, beyond unethical. Yet there's one more group to be examined, ourselves!
Sure blogs have the power to rise up and destroy Goliaths. However, all Goliaths are not deserving of being destroyed. That is where ethics comes in.
A blog can be enlightening or just entertaining. it can also be a light shining where we need to go.
Unfortunately it can also be destructive and we need to be very careful in using this huge power. It is not that a blogging "David" has just a little sling against a giant goliath, rather a lighted match to throw where it might cause more destruction than ever imagined.
In this case, it is probable but not certain that bad guys were harmed. However, we do not know. We haven't the faintest idea. One blogger has, in fact, perhaps unwittingly, been the judge and jury.
Still, i like his photographs. That is where he is on good ground, not the police work where because of his bad experience he is not seeing clearly perhpas the consequence of what can so easily happen. One might without evil intent, spread an infective rumor where someone else becomes an enemy of the people! For that to happen in a civil society with laws and accountability, is a tragedy akin to lynching.
Asher