“Neville C, as far as I know and was always taught, the era of acharonim ends somewhere around 1800. I’ve never heard 19th century authors referred to as acharonim.”
This is not a universal shittah by any means. I’m not sure if any non-Lubavitchers hold of it, but I have never heard of anyone (until you right now) having such a thing as “post-acharonim.” The date cut-off I guess I misunderstood.
“At first you don’t know. It may take some time before you notice that you don’t seem to be where you thought you should be, and you start to wonder a little, to look around you, to try to pick out landmarks, and figure out what is wrong.”
This can be prevented by redefining the entire surrounding world for followers such that it fits the agenda. For examples:
Everyone who kept the old mesora and didn’t change to our’s is the opposition (misnagdim), not sleeping in the sukkah isn’t a heter it’s a chumrah, missing zman hatefilla isn’t a heter it’s a chumrah, everything written after 1800 other than our Rebbe’s works aren’t held of, eating before davening isn’t assur it’s a chumrah, etc.
If somebody had never been to LA before, and they landed in Denver, they might be convinced that it’s LA if everyone told them so. How would they know better? Same here. Baalei Teshuvah have no way of knowing that what they’re being indoctrinated into isn’t yiddishkeit. That’s how the system is so frighteningly successful.