Halakhah

Question

I recently discovered your site and think it's great. I am currently learning Yoreh Deah and it's amazing how many things are permitted according to halakhah but the "olam" doesn't do it. Every time I ask my rebbe he replies, "Yes, that is the halakhah, but people don't do it." When I ask, why they don't do it, he doesn't have a good answer but he gave me a piece of advice: if you want to be accepted in kelal Yisrael, don't try to follow the letter of the law since people will think you aren't frum. Another time he said: "There is halakhah and there is what people think, and standards today have to keep up with the housewives and the baale teshuvah." I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious. Another time he said "that used to be the way things were done, but not anymore." When I asked him if we should be led by politics or halakhah, he replied "halakhah, but that doesn't mean you have to destroy your parnasah by teling people what they don't want to hear."