Innocent Children Cursed By Parental Behavoir

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johnkarls
Posts: 2095
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Innocent Children Cursed By Parental Behavoir

Post by johnkarls »

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---------------------------- Original Message -----------------------------
Subject: Re: Reading Liberally – The Sword and The Shield – Wed Sep 9
From: [Redacted]
Date: Fri, September 4, 2020 1:42 pm MDT
To: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
Attachment:
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John,

Thank you for the extended invite. We will not be able to join - my daughter has a packed schedule of things to do and dinners with various friends.

I will send “X” [name of another Reading Liberally regular redacted] an email with my comments from this book. I am glad I read it. Did not know much about Malcolm X and just a little more about King.

I did think that the issues Black people faced was only in the south. I see that was not the case.

The thing I have always struggled with is why [name of a European country of heritage redacted] Americans, and other immigrants were able to assimilate into the American culture and not Blacks?

My grandparents came here, could not speak the language, no money, no family. Grandfather became a waiter in a restaurant in NYC. Grandmother was a seamstress.

Saved money by living cheaply. Eventually moved to NJ into an [name of a European country of heritage redacted] community. Had 3 children. One became a postal worker. One became a Photo Engraver. One became a seamstress.

Mostly a step up for the offspring.

The children of these parents became, an engineer, a computer programmer, secretaries for various companies. And my children are in banking and teaching.

Seems to me that progress was made, maybe slowly by some standards.

Most of the immigrant families that I know had a few things in common. A strong family bond. A desire for higher education.

Now I recently read in the BLM Plank that the "White" persons’ focus on a strong cohesive family is a racist position.

Really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It works, but because they can’t seem to do it, it's racist.


---------------------------- Original Message -----------------------------
Subject: Re: Re: Reading Liberally – The Sword and The Shield – Wed Sep 9
From: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
Date: Sat, September 5, 2020 1:27 pm MDT
To: [Redacted]
Attachment:
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Dear [Redacted],

Thank you for your e-mail.

I’m sorry that your daughter and son-in-law (whom you are visiting this week) won’t be able to attend our Wed Sep 9 Zoom meeting IAW our long-standing policy that first-time attendees are NOT expected to have read the focus book.

If you discover that they have scheduled a dinner with friends on Sep 9, perhaps you will be able to attend our meeting at the last minute!!!


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The Ku Klux Klan Was Just As Strong In The North As The South

Your third paragraph expressed surprise that “the issues Black people faced” were present in the North as well as the South.

Nov. 8, 2007, thirteen years ago, was before you became a regular participant in our meetings.

The focus book for that meeting was “Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920’s” by Sociology Prof. Kathleen Blee (University of California Press – 1991 – copyright by the U. of California Regents).

There were many reasons why Prof. Blee’s work was shocking and appalling!!!

*****
First, was her finding that “all the best people in society (lawyers, doctors, judges, etc.) belonged to the KKK” – EVEN IN THE MIDWEST!!! (On which Prof. Blee had concentrated because it was the region of the country generally thought to have been the least influenced by the KKK.)

By way of background, the KKK had two heydays – the so-called “Reconstruction Period” following the Civil War and the 1920’s. Prof. Blee decided as a devotee of “oral history” that the 1980’s would be the last opportunity to interview before they died the women who had been active in the KKK in the 1920’s. (Technically, they had been active in KKK auxiliary organizations since women were not permitted to be full-fledged members of the KKK.)

So she went to Indiana (and also, if memory serves, Illinois) to interview vast numbers of women who had been young mothers in the 1920’s.

And the most shocking and appalling finding of her interviews was that all across America in general, and in the Midwest in particular, the “crème de la crème” of society comprised the backbone of the KKK!!!

*****
Prof. Bree’s second shocking and appalling finding???

The KKK was dedicated to “family values” with innumerable activities and programs oriented toward young families and their multi-generational support network!!!

*****
Prof. Bree’s third shocking and appalling finding???

The KKK was organized across America primarily by sending information packets to Protestant Ministers!!! Because the multi-generational family-values program fit “hand in glove” with Christianity!!!

And the overwhelming number of KKK organizations across the country were headed by the minister of the most socially-exclusive protestant congregation of any particular city or town!!!

*****
Prof. Bree’s fourth shocking and appalling finding???

Reading this far, one might be inclined to say – “So far, so good”!!!

However, the organizational packets sent out by the KKK to primarily Protestant Ministers across America also made the point that there is, in human nature, nothing like a group having something to hate as the “glue” that binds the group together.

The recommendation to the local Protestant Minister??? Identify a group for your congregation to hate!!! It really doesn’t matter whether the objects of your group’s hate are African Americans, Catholics, Asians, etc., so long as they have someone to hate. With the helpful suggestion that the minister might consider whom their congregation already hates!!!

So why are we so surprised that the KKK was always burning crosses on the lawns of the homes of victims they wished to terrorize??? Because, of course, the person dressed in the white sheet on the big white horse at the front of the formation was most likely the leading protestant minister of the community!!!

*****
The KKK in New England

The following comment was posted on www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org on 11/24/2007 by Aaron Stander, a high school friend, retired English professor, and author of numerous whodunnits --

Hi John,

You might find Witness by Karen Hesse an interesting read. It's an adolescent novel written in verse about the Klan in New England during the 20s. I've used this book as an archetype of a genre with creative writing students. The background for this fictional account was carefully researched by the author. It's a beautiful piece of writing and a compelling tale.

Have a nice Holiday.

Best, AS


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Children Cursed By Parental Behavior

The bulk of your e-mail seems to blame innocent children for the failures of their parents.

And relates your good fortune in having grandparents and parents who, through hard work and family values, paved the way for you.

And how you have “paid that forward” with your own children.

Yes, most of us who have been successful can tell similar stories.

Indeed, my grandfathers were a farmer and a public-school janitor – details in “The Silver Spoon In His Mouth With Which John Karls Was Born” available at viewtopic.php?f=458&t=1487&p=2003&hilit ... dc0c#p2003.

[Which, incidentally, compares my story with that of RL regular George Kunath, a former NYC partner with whom I have had weekly multi-hour gabfests for 33 years – our stories are strikingly similar except that we are one generation different since George, to a great extent, “pulled himself up by his bootstraps” like my parents did.]

HOWEVER, cursing children for parental behavior is what Saint Augustine did.

Saint Augustine (354 AD - 430 AD) was one of the most prominent “church fathers” to emerge after Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 AD so that it could “come out of the shadows.”

Saint Augustine promulgated “The Doctrine of Blood Guilt” – the idea that all Jews living at any point in time throughout history are responsible for the Death of Christ!!!

Which caused all of the Pogroms down through the centuries.

And which, it is politically-incorrect to notice, caused the Holocaust during WW-II.

And which was NOT revoked until Vatican II, too late to save the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

*****
Augustine’s excuse???

Matthew 27:25 which states after Pilate in the previous verse famously “washes his hands” proclaiming his innocence of Christ’s death sentence on which Pilate is ruling -- “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”

*****
Augustine’s Obvious Fallacies In Order of Increasing Importance

(1) Obviously, NOT all the inhabitants of Israel were at the trial!!!

(2) What right does anyone have to curse their children???

(3) What about Christ famously saying just before he “gave up the ghost” – “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do”???

(4) What about Christ famously saying in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:44) -- “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”???

(5) And what about Christ's SECOND of TWO Commandments for “inheriting eternal life” that Augustine and the rest of us are required to “love our neighbors as ourselves” immediately followed by the Story of the Good Samaritan to drive home the point that “neighbor” includes every human being (WHICH SHOULD INCLUDE JEWS UNLESS AUGUSTINE IS CLAIMING, BY IMPLICATION, THAT THEY ARE NOT HUMAN)???


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Refusing To Toss A Lifeline To Innocent Children???

I was delighted that at our 6/3/2020 meeting, you voted IN FAVOR of our Six-Degrees-Of-Separation E-mail Campaign entitled “Addressing the Cause of Racism (vs. A Mere Symptom)” which calls for the effective education of America’s 30% Permanent Under-Caste with integrated “magnet schools” that are so superior in quality that affluent parents want their children to attend (if this were done at the university level, think Harvard which has done this to a considerable degree and whose student body could probably go well over 50% inner-city children with affluent parents still clamoring to have their children admitted) – and admission and continued enrollment of each affluent child is contingent on her/his (and her/his family’s) tutoring and mentoring an inner-city classmate so that each is tutored and mentored.

[We acknowledged that this would mean at least 60% of America’s K-12 children attending federal “magnet schools.”]

This is the “I Have A Dream” program that would have been implemented for 10 million inner-city children if my lawsuits against 15 of the world’s largest financial institutions for the $84 billion that they owed me had been successful – pursuant to a long-standing legally-binding commitment I had made to devote every penny I earned as an investment banker 1997-2011 to provide such programs.

More legal documents, court opinions, etc., concerning that litigation than any masochist would probably care to read, are contained in Sections 3 and 4 of www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org entitled “Inner-City Holocaust and America’s Apartheid ‘Justice’ System (In Honor of Jonathan Kozol and In Memory of John Howard Griffin).”

*****
You will probably recall that the typical inner city conditions facing the 178 “I Have A Dream”® Programs in 51 American inner-cities in the 1990’s that provided individual tutors and mentors for an entire inner-city school class (or housing-project class cohort) as it progressed from third grade through high school graduation with a guarantee of college tuition, were --

(A) 99% of “Dreamers” living in single-adult households;
(B) 95% of total Dreamers living in single-adult households headed by a druggie; and
(C) 75%-80% of total Dreamers living in a single-adult household headed by a druggie who hands all receipts over to the pusher so the children have to steal just in order to eat.

And that inner-city children knew by the age of 5 that they were NOT eligible for their dreams.

And that their only realistic career objectives were pusher or pimp, or girl friend of a pusher or pimp graduating to whore.

Which, of course, do NOT require much education.

*****
And you will probably recall that the IHAD programs of the 1990’s typically achieved --

90% high-school graduation - college matriculation rates --

despite the class just ahead and the class just behind each Dreamer Class having SINGLE-DIGIT high-school graduation rates.

*****
The reason for the success of IHAD???

Each of whose programs adopted AN ENTIRE third-grade class of an inner-city school (or third-grade cohort of a public-housing project) – NO EXCEPTIONS – and provided each child with a tutor and a mentor from third grade through high school graduation with a guarantee of college tuition.

One of the most important reasons???

All of the children in that group were enclosed in a protective cocoon in which education was worshipped rather than derogated!!!

The other most-important reason???

Our tutors and mentors became de facto surrogate parents!!! Each of whom we encouraged to express “early and often” to her/his Dreamer the hope that the Dreamer would make something of her/him-self with this opportunity!!!

*****
The reason why I am so proud of you???

After listening on 6/3/2020 to the foregoing case as it was laid out, you had numerous penetrating questions before you voted to approve it.

BTW, do you recall your final question???

What has become of the 90% of the Dreamers who graduated from college?

Answer???

Just like the rest of us, they typically accepted employment commensurate with their education, formed families, and purchased homes in the best neighborhood with the best school systems that they could afford.

*****
Identical-Twin Studies

So why should it surprise anyone that providing support and surrogate parents for inner-city children will produce the same results as are achieved by suburban families that have “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps”???

After all, “identical-twin studies” are the Gold Standard for determining what is genetic and what is environmental vis-à-vis any issue.

Because they study identical twins orphaned before their first birthday where one identical twin is raised in one environment while the other identical twin is raised in a different environment.

And such “identical-twin studies” demonstrate that inner-city identical twins orphaned before their first birthday where one identical twin is raised by another inner-city family and the other identical twin is raised by a suburban family – result in the identical twins adopted by another inner-city family developing by adulthood a “measured IQ” equal to average inner-city “measured IQ’s” while the identical twins adopted by suburban families develop by adulthood a “measured IQ” equal to average suburban “measured IQ’s.”

So forget Saint Augustine’s curse on innocent children!!!

And practice Christ’s TWO Commandments for “inheriting eternal life” – Loving God and Loving Your Neighbor As Yourself which Christ immediately followed with the Story of the Good Samaritan to drive home His point that every human being in the world is your neighbor.


********************
Black Lives Matter “Plank”

Your e-mail closes with your reaction to “the BLM Plank that the ‘White’ persons’ focus on a strong cohesive family is a racist position.”

I am not in a position to comment on that.

First, ReadingLiberally-SaltLake is a non-partisan public-policy study-action group.

Secondly, even if such a “BLM Plank” might be thought to relate to public-policy issues raised by “The Sword and The Shield,” I did NOT select our focus book.

As you may recall, each month’s focus book is selected by a vote of the attendees of the previous month’s meeting AND I DO NO VOTE EXCEPT TO BREAK TIES.

Since the 8/12/2020 vote for The Sword and The Shield was unanimous (including your vote), I was NOT called upon to vote.

Thirdly, you did NOT provide a website URL for “the BLM Plank” and I do not have enough time to “chase that rabbit.”

In other words, I am NOT an apologist for anything that Black Lives Matter says or does.


********************
Sorry for such a long-winded response!!!

But your e-mail raised important issues that are often posed by others!!!

Because of the importance of those issues (and the length of time that was required to provide an adequate response), I will post our correspondence on our bulletin board.

Though, of course, redacting any information that would identify you (unless you consent to having the redactions removed).

Your friend,

John K.

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