Tim Karpoff

Tim, a very happy birthday to you. It was wonderful hearing your dialogue on our problem.
And one of the problems is whoever wrote this post has not stepped forward to claim.
It is a pleasure hearing your thoughts after all the years

Posted on: Mar 05, 2025 at 12:26 PM

I heard about the new policy for posting on the class website, and decided to see for myself, as I only visit once every several years. I was, to put it mildly, saddened and disappointed to be greeted by the new regime's pronouncement on the front page. After spending a few minutes looking around to find out what the problem might be, my sadness only deepened. It is obvious that the policy was sparked by Brian's passionate and angry political comments. (Yeah, I know that Mark N. and others have answered, but it's Brian, admit it.) However, even a cursory review of his comments makes it evident that his analyses are incisive and his moral compass points true north. He is generous in compliments, willing to engage with anyone, and knows to stop when further engagement is not useful. You don't like the f-bombs? Fine, tell him. But, my goodness, don't conflate civility and prissiness.

I share Brian's political perspective, his passion for social justice, and his utter astonishment at our collective surrender of purportedly American aspirational values (recent example: Vance's naked hypocrisy in lecturing European allies on free speech while demanding sycophancy here at home) in the name of supposed "strength" in leadership. Al Raymond, all those years ago, was a petty tyrant on the football field, and we ALL saw through him; I just shake my head at people lauding Trump for "strength", when it's clear he just berates and grifts.

So you can discount my post for that "disagreeable" view if you want. But there are a couple bigger problems here. First, so you proclaim a general policy based on objections to one person's posts (on their own page, btw). That's just spineless on its face. How many opportunities do people have these days to dialogue across differences? I am not a big social media person, but for those who are, this site could support robust exchanges rather than shut people up for [what some person deems] uncomfortable commentary. Or could have supported such exchanges. Hell, I might even return and start posting if that were to happen.

Then there is a problem related to our whole country. My father went to school on the GI Bill (still here at 102), getting a BS and MS at Case and going to work at NASA out near the airport--before getting fired, losing his clearance, and being unable to work for three years because of Joseph McCarthy, the "junior senator from Wisconsin,"--due to his name. Yep. (We are Ukrainian by descent, but Karpoff sounds Russian, certainly "communist.") He was abetted by Roy Cohn in this, by the way--he of later fame as mentor to Donald Trump.

Now, I am a big white guy, so I assimilated well. But I have a nascent sense of how destructive it is to take a Red Queen "off with their heads" approach in government or in society or in business--now being taken to new depths by Musk and his ilk. Of how seditious it is to set people up against one another, to divide, and divide, because of who someone is--or who they might be, because of views, or race, or class, or gender. Ooooh, such bravery, such principle. One of the things I have always appreciated about attending Shaker for two years (I grew in Willoughby, went to Willoughby South, where there were three Black girls in the whole school, who noone that I could tell ever talked to) was encountering people of a range of backgrounds and beginning to learn from them, even in my pretty limited and ignorant way.

So, for those popinjays who set up the new policy, I say, in the spirit of Joseph Welch confronting Sen. McCarthy (look it up): Shame on you.

At the same time, I read a number of replies to Brian's posts with something akin to joy. There are people who remain open-hearted and seem willing to stand up for real principle. I read Michael Golub (Gerson's) poetic meditation with real gratitude. It showed kindness and compassion--values I aspire to--and the kind of "spine" that is so evidently lacking in whoever is running this site.

I don't know whether anyone will read this. I am only posting it on this page. But I leave not principally with disdain, although that's there, but with appreciation for people who keep alive some of the optimistic spirit I left Shaker with, and who embody an American spirit of moving forward toward greater justice, not back to some mythical romantic past.

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