http://www.teosofia.com/Docs/vol-5-1.pdf
The article in question starts on page 9. It would seem to me that
if ULT authors adopt pseudonyms on the basis of "impersonality,"
they should refrain from making lengthy personal attacks on named
individuals. What is most bizarre about this discussion is that the
enemy being attacked exists only in the fevered imagination of ULT
fundamentalists. It would surprise me if any of these individuals
had ever read any of my books; nothing in this discussion shows the
slightest familiarity with them or me. The article may well rise to
the standard of "actual malice," that is, reckless disregard for the
truth. And hence, actionable libel. For example:
1. The bulk of the article is a reprint of a personal email from
Bruce MacDonald to Daniel Caldwell, in which BM goes on and on about
something I did not write (I suppose it came from another BM, from
Austria) and concludes that it proves that "Paul Johnson needs to
work on his logic." I suggest that anyone who makes the argument
made in this email REALLY needs to work on logic. "Person A wrote
so-and-so, and therefore Person B should be blamed for having
written it and judged by it, even though he didn't"-- that's the
MOST illogical thing in this whole piece.
2. "Lady in Center Booth" makes the bizarre accusation that I am
a "historian of a certain class" who "build for themselves a career"
by pandering to the prejudices of their readers. It is widely known
that I am not a historian but a public library director who wrote
exclusively for Theosophical publications throughout the 1980s, and
submitted manuscripts exclusively to Theosophical publishers for
*five years* before giving up and self-publishing, then finding a
home in a university press. What is *not* known is that SUNY offers
no editing beyond copy editing; so the final product bears virtually
no stigmata of non-Theosophical interference! As the list of
individuals named in the acknowledgments shows, my first two SUNY
books were written by a longtime Theosophist, with the assistance of
many other Theosophists, with a Theosophical audience in mind. Much
of it was presented in lectures to TS lodges during my research. As
far as "promoting my career" is concerned, I left my position as a
library director to be able to travel to India and Europe pursuing
research on HPB, and then 7 months later took a 25% pay cut when I
accepted a assistant director job that would leave me more free time
for literary pursuits. Net income loss over the years due to those
choices is about $100,000 (but I returned to being a director in
2001 so cannot claim any net loss of professional status.)
3. Most bizarre of all is the opening, in which (without the
slightest reference to the contents of my books) "coffee-maker"
accuses me of fraud. The nature of the fraud, judging from the
comments, appears to be "an attempt to resurrect old-fashioned
reductionism"-- and while that intention does not seem inherently
fraudulent it is very far from the truth. Not only do my books
repeatedly disavow any such intention, they have generated strong
criticism from a reductionist skeptic who portrays them as occultist
apologia. NO author who was the reductionist skeptic imagined by
the ULT would then go on to write a highly sympathetic study of the
Edgar Cayce readings. (Which is also something no historian
pandering to skeptical audiences would do.)
The opening question "Does anyone take K. Paul Johnson's material
seriously?" Yes, far beyond anything I could have imagined or hoped
for. In 2004 my books were cited in new publications by 8 other
authors, up from 7 in 2003. (There may be more but these are the
ones I have learned of from amazon.) None of the sources in which my
work is discussed show any interest in K. Paul Johnson *as a
person.* Not once among the 50-odd books in which my research is
cited, have any personal remarks or judgments of the author
appeared. The only source of such personal antagonism in print has
been fundamentalist Theosophists, mainly in the ULT but also among
their Canadian ex-Adyar allies. None of whom, alas, appears to have
actually read the books or taken the time to learn any facts about
the author. What I really would like to understand is where and how
these people are coming up with their imaginary enemy.
Paul
Yahoo! Groups Links
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.7 - Release Date: 5/9/2005
