Rhodes College

TrampledVeneration

175 Years Of Shame

1848 -2023

Professor Fred W. Neal

1915-1997

My abbreviated fulmination is dedicated to the memory of

my friend, mentor and fellow stamp collector,

Professor Fred W. Neal

Chair Religion Department Rhodes College - Director of the "Search" Course

Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Teaching 1985

Fred had a great sense of humor, and he believed in me.

David Saks

Memphis Tennessee
August 2022

To some, sadly, when they consider the size of the universe in relation to the size of Rhodes College,
Rhodes College becomes an archaic, little evolved, pile of rubble and not that important any longer.

Rhodes College is, to a fault, excessively abundant with reprehensible acquisitiveness, an insatiable desire for wealth, donnish,

useless academic rhetoric, and is commonly plagued by indigenous notoriety endemic to the land it inhabits.

Consider this indisputable fact:

The majority of the world's 8 billion people couldn't give a damn about Rhodes College.

What significant contribution to mankind has Rhodes College ever made ?

The slam dunk ? The field goal ?The home run ?

The commercialization of phony enthusiasm and elitism ?

Today, just as yesterday, Rhodes College is the penultimate elitist glasshouse only surpassed by the Republican congress.

Not withstanding everything I've just said to you,
there is one room on the Rhodes College campus with 88 windows

where my spirit and soul will live upon the holy ground

and within it's consecrated walls forever.

The sound of the piano, my laughter at the useless rhetoric of

the campus masters of calculated insanity, their high-flown style,

their excessive use of verbal ornamentation, my heart beating,

and my tears of laughter on the keys of that piano,

will live within that room as time passes, as it's lights are extinquished,

it's fieldstone walls slowly eroding, crumbling, crushed to gravel and dust,

finally returning to it's corrupted soil.

It was never easy being Jewish on a racist Southern Presbyterian college campus.

A college whose founders were antisemites and slave owners

shielding their dogma and prejudicial belief that their race is superior to others.

The DNA of those founders is campus legacy, alive and breathes within the campus soil.

A college founded by a church that taught it's congregation that

Jews are murderers and that they killed their Lord and Master Jesus,

an innocent man, a young teacher seized and condemnend to die for

his alleged crimes against his executioners, Pontius Pilate and the Roman Empire.

Pontius Pilate created a martyr.

The Jews did not kill Jesus.

Jesus was not the Messiah.

John 10:34-36

Jesus was a martyr who was, in an unjust, and unfair, manner elevated

to the level of respect as the Messiah by those who loved him as an act of retribution.

Jesus was an innocent young man, a brilliant teacher and beloved Rabbi who suffered

and died at the hands of murderous Roman conquerors and tyrants

for refusing to renounce his belief in the God of Israel.

17 times Jesus himself says that he is not God:

1. “Why do you call me good: No one is good but One, that is, God.”

(Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, and Luke 18:19)

2. “My Father is greater than I.”

(John 14:28)

3. “I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things.”

(John 8:28)

4. “Most assuredly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself. . . .”

(John 5:19)

5. “But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent me.”

(John 7:29)

6. “He who rejects me rejects Him who sent me.”

(Luke 10:16)

7. “But now I go away to Him who sent me. . . .”

(John 16:5)

8. “Jesus answered them and said, ‘My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me.’”

(John 7:16)

9. “For I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent me gave me a command,

what I should say and what I should speak.”

(John 12:49)

10. “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

(Mark 12:29)

11. “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven,

nor the Son, but only the Father.”

(Mark 13:32)

12. “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

(Luke 4:8)

13. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me . . .”

(John 4:34)

14. “I can of myself do nothing . . . I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.”

(John 5:30)

15. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.”

(John 6:38)

16. “My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me.”

(John 7:16)

17. “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”

(John 20:17)

It's crackbrained how some Christians consistently return to the book of Isaiah Chapter 53

and point at the sacrificial lamb as apocalyptic in their foolish New Testament revisionism,

faith, and absurd belief that an innocent Jewish man should die for all of their crimes,

i.e., murder, adultery, assault, criminal sexual conduct, robbery, occupational fraud, etc,

unbelievably including the desecration of the Ten Commandments,

and that as long as they worship and believe in Jesus they'll be forgiven all of their sins,

go to heaven and live in paradise for eternity when they die.

Get the hell out of here!

It's a disgusting, filthy lie with intent to intimidate turning away from

and perverting facts that deviate from conformity, reality and actuality,

promoting the persecution of the Jews, innocent people,

and their traditions that uphold the sanctitude of life.

Christianity horrifically supports the criminally insane, ridiculous idea,
an idea in which irrational, dangerously unstable and unpredictable confidence is placed,
that a guiltless man should take a bullet for all of their criminal offenses so they can live in paradise.

I don't worship Jesus, but I would always defend him,

the State of Israel and the Jews, as needlessly persecuted and innocent.

Perhaps the one thing Christians can be assured of when they die,
if this may be of any consolation to them, is that they can neither be

prosecuted nor persecuted by mankind for their crimes.

Whether they ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell who knows ?

Please let me know if you've had a conversation with someone who has

either ascended or descended and I'll recommend an excellent psychotherapist.

The lights go out on Christianity's"theoillogically"
confused, polytheistic and disconnected way of regarding biblical history.

Why do they refuse to acknowledge that the Inquisition,

the evil tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church (1232-1820)

created to discover and suppress heresy for 600 years, has ended?

Christianity terrorizes Judaism and attempts to proselytize,

convert and coerce by violence, and threats of "eternity in hell".

Jews on Christian college campuses live under the shadow of the filthy lies of

the Apostle Paul taught by campus ministers.

The Apostle Paul was a coward.

This disgusting villain believed that the Jews were defenseless

as the Romans had conquered Judea in 63 BCE

and knew that he would have been murdered by the Romans if he had

traveled throughout Ephesus, Collosae in Phrygia, Thessalonica and Galatia

accusing the Roman Empire of murdering Christ.

The Apostle Paul, Saul of Taursus, an antisemitic lunatic,

was born in 5 AD and is believed to have been beheaded, executed by the Romans,

during the Neronian Persecution in 65 AD.

When was the last time you heard a Presbyterian minister,

or any clergyman, quote this nauseating New Testament bible verse ?

1 Thessalonians 2:14-16

It's disgusting, foul, smutty revisionist garbage that William Tyndale wrote to appease
an anitsemitic government when Tyndale "translated" the Bible between the years 1521 and 1536.

Tyndale, the author of the English bible, while in exile, was charged with Lutheran Heresy

and was strangled and burned at the stake in a public execution in the

Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands on October 6, 1536.

And then, there was my beloved best friend, PJ,

worthy steward of Southwestern Hall.

PJ taught me more about life and the one thing that no proponent of Calvinism,

no Presbyterian minister, and, most certainly, no professor will ever be capable of teaching you.

Something that Rhodes College consistently, systematically,

and deliberately fails at and refuses to understand.

What it means to be loved.

This I promise you.

I treat students as my own son and daughter,

most faculty members and college employees as my own brother and sister,

because I love them and because I want so much for them.

I love Southwestern / Rhodes College.

I only happen to loathe it's ancestors and some of the people who run it.

There will be days when you confront an unbearable degree of rejection and loneliness.

Until that day arrives, prove to the world-at-large that you're responsible enough

to be held accountable for your actions, your own well-being, that you care for yourself,

and you'll become trusted enough to care for the lives of others.

The memory of you will become a blessing to those who know and love you.

The rejection and loneliness will then become bearable and your memories

will become a comforting benediction in your heart and God will guide you.

The Dying Lioness Of Nineveh

Assyria 645-635 BCE

The Dying Lynx Of North Parkway

Memphis, Tennessee 1848 - 2023 CE

Once a college degree becomes a pedagogue's license

to exercise authoritarian hypocrisy the values that they

searched for and discovered in the light of western history

and religion become meritless, trashy, insolvent, obsolete,

dishonorable and bankrupted.

Their lives are filled with insidious nightmares instead of

brilliantly illuminated dreams replete with moral excellence

and a redemptive measure of that which is good, meritorious and useful.

Filthy academicians that behave as arrogant elitists

rather than respectable educators should have their

worthless diplomas stuffed in wooden crates labeled

"environmental waste", rocketed into space by NASA,

and returned incinerated, glowing like a meteor,

a Roman candle upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere

for the entire planet to witness and celebrate.

Every academician, professor, any faculty member that displays an

unwarranted, baseless, unfounded, unjustifiable attitude of

irreverence toward any student, or layman, is a scornful, abusive

criminal that imperils the welfare, prosperity,

dignity and future of that student.

Laymen will reject you, nor trust you,

look down on and despise you,

harbor contempt for and fully disrespect you.

Pedagogues obsessed with a compulsive desire to exert groundless control

over students routinely use naive pupils with the intellectual equivalence of

11 year old children, or lower, as dangerous decoys.

Gullible pupils become felonious accomplices once they regurgitate inane,

recondite, unoriginal, outdated profundity overheard in a stale classroom

classically puked from the mouth of an irksome, immodest lectern lunatic

addressed as "professor", a faculty member without conscience, respect,

scruples or moral sense for themselves, their profession or students.

Roll, Lynx, roll away the stone and search.

Is Rhodes College rife with treachery, betrayal and jealousy ?

The tedious search is over.

There's nothing of value in that empty space.

Because of your exaggerated opinion of your importance

your immodest sandstone, slate and limestone edifice eroded,

fretted away and became gravel, dirt and dust once again.

A peculiar psychological anomaly among Rhodes students and faculty

is that they fantasize that they study and learn in Shangri-la or Camelot,

places of complete bliss, delight and peace from the real world.

As some have graduated and left,

with worthless academic credentials,

just as would happen

in Shangri-la, they become putrescent and rot as suicides

have taken place on the Rhodes College campus and

elsewhere by Rhodes professors, graduates and students.

Climbing the intellectual and academic ladder at Rhodes College

isn't possible if the ladder's rungs are missing and broken.

Venal admnistration, faculty, staff and students of Rhodes College

rarely if ever apologize for dereliction, uncaring and wilful negligence.

You shall fail and you shall fall with catastrophic impact.

I don't possess the academic credentials required by

antisemites, racists in the church and elitist autocrats.

However, given the opportunity, I would ensure

that Rhodes College becomes a better place

for all because I possess the fortitude to do so.

Is that what elitists fear?

I caution students to never get on the bad side of

small-minded faculty members who have a little authority.

You'll discover that your diploma is a worthless piece of paper

bearing the signatures of drumbeaters, partisans and zealots

who routinely barricade student resources necessary to

overcome challenges, and deny and rob these resources with

elitist autocracy infused with jealousy, greed, self-aggrandizement and hatred.

Trusted friends at Rhodes College, and elsewhere,

will tell you that I once believed that for every bad thing found

in the heart of every man or woman at Rhodes

there are ten good things that will make themselves

visible to you in time.

Not this time.

It's bad enough that Rhodes' College Alma Mater

sounds like a musically plagiarized version of

"I've Been Working On The Railroad.

Know this is true;

unless the highly offensive, disgusting and immature collegiate climate

reverses it's course the day will arrive when Rhodes College will cease to exist,

the campus sold, and every building either converted into residential housing

and commercial retail space or demolished for land improvements.

And then, there's PJ.

Throughout the horrifying world-wide pandemic I made the journey

to the campus daily to practice the piano, permitted by campus faculty

and campus safety, the entire campus nearly vacant and quiet between

March of 2020 and January of 2021 but for the sound of

the Steinway and the daily walks that I embarked upon

with my beloved PJ.

She always came running for me whenever she saw me.

I would open the window and she would sleep beneath that window

listening to me play, the sound of the piano echoing across the Rhodes campus.

Mark Twain said,

"Never argue with a fool in public.

Onlookers will mistake you both for fools."

I trust those with honor will tell PJ,

my dearly beloved little friend, Rhodes College

steward of Southwestern Hall, that I'm away because

of these fools and that I don't argue with them

in public or private.

I've read the literature, seen the paintings,

listened to the music, witnessed the science,

and heard the voices of enough fools.

I hope that they keep their hands far away from your food and water, PJ.

I'm filled with fear that they'll poison your fresh water bowl with

dogma, anti-semitism, racial and fanatical religious segregation.

Yet, my dear, sweet little friend, there are fortunate few among you who

enter the door to the hallowed halls where you daily dine.

Those possessed of hearts that are compassioned, charitable and kind.

And those who have learned that, although the sky is blue,

on the Rhodes College campus, the sun will never shine.

“And that inverted bowl we call The Sky,

Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,

Lift not thy hands to it for help -- for It

Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.”

― Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám ―

b. May 18th 1048 - d. December 4th 1131

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Roll, Lynx, Roll Impotently On As Thou Or I

David Saks in the McDonnell Douglas A-4 Attack Fighter Jet

"Friends are always better than fans.

Friends aren't interested in popularity contests."

David Saks

McDonnell Douglas A-4 Attack Fighter Jet

Millington Naval Air Station

David's friends mean more to him than fans

because of the mutual support and genuine connection his friends provide.

A friend is someone who is equally interested in your life as you are in theirs,

and they're willing to invest time and effort into the relationship.

Friends care about you and want to hang out with you, not just because of your talents or work.

In contrast, a fan may admire your work or talents but might not be as invested in your personal life.

The distinction between friends and fans is important

in the context of an artist and his or her audience.

As David loves them both, fans can be supportive of his work

while friends provide a deeper level of support and understanding

that goes beyond appreciation.

Support and care are key aspects of a true friendship,

making friends more valuable than fans in many contexts.

On Birth

There are some in this world who believe that birth is

the abominable beginning of the end of every living organism.

They believe that there are two cures for birth.

The first is that you were never born which can be verified.

The second is immortality which cannot be verified.

Death is not a cure for birth and indicative of the end of misery resulting from affliction.

And then there are those who also believe that for one who dies at 90 years of age or older,

without exception, that their birth was a prolonged, tediously protracted, long-drawn-out,

agonizing terminal illness.

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Take utmost care of yourself and watch yourself scrupulously.

-Deuteronomy 4:9-

If a picture's worth a thousand words it talks too much. David Saks

Proverbs 17:28:

"Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues."

The Lynx - Rhodes College Campus - by David Saks

David Cleve Saks may seem docile, mysterious and different on first impression.

However, David is a remarkable man. He is highly independent and self-sufficient.

His exceptional intelligence, sense of humor and wisdom are quickly noticed upon interaction with him.

He is a respectable man and many are deeply and positively affected by his very cordial, warm and sincere nature.

David is not one to attract people on the basis of his warmth or compassion, however - though he is loaded with both - but because of his obvious insight and common sense.

He may appear to be hard to get to know and is often withdrawn, but this is the fabric of a rather modest man. It is common for people to see his focus turn inside of himself in the middle of a conversation.

He clearly has the makings of an intellectual, but he has, in remarkably humble fashion, guarded against arrogance and an attitude of "I've got it all figured out".

There have been periods in David's life when he had little concern for style, while at other times he is very aware of his surrounding and uses it to make a specific impression.

He appears dignified no matter how he perceives the moment, but he is a rather well groomed man with a touch of dash and definitely has some advantages.

David is quiet and never exhibits self-importance. His confidence increases when he knows he is well received.

David is a gifted musician, an extraordinary pianist, brilliant, spiritual, religious, and a romantic at heart with his very own ideas regarding the purpose of life which at times tragically self-inflict controversy for him.

He is an inspired speaker and conversationalist to a distinctly greater extent or degree than is common when discussing subjects that interest him.

Otherwise, David is not one for chatter.

His love of knowledge and his wisdom manifest of such surpassing excellence as to suggest divine inspiration.

David Saks first arrived on the Southwestern at Memphis / Rhodes College campus in 1970.

Although a Rhodes student, and awarded a scholarship, he never chased a degree.

David's loyalty, respect, devotion and great love for learning, the piano and Rhodes College are distinctive characteristics that have distinguished him as a beloved member of the Rhodes community.

David Killed Goliath

Gustave Dore'

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"Racism is mental illness!"

"Racism is the irrational deductive reasoning of an ignorant fool that

you should fail the entire class if one student cheats on an examination."

-David Saks-

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The analogy of failing an entire class if one student cheats on an examination is an interesting one.

It suggests that racism can be seen as a form of collective punishment.

where an entire group is judged and penalized based on the actions of a few individuals.

This type of thinking is indeed irrational and ignores the diversity and individuality within any given group.

David Saks is a musician born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.

David has been honored by the Memphis City Council.

His music and other creative endeavors have addressed issues of social justice,

equality, and human rights, which are all relevant to the discussion of racism.

Once upon a time I was a student at Rhodes College.

One sunny afternoon I was having lunch with the men of

ATO fraternity in the rathskeller, the Rat, the refectory,

the old college tavern/dining hall.

A member asked me, "David, do you have a girlfriend ?"

I said "yes", to which he softly averred, "I wish I had a decent woman in my life."

I kindly advised him that,

"To have a decent woman in your life you have to be a decent man,

or a decent woman if that's a right exclusively reserved by you

if you fall in love with a decent woman transfixed with an identity crisis."