YYA> Your conflating na�vet� with laxity in observance is another example of misreading. In the shtetl in Europe 200 years ago, or in the Middle East 100 years ago, one could �go with the flow� passively and still remain a fully observant Jew. The challenge of Haskalah and modernity etc. forced a need for more proactive education and being more careful about things that used to be taken for granted.
I agree here. But even if you think that Sephardim were in urgent need of charedization, does not mean that it was natural for them and only tricksters lead them astray.