I read the first 3 pages of this then skipped to the end and saw some talk of Pride and Prejudice! I haven't read it myself, but might I suggest a classic that I am rather fond of? Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. Such a good book. A bit long, but who judges a book by its length? XD

I still have a couple of SciFi books to get through and The Count of Monte Cristo before I will be able to start Pride and Prejudice, but now I'm all giddy at the thought of it!

eugenerator4:I read the first 3 pages of this then skipped to the end and saw some talk of Pride and Prejudice! I haven't read it myself, but might I suggest a classic that I am rather fond of? Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. Such a good book. A bit long, but who judges a book by its length? XD

I still have a couple of SciFi books to get through and The Count of Monte Cristo before I will be able to start Pride and Prejudice, but now I'm all giddy at the thought of it!

The best part is, given it's title, nobody could have guessed how it would end!
The thread that is, not the book.

I really haven't seen it in this way, I think it's undenieble the esperanto is an Indoeuropean language and it's plenty easier learning to those who speak an european language, even, I think learning a non-tonical language must be for tonical-languages-speakers as difficult as for us is learning a tonical one. Anyway learning esperanto wouilld be very useful for a big part of the world that has already been conquered by european languages; I think language diversity is not a problem, but not having a Lingua Franca actually is,, and it depends of the country but english is not really easier and more neutral than esperanto is. I've seen so many oriental (eastern) esperantist in the net, n' it would be nice if someone works in an adaptation of espeanto to be easier for eastern cultures n' so..
About the erosion of the local culture,, well, I'm kankuama n' my people didn't had a so strong literary tradition, donc the tradition is almost dead but it isn't for esperanto, now we've got to give strenght to our own culture for not to die. Some big cultures are spreading out and suffocating the little ones, doesn't matter if esperanto spreads or not big cultures will persist; I think esperanto as a language that has no country gives little cultures more space for preserving their own identity.
"Thi empair atak agen"? Well, I think it doesn't, cuz' "racist and pro-genocide" are adjectives that in fact also could fall on the american globalization movement.

Well. I think that this deserves a thorough refutation. Even if we don't do it, somebody else would raise this argument, again and again. So we should better refute it now. If poking holes on the anon's arguments is "feeding the troll" (which is, at this case, nothing but a discriminatory epithet, an ad hominem attack), then forgive me, but I want to ask and say the following.

1) Is Eurocentrism inherently evil? If so, what made it (the idea, not the actions committed in its name) inherently evil?

2) Do Esperantists really see language diversity as a problem? Or is it more correct to say that a lack of understanding between peoples is the problem as Esperantists see it?

3)

...every lingua franca or “universal” language which came before it has had the effect of reducing linguistic and cultural diversity and enabling empires, corporations, ideologies, and even culture to become universal in their influence as well.

Good point, but is it inevitable? Can't an alternative paradigm (such as an "international auxiliary culture" ) prevent this scenario from happening?

4) The blog attacks "white supremacist mytholog(ies)" and attaches that label to the Esperanto movement. Obviously, the blogger committed a genetic fallacy. Just because the idea of an international language was developed in white Europe, it's a evil idea? What's with this obsession against "whites"? Ideas should be judged according to its own merits, not according to its origins or the color of those who proposed it. Ironically, the blogger is racist, since he cannot see his way past the superficial colors. He is not "colorblind", so to speak.

edcxjo:Follows a question and an answer I found on Tumblr regarding the Esperanto language and it's movement. I don't know what your thoughts on it might be. I certainly wouldn't know what to say to this person.

«Anonymous asked:
Why do you find the Esperanto movement to be racist and pro-genocide?

The Esperanto movement is racist and pro-genocide because it considers the fact that people speak different languages to be a problem (la lingva problemo - the language problem), and that the solution to this problem is to have everyone learn Esperanto as a second language (the realization of this aim is called by Esperantists la fina venko - the final victory). Esperanto is unquestionably Eurocentric, both lexically and grammatically. For instance, it employs subject-verb-object word order, uses suffixes to denote femininity in words (meaning the default is masculine) and the bulk of its vocabulary is unquestionably Indo-European in origin.

Esperantists constantly promote their language as being “easier” to learn than natural languages. This is only true if the learner’s native language is Indo-European, non-tonal and written with the Latin script.

If adopted internationally Esperanto would inevitably come to be an important vehicle of globalization (as the English language has been), it would supplant local languages, particularly those languages which have no literary traditions and it would lead to an erosion of local culture.

In short, Esperantists consider language diversity to be a problem and they consider that the solution to that problem is to have everyone learn their European styled language as a second language. In other words, Esperantists argue for a homogenization of world culture, for a world which is obligingly accessible for white people and white culture, and for a world which caters to white need for convenience.

If that doesn’t sound racist and pro-genocide to you, I don’t know what does.»

He should to read and watch more about Esperanto.

I removed my statement because I was enflamed that anyonone could accuse Esperantists of knowingly willingly advocating genocide etc. etc. ad nauseuum. I am simply sad and sick that this charge could be leveled at ANY group these days but look around- the world is full of fools, and hate and ignorance. If Esperanto speakers get together for awhile and forget all the problems then good. The world will not change much but WE can change- good luck to us all.

Mondo de malĝojo kaj doloro:
Floroj floras;
Eĉ tiam ...

ISSA

What the hell am I reading?

Just don't feed the trolls and they will eventually go away.

Resurrecting ancient troll droppings doesn't help.

The premise of this thread is so out-and-out dumb that it doesn't even need defending against. Don't waste time with nonsense like this; the ONLY valid response to this sort of obviously inflammatory stuff is a physical eye-roll of disdain, and perhaps a muttered "whatever". Doing more than that keeps junk like this in everyone's faces. So don't do more than that, for everyone's sake.

RiotNrrd:Just don't feed the trolls and they will eventually go away.

Resurrecting ancient troll droppings doesn't help.

The premise of this thread is so out-and-out dumb that it doesn't even need defending against. Don't waste time with nonsense like this; the ONLY valid response to this sort of obviously inflammatory stuff is a physical eye-roll of disdain, and perhaps a muttered "whatever". Doing more than that keeps junk like this in everyone's faces. So don't do more than that, for everyone's sake.

the old "language diversity suppression" shtick is a favorite rant of our dear Mr. Culver. Let's just say, given my experience with "one rant Rita's" out there, that I would not be all that surprised if this particular troll was an alias of a certain someone.......