Beiträge: 23
Sprache: English
erinja (Profil anzeigen) 31. Oktober 2013 18:40:22
Anyone who is successful in Esperanto must have a high tolerance for 'crazy', otherwise they would have left long ago. In some ways it is practice for living in a hypothetical world where people actually use Esperanto to communicate. Therefore, at a Universal Congress, during the Movement Fair, you will see tables with displays from all different Esperanto groups, including lots of different religions that you might not agree with (plus atheists), and some political type things you might not agree with (Esperanto communists/anarchists/business association), and maybe someone's business or website that you might not agree with (free Esperanto courses online? I disagree! Esperanto music online? Waste of time!). You will definitely run into things you don't agree with, no matter what your viewpoint. So you might as well get used to it early.
There's a certain amount of tolerance that goes along with being an Esperanto speaker. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, if you spend any significant time in the Esperanto movement, you will definitely, 100%, meet some people who believe very strongly in something that you personally thing is completely crazy; you will think to yourself, this person is off the deep end.
These beliefs, incidentally, aren't necessarily political, and I would go so far as to say that the craziest ideas I've heard from the world of Esperanto mostly weren't political. It may be simply that they have an idea for doing something that sounds crazy ("Wouldn't it be great if we promoted Esperanto by making a huge banner that is visible from space and floating it on the Atlantic ocean???? Think how many new Esperanto speakers we would get that way!!!!" ) and they seem totally sincere and completely unaware that it sounds crazy. My example is made up, by the way, so please no one ask me who thinks that. I am not personally an anarchist but I'm not especially bothered by the existence of an Esperanto anarchists' association. It is slightly more difficult to deal with individuals who have a belief that you may find to be offensive or crazy. You can get past it. I have Esperanto friends, not close friends but friendly acquaintances anyway, who believe in certain conspiracy theories that I think are not only crazy but offensive as well. You just have to see past it and see people as people, more than the sum of their beliefs.
Esperanto does tend to draw a crowd that is disproportionately involved in things that are somewhat outside the mainstream; since Esperanto itself is outside the mainstream, this doesn't surprise me. The Esperanto community has proportionally more vegetarians than the general population, proportionally more LGBTQ etc, proportionally more members of religious minorities. I don't view these things as being inherently liberal or conservative, however.
The most off-putting aspect of the Esperanto community, for me personally, is the number of idealists. I'm really pragmatic and I end up doing a lot of smiling and nodding to be polite when I hear these ultra-idealistic ideas. I am usually pretty good about not slipping up and making some kind of snarky and derisive joke about whatever the person believes in. I also view this as separate from right wing or left wing politics; I think you will find head in the cloud idealists all around, though the exact contents of their head in the clouds ideas will surely vary. And the number of weird people who lack any semblance of social skills, this is something that has persisted from the beginning of the language.
There's a certain amount of tolerance that goes along with being an Esperanto speaker. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, if you spend any significant time in the Esperanto movement, you will definitely, 100%, meet some people who believe very strongly in something that you personally thing is completely crazy; you will think to yourself, this person is off the deep end.
These beliefs, incidentally, aren't necessarily political, and I would go so far as to say that the craziest ideas I've heard from the world of Esperanto mostly weren't political. It may be simply that they have an idea for doing something that sounds crazy ("Wouldn't it be great if we promoted Esperanto by making a huge banner that is visible from space and floating it on the Atlantic ocean???? Think how many new Esperanto speakers we would get that way!!!!" ) and they seem totally sincere and completely unaware that it sounds crazy. My example is made up, by the way, so please no one ask me who thinks that. I am not personally an anarchist but I'm not especially bothered by the existence of an Esperanto anarchists' association. It is slightly more difficult to deal with individuals who have a belief that you may find to be offensive or crazy. You can get past it. I have Esperanto friends, not close friends but friendly acquaintances anyway, who believe in certain conspiracy theories that I think are not only crazy but offensive as well. You just have to see past it and see people as people, more than the sum of their beliefs.
Esperanto does tend to draw a crowd that is disproportionately involved in things that are somewhat outside the mainstream; since Esperanto itself is outside the mainstream, this doesn't surprise me. The Esperanto community has proportionally more vegetarians than the general population, proportionally more LGBTQ etc, proportionally more members of religious minorities. I don't view these things as being inherently liberal or conservative, however.
The most off-putting aspect of the Esperanto community, for me personally, is the number of idealists. I'm really pragmatic and I end up doing a lot of smiling and nodding to be polite when I hear these ultra-idealistic ideas. I am usually pretty good about not slipping up and making some kind of snarky and derisive joke about whatever the person believes in. I also view this as separate from right wing or left wing politics; I think you will find head in the cloud idealists all around, though the exact contents of their head in the clouds ideas will surely vary. And the number of weird people who lack any semblance of social skills, this is something that has persisted from the beginning of the language.
sudanglo (Profil anzeigen) 31. Oktober 2013 22:23:17
Anyone who is successful in Esperanto must have a high tolerance for 'crazy', otherwise they would have left long ago.There you have the problem in a nutshell.
One shudders to think how many potentially useful people have been driven away from the movement by the 'stranguloj'.
Rightists not especially welcome.How intolerant of the Esperantists! And how stupid since probably some 50% of the world's population lean to the right.
Oijos (Profil anzeigen) 4. November 2013 05:55:15
"Moderator" decided to protect a username called apok2, when he made a zany statement:
Admin: Moderator is not 'protecting' any users. However, participants on this thread were warned to move the discussion to another forum or a new thread. After a short period intended to allow posts to be translated and moved to an Esperanto forum, off-topic messages for this discussion were deleted. If you wish to have a discussion with apok2 about one of his off-topic messages, please start a new thread or message him privately.
Admin: Moderator is not 'protecting' any users. However, participants on this thread were warned to move the discussion to another forum or a new thread. After a short period intended to allow posts to be translated and moved to an Esperanto forum, off-topic messages for this discussion were deleted. If you wish to have a discussion with apok2 about one of his off-topic messages, please start a new thread or message him privately.