Meddelanden: 12
Språk: English
richardhall (Visa profilen) 25 maj 2008 08:09:10
Miland (Visa profilen) 25 maj 2008 10:27:05
I posted on that website the URL of a nice introduction to Esperanto on Youtube, made in Australia. Here it is, for reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfhZodmVTcI
richardhall (Visa profilen) 25 maj 2008 11:51:43
awake (Visa profilen) 25 maj 2008 14:52:13
richardhall:Have you seen this article in the journal New Statesman? It's so rare to come across something entirely positive in the mainstream media, I thought I'd share it.Am I the only one to find this disturbing? The worst thing that could ever happen to Esperanto is for it to be tied to a specific political ideology such as anti-globalism/anti-capitalism (or pro-globalism/pro-capitalism for that matter). If we, as a community, allow these associations to go unchallenged our language will be further marginalized.
Do I object to these political organizations using Esperanto? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I actually think it's great that esperanto is being used for what it is intended for, communication. But I worry very strongly about Eo being tied to a political ideology that many will find divisive. This will only make our goal, the survival and spread of Eo, more difficult.
We need to emphasize that. Eo is a tool for communication. It can be used for anything that any other language can be used for. Yes, it can be used to organize political rallies across countries, but it is so much more than that. In my view, we need to clearly affirm that Esperanto has no specific political ideology, other than facilitating communication and allowing people of all stripes (and ideologies) to come together and communicate under a common language
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RiotNrrd (Visa profilen) 25 maj 2008 15:50:19
awake:Am I the only one to find this disturbing? The worst thing that could ever happen to Esperanto is for it to be tied to a specific political ideology such as anti-globalism/anti-capitalism (or pro-globalism/pro-capitalism for that matter).I came across this article on Friday (I added an Esperanto section to my Google News a while back, which picks up any news stories that mention it). I also didn't care for the tying of Esperanto to radical ideologies. While the tone of the article was positive, I think that it may still leave a less than positive impression on most readers who don't know anything more about it than what they saw in the article. "Esperanto! The Language Of Radical Anti-Capitalist Anarchists!" Lovely. That's like saying German is the "Language Of Naziism", Italian is the "Language Of Fascism", and Russian is the "Language Of Stalinism", and then just leaving it at that. Please.
"Oh, you speak Russian? Then you must be 'pro-gulag'". Pfft.
toiletdude (Visa profilen) 25 maj 2008 17:01:58
As weird as radical a Esperantist seems, it doesn't bother me that much.
Although it does worry me that people will see that and forever have a bad impression of Esperanto.
There is one good thing about this, though. It proves to opponents to Esperanto that people that don't come from Indo-European linguistic roots have a fairly easy time learning it.
richardhall (Visa profilen) 26 maj 2008 07:54:06
awake:Am I the only one to find this disturbing? The worst thing that could ever happen to Esperanto is for it to be tied to a specific political ideology such as anti-globalism/anti-capitalism (or pro-globalism/pro-capitalism for that matter).If Esperanto is being used for the stated reasons by the Japanese activists, then that aspect of the article was simply accurate news journalism. If it had been about the use of (say) blogging by anti-capitalism activists, would anyone have said that this linked blogging to an ideology?
The point for me was the accurate and positive presentation of E-o in a very respected journal. That has to be good news, surely?
RiotNrrd (Visa profilen) 26 maj 2008 15:41:36
richardhall:If it had been about the use of (say) blogging by anti-capitalism activists, would anyone have said that this linked blogging to an ideology?If most people didn't know what blogging was, and very few people participated in it, then I expect that someone would likely have said just that.
Today, if people talk about blogging, it's generally understood what they are referring to. If people talk about Esperanto, however, often the first question is "what's that?" Hopefully the answer isn't "I think it's a tool used by dangerous fringe political activists". Because that's going to color future perceptions in a certain way.
richardhall (Visa profilen) 26 maj 2008 18:15:44
Whether "dangerous fringe political activists" is a fair description of all anti-globalisation protestors, I'll leave for another time.
awake (Visa profilen) 27 maj 2008 04:11:12
richardhall:We obviously move in very different circles. There might be misunderstandings about Esperanto, but I reckon people here have at least an idea of what it is. When I mention that I'm a blogger, I regularly receive blank looks.It's certainly true that Eo is probably vastly better known in Europe than in the U.S. So this may be a valid point. Also, The anti-globalism protesters may be seen as less of a fringe element there than here. A lot of people in the U.S., when they hear of anti-globalism protesters, think of the anti-democratic hooligans who rioted and vandalized seattle some years ago. I'm not particularly thrilled with the idea of Esperanto being tied to ANY ideology, particularly one with such associations to violence (wasn't someone killed a few years ago when anti-globalism protesters bombed a McDonalds? I've a vague memory of that but I'm not sure, I'll have to see if I can find that online).
Whether "dangerous fringe political activists" is a fair description of all anti-globalisation protestors, I'll leave for another time.
In any case, I can point to one particular sentence in the article that I found rather obnoxious:
"In this spirit, Esperantists from Hokkaido travelled to South Korea in December 2007 to assist in establishing a new Korean group of militant Esperantists."
Militant Esperantists? Oxymoron anyone?
THAT is certainly not an image that I want people associating with Esperanto. But, opinions vary.