Re: CHAT: Nov 11th

Once again things seemed to go over Your head, Charles.

As far as the Islamic extremist is concerned, You are the
one in need of learning.  Namely learning Arabic, and then
the Qu'ran.

Hitler would have been just as foreign and hateful if he had spoken
English.  If he *had been* English/Canadian/American the respective
country would be terrible ashamed of him and he would likely have
become a taboo possibly in Anglophone circles in general.

And my comment about wanting to slap 'You' silly was using 'You'
in the rhetorical sense.  But let me rephrase it in a less threatening
way for the thinkink-impaired:

One can speak another's language and still arouse hostilities in that
person due to cultural conflicts which language cannot change by
itself, nor is it a prerequisite of that change.

Getting back to Islam, there are followers all over the world and
they share a common culture (that of Islam), while still having their
own more national culture.  The gap of culture is bridged even though
You will have a hard time finding Muslims who use ancient Arabic
for smalltalk.  They have some of their gaps bridged while lacking
a common language.  And yet many others (Yugoslavia, Ireland, etc)
do not even have peaceful coexistence despite a common language.

PS: You seem a bit hostile these days.  Any particular reason?


----- Original Message -----
From: Charles <catty@...>
To: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 1999 8:48 AM
Subject: Re: Nov 11th


> Roland Hoensch wrote:
> >
> > Somehow You missed the whole point, Charles.
>
> I don't remember addressing or even thinking of you, Roland.
>
> > Will You become buddies with an Islamic extremist if he learns English?
>
> Sure, why not? It shows he is ready to learn more.
>
> > Should/Would You have supported Hitler if he were fluent in English?
>
> I could have argued with him directly, and it would have been
> far more interesting than this.
>
> > You can speak my language and still make me want to slap You
> > silly because Your beliefs/views seem so stupid/outlandish to me.
>
> Oh, I very much doubt that your attempt would be successful.
>
> (Yawn.)
>