[tied] Re: Scientific Nationalism?

> Namaste! In your various posts on the Cybalist, of which I

became a

> member very recently, I noticed your tendency to caricature the
> opponents of AIT and its siamese twins (like AMT) as petty
> nationalists. While I personally do not believe in OIT, your
> caricaturing of opponents of AIT and upholders of OIT is as

dogmatic,

> fanatical and erroneous as the caricaturing of AIT/AMT believers by
> OIT'ers.

Piotr is the last person on this list that I would accuse of being
fanatical - and he very rarely has anything to say which can be
characterized as erroneous. You may disagree with it, buut Piotr
usually has some solid facts (or at least widely accepted theores) to
back up his statements (unlike many others on this list right now).

> I think your own diatribe is based on selective reading of such
> caricaturing by Indian Marxists like Romila Thapar, R S Sharma,

D N

> Jha etc., and by clearly prejudiced authors outside India. While
> you may not share their prejudices, you might have interiorized

their

> views regarding OIT supporters. Besides, such a diatribe is a
> reflection of mental immaturity, and is nothing better than

giving

> vent to one's own pent up frustrations.

If one were to measure the quality of posts on this list, I would say
that Piotr is perhaps the most mature out of all of us. He shows a
tremendous amount of patience with some of the more quirky members,
and can always be counted on to give a well thought out, fact-based
response, which he can back up with citations from recognized and
well respected academic sources.

It is never a good policy if you are a new member of a list to show
up and immediately start attacking its more venerable members.

> If we just look at the record, the proponents of AIT and its
> euphemisitic versions are the ones responsible for the

holocausts,

> white supermacism, genocides and so on. Which OIT upholder has
> committed even a fraction of these crimes? If anything

therefore,

> we ought to fear AMT, AIT and other such siamese twin theories. I
> could allege, for that matter, that all those who propose the PIE
> homeland in Europe are Eurocentric bigots, those who propose it in

the

> Balkans are sympathetic to Pan-slavic movements like the Serbian
> dictator, and those who propose it in a German speaking area are
> German Superpatriots and descendants of Nazis. Do you like that?
> Please do some introspection and see if you are not merely venting
> your prejudices, insecurity and snobbery in rushing to caricature
> scholars from India, while not passing such remarks against

dissidents

> from UK (e.g. Renfrew) and other countries. It is said that Victor
> Mair, an Austrian speaking German, prefers the PIE homeland near

his

> country (Austria). Should we then characterize him as a descendant

of

> Nazis, considering also his apparent fascination with the blonde

and

> blue eyed Tocharian Mummies? I am sure and other IE scholars would
> frown at any such attempts, just as I would.

If this were Usenet, I would say that Godwin's law should be invoked
and the thread ended.

- Chris Gwinn