--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> Dear Vishal,
> Prof. Misra's idée fixe is too obvious to be an illusion, and it
doesn't take a white supremacist to see that his linguistics is
thoroughly unsound and unprofessional (white supremacists, with the
possible exception of Pearson, have no deep interest in linguistics
anyway, judging from their excesses on this list some time ago, and
please note that we showed them the door on that occasion). Did I
really "hurl abuse" at Misra? I merely suggested, in an aside, that
his disavowal of ideological commitment might not be quite sincere.
VA: Piotr, your question of Mishra's ideological leanings or
affiliations was TOTALLY unwarranted. I gave you an example of Witzel
willfully ignoring or even distorting evidence that does not suit his
purposes. If you were even handed, you would apply the same standards
to both persons.
As you might know, I do not propagage Mishra's views here. For one, I
am not a linguist and primarily deal with archaeological literature,
excavation reports and so on. My purpose on this list is to learn,
and I do intend to take up IE linguistics seriously soon.
What really annoys me is the fact that despicable ideologies are so
closely interwined with IE linguistics and studies as such, but even
respectable linguists are so trigger happy when it comes to maligning
their Indian counterparts.
FYI, H H Hock has also given a certificate of 'not a Hindu
Nationalist' to Mishra in a paper published in `1999. Although I do
not know why Indians should seek character certificates from
specialists in a field that is so badly tainted.
I am an admirer for your erudition in general and of your patience
with less learned people like me, and request also that you be a
little more conservative with words while maligning people from third
world countries, especially when you will not judge fellow Europeans
with the same standards.
If some journal in India were to be published by a person accused of
association with an ideology propagating genocide of Muslims, all
the 'scholars' of the west would have expressed their desire
(directly or indirectly) that he (and contributors to his journal)
should be lynched and ostracized. But apparently, different standards
apply, if you are from Ireland, N. Ireland, Germany, Sweden, France,
Italy........
This is really unfortunate.
The world is still an unfair place. And people are still not
comfortable with diversity of human existence apparently.
I request that you do not impute motivations to Indians, especially
when we do not know if you really know much about Indian politics. We
are already fed up by one quickie Indologist named Steve Farmer who
became an expert in Vedic matters, Indian Science and Engineering,
Sanskrit/Vedic language, Indian Politics and so on in a matter of a
few months, helped by your favorite Harvard Professor of course. We
do not need another one like him.
I hope to continue contributing on constructive matters in future and
hope that the list does not degenerate, and maintains its high
standards.
Vishal