Ivana Knezevic
Jul 30, 2017 · 2 min read

Funny you wave these professions in my face as an argument of “who is entitled to have opinions while I better keep my mouth shut”. As it happens, I am “those linguists, historians, sociologists etc.” you talk about , whose opinions you respect and who you are calling upon as the entitled ones to have a say about this all.

So …since I have a M.A. degree in cultural anthropology , it should make my opinions reasonably reliable — as to what a culture is and how language develops and what its position and a role is in relation to the culture.

It is not that hard to find a definition of a culture. That was the very first thing I had to learn when I only began my studies in 1979. About 40 years ago. By now I am already retired, by the way.

I prefer to leave this kind of information out of my Medium profile. I am not looking for a job here nor do I feel the need to boast my education. Least of all to bicker with some hot heads about whatever. I am here to learn and to write.

I am sorry I came over as arrogant and not respectful of the Esperanto and that whole endeavor. That was honestly not my intention. Initially I had mentioned Esperanto as a simple example in a totally different conversation and context, that had the ghazals and Urdu as a subject. Esperanto does not even interest me, Suddenly I was attacked from all sides by the Esperanto enthousiasts . I was quite taken by surprise , and had tried my best to explain my point, but was met with a lot of hostility and unwillingness to hear right from the start. Now you came again after some months with a whole bunch of personal judgments without knowing a first thing about me.

I make a lot of mistakes. I am afraid I might be making one more right now, responding to you, because there is already a a clear tone of animosity and negative judgement in your address which makes me wonder whether any civilized conversation at all is still possible here. I sincerely hope so and I would really love to close this whole totally unintended , long winded story on a kinder and friendlier note. But no, I am not holding my breath. Your tone does not indicate any even remotest possibility of becoming less hostile.

Ivana Knezevic

Written by

A person. A human being.

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