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Re: Ad Yurii Gloriam (Was Re: maize in ancient india: strong transpacific links are indicated)


agdndmc@showme.missouri.edu (Domingo Martinez) wrote:
>This is an ad hominem comment, albeit written as nicely as I could manage. 

<snip>

>And do not expect for people in these forums to be able to disprove stuff that 
>you put forward, because "disproving" cannot be done, as people have 
>repeatedly said here.  Even if you submit that, say, Cahokia was built using 
>digital computers from outer space, nobody can disprove that, and, at least in 
>my case, I will not loose any sleep because of that "inability" to send the 
>proposition to oblivion.  Is your inability to understand this what pushes you 
>to post always the same stuff ("I believe... no matter what")?
>
>I have no idea why you do this, why you need so desperately that pre-Columbian 
>contact existed.  If you were a professional, I could perhaps understand your 
>urge to find a niche for yourself (even though most of your scholarly sources 
>are written by people for whom pre-Columbian diffusion has not been the 
>driving force of their careers) in a crowded field.
>
>End of piece, venting done.  Now flame me.
>
>Domingo.
>
>
>Domingo Martinez-Castilla
>agdndmc@showme.missouri.edu

Why flame you?? What you've said is true and fair enough. As I pointed out 
to Yuri back when he stated that the Olmec were Polynesians, it is his 
responsibility to defend his stance. None of us who disagree with his 
point of view need to supply any reasons why we do. Same goes for his 
supporters. That's how rhetoric works--make a point and defend it. Your 
audience is allowed to attack your stance, but you still carry the burden 
of evidence. Think of it as a criminal case with a prosecuter (Yuri in 
this case) and a defense attorney (the readers). Just as in a court of 
law, the defense doesn't have to prove anything, just raise doubts. It's 
up to the prosecuter to prove the charge.

Many of us view the newsgroups as the cyber versions of professional 
meetings, say along the lines of AAA, AFS, SHA, &c. That being said, as a 
whole, Yuri and company have gotten off lightly. I've seen what happens to 
the touters of the "Wild Ass Theory (WAT) of the Day" at numerous 
meetings, and what's been dished out on the newsgroups so far is 
light-weight stuff. Yuri is not a professional, as he has stated, so 
perhaps we've been lenient. I prefer to think of it in terms of teachers 
allowing a pupil to make mistakes--they may never get it, but they usually 
do in the end.


Randy

-- 
_______________
Randal Allison, Ph.D.
http://cis.tamu.edu/~ralliso
   --If you can't be happy naturally, be unnaturally happy.
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