So firstly the literal format and writing of the article is rough/buzz feed-y which isn’t particularly shocking or notable.
However if there was a fascimomter on you, as one reads the article, it will quickly increase to a boiling point that reflects an overflowing abundance of fascism.
These far right folk just can’t stop making leftism sound cool I swear.
“The bloke who created it, Ludwik Zamenhof, developed a political and religious philosophy (a cultish offshoot of Judaism that looked more like something straight out of The Communist Manifesto).”
(I genuinely don’t think hofism is a thing but regardless yes it was an optimistic idea to create a universal second language for all of the world)
Since the article is written by a fascist (even if they didn’t intend to be open about that), it isn’t shocking that the first point is essentially nazis on ‘Jewish Bolshevism’
Literally a second later
“The most crucial kind of diversity is the diversity of thought and opinion.” :kombucha-disgust:
“Even with constructed languages like Tolkien Elvish or Na’avi for example, if you look at the enthusiasts, you’ll find a wide array of people from all sorts of ideological backgrounds. They might be completely opposed to each other as far their opinions of the world are concerned but they come together for a common passion that they both share.
Now, I’m not saying that there absolutely aren’t any learners of Esperanto who don’t care about its politics or aren’t part of the status quo (see this **depressing Reddit thread ** for example).”
I’m scared, Reddit is already depressing as is
“a whole bunch of extreme far leftists who are OF COURSE politically correct”
TFW you’re the only nazi at your conlang event - sad Escobar waiting meme. -
“Without doubt the most common and sensible reason why myself and so many others are turned off Esperanto is that it has no authentic culture.” The fascimomter is sweltering
“Esperanto has no country or geographical ties to an ancestral homeland. :what-the-hell:
“[Esperanto strived to be] A true international language.
The common argument against this of course is that we already have that.
It’s called English” :deeper-sadness:
If this article was written as an in-character extended take of Chris Evans role @ the end of Knives out I apologize
Their most recent tweet (15 hr ago) is “idk about Brazil politics but I like this Bolsanaro guy”
There are too many highlights to post - the “adhd literally doesn’t exist” tweet took me out
oh we're bringing back the esperanto struggle session? :popcorn-time:
A language that chuds absolutely refuse to learn because it offends them ideologically would be an amazing language to use as a means of encrypted communication among Leftists.
I imagine that is over the factual issue that it is - at least to some degree - imperialist? (Based primarily on Romance languages)
But I’m more concerned with what morpheme per word ratio makes me look the coolest
Imperialist is a bit strong, but it's certainly Eurocentric. There's also the fact that you can already do what Esperanto promised (communicate around the world) with English. And that hasn't done shit to help the peoples of the world unite in harmony.
That’s fair, honestly more meant western-pilled essentially.
I’m personally wondering is it a useful gesture to firstly (of course) acknowledge/support all native languages and then introduce the universal language where no one is a native speaker. ‘Equal playing field’ is maybe part of this idea but cannot be truly stated (euro-centric for one)
A universal language is at odds with supporting native languages. Socio-economic factors inevitably drive marginalized people away from their native tongue to the more economically/culturally dominant one. The only real language justice is economic justice.
Maybe even just considering if it was even possible as a gesture, hmm [upon reflection, if one can’t offer universal economic justice, as you noted, then any “universalist” language will be forced even if unintentionally onto “the world” with consequences to natural languages]
Also English being so wide spread/“universal” does further illustrate how the widespread adoption of a language being tied to economic/cultural necessity does anything but unite human society
(But I can forgive an optimist)
I'm not against efforts to create a language for the purpose of cross-linguistic community building. Esperanto was never going to become a universal auxiliary language, but it has become the basis for a global Esperantist community that I understand is pretty cool. And I think that's neat! I like Toki Pona for the same reason. Constructed languages are fun and can be the basis for interesting, diverse communities.
Toki Pona solves most of this. Nobody is a native speaker, it uses the most universally understood phonemes, it's fairly easy to learn, people genuinely like using it, it's good enough to communicate with a stranger, and it's not complete enough to supplant any natural language.
idk why its assumed a universal conlang would behave at all like english, an imperially enforced market tounge does. if enough of the world decided to all forfeit the prestige & cultural dominance of using their langs internationally (the pre-req for this discussion to even be relevant) for a conlang, that means a portion of the earth diverse enough and committed enough to internationalism exists. which is kind of hard to imagine without a mostly complete world socialism.
dunno about useful gesture but i believe it's absolutely the correct thing to do at some point
Having a conversation in Esparanto: Problematic. Bad. Imperialist. Corrupted by the spirit of Euro-centrism. Hugely problematic.
Having a conversation in English: Cool. Normal. No problems detected. Completely independent of the colonialist legacy, why would you even suggest otherwise?
Linguistic determinism is an absurd idea. Except for English - it's gotta be poison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxI0Zu1ABI
I want to go back to this game now because despite all the half-assed jank and the kind of underwhelming 3rd act twist, i'm really interested in the ideas Kojima was playing with especially in the central conflict here
TFW you’re the only nazi at your conlang event
its so funny when people are so soaked in ideology they can barely smell it so they only get this odd feeling when they're practically on fire with contradictions
woah, an interlang has no authentic culture? damn that would really suck for someone who doesn't have a culture of their own
Why I Won't Learn Esperanto
These are the main reasons why I have no interest in learning Esperanto and would personally not recommend it. It’s not simply because it’s a conlang either.
I always find it funny when the entire basis of an article is that the author has a contrarian opinion, and that's enough to make it an interesting topic in their mind. I know it's kind of the point with this type of website, but I've just never had any interest in "I had this thought, here's why you should too".
Some of the comments are fun though, I always love to just see the word "Mao" come up when skimming random text lol
Esperanto is how some of the socialist literature landed in China and Japan. Chinese language reforms has Esperanto influences
I think English is kinda neat. There’s a huge vocabulary, it has varied points of emphasis, loose rhyming. I wouldn’t want to have to learn it as an adult, but I like the way it sounds and all it’s irregularities.
