Discussion: Our ethical responsibility

Thu Dec 14 16:14:16 UTC 2006

Dear Mr Botos, dear colleagues,

I only forward this message (below) to the URA-LIST as an example of a
direction I DO NOT want to pursue further (and as an example of e-mails, the
kind of which will probably clutter my mailbox in the next few days...). A
debate between academic researchers of geography and "true believers" of the
Flat Earth Society does not belong to an academic context, and this list is
for scholarly, unpolitical purposes only.

What I wanted to discuss was the role of the international community of
linguists and their responsibility for the possible misuse of their works.
Everything else, as I hoped I could make clear, is politics, ideology, an
internal trauma of the Hungarian society, a kind of a religious belief (as a
closer scrutiny of certain expressions in Mr Botos's e-mail will reveal) or
something else outside my capacities and competence. (I already have some
experiences of discussions with Hungarian Anti-Finno-Ugrists and will not
waste my time and energy by argumenting against quasi-religious
convictions.)

The scientific core of the problem: There is nothing wrong about a linguist
making weakly founded or patently false claims about the Uralic language
affinity -- as Angela Marcantonio and some others, in my view, have done --
AND subjecting them to a normal criticism on scholarly fora. (Angela
Marcantonio's book, although the normal review process of the publisher
obviously had some weak points in this case, has been reviewed by numerous
scholars, who have pointed out its flaws in a clear and objective manner --
see e.g. http://linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-1963.html for a detailed
criticism by Ante Aikio.) Nobody will be executed, everybody has the right
to state what he believes.

BUT: the problem arises when a scholar does not react to scholarly
discussion but, heedless of the devastating criticism, goes on spreading
his/her ideas on popular fora -- i.e. to people who do not have the
expertise to distinguish scientifically founded research results from
flim-flam -- supporting this (or allowing this to be supported) with his/her
academic titles and the reputation of his/her university. THIS is the
responsibility question I wanted to discuss; everything else I leave for
other occasions and to other, preferably Hungarian experts.

Best
Johanna Laakso

PS. The "hate mails" have started to come, too:

> But this time our patience is over. The days of finno-ugrian origin and common
> uralic  language are numbered.  You coud do whatever you want,  still you
> could impress less and less people with your stupid theory and you'll be shown
> in cages while educated people will be pointing  at you with their fingers as
> rare beings.
(Szakács Gábor, leader of the Association of Forrai Sándor's Runic Writers
in Hungary)

Thanks to all those colleagues who have bothered to send me a few nice
words...
***

Am 14.12.2006 15:29 Uhr schrieb "Botos" unter <botos at magnalingua.net>:

> Dear Dr. Johanna Laakso,
>  
> I found what you wrote to be quite appalling. Your last sentence was a
> question, "What should be done?"
>  
> I think I can help you in answering that. What would you say to a LIVE
> television debate? I don't think any Finno-Ugric supporter has ever accepted
> such an invitation to debate live. I wonder why? They once said the world was
> flat and anybody who spoke out against it was immediately executed. I am sure
> that you do not support such radical views and would stand up for freedom of
> speech, and therefore will accept this as being the answer to your question.
> Being a believer of this pseudo-scientific flim-flam that you speak out
> against with such extreme vehemence, I would consider it an honor if you
> accept me as being the organizer of such a debate. (assuming you agree to
> having one) Think of this as a duel. You choose your seconds and we'll choose
> ours. We believe in what we preach. Do you?
>  
> A debate of this kind would most likely last weeks, but if you can not find a
> television channel willing to broadcast, I am quite sure it would interest the
> Árpád TV station, which broadcasts via the Internet. Let's forget about the
> name calling. When somebody can only answer a question by calling them a foul
> name, then that usually is an admittance of their inaptitude to answer the
> given question. 
>  
> I also find it to be scary, to say the least, that somebody of your stature
> and position would speak out against any form of freedom of speech or research
> for that matter. By trying to connect Angela Marcantonio's new book which you
> say is marketed along side of other books (one of which promoting a theory
> that Jesus was not Jewish) are you implying that there are certain historical
> "facts" that can not be researched or contested, or that there is no room for
> further theories to be debated? I am sure this is not the case. A historian
> must know that the right to debate historical "facts" is the foundation of our
> free world. 
>  
> If you have studied the history behind the Hungarian Finno-Ugric Theory, you
> to must see that it is this theory itself that has a political bias dating as
> far back as Pope Pius II. and 1770 the Jesuit Miksa Hell (Demonstratio idiom
> Ungarorum et Lapponum idem esse). I am sure that if you give us the
> opportunity we can show you and your esteemed colleagues the political
> connections. I too am in total agreement with your view that
> "pseudo-scientific enterprises with political connections" are dangerous. You
> believe that you should distance yourselves from them. This is exactly what we
> are trying to do. Our disagreement, however, is in which theories have these
> "political connections".
>  
> Feel free to call me or answer via email. I agree this situation must be
> amended. I have taken the first step. Will you continue to distance yourself,
> or stand up for what you believe in?
>  
> Best Regards,
> Gregory Z. Botos
>  
>  
> 1015 Budapest, Csalogany u. 12, Hungary
> (36) 1-489-3138
> fax: (36) 1-489-3139
> cell: (36) 20-951-9698
> botos at magnalingua.net <mailto:botos at magnalingua.net>
>  

-- 
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso
Institut für Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft
Abteilung für Finno-Ugristik
Universitätscampus AAKH, Spitalgasse 2-4 Hof 7, A-1090 Wien
Tel. +43 1 4277 43019, (VoIP) +43 599664 43019 | Fax +43 1 4277 9430
johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at | http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/

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