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Spartakus
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Topic: Anti-Semitism and ...Semitism. Posted: 24-Apr-2007 at 15:13 |
I do not ask the linguistic opposite. I asked the cultural opposite.
If you mean a word for someone who is against 'Semites', there isn't one
Which only leads us to the use of Anti-Semite.
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"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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Ovidius
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Posted: 24-Apr-2007 at 15:51 |
The Cultural opposite to Semite? What are you talking about Spartakus.
There is no Word for someone who is against Semites, just as there isn't a word for someone who is against ANY LANGUAGE GROUP. We do not say, anti-Germanic, or anti-Indo-European, or something like that.
You just cannot be 'against Semites' in that sense.
Hence why Anti-Semite is a word that is defined in terms of its cultural creation, rather than some sort of intellectual construction.
anyhow, this is going no where. I have no idea what you purpose is here. Are you attempting to prove that 'anti-semite' is wrong? Or what? Its just pointless.
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Spartakus
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Posted: 24-Apr-2007 at 15:57 |
I argue that the use of "anti-Semite" is wrongly used and monopolized by a certain group of people in the wrong basis.
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"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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Ovidius
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Posted: 24-Apr-2007 at 16:02 |
How can you use a word wrongly when you use it based on its definition.
Your idea is that Anti-Semite SHOULD MEAN someone who is against Semites. Which is just as ridiculous as Anti-Semite meaning someone who is against Jews.
There are so many words that have a culturally formed meaning. Balkans for instance. It has no bearing on the name for the region in the region. Just as Semite has no link to the languages that are term Semitic.
Anyhow, Anti-Semitism cannot be a 'wrongly used word'. Its defnition is Anti-Jewish. It is a word that has been formed with an incorrect understanding of the word Semite, but that doesn't alter the definition of a word.
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Spartakus
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Posted: 24-Apr-2007 at 16:12 |
How can you use a word wrongly when you use it based on its definition
It's definination was based in non-scientific criteria. This does not mean that now, in the 21st century ,we can still use it without criticism.
Your idea is that Anti-Semite SHOULD MEAN someone who is against Semites. Which is just as ridiculous as Anti-Semite meaning someone who is against Jews.
It would be ridiculous if the term "Semitic" did not exist .But it does.And Jews are not the only Semites.
There are so many words that have a culturally formed meaning. Balkans for instance. It has no bearing on the name for the region in the region. Just as Semite has no link to the languages that are term Semitic.
Balkans have multiple meanings :geographical ,cultural and steorotypical ones. We are talking about languages here. You cannot compare the term "Balkans" with the term "Semite".
It is a word that has been formed with an incorrect understanding of the word Semite, but that doesn't alter the definition of a word.
Neither give us the absolute right to use it in the same way as Nazis did.
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"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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Ovidius
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Posted: 24-Apr-2007 at 16:48 |
It was not the Nazi's that used it.
Balkans is the Same as Semite. It is a word that has been misunderstood in the wider literature and language culture and has formed a new meaning.
50%++ of the words in the English Language are based, partially, on a development of meaning. Its not just our language either. Word meanings change with culture. Anti-Semitism is a word based on culture. It is not based on the formation that you want to to be.
Definitions are important, not the definitions you WANT. Just because it has the word Semite within the word, it is no longer important.
why should we change it to conform to what you understand of Semite, rather than what EVERYONE understands from Anti-Semitism?
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Spartakus
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Posted: 25-Apr-2007 at 03:41 |
The Nazis used Semitism and Anti-Semiticm.
Balkans is the Same as Semite. It is a word that has been misunderstood in the wider literature and language culture and has formed a new meaning
Nope it isn't ,since the very term Balkans has a broader meaning that the term Semite.
why should we change it to conform to what you understand of Semite, rather than what EVERYONE understands from Anti-Semitism?
And why shoudn't we discuss it and criticize it?Is there any Law which forbits me to question a term?I do not think so.I opened the topic not because i want to change the use of the term ,because ,obviously i cannot do that , but to have a discussion about it.That's Allempires all about. Topics and discussion .
Edited by Spartakus - 25-Apr-2007 at 03:42
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"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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