GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Archives

Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2004-04 > 1081075871


From: (Shawn Potter)
Subject: Re: POSSIBLE GATEWAY: FROM AFRICA TO EUROPE
Date: 4 Apr 2004 03:51:11 -0700
References: <c57e4f24.0403141731.5b931209@posting.google.com> <7004aa4b.0403311402.37df8950@posting.google.com> <BAIac.30928$0d.25045@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com> <7004aa4b.0404010237.6708eb70@posting.google.com> <406BE67B.1020104@interfold.com> <7004aa4b.0404011411.797b638@posting.google.com> <406C9A90.B64BDFE0@scs.uiuc.edu> <7004aa4b.0404021653.cd38565@posting.google.com> <406E4EAD.4020207@interfold.com> <7004aa4b.0404031410.37aa9a31@posting.google.com> <406F48A7.9030007@interfold.com>


"Todd A. Farmerie" <> wrote in message news:<>...

>
> You might want to read what I wrote again, as your summary bears
> no resemblance to it. I am saying just the opposite - that you
> reach (and can only reach) conclusions based on the information
> at hand, not on some hypothetical source yet to be discovered.
> This is not without implications. First, all genealogical
> conclusions are tentative, being based on the information
> currently available and subject to ammendment, alteration or
> rejection as a result of new discoveries. (This is not unique to
> genealogy - it applies to virtually all research.) Second,
> because this is always the case, it is silly to demand a
> disclaimer to this effect when someone reaches a conclusion you
> don't like.


I don't demand a disclaimer because I dislike your conclusion.
Accuracy demands a disclaimer, because it seems that you stated your
opinion as if it were a fact.


> > If you really believe that, why do you spend time on the
> > subject.
>
> If you prefer to be led by what you want to be true, rather than
> what is supported by evidence, then why do you spend time on
> genealogy, when literary fiction would seem to fulfill the same
> desire?
>


Why do you attack my motives rather than admit your error? What does
that say about your intellectual honesty?


> > Wouldn't a more rational--and honest--approach be to avoid
> > making unsupportable declarations?
>
> I did support the statement that I made. I gave the reasoning
> behind it and cited an author of the same opinion. I have asked
> you why you think this support fails, why you think it is an
> inaccurate analysis, but all you have done is stick your fingers
> in your ears and shout, "No!" Do you have a point, other than to
> express the offence that you appear to have taken at my having
> questioned a 1200-year descent without any names in between and
> without a single shred of supporting evidence?
>
> taf


The information you have provided so far does not support your extreme
statement. You did not merely question the descent. You declaired
that it was "...of identical nature to the numerous claims of descent
from Biblical
figures (House of David, Noah), heroic figures (Priam, Hengist) and
gods (Jupiter, Odin);" and now you are offended when someone asks you
to defend your assertion.

Shawn

This thread: