Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: Some concerns from a Lojban beginner

From: Robert LeChevalier <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 07 Dec 2002 13:58:46 -0500

At 12:19 AM 12/7/02 -0800, Robin Lee Powell wrote:
>On Fri, Dec 06, 2002 at 06:39:13PM -0500, Robert LeChevalier wrote:
> > At 12:30 PM 12/6/02 -0800, Robin Lee Powell wrote:
> > >On Thu, Dec 05, 2002 at 02:21:56AM +1100, Nick Nicholas wrote:
> > > > IMO, whatever the political motivations, Lojban loses by being
> > > > defined publicly in terms of Loglan. Think how many sleeper cells
> > > > you pick up by saying Lojban is a Loglan --- and then consider how
> > > > much damage is done when Don Harlow, in his description of
> > > > conlangs, sneeringly refers to "Loglan and its offshoot, Lojban."
> > >
> > >I hadn't thought about it that way before. I think I agree.
> >
> > When Don Harlow or any Esperanto leader sneers, they make Esperanto
> > look bad, not us. Lojban is indeed an offshoot of Loglan; indeed
> > Lojban IS Loglan. Harlow says it, and I brag it. People who are
> > willing to consider a logical language do not look down on us for
> > being an "offshoot". And if we make a constructive peace with TLI, we
> > will be the language schism that mended, and be able to sneer at them
> > (if we should wish to be so impolite %^).
>
>I actually had no idea who Don Harlow was, at all.
>
>I just don't like being considered an offshoot of anything in that
>sense; it can be made to sound derogatory.

It can be. But we ARE an offshoot of Loglan, and the fact that we had the 
same goals largely determined the language as it is today. Some things 
like 5-letter gismu and 3-letter rafsi can ONLY be explained using the 
historical context.

Meanwhile, we can turn that derogation around by being proud of our history 
(and in fact that is what I have been consistently doing for over a decade, 
winning some people over.

Denying our history would seem to me like denying that I am my father's 
son. I am my own person as well, but I still inherited many of his traits.

If Lojban is about to go through a period where it attempts to ignore its 
ancestry, then truly Lojban has reached its adolescence. When it grows up, 
it will realize that the past is still there and still important, and its 
existence never can truly be derogated.

lojbab

-- 
lojbab [email-masked]
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org