Posted by Vasko on June 28, 2000 at 16:51:44:
In Reply to: To Vasko posted by Moshe on June 28, 2000 at 13:39:31:
: I heard names of the professors you mentioned but that's about it. Why do you regard them as "crowd" ?
I said "crowd" because they are like a clique standing in a corner and hurling accusations and insults at the smart kid. They are insular, tend to publish their intellectual analyses of "political Rusynism" in their own journal ("Bjuletyn" from Chicago) which only they read, etc.
: What about prof. Magocsi, who is chair of Ukr. studies at the University of Toronto. He wrote "History of Ukraine", "The Carpatho-Rusyn Americans" and others (I didn't read a single of his books). Does he also belong to this "crowd"?
Well, some of them are his colleagues, but their credentials and renown are not really up to snuff (my opinion). They represent a stream of thought, he represents another. Lots of other academics in the west seem to agree with Magocsi's point of view (Rusyns are free to decide for themselves who they are, and since they wish to develop into an independent nationality, if history and other scholarly work supports them, then let us support them!), but there is no clique. They do not have secretive meetings and they associate with the community they are discussing. Markus, Shandor, et al. have never associated with the "so-called Carpatho-Rusyn" community in dialogue or bridge-building. So who's the separatist here, anyway?
Thanks for your comments.