[NYC-L] "Who's calling?"

[Jeton Ademaj]

Aferdite

>>>>>>>Do you know what I think is sad? Hypocrites!  I don’t understand why 
>>>>>>>you go on and on criticizing Albanians on growing up (adulthood call 
>>>>>>>as you say) when you, yourself, use the f... word every other 
>>>>>>>sentence?????  I would suggest on broadening your vocabulary skills. 
>>>>>>>Please don’t take this the wrong way, just some advice from a fellow 
>>>>>>>Albanian.<<<<<

I speak freely, and abjure all linguistic provincialisms. No principal is 
going to whack my knuckles or approach my mouth with a bar of soap, I have 
no constituents to vote me out of office and NO I haven’t heard all that 
much off this list for me to particularly regret my language if I get booted 
off. You’d do better declaring that you were personally offended by the use 
of slang references clearly derived from slang speech. (eg. “fukn” in place 
of “fucking”, (adj/adverb of “Fuck”) an ancient English ‘obscenity’, itself 
both noun (as an action/transaction) and verb (to penetrate (phallicly?),  
commonly used for modifying emphasis in spoken English, controversial in 
dominant cultural context) . I do not begrudge you your intellectual posture 
but your larger response is evasive.


>>>>>>Although I agree with many of you statements, I believe that you are 
>>>>>>complaining too much about all the problems and you seem not to 
>>>>>>suggest any solutions.  Please do not misunderstand me, but if you 
>>>>>>attend to critique others, try to give some concrete suggestions on 
>>>>>>improvement.<<<<<

I’m sorry but that is trite reasoning. You agree with what I’m saying but 
I’m saying it too much? (as rarely as I post anything?) I’m not offering 
solutions?? Honestly, your post calling for a mass response to a nytimes 
article was particularly counterproductive…you simply dont seem slick enough 
linguisticly or logically to be anything other than counterproductive 
writing to mass media. In fact, no one who takes a purely Albanian-defensive 
position can be credible in mass media at this point. So, Concrete 
Suggestion #1: speak/write credibly. For instance, PRECISELY what was biased 
about the nytimes article, and what bias exactly? Give me quotes, context 
and some talking points …, hell if you convince me I’ll swarm on them (and 
their new Public Editor) as well. Concrete Suggestion #2 : When your friends 
or relatives brag or gloat that this or that Serbian village got burned 
down, remind them that the war is over unless we as Albanians are dumb 
enough to slide down to the level of Milosevic. Early on some fools believed 
they’d somehow get Mitrovice/Trepce back if they ethnically cleansed the 
rest of Kosove. Well, let me remind you in stark terms what that does to 
Albanian credibility: it makes us Nazis. Fuck Godwin’s law, it makes us 
hi-tech low budget Nazis. And in case anyone failed to notice, the originals 
were a lot stronger and they got their asses smashed. That kinda shit is a 
fast-growing weed, no reason to deny the flower just because it hasn’t 
bloomed, the bud is now visible to observers. #3: If you happen to agree 
with ANY of my points let other Albanians know them, claim them as your own 
as you please…don’t just sit there telling Albanians what they want to hear. 
And encourage others to speak freely…and as civilly as you can convince them 
to!

>>>>>>In addition, you seem to be completely pessimist on the future of the 
>>>>>>Kosovar youth, how can the youth ever progress when they have no 
>>>>>>encouragement from the leadership in Kosova.   I hate to say it but 
>>>>>>Individuals, such as you, are not helping the situation by “riding on 
>>>>>>adrenaline like angry children.”  If you are not happy with the way 
>>>>>>the youth is reacting to the situation, then try to change it.  This 
>>>>>>can be done with calmness and understanding.<<<<<<

No you’re twisting my words, please read more carefully. I’m a realist, and 
have always had high hopes for Kosovars, and Illyria generally. Having so 
many young Albs means we can seize the future, we’re not burdened with large 
cadres of older professionals determined to do things the old fashioned way. 
Albs can evolve and grow rapidly, across all economic, political and 
cultural avenues. We have a culture that values intellect and inventiveness 
and entrepreneurial spirit. huge numbers of youth who want to own and master 
all the latest gadgets, and make real the good-life. Hell we also had a 
tremendous respect for our own laws and kanun…that’s why eroding our own 
civility enrages me. The people doing this need prodding from every angle to 
encourage their own critical thinking, so that Albanians can at least 
develop and encourage better leaders. The mystery is gone, we know Alb 
leadership will always be under severe pressure from within and without, and 
it’s a dead excuse…a dead excuse for egomaniacs and mafiosos and cowards and 
traitors and "traitors" and of course the mediocre. Re: older/wiser 
Albanians, I SAID TOO MANY WERE RIDING THE ADRENALINE OF ANGRY YOUTH. I’m 
riding my own prodigious adrenaline, thank you very much. I’ve seen/heard 
plenty of older Albanians who should know better actively encouraging 
youngsters to clean out the Serbs, to get into fights, to think criminally 
-- ooofah a whole juvenile-delinquent menu! The impression is of older Albs 
using the blood of their youngsters and of mostly innocent minorities—using 
that blood as a sort of psychotherapeutic tonic. “At least they can do what 
I always wanted to” – arrested development indeed.

Some are convinced that America is somehow locked into backing the Albs no 
matter what. “Empires have neither friends nor foes, only interests”—if the 
American Empire loses interest in us rest assured the Slavic Empire still 
sees us as tasty-licious. And the only other deal, the Islamic Empire, wont 
be pulling off any strategic holds on European soil for a few decades yet 
kids, and only then amidst general détente (or Kosova and Bosnia would make 
a good strategic no man’s land guarding Europe against encroachment, in the 
event the EU or Russia took it upon themselves to nuke the South East 
Balkans to keep the Caliphate out). And of course the whole Albania/China 
thingy is sooooo totally over.....like rilly, fer sher.

>>>>>>>>As far as your statement in which said, “if any of you would like to 
>>>>>>>>confront the international media's growing bias against Albanians, 
>>>>>>>>maybe you should try to avoid sounding like a guilty and petulant 
>>>>>>>>child."  Well, let’s see…all I can say is something my granduncle 
>>>>>>>>use to say to me, which is “if a child does not cry, the parent will 
>>>>>>>>not know what the matter is.”  In other words, if you do not express 
>>>>>>>>yourself then how will the international community know the facts?  
>>>>>>>>I do believe that getting the facts straight from both sides can at 
>>>>>>>>least allow people to judge the situation more accurately.  I do not 
>>>>>>>>see this in any way as acting like a child.  However, I think that 
>>>>>>>>if we do not raise our voices, then the situation will lead to 
>>>>>>>>incorrect assumptions and escalating consequences.  Especially, when 
>>>>>>>>the NYtimes or any other credible media is spreading propaganda, we 
>>>>>>>>are obligated as Albanians to try to get the truth out.<<<<<<<<<

I agree with your latter point, it is perfectly valid to demand unbiased 
coverage, diversity of sources and a declaration of epistemology (demanding 
that the journalist always specify what’s hearsay, what’s his opinion, what 
he personally witnessed and what he’s actually discovered, and what methods 
were used to get such information.) As for the 1st part of that paragraph, 
please understand I’m not trying to keep you from demanding accountability 
from the nytimes or anybody else, but I admit that your initial email came 
on a day when I’ve already argued with several people about this topic, and 
then the following emails were even more enflaming. You’re correct in 
assuming I was addressing you as well as Ylli (like 20/80), but in anybody’s 
case it’s critical that anybody reaching out to ‘credible’ media speak 
CREDIBLY, not just civilly. If you get a hold of them and sound like a very 
polite liar or polite knee-jerk apologist or both, they’re subsequent 
coverage will reflect that, too.

>>>>>I tried to be as short and concise as I could.
Best regards, Aferdita H.<<<<<

And I tried to be polite and honest. Neither of us is perfect :)
tung
J

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