Topic started by Expat (@ mail.waldorf.edu) on Wed Jan 16 00:30:05 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

This thread is specifically meant for Tamil Babe, but others are freee to answer.

I believe we were discussing the first settlers to SL. You seemed to point out the relative proximity of TN to the Jaffna Peninsula. But I don't think you can assess the racial demographics of two or three millenia ago by simply looking at a map.

My argument is the architecture that you find all over the North reflects long-term Buddhist settlement. There is no Hindu architecture, as far as I know, that even begins to come close to that of the Buddhist type. In South India, yes. But SL, no.

You also mentioned the fragility of theories. Well, you need some form of understanding, and so I look at the architecture/ruins.

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Expat (@ mail.waldorf.edu) on: Tue Feb 5 19:55:12
  
  Nisala:
  
  I never attacked Hinduism. If you are referring to my digression on the subject of sensuality and the Kama Sutra, that was in response to a blatantly anti-Catholic thread. In regards to my statements about Brahmins, that too was in response to Catholic bashing. Our friend Karthik was not exactly a spectator. I see little harm in going after Brahmins if a Brahmin wants to go after the Vatican for dogmatism - I see the same dogmatism in someone's willingness to believe that he's actually born superior to other members of society. Despite the rather luxurious lifestyle I was raised in, I never expected that by sitting back and doing nothing, things would come my way on a platter. Whereas in Kerala, there is a certain Brahmin sect that never leaves their mansion(s?), and only allows the eldest to get married so as not to to spoil the family line!
  
  You are at least partially justified in regards to your comments about Dalits, backwards, & Brahmins. I myself don't know too much about this whole situation. I do believe, however, that its people's complacency to stay within the constraints of the caste system that leads to increasing poverty and other problems. If this were the case, and correct me if I'm wrong, the people at the top are actually benefiting from the labor & poverty of those at the bottom of the ladder. I see it as a virtual re-recreation of pre-revolutionary France, with the Brahmins as aristocrats & the Dalits as peasants. Correct me if I'm wrong.
  
  Despite certain misgivings on your part, I'm nevertheless glad you believe me.
  
  
• From: Neel (@ att-98-40-94.atl.mediaone.net) on: Tue Feb 5 22:48:52
  
  >>Nice try. You sound like my sister justifying herself after she starts a meaningless argument with a complete stranger.<<
  
  Like they say, it is all in the genes.
  
  
  
• From: Tamil Babe (@ rn251-65.resnet.uoguelph.ca) on: Tue Feb 5 23:05:38
  
  "Nice try"
  
  I guess you were never taught that it's rude to not respond.
  
  "You sound like my sister justifying herself after she starts a meaningless argument with a complete stranger"
  
  Note: I did not *start* it. ;)
  
  
• From: Tamil Babe (@ rn251-65.resnet.uoguelph.ca) on: Tue Feb 5 23:37:20
  
  "This is my view of it: you replied to something I supposedly said, and then the thread was deleted before "I" got a chance to reply. "
  
  Even if you never saw the supposed post I was replying to you, I'm sure you read my entire reply. And as in all my replies, I always quote the statement that trigger my reply. So either way, your explanation doesn't work.
  
  "Continuing, are you saying that I posted a new thread, meant for you, based on a reply that you gave to the now infamous statement? Thats simply not true."
  
  Did you not start this "specifically" for me? Why else would you start a thread "specifically for Tamil Babe" if it is not related to me or based on what I said??
  
  "So how I could start a new thread based on a statement I did not even see? This thread was started on the basis of what I DID see."
  
  Yes, you started this thread based on my reply because that thread was deleted a few hours after I made my post. But, as I have said earlier, you have seen my reply. And I'm sure you would not have missed what I was quoting in my reply or the post I was replying to which was on the same page. No matter what you say, you cannot change those little pieces of evidence. ;)
  
  
  "What you say about your comments being on the same page is irrelevent."
  
  It was an example to show you - "how could you have missed it".
  
  "Heres what I remember in that thread:"
  
  Read the rest of your post and you will see that you have gotten the contents of this thread and the deleted thread MIXED UP. The thread in Tamil history was deleted a few hours after my response. So some of the things that you made in your post saying "here's what I remember in that thread" did/do not exist in that thread.
  
  "I said Eelamists have no right to say the land is there's because Sinhalese came there first."
  
  You simply said that SL belongs to the Sinhalese because they came there first. You even added that others (Tamils) should live where the Sinhalese tell them to. That response triggered my retort to you.
  
  Honestly, how could you have missed what&why I was replying to you. You somehow, magically missed the post that you say might have been made by someone pretending to be you, a post that was on the same page. You somehow, magically missed the fact that in my response, I was addressing you. Were you not even curious to see why I was addressing you? And you somehow magically missed the quotes in my post (me quoting you) as I always do in any message I reply. Now, if somebody else was pretending to be you, then while reading my response, you would have noticed that I wasn't not quoting what you said and would have called me on that. But you did not do that. Soo all I can say is "nice try but won't work with me".
  
  "Then, and I remember saying this very clearly, I said I don't really care who lives there now, just that for history's sake its important."
  
  You have not made any such statements in the deleted thread. "Heres what I remember in that thread:" does not apply. Try again!
  
  "You see now why I'm not dropping the subject!"
  
  You have just shown me that you get confused and mixed up easily with what you say when and where. You are digging your own hole.
  
  
  "Then I remember saying that racial demographics change over two millenia or so, and that therefore thats irrelevent. I also remember pointing out my Aryan invasion theory. "
  
  Again - "Heres what I remember in that thread:" does not apply. You did not make such statements in *that* thread. Try again!
  
  "Another thing I was wondering about is your profession. If you could tell me your profession, I might be better able to understand where you're coming from and what you're driving at. Or if you're in college/grad school, knowing your major would be helpful. "
  
  What does that have to do with the price of chicken?
  
  
• From: Expat (@ mail.waldorf.edu) on: Wed Feb 6 01:11:23
  
  How can you be sure that I read your entire reply? Where is the proof for this assumption of yours? And anyway, thats redundant because I know for a fact that I would have read everything that came before your reply, assuming I read your reply.
  
  Yes, this thread was started with you in mind. But it was not started to imply in any way that Sinhalese own property rights to Sri Lanka.
  
  I still fail to see any relevency to the same page thing you bring up. As far as I know, it could have been a different page. The page this reply was on is irrelevent.
  
  Perhaps I did get a few things mixed up with what I said in that thread and this one. Anyway, consider it a rough recollection that has the incentive of being partially justifiable. I don't have time to play Poirot & unravel every little tangle.
  
  As for your precose quoting, you never said it was the exact quote. Find where you said it was the exact quote. There is a big difference between implicit and explicit.
  
  I did indeed say I don't care in that thread that was deleted. Thats one of the things I remember for sure.
  
  I'm pretty sure I mentioned the Aryan invasion theory in that thread, because I always associate Sinhalese origins with North India & the Aryans. Maybe Nisala can back me up there.
  
  The price of chicken? I am simply asking you what your profession is. It would help me to formulate a more accurate picture of the modus operandi behind your way of reasoning. Math people, you know, don't always think like the English fellows. I remember a physics student from SL saying once, physics is a way of life. So anyway, I'm not forcing you.
  
  

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