I'm making a brief mid-hiatus appearance to say- I've had a visit from a troll. Which means I'm a real blogger now! Look on the bright side of things, right?
I recently received a comment from someone which I unfortunately felt a need to delete. The gist of the comment was, "I'm Alan and you don't know what you're talking about, so stop." (Which means about as much as if I had said "I'm an academic and you don't know what you're talking about, so stop.", which is not much of anything. It's misleading and leaves too much to be said.) That's it. No correcting any perceived mistakes. And some cursing, which was the sole reason I deleted it. I did not make the settings on this blog "adults only" and have no intention of doing so. Strong cursing will not be tolerated and any comment containing it will be deleted posthaste.
I suspect the commenter is someone who followed a share of one of my posts made by a Hungarian on Facebook. There were comments on some of his other posts by someone who also said he was Alan and the Hungarian doesn't know what he's talking about. The Hungarian had uploaded a video to a song (in Hungarian?) which, based on other comments, must have mentioned the Jassic people of Hungary, who are descended from Sarmatians (likely the Iazyges/Jazyges, considering the name and location). The human genographic project provides an independent line of evidence in the form of haplotypes traceable back to the Sarmatians' homeland showing up in a village in Hungary. Spencer Wells, one of the head researchers for the project, gave a talk at my university last semester and mentioned that briefly. He didn't actually say "Jassic" or "Sarmatian", but I knew exactly what he was talking about and looked it up later to confirm. I may have audibly squeed. It's a really cool project; I highly recommend you browse through their findings. Maybe even contribute your own DNA if you can afford to. :) The research is largely funded by people buying the kits, which is why they're so pricy. In short, there's plenty of evidence for the Jassic people being of Sarmatian descent- DNA, their now-dead language, and our knowledge of their history all point toward it.
But back to the topic at hand- The Commenter's reason for objection had a bit of a racist ring to it. Maybe not quite what you normally think of when you hear the word racist- more like a desperate need to be special and unique, as his people haven't exactly been treated fairly in recent history. He also seemed to think the video implied that the Magyars were of Sarmatian descent (which they aren't and which other commenters said it didn't imply).
So if you're reading this, Commenter, being rude and confrontational will get you nowhere. There are people interested in Ossetians and Alans who aren't of your ethnicity- that's a compliment and a testament to your rich cultural heritage. I'm not sure why you aren't happy that others recognize that and want to know more. If you know something I don't, please do tell me and tell me where I went wrong. Simply saying "I'm right, you're wrong" is not conducive to learning.
I recently received a comment from someone which I unfortunately felt a need to delete. The gist of the comment was, "I'm Alan and you don't know what you're talking about, so stop." (Which means about as much as if I had said "I'm an academic and you don't know what you're talking about, so stop.", which is not much of anything. It's misleading and leaves too much to be said.) That's it. No correcting any perceived mistakes. And some cursing, which was the sole reason I deleted it. I did not make the settings on this blog "adults only" and have no intention of doing so. Strong cursing will not be tolerated and any comment containing it will be deleted posthaste.
I suspect the commenter is someone who followed a share of one of my posts made by a Hungarian on Facebook. There were comments on some of his other posts by someone who also said he was Alan and the Hungarian doesn't know what he's talking about. The Hungarian had uploaded a video to a song (in Hungarian?) which, based on other comments, must have mentioned the Jassic people of Hungary, who are descended from Sarmatians (likely the Iazyges/Jazyges, considering the name and location). The human genographic project provides an independent line of evidence in the form of haplotypes traceable back to the Sarmatians' homeland showing up in a village in Hungary. Spencer Wells, one of the head researchers for the project, gave a talk at my university last semester and mentioned that briefly. He didn't actually say "Jassic" or "Sarmatian", but I knew exactly what he was talking about and looked it up later to confirm. I may have audibly squeed. It's a really cool project; I highly recommend you browse through their findings. Maybe even contribute your own DNA if you can afford to. :) The research is largely funded by people buying the kits, which is why they're so pricy. In short, there's plenty of evidence for the Jassic people being of Sarmatian descent- DNA, their now-dead language, and our knowledge of their history all point toward it.
But back to the topic at hand- The Commenter's reason for objection had a bit of a racist ring to it. Maybe not quite what you normally think of when you hear the word racist- more like a desperate need to be special and unique, as his people haven't exactly been treated fairly in recent history. He also seemed to think the video implied that the Magyars were of Sarmatian descent (which they aren't and which other commenters said it didn't imply).
So if you're reading this, Commenter, being rude and confrontational will get you nowhere. There are people interested in Ossetians and Alans who aren't of your ethnicity- that's a compliment and a testament to your rich cultural heritage. I'm not sure why you aren't happy that others recognize that and want to know more. If you know something I don't, please do tell me and tell me where I went wrong. Simply saying "I'm right, you're wrong" is not conducive to learning.
Nicely said.
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