Yuri's Reluctance

Yuri Kuchinsky (bg364@torfree.net)
Fri, 24 Jan 1997 13:50:11 GMT

malkinb7@mindspring.com (Michelle Malkin) wrote:

[frank:]
> >i've no doubt that the invitations were made in good faith, but might
> >they have more diplomatically been made through private email??...the
> >contentious nature of the newsgroup lends the air of challenge to any
> >such invitation made here...both the decision and the grounds for
> >making the decision to accept or not accept such invitation is
> >nobody's business but yuri's...to demand that he make public his
> >answer to a misplaced invitation is an unwarrented intrusion into his
> >personal affairs...please cease this activity...

frank,

Thanks for pointing out the obvious that is for some reason not obvious to
a number of people.

> I doubt that the invitations were misplaced - that is an assumption of
your own > . > And, after all, Yuri could have called them on it - in
public. And, I don't > really care what his reasons for not going were -
that is his business, and I > was only suggesting things he might have
said to those who invited him. What I > was really curious about was the
fact that he didn't respond at all. That was > simply rude.

OK, Michelle,

So here's my reply.

If the invitations were made in good faith -- and, considering the
attitude and the tone of the people who offered me these invitations, I
had some reasons to doubt it -- then, unfortunately, I must decline with
many thanks. My plans for the next summer are not yet fully formulated,
but a number of personal considerations will most likely prevent me from
making these trips.

OTOH, if those invitations were made only to point out to me that I'm
lacking in first-hand experience in archaeological fieldwork, I had no
reason to reply to them. I never claimed to be a professional
archaeologist. My main fields of study are ancient history, the history of
religions and cultures, and historical anthropology, among some others.

If some of our archaeologists don't need any insights that can be gained
from the study of these disciplines, this will only point to their
shortsightedness.

Best regards,

Yuri.

-- 
Yuri Kuchinsky | "Where there is the Tree of Knowledge, there
------------------------| is always Paradise: so say the most ancient
Toronto ... the Earth | and the most modern serpents." F. Nietzsche
--- my webpage: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3988 ---