Subject: Re: "Assyrian" page
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 16:33:18 -0700
From: "Kelley L. Ross" <kross@friesian.com>
To: Jeff Atto <jeffatto@bhamwebdesign.com>
References: <3.0.1.32.20010508224010.00831310@popmail.bite.net>


Dear Mr. Atto,

At 11:03 AM 5/9/01 -0400, you wrote:
>If you will kindly refer back to my original e-mail, I was wondering if you could tell me what, in your opinion, these students are

I don't think you have read the Assyrian page very carefully if you think that somehow I am denying that they should now be called Assyrians, or that there are any particular mysteries about the antecedents of the modern community. The question was always just whether they were, in every way (linguistically, physically, culturally, relgiously), the direct continuation of the original ancient Assyrians of Sargon and Ashurbanipal.

I will respond to the rest of your e-mail as soon as possible.

Yours truly,
Kelley Ross
http://www.friesian.com/ross/

========

Subject: Re: "Assyrian" page
Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 19:37:47 -0700
From: "Kelley L. Ross" <kross@friesian.com>
To: Jeff Atto <jeffatto@bhamwebdesign.com>
References: <3.0.1.32.20010508224010.00831310@popmail.bite.net>


Dear Jeff Atto,

At 11:03 AM 5/9/01 -0400, you wrote:
>I was wondering if you >could tell me what, in your opinion, these students are.

They are modern Assyrians. That means, more specifically, they are Eastern Syriac speaking Christians. If, however, they are Roman Catholics, then they are called "Chaldeans."

........

>What you call a "fraud" is nothing more than your misunderstanding of history, it seems.

The "fraud" is the notion that modern Assyrians are the unmixed descendants of the ancient Assyrians, and that the Aramaeans either didn't exist or were actually Assyrians. Also, [the "fraud" is the notion] that the Assyrians were enlightened and misunderstood rulers. Also, that Christianity is derived from Assyrian religion, not from Judaism -- those were a nasty bunch of folk with biases against the Assyrians.

Yours truly,
(Mr./Dr.) Kelley Ross

============

Subject: Re: Note on the Modern Assyrians
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 20:47:17 -0400
From: Jeff Atto <jeffatto@bhamwebdesign.com>
To: "Kelley L. Ross" <kross@friesian.com>
CC: keepa@ninevehsoft.com, raman@ync.net, gertruda90@hotmail.com, tleeqa81@yahoo.com, dania@ync.net, erbil@wwa.com, jatou@mail.com, gstifo@aol.com, othouroyo@aol.com, Malik.Merza@telia.com, ashmoel@hotmail.com, ashuroyo@yahoo.com, mercury@mail.pcmagic.net, eissa@stan.csustan.edu, ramzi50@hotmail.com, zackcherry@yahoo.se, zinabrikha@altavista.com, adris@get2net.dk, z.albazy@quicknet.nl
References: <3.0.1.32.20010521165640.00850510@popmail.bite.net>


Dear Mr. Ross,
Thank you for the kind message. As I mentioned in previous e-mails, there are many factors (and sources) that you did not take into account when writing your piece. Also, the insulting tone of your article speaks for itself, and referring to Assyrian-Chaldean parents as "frauds" isn't a friendly thing to do.

When you talk about ethnic and nationalistic mythology, the crusade does not start or end with Assyrians and Chaldeans. Countless other groups across the globe participate in the same practice, and yet you ignore them. If you wouldn't mind giving me a few days, I could write a paper full of current, valid academic sources that would contradict your piece point by point. Additionally, my "piece" wouldn't be full of opinion, selective quoting of historical and academic material, and offensive words.

Once again you say that disputes about the ancient Assyrians should not be brought to your attention. In your "piece", you say "Since I am not the specialist in ancient history, Assyriology, or linguistics, I am really not the person to whom people should complain about any of this."
and in your e-mail below, you state "These [opinions of mine] may be disputed, but the complaint then, again, is not just with me."

If I wrote a quasi-academic paper about the historical inaccuracies about the beliefs of Jewish, African, Asian, or other groups, you can bet the ranch that those groups would have a bone to pick with me. Logically, someone who admittedly is NOT an expert in the field shouldn't write something so incorrect and then just ignore the response.

Finally, your dismissal of my e-mails and your implication that I have bad comprehension and that I should re-read your paper (because, obviously I just don't "get it") were both very unprofessional.

>From one friend to another,
Jeff Atto

============

Subject: Re: Note on the Modern Assyrians
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 21:08:12 -0700
From: "Kelley L. Ross" <kross@friesian.com>
To: Jeff Atto <jeffatto@bhamwebdesign.com>
References: <3.0.1.32.20010521165640.00850510@popmail.bite.net>


Dear Jeff Atto,

>When you talk about ethnic and nationalistic mythology, the crusade does not start or end with Assyrians and Chaldeans. Countless other groups across the globe participate in the same practice, and yet you ignore them.

No, and there is considerable material on the page about such such ethnic mythology, concerning Greece, Egypt, and India.

Yours truly,
Kelley Ross
http://www.friesian.com/ross/

===============

Subject: Re: Note on the Modern Assyrians
Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 00:51:23 -0400
From: Jeff Atto <jeffatto@bhamwebdesign.com>
To: "Kelley L. Ross" <kross@friesian.com>
References: <3.0.1.32.20010521165640.00850510@popmail.bite.net> <3.0.1.32.20010521210812.00821dc0@popmail.bite.net>


Dear Dr. Ross,
Yes, how convenient it is that you have forgotten to include the "ethnic" and "nationalistic" mythologies of places like England, Germany, various other European countries, and even (gasp) America (North and South).

===============

[No response from Kelley Ross, Ph.D]