Posted by Jeff from bgp01107368bgs.wbrmfd01.mi.comcast.net (68.42.59.180) on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 7:36PM :
...I saw Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syriacs, even people who called themselves "Ninevites", "Babylonians", and "Aramaens"... even Yoyos. Sargon Gabriel was there, singing. I've never heard him live, and it was a treat.
A wise man there, whose opinion I value, went over to the side to have a conversation with a man. He came back shaking his head, and I asked him what happened. He said, "This idiot here used to be one of US, and now he is going and trying to preach to everyone that we are Aramaics. There are even people saying 'no, we are Ninevites', and 'no, we are Babylonians." Then, he continued, "It's bad enough that he left our group [Editorial Note: I assume he is referring to the AAS], but he and others in our community don't just leave a group and mind their own business. They leave a group, then form another group and ACTIVELY WORK AGAINST the group that they left." Finally, he concluded, "It's bad enough that we have 3 names, which is tolerable, but to have 6... where does it end?"
I didn't have an answer for him. I just shook my head in disgust.
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P.S.
I also saw many people there who know the Ghassbag, and who, upon hearing the name "Ghassan Hanna", immediately get disgusted. There were even people referring to Ghassan as the "Gas Man". I laughed and laughed! I even told them of my new "abused child" status, and we had even more laughs at his expense.
-- Jeff
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