--- Peter D'Souza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Sometimes I wonder whether our professional >researchers really think they can pull the wool over >our eyes with their total distortions of >commonse positions and ad hominem attacks against >our sources. >
Quite predictably, we are provided here with a very creative definition of an ad hominem attack specially invented for the purpose of this ad hominem attack against me. The standard definition of an ad hominem attack conforms to its Latin meaning, which is "against the person", not against a source of information, as suggested above. A good example of an ad hominem attack is the following quote from the above post, wherein my full name is invoked, and my statement of a simple indisputable fact that "www.answers.org" is a fundamentalist religious website is being characterized as my throwing mud on that source: > >Santosh Helekar is convincing no one, I suspect, by >throwing mud on my source (answers.org) or me (by >suggesting that I have not read the sources that I >refer to). He could have simply refuted the actual >quotes from Hitler, if he knew them to be false, but >his ostensible obsession for facts hasn't yet make a >perfunctory appearance in the Hitler debate. > The fact that the quotes of Hitler's secret conversations are specially selected hearsay quotes is evident to anybody who has read the book, and especially, H. R. Trevor-Roper's "Introduction" to the 1953 edition of that book. The "Introduction" states that the quotes were selected and edited from the transcripts of two scribes (Hitler opposed the use of a voice recorder) by Hitler's aide and deputy, Martin Bormann. One of the scribes, Dr. Henry Picker has in fact disputed the authenticity of the quotes, alleging that they were altered by Bormann. Independent translations of the secret conversations by others, including Picker apparently show many discrepancies. Furthermore, anybody who has read the 1953 edition of the book, and does not have a biased agenda, would have noted the following quotes from it, and offered them as a caveat, because they reveal Hitler's religious beliefs and "concordat" with the Catholic Church: "We do not forget the influence of the churches. There will definitely be no Vatican crusade against us. We know Monsignor Pacelli since he was the Vatican's diplomatic representative in Germany for twelve years; as Secretary of State and adviser to Pope XI it is greatly in his interest that the German Catholics should at last have a statute." --- Adolph Hitler in Secret Conversations with Hitler, page 79 "We do not judge merely by artistic or military standards or even by purely scientific ones. We judge by the spiritual energy which a people is capable of putting forth, which will enable it in ten years to recapture what is has lost in a thousand years of warfare. I intend to set up a thousand-year Reich and anyone who supports me in this battle is a fellow-fighter for a unique spiritual-- I would say divine-- creation.... Rudolf Hess, my assistant of many years standing, would tell you: If we have such a leader, God is with us." --- Adolph Hitler in Secret Conversations with Hitler, page 68 Unbiased folk who have read the book would have also noted that other quotes revealed that Hitler claimed to have the highest respect for Jesus Christ and his teachings. As far as the bogus claim that I have not yet contributed any facts to this debate, let me just provide the following link to my contribution 4 years ago in this forum. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goa-net/message/19527 > >I suppose that when Santosh alludes to >"fundamentalist" sources, we're all supposed to step >back and discard any facts presented by such sources. > I have already provided evidence to support my assertion that www.answers.org is a fundamentalist religious site. The fact that Fundamentalism is a well-recognized sect of Christianity is explained very nicely by another Christian religious website, namely the "Catholic Answers" site. Please see: http://www.catholic.com/library/Fundamentalism.asp As far as the authenticity and factual accuracy of the selective hearsay quotes (and the conclusions that can be drawn from them) are concerned, I would ask people to read the book from which they are taken, actual historical records such as Hitlers speeches, and other historical books, which provide different facts and perspectives, before putting to rest their notions about Hilters religious views. Cheers, Santosh _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
