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A Digression: Sad but True!

© David Poulson

It would have been the easiest thing in the world for this person to learn the size and scope of the library of the British Esperanto Library in London and to satisfy himself of the large number of original, as well as translated works of Esperanto literature. One phone call or visit was all that was required. But no, instead of the truth of the matter, which is that there are over 20,000 books in that library, we are told in a tone of complete certainty that there is no Esperanto literature. The author just wouldn't take the trouble to find out the true facts for his readers.

The claim that Esperanto possesses no historical associations is also completely untrue and is a ridiculous thing to say about any global movement which has been in existence for so long. It is also a disgraceful slur on the memory of the many Esperantists throughout the world who have been persecuted and even killed for their interest in the International Language and their belief in the universality of mankind.

Next Moore goes on to say that, "If an international language were really needed, then we have one ready to hand in Latin, which once served as the lingua franca of almost all the civilised peoples and which is still a means of communication between the doctors and the natural scientists of almost every nation."

Note that Moore is implying that there don't seem to be any "civilised peoples" in four out of the five continents! And I think that you would have a very long search before you found a group of "natural scientists" able to chat happily in Latin.

As Dr. Zamenhof realised even as a boy, well over a hundred years ago, Latin is a "dead" language which has not developed and which no longer has the vocabulary to function as a suitable medium of communication in out time. It wasn't even suitable in the 19th century, let alone today.

Zamenhof understood very well, as my previous articles have tried to show, that Esperanto needed to be able to continuously evolve, through its writers and speakers. And he continually stressed that point, refusing to admit that he was its creator or inventor, and insisting that he was just the one who got it started.

You probably won't be surprised by now to hear that Moore's distorted view of this reads as follows: "...the spread of a living, evolving language throughout the world is exactly the opposite of what the adherents of Esperanto want. For they are dedicated to the idea of a fixed, immutable, universal tongue..."