Talk:Cyrus Cylinder/Uncivil remarks by 194.145.161.226

All I can see here is a couple of Iranian nationalists pursuing their agenda, on the one hand, and a historian who has no obvious personal or national bias and cares about historical accuracy, on the other. If you, Rayis and Surena, are allowed to have your own way with this article, this will be a disgrace for Wikipedia (not the first one, of course). Note that I am Bulgarian (check my IP info) and have absolutely no personal bias against Iranians, or any interest in that country, besides my general, moderate interest in ancient history. Apart from that, I agree Jona shouldn't quote essays he wrote himself. But he has quoted others, and he is, for example, perfectly right to cite the mainstream academic view that Cyrus can't be called a "monotheist" in the modern sense of the word, and that it is likewise an anachronism to speak of religious tolerance or intolerance in the context of Ancient Middle Eastern history.

If someone offers me an alternative for quoting my own articles, that's fine with me - but where is that Schaudig-edition of the CC? Where are those UN documents? I am increasingly getting the impression that I am discussing with people who have not read Briant's major synthesis, have not read the articles by Kuhrt and Van der Spek, and base their opinions on outdated books (e.g., Frye). This is, quite simply, leading nowhere. I see that perfectly mainstream opinions, based on Briant, other mainstream scholars and first-hand quotes from my website, are replaced by outdated information and propaganda. What's the point of updating this article if people always hark back to pre-Briant and pre-Schaudig pieces?Jona Lendering 00:37, 31 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. Also, note that if Jona has used strong and apparently emotional terms such as "propaganda" when discussing the "human charter" nonsense in his online article, that doesn't necessarily mean he hates Iranians or Shahs, it might also mean that he simply got pissed off about the ridiculous, absurd misuse of ancient history for ideological purposes - just like I did.

P.P.S. Rayis just reverted my text siting WP:RPA. However, that is an essay and not a policy, so he has no right to do that. And frankly, calling Rayis and Surena nationalists pursuing an agenda is not a PA any more than calling Jona an Iranian-hater pursuing an agenda - which is what they do, quite shamelessly, given their own POV-pushing. --194.145.161.226 17:33, 30 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]