Heretics, Politically Incorrect, and Speakers of Strange Languages

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Aug 2, 2015 at 16:30

Hi, Anna. Thanks for the kind and fun comments. I'm haveing such a good time on this track, I have to check the OP to make sure we're not abusing Daniel's hospitality. By the way, "Grieten" doesn't seem too hard to pronounce, if my mouth is lubricated enough. A more difficult one is the initial "sch" My father's ancestors were a mix of Knickerbocker Dutch (including a liberal dose of Scotch-Irish, Huguenot, German, English, Danish and Norwegian) and Yankee English laced with Indigenous American. My mother's side is East European, and apparently as mixed as my father's side. Not to cut short the hybridizing process, my wife is Swedish and English, and my grandchildren are half Chinese.

Saying my ancestors were "lucky ones" isn't entirely true. I just spoke with one of them the other day, Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower (No kidding -- he was an actor, of course, but he was in a period costume and setting and had done his homework so well, I felt like a time traveler!) Half the Mayflower immigrants who hadn't died on the voyage perished the first winter from the extreme conditions. Four years later, they were still living in very drafty huts. They didn't really have an "American dream": All Brewster wanted, was to be allowed to study and practice the Bible in peace with fellow believers in his home; but the English wouldn't allow it. The group tried several times to flee to the Netherlands as a group, but they were repeatedly cheated out of their passage and thwarted by the king's men. When they did settle in Leyden, they soon found that they could not stay there because intermarriage with the Dutch threatened to rob them of their children. It was as a last resort, that they came to the cold, rocky wilderness of what is now Massachusetts.

My Dutch ancestors, as I have said, came from many places besides the Netherlands. The Dutch cities and farms were very prosperous in those days, and few from there wanted to emigrate; so the Dutch West India company recruited Huguenot refugees and the poorer sort to meet their needs. My paternal line "Dutch" ancestor was a Low German from the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, who had joined the Dutch army. He lost a leg in an Indian attack; and his son was captured and tortured for a time by the natives.

As harsh as those conditions seem, you are correct: the early American settlers were fortunate indeed. Their English and Dutch countrymen suffered from wars, fires, plagues and rapacious land barons, while my people freely helped themselves to fertile land -- not without a price, mind you. The bloodiest war in American history was actually fought in 1675, against the Wampanoag war chief Metacom. Other lands were won after massacres and reprisals as well, such as those at Esopus and Forty Fort. In spite of this, just about any American who was willing to work could raise children to adulthood. Descendants like me, of course, came from the largest families; with the result that most Yankees are loosely related to one another.

By the way, I don't buy the "Ten Lost Tribes" theory that claims entire European nations are actually Jews. A look at the DNA should settle the matter. We're not even descended, for the most part, from Adam. Think about it: Adam was only a few generations removed from Aaron; so not only did the twelve sons of Jacob have nearly identical genes, but so did the sons of Japheth (from Greece, Turkey and Iran), and of Cush and Shem (from the Sudan, Arabia and the Fertile Crescent). Outside of Turkey, Greece and southern Italy, the peoples of Europe weren't even listed in Genesis 10 -- which corresponds with the fact that the ancestors of all Adam's descendants were of Haplogroup J.

My paternal DNA is R1b -- as very likely, so was your father's. Adam was our spiritual ancestor, along with Abraham and the other patriarchs. Ötzi the Iceman was of Haplogroup G, and Adolph Hitler (as well as a substantial proportion of modern Jews) was of the African and ancient Middle Eastern haplogroup E. Of course, I am a heretic; so don't be too perturbed by all this. Concerning the Dutch speech, though, most Northwest Europeans are linked prehistorically with the Scots and other Celts. The runic letter Þ, which became the Old English ð ("thorn"), corresponds with the Castilian "c", showing an ancient connection from Spain to Norway, though it doesn't exist in Dutch. The major DNA haplogroup in all these places is Rib -- and R1b, in turn, probably came from what is now Russia in Paleolithic or Mesolithic times. Adam and Eve, on the other hand, were Neolithic early agriculturalists of Haplogroup J. God made Adam's body from the "dust of the earth" by an evolutionary process; but Adam became a "living soul" when God breathed into his already-formed nostrils. That's my understanding, along with other heretical beliefs.

Back to the OP, it's interesting that Michael Oren should be in hot water for having spoken on behalf of Israel. I had tried to get Daniel Pipes to come speak in my city, but my Jewish friends were afraid he would be too controversial. Ironically, they planned on inviting Michael Oren instead. I suppose his invitation has been withdrawn as well, now that he is "politically incorrect".

May God bless and keep all the heretics, politically incorrect and speakers of strange languages -- including you :-)

Shalom shalom.

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