Talk:Justin McCarthy (American historian)
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[edit] reads like a personal hitjob by Armenian Genocide campaigners
Why is the opinion of a New York Times TV critic relevant to this page at all?
To keep some perspective on this, let we should remind ourselves of what PBS's own ombudsman, Michael Getler wrote:
"It was McCarthy basically on his own facing questions from the moderator that put him on the defensive, and accused a couple of times by Balakian of having "worked for the Turkish government to help that government deny the Armenian genocide," which McCarthy said was a lie but which ate further into his time and impact."
Perhaps the TV critic was unaware that the book Balakian authored, and based his arguments on, has been savaged by established historians including prominent Ottoman specialist Andrew Mango:
"The Burning Tigris fits in with the campaign waged by Armenian nationalists to persuade Western parliaments to recognize the Armenian genocide It is not a work of historical research, but an advocate's impassioned plea, relying at times on discredited evidence, such as the forged telegrams attributed to the Ottoman interior minister... Some of Balakian's assertions would make any serious Ottoman historian's hair stand on end. Like other similar books, it is replete with selective quotations from contemporary observers."
The continuous use of wikipedia as a campaign vehicle for the Wikiproject Armenia diminishes the integrity of the entire publication.
Setting out to destroy a mans professional credentials because one TV critic was impressed by unsubstantiated and as such rather juvenile claims of him working for the Turkish government is not what I would consider part of any encyclopaedic remit.
[edit] arguing ppl
I'm sorry, but I think it's a little inaccurate to state that:
"McCarthy is known for his controversial challenge of the view that there was an Armenian Genocide."
This makes it seem as though he is denying the actual events of 1915. If one reads his books, one will see that he is not challenging the events, but rather the interpretation. He takes care to note that he is not, in any way, questioning the massacres of 1915, their scale, or their consequences. He does, however, claim that the term "genocide" does not apply. By using the phrase "that there was," the author of the article almost makes it seems as though McCarthy is treating the events of 1915 as some kind of myth.
I think it would be more accurate to word that sentence as:
"McCarthy is known for his controversial challenge of the view that the massacres of Ottoman Armenians during the empire's decline constituted (a) genocide."
I am not including "during the empire's decline" to excuse or justify the massacres in any way, or even to put them in context. Rather, I think it's necessary to say "during the empire's decline" because it is the massacres of a specific time period that are considered to constitute genocide (while massacres of earlier days are not). Also, the date of 1915 is somewhat arbitrary since the expulsion and mass killing of Ottoman Armenians was a hundred-year process that crescendoed, instensifying exponentially in the second decade of the 20th century. April 24th, 1915 is the anniversary of the execution of a particular group of Armenian community members, and the designation of that date as the anniversary of the aforementioned process is an idea set forth by their companions. The killings had been going on before and after that date, and whether or not that date was a turning point more significant than any other turning points is up to argument.
Chillinchillin 08:11, 27 January 2007 (UTC)chillinchillin
- I would say that both sentences equate to the same thing. When those who support the truth of the Armenian genocide say that somebody is denying the Armenian genocide, it usually means that they do not call the events genocide. I don't think any serious academic would argue that a large number of Armenian deaths did not occur. -- Augustgrahl 14:50, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Clean up
Greetings, sorry to intrude on this, but some of the info was rather off so I had to go through and correct it. The Books in "other" where all written before Dr. McCarthy was ever born, so shouldn't be there unless this article is aiming for the fiction section. Also, the rumor that his wife is Turkish is rather silly if you've ever seen her, as she's a blue eyed, red headed British American. I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in that there's so little information here, and half of it seems to be based on a PBS show that wasn't broadcast in many states and the person who added info about it hasn't seen it. Hopefully a more factually accurate article can be added here at a later time. --NMcCarthy 00:27, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Justin McCarthy's wife
What's the name of Justin McCarthy's wife? --deniz 20:15, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] anti Armenian and historical revisionist ???
Why is that? I am going to remove them. denizTC 18:00, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
