 What's up guys? Evil D here and today I want to speak to you about something that I've noticed within the outer level of the Esperanto community which I think needs to be addressed, okay? Now this video is in English because it's actually addressed at English learners of Esperanto. I want them to understand something, okay? Now what I've noticed is a lot is within the learning forums, within sometimes Reddit but a lot recently within the Duolingo Group is a lot of battling over what is considered progressive and what is considered just being really soft, okay? And just having to accept that not everyone's the same as you. Now the reason I wanted to speak about this is because I need you to understand something about the community. With Duolingo, when you look at that Facebook group, there's a lot of battles, okay? And I've seen people leave the group going, Man, this is disgusting. I thought this was a progressive community. I thought Esperanos were all encompassing, they loved every one type of thing. I'm out of here because it's clearly that you guys all just love to battle it out. But what I want to speak about is that, no, not all Esperanos like that. A very few, very small minority is actually like that. What you'll notice if you actually get into fluency, lift the language and go deep into the community is that that surface level battling over language reforms, over certain cultural norms, over certain progressive issues is all surface level, okay? That all happens to people who are just learning the language. And the reason being is because Esperanto attracts people from many cultures and many backgrounds, many religions, many diverse ideas and thoughts from around the world. Now look at it, this is what I like to imagine it as. It's a funnel, okay? So Duolingo, that Facebook group, that's a funnel. You get all these people coming in and they're learning Esperanto and then they kind of just all smash together. And once people start talking, they realize that all these different people have got totally different ways of thinking, beliefs, and then the battles begin because people want to convert other people. But what happens is after all that battling happens and people start learning the language, those ones who survived that initial battle, that gladiator battle of beliefs, those few trickle off and fall into the Esperanto community. So if you ever become one of those ones who trickles through and falls and actually learns Esperanto fully and integrates into our community, you'll find that most Esperanists, I'd say 99% of Esperanists are open to anyone or anyone's beliefs. Even if they're the most disgusting beliefs in the world, they will still accept you for who you are and just listen to you and go, that's cool, I don't believe that at all, but you know, whatever. That's because for whatever reason you believe that, maybe culture, maybe religion, maybe because you're just that way inclined, that's okay. And it's that inner community that is the true Esperanto community. And it's unfortunate that you guys, you learners of Esperanto can't see that. All you see is the surface level battling over reforms over progressive issues. It's all very surface level. But once you get further in depth and people actually integrate and they start seeing all these different viewpoints, if they actually get to fluency in Esperanto, that means they've had to listen to all this external output and they've accepted it all. And even though they may not believe everything or accept everything, they at least get to the point where they don't want to battle over it all the time. So all this surface level stuff, that's all new learners, okay? The actual Esperanists, the smaller version of the community, they're the ones who are highly progressive in most ways and are very respectful to the very different types of cultures and belief systems out there. So why don't you guys understand that? Because I don't want you to believe that all this battle that you see in these Facebook groups on these forums and stuff where people learning Esperanto is representative of the community itself because the community itself is nowhere like that. It's actually quite strange. I only go to the dual-ingual groups so I can help learners, but recently it's just been filled with trolling spam, people trying to battle, people trying to convert each other to different beliefs and ideals and stuff. And it's upsetting sometimes. I actually think that, you know, I feel like leaving most of those groups because for one, Esperanto isn't really spoken there. I'm only there to help them, but two, I don't need to be there. I can go join all these other Esperanto groups where actual Esperanists are speaking Esperanto all the time and it's quite a nice community. For instance, this channel, most of the people who comment on my videos are great people and they're from all over the world and I don't see any real battling. Even when I make a highly controversial video, the Esperanists, even if they don't believe in it, they generally talk to each other in a civilized manner. But that's basically it. I don't want to ramble too much. So if you've liked this video, give it a like, share it around with your friends, subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and I'll see you in the next video. And if you're not there, well then, I will find you and I'll give you a big hug.