notes / comments

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, May 13, 2004
******************************
Three of our eminent academics cannot decide whether Zarian's TRAVELLER AND HIS ROAD is a diary, a work of fiction or a memoir. I read a detailed and carefully annotated essay on this controversy in a recent issue of HARATCH (Paris). A controversy? Make it, a tempest in a tea cup. Instead of discussing the meaning of the work (and there is so much to discuss there!) these gentlemen argue about its classification, which amounts to discussing the size and color of the envelope and completely ignoring the contents of the letter within. And to think that these are the very same people who complain that the new generation has no interest in Armenian studies. There is an American expression that sums up this type of exercise in futility: "Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." Or, as the Russians would put it: "Bald men fighting over a comb." This type of academic gives literature a bad name by glorifying irrelevance and reducing thinking to the level of mental masturbation. One of the most dangerous aspect of some forms of perversity is its total absence of awareness. Some perverts assume their perversity to be the norm and they go about their business on the assumption that if the whole world doesn't share it, it should. And when someone comes along and identifies it as a perversity they are outraged and dismiss him as a pervert. I am reminded of a friend of mine, a diplomat, who once observed that even our academics have mafias, and the aim of mafias, as everyone knows, is to legitimize criminal conduct - it is worth remembering that the original meaning of the word mafioso is "man of honor."
#
Friday, May 14, 2004
*********************************
World War II was the best thing that happened to me. I was four years old when a German bomb reduced to rubble everything we owned. From that day on, my parents became so involved in the harsh business of survival in an alien environment that they had neither time nor inclination to teach me the rules of the game and the important role double-talk plays in human affairs, perhaps because the rules they themselves had been taught were no longer valid and they, as adults, were as confused as I was. This may explain why, when at the beginning of my career as a writer I tried to recycle chauvinist propaganda and engage in double-talk I was so dissatisfied with the results that, had I kept it up, I would have died of cancer within two or at most three years. Which is why I maintain a touch of honesty may be as important to your health as all the vitamins put together - from ABC to XYZ.
*
Saturday, May 15, 2004
***************************
There are those who study the past like lawyers in order to defend their side of the story. They forget that sooner or later a lawyer must confront not only the prosecution and its witnesses but also a judge and a jury, and the verdict may not always be in their favor.
*
When it comes to our political partisans and their fellow travelers, my motto is similar to that of the American pundit who said: "I never vote: it only encourages them."
*
Our genocide is a fact that no one can dispute.
Here is another fact: it has been disputed not only by Turkish and Turcophile historians but also by such progressive and enlightened democracies as Israel and the United States.
That's easy to explain, of course: both Israeli and American politicians are cynical opportunists whose number one concern is number one.
The two questions we should ask at this point are: is there a single state in the world today whose leaders are motivated by altruism? And, will mankind ever experience a golden age in which international diplomacy will be guided by principles of justice and fair play?
Even more to the point:
What about our own political leaders and historians: in what way are they different from their odar counterparts? If, for every historian who documents the genocide, we had another who took it upon himself to document our own blunders, perhaps we would have a better chance to abandon our tribal ways and become a nation.
I say to my fellow Armenians: If you want to change the world, begin with yourself; and if you want to teach ethics to odar political leaders, start with your own and don't be surprised if your efforts are not crowned with instant success.
#

[xBaron Dants]

Very well said, on all accounts.


Even more to the point:
What about our own political leaders and historians: in what way are they different from their odar counterparts? If, for every historian who documents the genocide, we had another who took it upon himself to document our own blunders, perhaps we would have a better chance to abandon our tribal ways and become a nation.
#

As for Armenians documenting our own blunders, I consider that to be highly unlikely. Documenting, or even speaking of the blunders we have committed is considered to be "amot", and most will refrain from it because they wouldn't want to hurt their "reputation" in the ranks of whatever organization or goosagtsootyoon they're working for. Criticizing an action that the tashnagtsootyoon or the ramgavars (for example) have committed is almost equivalent to "srpabghdzoom" in some people's eyes, and even some topics that I've opened on this forum have angered some people.
The fact is that most people who hold a function in our schools, agoomps, churches are not always there because of their abilities, but because they are blind followers and doers, who will not do much against the status quo that we are now almost accustomed to. As for the free-thinkers who recognize the problems, they are either of the "complain and do nothing type", or more usually, they try to get involved but can either not stand working with an "anham" group, or are rejected by it, because they are judged to be "eccentric". "Eccentric", by the way, is the term used among the community to describe anybody intellectual, who will freely talk about the flaws we have. Luckily :rolleyes: , "eccentrics" will not get any of their remarks published in newspapers, because no newspaper will risk publishing anything against the organization/goosagtsootyoon it is affiliated to. :mad:

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, May 16, 2004
******************************
We should remind ourselves once in a while, and the more frequently the better, that we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world and anyone who asserts or suggests or implies that he may well be an exception to this rule is one who cannot bear the weight of his imperfections and the dishonor of his blunders.
*
One mark of civilization is the ability to disagree without resorting to verbal abuse. In that sense, we have among us, perhaps even we are at the mercy, of barbarians who try to cover their barbarism with the flag by projecting the image of superpatriots. They operate on the false assumption that their chauvinism justified their conduct and they completely ignore the fact that the means they employ to express themselves belong to the jungle.
In other words, they are no better than Turkish gypsies who identify themselves as Armenians, and since their awareness is that of barbarians, this contradiction escapes their consciousness. Their aim is to prove they are better Armenians but they succeed only in proving they are both wicked and stupid.
*
To those who are eager to point out that I too on occasion engage in verbal abuse, I say: by proving that I too am a Turkish gypsy you reinforce my argument, which is, we all harbor a Turk within us, and the first step in rediscovering our true identity is to be born again as human beings.
#
Monday, May 17, 2004
****************************
You can recognize an Armenian by his inability to handle disagreement, and Armenian disagreements come in a large variety of shapes, shades and sizes.
There are academic disagreements over irrelevant, petty abstractions completely divorced from reality.
There are disagreements in defense of an ideology or orthodoxy whose sole aim is to prove that one side is always right and the other wrong.
There are disagreements which are extensions of egos rather than brains ("I known better because I am smarter," - or rather, louder, and when that fails, more abusive).
And then there are fascist disagreements that are motivated by lust for power and in defense of a propaganda line.
How to reconcile these disagreements?
The Armenian who discovers a fail-safe method to do that deserves to be called the greatest leader in our millennial history, perhaps even a miracle worker of messianic dimensions.
#
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
*******************************
An often asked question: Should we forgive the Turks?
A seldom asked question: Have they ever asked for our forgiveness?
*
An environment that values patriotism will breed phony chauvinists; and a culture that values wealth will beget wheeler-dealers and bloodsuckers some of whom will surround themselves with brown-nosers and will parade as national benefactors.
#
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
******************************
There can be dialogue only between two honest men with two different sets of experiences or perspectives. Two propaganda lines cannot engage in dialogue because propaganda and honesty are mutually exclusive. Propaganda cannot be honest even when honestly believed in. Faith may move mountains but it cannot change a lie to truth.
#
Thursday, May 20, 2004
****************************
He who says my God is the only true God and my faith the only true faith, carries within him the seeds of countless wars and massacres even when his God is one of peace and even when his religion is based on mercy, compassion and love.
*
We have become so obsessed with the issue of genocide recognition that we completely ignore the fact that once more we have placed ourselves at the mercy of the Turks and we continue to be dependent on their sense of justice and fair play.
#
Friday, May 21, 2004
*****************************
You want to make an Armenian friend? Recycle his favorite propaganda line. You want to make him an enemy or expose the Turk in him? Speak your mind.
*
If an odar criticizes us, we dismiss him as pro-Turkish. If an Armenian criticizes us, we call him an enemy of the people. We have no use for critics because we assume to be beyond criticism, and nothing makes us more vulnerable to criticism than this false assumption.
*
Mikael Nalbandian: "It is high time that Armenians learn the manly art of telling black from white."
*
Leo Alishan: "To be aware of our failings is smart; to ignore them is the height of stupidity."
#
Saturday, May 22, 2004
****************************
Once upon a time but not so long ago I used to be younger than anyone else. Now I am almost always the oldest. Today, a conversation with a much older man who turns out to be five years younger than I. Either I am well preserved, I think, or he has made a mess of his life; and sure enough, he mentions three catastrophic illnesses and a nasty divorce that almost reduced his status to that of a homeless panhandler. But then, who is to say if writing for Armenians is not as painful an experience as terminal cancer combined with a nightmare divorce from a gold-digging shrew from hell?
*
People hate lies, but they hate the truth even more . I can't say I speak the truth because I don't know the truth; but I plead guilty to the charge that I speak honestly about what I think and feel.
*
Conducting a civilized discussion is not exactly an Armenian art form. Here is a practical suggestion: state the facts as objectively as you can and let them speak for themselves. No need to engage in verbal abuse because insults cannot strengthen a weak case. On the contrary, they may expose it as untenable.

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, May 23, 2004
*****************************
Capital dehumanizes not only the worker, said Marx, but also the capitalist and society as a whole. The same could be said of nationalism - that it dehumanizes not only the enemy but also the nationalist himself, also nations and the world as a whole.
*
"I think therefore I am," said Descartes, but he couldn't explain why people think differently about the very same subject even when they claim to use their common sense.
*
The world is not an extension of our ego but the other way around. At every moment of our lives we are dependent on countless invisible forces beyond our control. We don't choose our parents, religion, nation or tribe. A Turk thinks and feels as he does because he was born a Turk, he had a Turkish education, he reads Turkish newspapers and books.
*
To what extent what a man feels and thinks depends on where he was born? What if geography rather than common sense shapes our perception of reality.
*
For every Armenian pundit who says his version of the past is the only true one there is a Turkish pundit who says the opposite. Do these pundits believe in what they say? And if they do, does it ever occur to them that it is where they were born and raised that shapes their thinking more than the rules of logic and common sense?
#
Monday, May 24, 2004
****************************
Is freedom of thought possible in a world where at a very early age and at a time when we can neither think nor judge for ourselves we are exposed to ideas that are not our own?
*
A Turk is brought up to believe Armenians are infidels, therefore less human than they and less deserving of fundamental human rights. Whose fault is that? Their God and their religion? Or rather, their interpretation or understanding of their God and religion? If a guilty man can plead not guilty by reason of insanity, can he also feel justified in pleading innocent by reason of his belief
#
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
***************************
If religion legitimizes murder in the name of God, in what way is it different from insanity? - at least, as far as the victims go.
To those who say, "My religion does not legitimize murder," may I quote Voltaire's unforgettable dictum: "Since it was a religious war, there were no survivors."
And if you say: "You are talking about the past and I am talking about the present," I will say: A man of faith is a man of faith regardless of national origin or orthodoxy.
*
Religions are closed systems of thought and they all begin by legitimizing intolerance and dehumanizing heretics and infidels.
"This may apply to Islam today but not to Christianity." That's because Christians are top dogs. If some day their status is reduced to that of underdogs, who is to say we will not behave like jihadists?
*
Let us not confuse technological progress with moral progress. If anything, the 20th Century has been bloodier and more barbaric than the Middle Ages. Machines may change but man stays the same.
God may have created man but it is man who keeps recreating God in his own image and adapting Him to his own needs.
Islam has its fundamentalists and fanatics as surely as Christianity and in troubled waters scum invariably rises to the top.
#
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
*****************************
It may be morally superior to be a victim than a victimizer but how many wolves would prefer to be sheep?
*
There is nothing wrong in being a pessimist if you work like an optimist.
*
It is not easy reasoning with a moron who calls you a moron.
*
The only thing that I have learned from my Armenian critics is the law of the jungle.
*
Life has a way of searching out and locating your weaknesses in order to cause maximum damage.
*
Writing is a pleasure with only one drawback:
you cannot choose your readers.
*
The human condition: We are all uninvited guests in search of an invisible host who may or may not exist.
*
Fascists silence writers because they know in the realm of ideas they are destined to lose. Censorship is an admission of defeat.
*
History is not a succession of inevitable occurrences or
the will of God unfolding. If it were, we would have to agree that the Armenian Genocide was the Will of God.
#
Thursday, May 27, 2004
******************************************
Whenever I use my common sense and objectivity I am accused of being pro-Turkish. I suppose the same thing happens to an honest Turkish writer. Perhaps because all honest men swim in a sea of humbug.
*
Propaganda works only when the leaders say what the people want to hear. It is a conspiracy between cunning operators and dupes who are too lazy to think for themselves.
*
On the day mankind discovers a way to detect and eliminate all propaganda, all politicians will be exposed as compulsive liars.
*
If you expose lies, all liars will conspire against you.
*
In America, the rich think God is on their side; in our own circles, they are treated as if they were Gods by their circles of brown-nosers.
*
Jules Renard: "The saddest moments: those in which we realize wisdom is also a fraud."
*
I understand so well those who hold views that I held thirty years ago and their anger when their infallibility is questioned.
#
Friday, May 28, 2004
******************************
If you want to project the image of a good Christian, do not speak like a bloodthirsty infidel.
If you want to be thought of as a patriotic Armenian, do not speak like a Turk on the warpath.
If you want to misrepresent yourself as a tolerant and civilized man, the very least you can do is not to curse like a rude and uncouth barbarian.
Remember, unawareness of contradictions is the surest symptom of instinctive or animal behavior, that is to say, beastly conduct.
A typical example: "No four-letter words here, please! We don't go for that xxxx!"
And finally, to our Muslim brothers and sisters, I say: If you speak in the name of a "merciful and compassionate Allah," do not murder innocent women and children. For actions speak louder than words, and the wages of sin is death.
#
Saturday, May 29, 2004
*****************************
Trying to understand reality and promoting hatred (or war propaganda) are mutually exclusive enterprises.
*
I can think of nothing more despicable than the war propaganda of old men, civilians, and faceless and nameless bureaucrats who operate on the assumption that they will never come face to face with the enemy and someone else will do the fighting and dying for them. I would trust the judgment of these individuals as much as the patriotism of someone high on drugs. But perhaps to some people patriotism and hatred of the enemy provide a kind of high which they need as much as an alcoholic needs his bottle of booze.
*
All cowards are brave when they know their cowardice will not be exposed on the battlefield.
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, May 23, 2004
*****************************
Capital dehumanizes not only the worker, said Marx, but also the capitalist and society as a whole. The same could be said of nationalism - that it dehumanizes not only the enemy but also the nationalist himself, also nations and the world as a whole.
*
"I think therefore I am," said Descartes, but he couldn't explain why people think differently about the very same subject even when they claim to use their common sense.
*
The world is not an extension of our ego but the other way around. At every moment of our lives we are dependent on countless invisible forces beyond our control. We don't choose our parents, religion, nation or tribe. A Turk thinks and feels as he does because he was born a Turk, he had a Turkish education, he reads Turkish newspapers and books.
*
To what extent what a man feels and thinks depends on where he was born? What if geography rather than common sense shapes our perception of reality.
*
For every Armenian pundit who says his version of the past is the only true one there is a Turkish pundit who says the opposite. Do these pundits believe in what they say? And if they do, does it ever occur to them that it is where they were born and raised that shapes their thinking more than the rules of logic and common sense?
#
Monday, May 24, 2004
****************************
Is freedom of thought possible in a world where at a very early age and at a time when we can neither think nor judge for ourselves we are exposed to ideas that are not our own?
*
A Turk is brought up to believe Armenians are infidels, therefore less human than they and less deserving of fundamental human rights. Whose fault is that? Their God and their religion? Or rather, their interpretation or understanding of their God and religion? If a guilty man can plead not guilty by reason of insanity, can he also feel justified in pleading innocent by reason of his belief
#
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
***************************
If religion legitimizes murder in the name of God, in what way is it different from insanity? - at least, as far as the victims go.
To those who say, "My religion does not legitimize murder," may I quote Voltaire's unforgettable dictum: "Since it was a religious war, there were no survivors."
And if you say: "You are talking about the past and I am talking about the present," I will say: A man of faith is a man of faith regardless of national origin or orthodoxy.
*
Religions are closed systems of thought and they all begin by legitimizing intolerance and dehumanizing heretics and infidels.
"This may apply to Islam today but not to Christianity." That's because Christians are top dogs. If some day their status is reduced to that of underdogs, who is to say we will not behave like jihadists?
*
Let us not confuse technological progress with moral progress. If anything, the 20th Century has been bloodier and more barbaric than the Middle Ages. Machines may change but man stays the same.
God may have created man but it is man who keeps recreating God in his own image and adapting Him to his own needs.
Islam has its fundamentalists and fanatics as surely as Christianity and in troubled waters scum invariably rises to the top.
#
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
*****************************
It may be morally superior to be a victim than a victimizer but how many wolves would prefer to be sheep?
*
There is nothing wrong in being a pessimist if you work like an optimist.
*
It is not easy reasoning with a moron who calls you a moron.
*
The only thing that I have learned from my Armenian critics is the law of the jungle.
*
Life has a way of searching out and locating your weaknesses in order to cause maximum damage.
*
Writing is a pleasure with only one drawback:
you cannot choose your readers.
*
The human condition: We are all uninvited guests in search of an invisible host who may or may not exist.
*
Fascists silence writers because they know in the realm of ideas they are destined to lose. Censorship is an admission of defeat.
*
History is not a succession of inevitable occurrences or
the will of God unfolding. If it were, we would have to agree that the Armenian Genocide was the Will of God.
#
Thursday, May 27, 2004
******************************************
Whenever I use my common sense and objectivity I am accused of being pro-Turkish. I suppose the same thing happens to an honest Turkish writer. Perhaps because all honest men swim in a sea of humbug.
*
Propaganda works only when the leaders say what the people want to hear. It is a conspiracy between cunning operators and dupes who are too lazy to think for themselves.
*
On the day mankind discovers a way to detect and eliminate all propaganda, all politicians will be exposed as compulsive liars.
*
If you expose lies, all liars will conspire against you.
*
In America, the rich think God is on their side; in our own circles, they are treated as if they were Gods by their circles of brown-nosers.
*
Jules Renard: "The saddest moments: those in which we realize wisdom is also a fraud."
*
I understand so well those who hold views that I held thirty years ago and their anger when their infallibility is questioned.
#
Friday, May 28, 2004
******************************
If you want to project the image of a good Christian, do not speak like a bloodthirsty infidel.
If you want to be thought of as a patriotic Armenian, do not speak like a Turk on the warpath.
If you want to misrepresent yourself as a tolerant and civilized man, the very least you can do is not to curse like a rude and uncouth barbarian.
Remember, unawareness of contradictions is the surest symptom of instinctive or animal behavior, that is to say, beastly conduct.
A typical example: "No four-letter words here, please! We don't go for that xxxx!"
And finally, to our Muslim brothers and sisters, I say: If you speak in the name of a "merciful and compassionate Allah," do not murder innocent women and children. For actions speak louder than words, and the wages of sin is death.
#
Saturday, May 29, 2004
*****************************
Trying to understand reality and promoting hatred (or war propaganda) are mutually exclusive enterprises.
*
I can think of nothing more despicable than the war propaganda of old men, civilians, and faceless and nameless bureaucrats who operate on the assumption that they will never come face to face with the enemy and someone else will do the fighting and dying for them. I would trust the judgment of these individuals as much as the patriotism of someone high on drugs. But perhaps to some people patriotism and hatred of the enemy provide a kind of high which they need as much as an alcoholic needs his bottle of booze.
*
All cowards are brave when they know their cowardice will not be exposed on the battlefield.
#

[Anonymouse]

Nice stuff.

To the moderators. Can you live this stuff here and not move it to the Daily Journal? Thank you.

[anileve]

It was. Anon thanks for a valuable tip.

Ara, this thread can be dedicated to your random thoughts and daily impressions, or you can post them in the Journal thread. Take your pick, but please try not to create identical posts in various sections of the forum. Thank you. :)

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, May 30, 2004
*************************
Whenever I raise the subject of Armenians and racism I am invariably attacked by our racists as anti-Armenian and even pro-Turkish - because anything remotely critical of Armenians is thought of as pro-Turkish in our environment.
Are Armenians racists?
Let me begin by asking: Am I a racist?
I was brought up as a racist.
I hated all Turks.
I hated Greeks too (because they called us "Turkish gypsies").
I thought of the offspring of mixed marriages as bastards.
I thought of the West as morally inferior and of Americans as a bastardized nation.
Because Shahan Shahnour's grandfather was Greek, his patriotism and Armenianism were questioned again and again by our pure-blooded partisans, he was even physically assaulted, and his character vilified with such intensity in our press that he eventually assumed a new name (Armen Lubin) and gave up writing in Armenian.
I have relatives in the U.S. (and I don't mean Alabama or Mississipi) who believe Blacks are inferior and all interracial couples degenerates.
Once a good friend of mine, whose mother is an Azeri, was called a "Turkish xxxxx" by one of our dedicated partisans.
Are we racists?
Let the evidence speak for itself.
Are we justified in being racists? No, because our racism alienates friends, and we have friends everywhere - among Americans, Greeks, Kurds, xxxs, and even Turks (half of whom may well be half-Armenian).
#
Monday, May 31, 2004
******************************
In a world where "it takes all kinds," it is impossible to be "all things to all men." No matter how selfless and noble your belief system, there will be those who will label you as an infidel, a heretic, a fool, or an enemy. That's because instinct (our animal side) speaks louder than reason (an extremely recent evolutionary development). To hope that things will change in our lifetime or even a thousand years hence might as well be an empty illusion. Consider the number of statesmen of vision, philosophers, prophets and messianic figures who have dedicated their lives to the service of their fellow men and were poisoned, crucified, assassinated, and exiled into the desert. Failure has been and continues to be the destiny of all men of goodwill whose sole aim in life is to promote universal peace and brotherhood. I am fully aware of this but I go on because the only way to justify pessimism is to work like an optimist; and defeatism makes sense only if you soldier on as if victory were inevitable. Don't ask me to explain this because I don't understand it myself.
#
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
*****************************
If, instead of simply stating "I disagree with you," you let loose a barrage of personal insults or profanities, you can be sure of one thing: you are an oreo Armenian = Armenian on the outside, Ottoman on the inside. So that, in your case, hating Turks might as well be synonymous with hating yourself.
Since I am myself sometimes tempted to use profanities (as opposed to turning the other cheek) I am more than willing to concede that I too harbor a Turk within. But this phenomenon of two contradictory or Jekyll/Hyde beings coexisting within the same body is not a specifically Armenian aberration but a universal condition. Even Americans use the expression "Young Turks" in reference to ambitious politicians (Gingrich being a recent example) who are eager to introduce radical reforms in order to change the balance of power.
According to C.G. Jung "the relation between conscious and unconscious is compensatory." Translated into everyday parlance this means that man is constantly torn between two opposite tendencies one of which remains hidden from his own awareness. So that, the more an Armenian tries to project a patriotic image, the stronger the Turk within. Or, the more he protests or defends his Armenianism, the harder he tries to cover up his Ottomanism.
To those who say "I can't harbor a Turk because I have harmed no one," I say: if "at the beginning was the word," all bloody massacres begin with verbal massacres. One reason you have harmed no one is that you live in an environment in which killing or harming fellow human beings is against the law.
#
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
********************************
Shahan Shahnour: "To have intellectual humility and to express with some degree of candor what one really thinks: these are two features that have been tragically absent in some of our partisan writers."
*
All understanding proceeds from self-awareness. I have at no time criticized an Armenian aberration or failing that I have not detected in myself. Once upon a time I too was a holier-than-thou charlatan whose central concern was engaging in one-upmanship and I resented anyone who dared to express an opinion that differed from mine without first obtaining my seal of approval.
*
An Armenian critic has no future and an Armenian brown-noser has no self-respect.
*
I don't make an effort to be a good Armenian. I don't even know what that means; and I doubt if there are two Armenians who agree on what constitutes Armenianism. Trying to be an honest human being keeps me so busy that I have no time for any other enterprise.
#

[gevo]

Trying to be an honest human being keeps me so busy that I have no time for any other enterprise.
#

Well i think this is eventually the only goal that should preceed any other.. as human beings.. im afraid though fro some its even too late for that.. lol

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, June 03, 2004
*********************************
"Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are." Not quite. Even Jesus was taken in by Judas.
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are." This saying is contradicted by another: "There is no accounting for tastes."
"Tell me the words you use more frequently and I will tell you who you are." That's much better.
My most frequently used (or rather thought) words are: "This is not what I had in mind."
*
Our intolerance is such that we even refuse to tolerate any mention of it.
*
In an intolerant society, writes Melvin J. Lasky, the late editor of ENCOUNTER, "manuscripts will be banned, and writers and readers will once again be sitting in concentration camps for having thought dangerous ideas or uttered forbidden words."
We don't yet have concentration camps for people, but we do have them for ideas; and where books remain unpublished and unread, burning them becomes redundant.
*
I remember to have read somewhere in Shahnour (I am now quoting from memory): "The best way for a writer to serve his nation is by producing works that live. Whether these works are positive or negative should be of no concern to anyone."
#
Friday, June 04, 2004
******************************
The problem with overestimating yourself is that forever after you are condemned to live up to your image; and that's a race you are destined to lose.
*
If whiskey tasted as sweet as a cola it would be popular with children too -- with predictable results. I write for adults, not children or retards who are taken in by propaganda.
*
It is extremely difficult to convince intolerant people that they are intolerant. That's because they speak in the name of God or Truth - the implication being that anyone who disagrees with them speaks in the name of lies and the devil.
*
On an atomic level we existed since the beginning of time and we shall continue to exist until the end. The immortality of the atom is a fact; it's the immortality of the soul that is speculation.
*
You may have noticed that Charents's best known poem is titled "To my sweet Armenia," and that as far as I know he never wrote a poem titled "To my sweet fellow Armenians." That's because mountains and valleys are easier to love than Armenians.
#
Saturday, June 05, 2004
*******************************
To assert your Armenianism it is not necessary to adopt Ottoman means. When Zarian said, "An Armenian's tongue can be sharper than a Turk's yataghan," he was referring to this aberration.
*
To assert their respect for democratic principles, our partisans and ideologues think nothing of violating such fundamental human rights as free speech - which amounts to saying, "I believe in free speech but only in my own, not yours, especially if yours contradict mine."
*
What is the value of a view if it only parrots someone else's? Is dialogue possible between two robots who are in complete agreement with each other because that's how they have been programmed?
*
Contradicting yourself and insisting that you are right amounts to adding arrogance to stupidity.
*
Arrogance combined with stupidity: there you have it, the source of all our defeats, tragedies, and catastrophes.

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, June 06, 2004
****************************
Dogs attack to protect you. Critics attack to expose you as a phony. That's why dogs are more popular than critics.
*
If a thousand people agree with you and only one disagrees, that one will make a disproportionately deeper impact; and if he makes sense, the result may be deadly. Which is why tyrants silence, exile, jail or even murder dissidents, and they do so in the name of self-defense. They consider themselves the victims rather than the victimizers.
*
It is the destiny of an Armenian writer to starve, and no one can be as vulnerable to bribe as a starving beggar. That's why we have an overabundance of scribbling brown-nosers and a scarcity of writers willing to criticize benefactors or reject the worship at the altar of the Almighty Dollar. The names that come to mind are Raffi, Baronian, Zarian, Massikian - strike Massikian: he was not a beggar but a successful lawyer. But as far as our multimillionaires go, even one critic in every generation is too many; hence their view of all writers as potential ingrates. The irony here is that all writers, including the brown-nosers, are indeed ingrates because they are not treated as the best but as one among equals. The greed of our capitalists is exceeded only by the vanity of our mediocrities.
#
Monday, June 07, 2004
******************************
He who cannot yet think for himself cannot be educated; he can only be brainwashed.
*
At a very early age I was taught to brag about Mt. Ararat and Lakes Van and Sevan. I was even taught to brag about the fact that Armenians had been the first nation to suffer a genocide in the 20th Century. I was also taught to brag about a thousand other things including, and above all, our talent for survival.
*
If our dead could speak, what would they brag about? Our genius for contributing victims to sadistic Mongoloid morons?
*
Only idiots brag about their failures.
*
We are not smart if only because we have been and continue to be at the mercy of idiots - if it's not Ottoman or Soviet idiots, it's our own.
*
To be at the mercy of idiots means being lesser idiots.
*
Just because something is never said it does not mean it is not thought; and just because something is not thought it does not mean it cannot be true.
*
There may be more truth in what is covered up than what it is proclaimed from the rooftops. Contrary to what roosters may believe, it is not their crowing that makes the sun rise.
*
"Armenians are smart!" A statement that consists in 99% wishful thinking and 1% cunning in the marketplace.
#
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
****************************
From Avedik Issahakian's posthumously published notebooks:
*
"Armenia labors under three curses: bad geographic location, bloodthirsty neighbors, and dumb leaders."
*
"Contrary to Soviet propaganda, the Revolution does not change men into angels but into beasts of prey."
*
"We owe to the 20th Century two great discoveries: the disintegration of the atom and the disintegration of the soul. The first discovery was made by Europe, the second by the Russians."
*
"Socialism is the enemy of culture."
(And I cannot help reflecting: If one were to add socialism Russian style, or Sovietism, to Ottomanism, the result would be an idiot who brags about how smart he is.)
*
"Ah! If only life lasted as long as death!"
*
"The eye cannot see that which the mind cannot perceive."
*
"If only men were born and died like the stars: part mortal, part immortal."

#

[arabaliozian]

Wednesday, June 09, 2004
*****************************
Karl Marx: "History has more imagination than the men who make it."
*
The French Revolution promised "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," and it delivered the Terror. Ditto with the Russian Revolution. Closer to home: at the turn of the century we demanded our historic lands. History delivered only a fraction of what we wanted, plus a series of massacres, a genocide, dispersion, alienation and assimilation. The plots of history don't always have a happy ending.
*
To ignore the past or the history of an idea or ideology is to indulge in wishful thinking and daydreams, and history or reality has a way of turning daydreams into nightmares.
*
After reading one or two, or at most three books by Armenian historians subsidized by Armenian political parties or satellite cultural institutions, the average Armenian thinks he knows everything there is to know about Armenian history. It goes without saying that this misconception is shared by people of all national groups, including Turks.
#
Thursday, June 10, 2004
*****************************
It is the destiny of all movements (be they political, religious or utopian) to be confiscated by men of greed whose understanding of history or the complexities of reality is limited to the point of blindness.
*
Even idealists and political leaders with a pure heart and noble intentions may end up leading a nation to hell - hence, the old saying: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
*
No matter how expensive the wine, its destiny is to become urine. No matter how noble the ideology, the destiny of its Party line is to become a downward spiral.
No matter how admirable the -ism, its destiny is to degenerate from charlatanism to gangsterism.
#
Friday, June 11, 2004
***************************
If we don't understand ourselves (as Freud, Jung and Adler tell us) whom and what can we possibly understand?
If we don't know why things exist, what can we possibly know? -- except perhaps to question the judgment of those who pretend to know better and who, based on that false assumption, make a mess of things for the rest of us. And then there are those who don't know whether they are coming or going but who insist on dragging us there with them and they invariably find a mob eager to follow them.
*
Just because millions believe in something, it doesn't make it true. Millions believed in the divine rights of kings and many more millions believe in astrology, the papacy…and Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao. The more absurd a belief system, it seems, the more followers it will attract.
*
Mankind may be divided into those who pretend to know and their dupes.
*
When I knew nothing, I was eager to believe; and when I believed, I had no doubts - none whatever!
*
More men are seduced by verbal crapola than by reason and common sense.
*
Man does not live by bread alone, he also needs propaganda.
*
The truth is one, but the lies that are spoken in its name are many.
#
Saturday, June 12, 2004
******************************
America as that "shining city on a hill." A popular metaphor. A dazzling image. It combines myth with wishful thinking. And even more to the point: it ignores or covers up the ruthless and systematic extermination of twenty million natives.
*
About the recent prisoner-abuse scandal in Iraq, we are told, it does not show "the real face of America." But what if it bares its soul?
*
Will America ever recognize our genocide? If they do it will not be because they are on the side of the underdog and the victim, or because they believe in justice for all, but because it is in their own interests. Some day even the Turks may recognize it for the same reason. There is no friendship, love, compassion or justice between nations, only common interests.
*
A Turkish diplomat in the White House on the subject of our genocide: "Armenians are our Indians."
*
The victimizer and his victim speak two different and mutually incomprehensible languages even when they speak the same language. Americans and Turks understand each other even when one speaks in Turkish and the other in English.
*
And what about us? Are our hands clean? If we have victimized no one, is it because we are the first nation to accept Christianity? Is it because we are full of love for all our fellow men regardless of race, color, and creed? Or is it because we have been perennial underdogs and victims?
*
We have victimized no one - no one! except our writers, the most defenseless, vulnerable and innocent members of the nation; and we have victimized them because they dared to bare our soul, shatter our myths, and expose our chauvinist charlatans as compulsive liars.
*
I once had the following exchange with one of our partisans:
MYSELF: "Did it ever occur to you to consult the people whether or not they wanted a revolution at the turn of the century in the Ottoman Empire?"
PARTISAN: "The people? But the people are like sheep. Shepherds know better what's good for them."
Yes, but when the wolves devour the sheep, whom do we blame? The wolves or the shepherds?

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, June 13, 2004
****************************
A racist divides mankind into two fractions in order to classify himself as superior and to believe that this superiority allows him to behave like swine and get away with it.
*
Nationalism is nothing but a variant of racism. A nationalist too believes the fraction of mankind to which he belongs to be superior, and that this superiority legitimizes criminal conduct. Both racists and nationalists are no better than the scum of the earth who, secretly or unconsciously aware of this fact, create an imaginary world order in order to place themselves at the top of the food chain.
*
Anti-Semitism is popular because it allows even skinheads with single-digit IQs to assert moral and intellectual superiority.
*
That which racists ascribe to their race and nationalists to their nation, tribalists ascribe to their tribe, and aristocrats to their class.
*
The Greeks did not have a word for racist or nationalist. They simply divided mankind into Greeks and barbarians. But they had another word: hubris (pride or arrogance) which was invariably brought low by Nemesis.
In that sense, all men of faith are guilty of hubris too when they assume their faith to be the only true faith.
#
Monday, June 14, 2004
****************************
One reason I am against nationalism is that we were massacred by nationalists in the name of nationalism.
If we are going to adopt an -ism, let it be something better than or different from nationalism.
*
For an Armenian to be a nationalist amounts to a victim of a serial killer being for serial-killerism.
*
To say, my nationalism is good but my enemy's nationalism is bad is to echo the African chieftain's definition of good and evil as quoted by C.G. Jung in his memoirs: "When I steal my enemy's wives, it's good; when he steals mine, it's bad."
*
In the 19th Century nationalists conducted wars of liberation against imperial powers; in the 20th Century against one another. And whenever nationalists run out of foreign enemies, they take it out on their own countrymen. Hence the frequency of civil wars.
*
Like all fanatics, nationalists divide people into those who are with them and those who are against them, and those who are against them tend to outnumber those who are with them.
*
Fanaticism is a minority aberration that sometimes infects the majority, which is what happened during World War I in Turkey and during World War II in Germany, Italy, and Spain.
*
Nationalism is one of the three pillars of fascism - the other two being anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism.
*
To a nationalist, a man with mixed parentage is a man with divided loyalties. It follows, he views a fraction of his own countrymen with suspicion.
*
It is to be noted that some of our most ardent nationalists (from Abovian to Zarian) married odars. Also to be noted: Zarian began his literary career as an impassioned nationalist and ended it by saying: "Armenians survive by cannibalizing one another." If you want proof of this assertion, visit an Armenian discussion forum on the internet.
*
The word chauvinism was coined in France after a soldier by the name of Chauvin who is said to have been blindly loyal to Napoleon.
*
Like Napoleon (a Corsican) most political leaders tend to be either foreigners or of mixed parentage. The Mamikonians were of Chinese descent, the Bagratunis claimed to be xxxish, many Greek-Byzantine emperors were Armenian, Hitler was an Austrian, Stalin a Georgian, English and Greek kings were German, the Young Turks were anything but Turkish, and Sultan Abdulhamid II was half-Armenian.
*
The universal brotherhood of all men may be a utopian daydream but the only alternative is hatred, war, massacre and ethnic cleansing - a euphemism for genocide.
#
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
*****************************
When a chauvinist says, "My country, right or wrong!" what he really means is: "Myself, right or wrong." But a chauvinist who relies on his own judgment is like a dog who knows his master but not his master's master, who may be his worst enemy.
*
During World War II Armenians fought for Hitler as well as Stalin because they were told (led to believe…misled…brainwashed) they were killing and dying to liberate or in defense of the Sacred Homeland.
Did they have a choice?
The Armenians on Hitler's side were volunteers.
The Armenians on Stalin's side believed the Catholicos of Etchmiadzin when he said they were fighting a patriotic war.
Writes Manuel Sarkisyanz in his MODERN HISTORY OF TRANSCAUCASIAN ARMENIA: "The Communist regime needed the Church to endorse its war effort." He goes on: "A number of churches previously closed were now reopened. Some Armenian priests previously deported to Siberia were now returned." And because the Catholicos cooperated by accepting to be an arm of the Soviet propaganda machine, "the Soviet authorities permitted the reopening of the theological seminary in Etchmiadzin." Result? 350,000 Armenian boys died fighting not a patriotic war but a war between two fascist regimes. They trusted their master, but did not know their master's master, who happened to be one of the most ruthless and murderous tyrants in the history of mankind.
#
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
**********************************
General Antranik: "I am not a nationalist. I am on the side of the underdog regardless of nationality." Translated into dollars and cents this simply means that he would have risen to the defense of a Turk against an Armenian if he had perceived the Turk to be an Armenian's victim.
*
We are a Rip Van Winkle nation and our slumber as Ottoman and Soviet subjects lasted over six centuries, and whenever our intellectuals attempted to wake us, they were silenced, buried and forgotten. Which may explain why whenever I quote or paraphrase one of them I get a pro-Ottoman reply or a comment worthy of a commissar. Zarian is right: "An Armenian's tongue can be sharper than a Turk's yataghan," and a yataghan laced with cobra's venom.
*
To say that we need solutions more than criticism is to imply that our intellectuals from the Golden Age (5th century AD) to the present either serenaded the moon or engaged in mental masturbation.
*
By the time a solution is found, the problem may no longer exist. And I suspect by the time our bosses, bishops and benefactors decide to listen to our intellectuals (as opposed to silencing them) it may be too late.
*
A hundred years ago, our partisans demanded freedom from tyranny (a demand that cost us countless innocent victims), and now that they have it, what are they doing with it?
*
Assertions of infallibility have a subtext that says: "Even when wrong, I am right!" But if you speak the truth or make sense - such as: "two plus two make four," or "the sun rises in the east and sets in the west" - no one will contradict you and all assertions of infallibility will be redundant. But if you say, "There is only one God and I speak in His name!" millions of Buddhists (who don't believe in God), atheists and agnostics will disagree with you and a thousand assertions of infallibility by ten thousand popes, ayatollahs and rabbis will not influence their thinking. Which may also suggest that assertions of infallibility are meant only for dupes who will believe in anything. And to think that millions of innocent people died because they dared to question the nonsense uttered by self-righteous, holier-than-thou nonentities.

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, June 17, 2004
***************************
Can an Armenian and a Turk engage in dialogue?
Not if either one or both are brainwashed.
*
Can two Armenians engage in dialogue?
I have to see it to believe it.
*
Dialogue is possible only between two enlightened people. To a brainwashed Armenian, an enlightened Armenian might as well be a Turk. I speak from experience….
*
Once upon a time I too was brainwashed, so much so that I could write a book titled MEMOIRS OF A BRAINWASHED CHAUVINIST. That's when I had a counter-argument for every contradiction. That's when I was as invincible as David Anhaght and David of Sassoun combined - or so I convinced myself to believe in the hope that others would believe it too. And whenever my arguments bordered on the absurd I raised my voice; and when that didn't work I did not hesitate to go down into the gutter - anything to make the opposition give up in disgust and quit the field. I was a motor-mouth running an automatic. I did not think for myself because far better men had done the thinking for me. Every word I spoke was based on hearsay. I had the judgment of a parrot and the objectivity of a ventriloquist's puppet. I recycled propaganda and I didn't know it. I delivered platitudes and convinced no one, not even myself. Because no one believes what a brainwashed person says, not even the brainwashed person himself, but they allow him to speak out of embarrassed sympathy.
*
How many enlightened Armenians do I know? Quite a few, as a matter of fact, but most of them are either marginalized or alienated; and those who work for Armenian organizations speak one way in public and another in private. Speaking with a forked tongue has become second nature with us. So much so that we see nothing morally questionable in it.
*
For me, to argue with a brainwashed chauvinist would be like contradicting views that I held thirty years ago - a painfully embarrassing exercise in one-upmanship…or is it one-uphoodlumship?
#
Friday, June 18, 2004
*****************************
We all swim in a sea of doubts and uncertainties. Not to be aware of this is a dangerous illusion. To cling to false certainties is to confuse a snake with a lifesaver.
*
To say, "I don't give a damn what others may have said," amounts to saying: "What I think represents the alpha and omega of human understanding," and "I prefer my own ignorance to someone else's wisdom," or "I am too infatuated with my own tribal and personal limitations to have any desire to explore in the infinite fields of human knowledge and understanding."
*
For a partisan to say, "I believe what my party leadership tells me and I reject what anyone else may say on the subject" is fascist b.s., ayatollah rubbish, and fuehrer baloney. What really matters is not what your leader tells you but what you think, and what you think begins on the day you decide "not to submit your intelligence to someone who may not have much of it himself" (Santa Teresa of Avila).
*
To read a writer means to open the gates of your perceptions to his ideas. Even when your conscious mind rejects these ideas, your subconscious may embrace them if only because the subconscious is not equipped to reject or censor ideas no matter how unorthodox. What it does instead is store them for future reference.
*
I don't write for readers who agree with me. I write for those who disagree and I am happy to note that they are my most faithful readers.
*
Speaking for myself, I live and work with the hope that tomorrow I will know something I don't know today, and this new knowledge will change the way I think. I also hope when that happens I will have taken a step in the right direction - forward and not backward.
#
Saturday, June 19, 2004
*******************************
The greater the difference between what you know and what you pretend to know, the greater the ignorance.
*
If knowledge is power, it is also a responsibility and a burden, not something to brag about. Only the loud-mouth impostor, whose ignorance exceeds his knowledge, brays like an ass to impress other asses.
*
An educational system that enjoys the support of a political party, religious institution, or power structure, is contaminated with propaganda, hence the dictum: "Learning begins with unlearning."
*
I had two kinds of schoolteachers: honest ones and charlatans, but even the honest engaged in some form of charlatanism. In Brecht's unforgettable phrase: "Grub first, then ethics."
*
When a nation engages in violence, it calls it counter-violence. To this day the Turks see nothing morally questionable in the Genocide because they say their very existence was being threatened by the Great Powers (including the U.S. and Australia), Russia, and from within, Kurds, Greeks, and Armenians.
*
Every nation engages in propaganda; but even the most brutal regime (Hitler's and Stalin's are two recent examples) have had their share of critics and dissidents. It is up to us to decide whether or not we want to be on the side of the executioners or their victims.
*
Every power structure lies, yes; but one cannot help wondering what life would be like in a world where a spade is called a spade, and a lie a lie.
#

[ardenik]

this is some truly great stuff.. very enlightening.
emotions are most often impossible to put into words, but i must say that some of the words which u have posted here represent some very strong emotions i have felt in the past few years. they answer at least partly many personal questions i have asked myself about my armenian identity & its relation to this Great Big Armenian Patriotism Machine which we live in & are surrounded by constantly. i say 'partly' because not only do complete answers to these inquiries probably not exist, but if they did, i guess they would be proper to each individual.

anyways, im just taking up space in this thread which could be filled with the invaluable words of your precious daily entries, so im gonna shut up now! :wave:

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, June 20, 2004
*****************************
History tells us Sultan Abdulhamid II and Hitler were spectacular failures. What if our own leaders were no better than mini-sultans and crypto-fuehrers whose paltry failures harmed no one but their own people?
*
We are told we have been the blameless victims of ruthless and bloodthirsty nations. If so, what have our leaders done to defend us against our enemies? Or, if their defensive measures were ineffective, should we not classify their performance as an unqualified fiasco?
*
What can I say that hasn't been said before by far better men than myself? Is there anything anyone can say or do to convince someone who has been brainwashed to believe he is la crème de la crème that he is in fact no better than la crème de la scum? Can the combined wisdom of a Plato and the Old Testament prophets convince a self-styled Savior of the Nation that he and his kind are in fact its gravediggers?
*
Faulkner may have been right when he said: "Compared with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, we are all failures." And what if Sartre is also right when on the final page of his memoirs stated: "Literature saves no one." Which raises the question: In what way a superior Russian literature could have prevented Stalin? And why is it that the mighty impetus of 19th-century German philosophy could not block the rise of Hitler?
*
Perhaps the only reason I go on writing is that after thirty years and as many books writing has become a habit I cannot kick. Or, paradoxical as this may seem, I am encouraged to persevere by my critics. Surely, if such mighty intellects like them consider me worth reading and criticizing, I must be worth something.
#
Monday, June 21, 2004
***************************
A reader writes: "Your ideas are not nuanced enough." By that I suspect he means, if I were to nuance them the way he thinks I should nuance them, I may have a better chance to agree with one of his own nuanced ideas.
*
I am reminded of an exchange between two xxxish merchants who meet on a road somewhere in Russia at the turn of the last century:
"Where are you going?"
"To Minsk."
"Minsk, you say, so that I will think you are going to Pinsk, but you see, I happen to know you are going to Minsk. Why must you always lie to me?"
*
In the corridors of power an honest man's chances of survival are as slim as those of a sardine in a pool of hungry sharks.
*
Kiss me, I am Armenian.
Be kind to animals.
*
When the going gets tough, an Armenian assimilates. In the eyes of our chauvinists (who are very probably the reason why he opts for assimilation) he is a quitter. In his own eyes, he is a born-again human being.
*
Not all Armenians are liars. But when an Armenian decides to speak the truth, our charlatans will call him a Turkish scumbag.
*
David Shields: "Hunters make better lovers: they go deeper into the bush - they shoot more often - and they eat what they shoot."
#
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
*****************************
xxxs are ahead of us. This has been said before, many times, but it bears repeating. Consider the following passage written by a Nobel-Prize winner xxxish writer (I.B. Singer) about his fellow xxxs, (in a short story titled "Shadows on the Hudson"): "Why should it matter to me if they massacre types like these or burn them in ovens?…The tragedy is that they destroyed the good ones and left the trash behind." Why is it that Armenian writers are incapable of producing such lines - except perhaps in their posthumously published (if at all) diaries and private correspondence? Even Armenian writers with fat bellies write like hungry orphans forever dependent on the charity of swine, careful to offend no one but Turks.
*
To be narrow-minded means to reduce the universe into a tiny room, to constantly rearrange the few items in it and to confuse this routine operation with thinking. Thinking, real thinking, is an open-ended operation, very much like the universe whose beginning and end are shrouded in mystery.
*
The very same people who silence me, expect me to be their co-conspirator by covering up our violations of fundamental human rights on the grounds that a good Armenian does not expose our dirty linen in public.
#
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
*********************************
They say I repeat myself as if the repetition of the blunders I write about were less important than the repetition of my words.
*
It takes a charlatan to fool a charlatan, because a dupe is also a charlatan who pretends to understand more than he does.
*
The Greeks discovered dialectic or dialogue 2500 years ago. Whenever I am silenced by one of our editors I cannot help reflecting that it may take us more than a generation or two to catch up.
*
What if the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming missile with a nuclear warhead?
*
The ambition to succeed has deformed so many of my contemporaries that it makes more sense to aim at failure.
*
Truth may be beyond our reach but lies are within us; all we have to do
is recognize, name, and reject them.
#

[arabaliozian]

#
Friday, June 25, 2004
******************************
Almost everything we know is based on hearsay. When we disagree, it is our sources that disagree; and it goes without saying that a chauvinist will invariably select sources that flattery his ego.
*
Intolerance is a reptilian response.
*
Optimism has a shorter life span than pessimism.
*
I am willing to concede that nothing I say about Armenians is original. What I prefer to do is expand, illustrate and provide footnotes to writers that I have myself interviewed or translated. (For more details, see my DICTIONARY OF ARMENIAN QUOTATIONS.)
*
A good question raises more questions.
*
Saturday, June 26, 2004
******************************
Some egos are so large that they eclipse the universe.
*
We all have our blind spots. The blind spot of a smart-ass is his IQ.
*
"A shadow," Leonardo writes in his NOTEBOOKS, "is not visible to its source of light." Something similar could be said of complexes: namely, that they are not visible to its consciousness. Hence Freud's dictum: "The aim of civilization is to make the unconscious conscious."
*
A good critic exposes contradictions.
A bad critic exposes his own complexes.
*[/B][/I]

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, June 27, 2004
*****************************
It doesn't take much for an Armenian to transfer his hatred of the Turks onto his fellow Armenians. A misplaced comma will do as readily as a misunderstood semicolon.
*
Some of my readers from the Middle East hate me unto death because I refuse to share their affection for Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and assorted imams, ayatollahs and mullahs.
*
I am personally acquainted with an Armenian who oozes hatred from every pore in his body - he oozes it like an active volcano oozes lava, and he breathes it like a dragon breathes fire - but asserts that Armenians are incapable of hatred - he asserts it and he believes it and, astonishing as this may seem, he is believed by others, perhaps because to the insecure, befuddled, and vulnerable mind, flattery, no matter how absurd, is always welcome, and what could be more flattering than assertions of moral superiority?
*
I know something now that I didn't know before: genocide is a double crime: it also drives the survivors nuts. And to think that it took me several decades to see this obvious fact which must be clearly visible to all outsiders. The implications of this abnormality can be alarming indeed. Because, if we can no longer tell love from hatred and, by extension, Armenianism from Ottomanism, neither can we tell right from wrong. Which may explain why our partisan ideologues preach patriotism (love of country) and practice hatred of fellow countrymen.
*
Now I understand why people who believe in a "compassionate and merciful Allah" murder innocent women and children in the name of the same Allah. Now I also understand why the very same descendants of Armenians who were massacred by Muslim extremists at the turn of the last century are now capable of defending and supporting jihadists and cold-blooded killers of innocent civilians: notwithstanding their assertions of moral and intellectual superiority, they have lost the faculty of telling right from wrong, and truth from lies.
#
Monday, June 28, 2004
****************************
If you write against cannibalism, cannibals will conspire against you because they hate to starve.
*
If I were to hate everyone who hates me, I would be so busy hating that I would have no time for any other activity. And now consider the amount of time and resources we invest on documenting our hatred of Turks.
*
There is a difference between movies and real life: life is slower and takes longer.
*
You cannot reason with an ego.
*
Egos are numberless, reason only one.
*
Reason and hate are mutually exclusive.
*
Reason has 20/20 vision, the ego is blind.
*
The easiest two assumptions an Armenian makes: "I know better," and "I am smarter." One could go as far as saying that all our defeats and tragedies are direct results of these two false assumptions.
*
Consider the two false assumptions made by Dikran the Great when viewing the Roman legion advancing towards him: "If they come as ambassadors, they are too many. If they come as soldiers, they are too few."
*
When it comes to writing fiction, a believable style matters more than believable characters.
*
A believable style makes even unbelievable characters real.
#
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
*****************************
Once in a while one of my gentle readers enjoys reminding me that he feels nothing but raw hatred for me. Why should I be surprised? It has been the destiny of all Armenian writers to be hated by a fraction of their readers. Narekatsi may be an exception perhaps because he dealt only with God and he spent all his life in a monastery. But even Narekatsi has had his share of critics, among them Zohrab, Zarian, and Shahnour. This too should surprise no one. There has not been a single issue on which Armenians have been successful in developing a consensus.
*
Shortly before he died, Mischa Kudian asked the following two rhetorical questions during an interview: "Who is an Armenian? What is an Armenian?" I may now have a tentative answer: A good Armenian is first and foremost a good human being. It follows, an Armenian who behaves like swine in the name of patriotism or Armenianism is a fraud.
*
Director Ettore Scola in his eulogy of actor Nino Manfredi: "He was the quintessential little man born to be victimized but never a victim because of his rich inner life." In other words, a victim consents to be a victim by starving his inner life.
*
Perhaps to be truly creative means not excelling in a particular art form or genre but inventing a new genre.
*
Men of faith are convinced they have a monopoly on truth and their faith or God is the only true one. This mindset promotes and even legitimizes prejudice, arrogance (that masquerades as humility), intolerance of other faiths and heretics, and contempt, not to say hatred, for fellow men (that parades as love of God or truth). All this becomes evident when we study not the faith itself or its scriptures but its history and its relations with other faiths.
*
P.S. on men of faith: Prejudice and intolerance promote ignorance. Which is why we owe the Dark Ages to men of faith. Which is also why some of the most backward and barbaric societies today are deeply religious.
*
Holy scriptures are more like political platforms and propaganda whose aim is to mislead rather than to enlighten; and he who relies too much on quotations from the scriptures to justify himself is a man who either cannot decipher or is unwilling to read his own real feelings and thoughts.
*
Thucydides tells us every historic event has as many meanings as its participants: the defeat of one will be a victory for the other. Something very similar has been said about tragedy and comedy: tragedy when it happens to you, comedy when it happens to someone else.
#
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
*******************************
What could be more revealing of doubletalk than a style dripping with venom and promoting love and tolerance?
*
Being human means, if anything, being fallible. Remember all the great scientists and their certainties: how many of these certainties have withstood the test of time?
*
Like most men I too have my limitations, blind spots, prejudices, and false assumptions some of which may well be hidden from my own awareness. Which means that everything I say, think and write has a foundation of uncertainty and a penumbra of doubt, and therefore open to criticism and correction - but not by individuals who parade as role models, paragons of virtue, unerring judges of their fellow men, and more Catholic than the Pope, more Bolshevik than Stalin, and more Magnificent than Suleiman.
*
Anyone who considers himself infallible cannot be right even when right. By that I mean that, an arrogant fool is in no position to dispense wisdom.
*
I do not advocate silence but dialogue. When two uncertainties meet, a near-certainty may emerge. As for certainties: Let's leave them into the hands of skinheads, men of faith, mullahs, imams, and jihadists….
*
To question certainties can be a risky business because it creates a credibility gap between those in power and their victims - the brainwashed masses.
*
Style should be like life - unafraid of repetition, clichés, and vulgarisms. It should surprise and shock but always with a sense of inevitability. Inevitability is very probably a style's greatest asset.
*
Inevitability: Can it be taught? Can it be acquired?
*
Faith justifies nothing.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, July 01, 2004
*******************************
ARMENIANS, PATAGONIANS AND TURKS.
CRITICISM AND PROPAGANDA.
VOLTAIRE ON THE WRITING LIFE.
PASCAL ON FLATTERY.
A DEFINITION OF SUCCESS.
INVISIBLE MEN AND THE SCUM OF THE EARTH.
************************************************** ******
"What will odars think of us if they read you?" I am asked once in a while. If you want an answer to that question, begin by asking: "What will I think if I read a Patagonian critic writing about his fellow Patagonians?" I suspect the first thing you will think is: "Who the hell are these Patagonians?" And the second: "Whoever they are, they are not much different from us." Even better, suppose you were to read a Turkish critic writing about his fellow Turks: What will you think? The chances are you will think, not all Turks are dupes willing and eager to recycle chauvinist crapola. Not all Turks read only Turkish newspapers and pundits; and if they read them, they don't always believe what they say. Some Turks, you may further think, believe in democracy and in their fundamental human right of free speech, which is available not only to those who are experts on any given subject and never wrong, but also to those who are ordinary human beings and, as such, fallible. You may also think, not all Turks are dumb enough to go on digging when they find themselves in a hole. Not all Turks believe they are the only good people living in an evil world. Finally you might even think: "At last, a Turk who does not pretend to be better than he is," or, "It is such a relief to meet a Turk who is not afraid to look himself in the mirror and to describe what he sees there, warts and all, rather than what he wishes others to see."
*
To be read even by people who hate you: Can there be better praise?
*
Voltaire once remarked to a friend: "In literature, if you fail, they look down at you with contempt; if you succeed, they hate you." Judging by the amount of hate mail I get, I must be going places.
*
Some of my critics tell me I express all the negative aspects of our identity without ever mentioning the positive ones. If that's what I do, if, that is, by reading me you recognize some of your own failings, then I can truly say mission accomplished. Besides, to stress the positive and to cover up the negative is not the function of a critic but that of a propagandist and a flatterer.
*
Pascal: "To speak beautiful words is to have an ugly character." Or, "Flatterers speak with a forked tongue."
*
Ever since we were massacred by the Turks and no one came to our rescue, it is as if we were invisible to the rest of the world. It is this invisibility that allows our leaders to behave as though they were totally indifferent to world opinion.
*
Some Armenians are infatuated with their status as perennial losers and victims simply because it allows them to assert moral superiority by saying: We have victimized no one, but the whole world has victimized us. We are truly the Chosen sharing the planet with the scum of the earth.
*
But what if we have victimized no one (except one another, of course) because we don't have the tools? What if, to paraphrase Churchill, if we ever acquire the tools, we would not hesitate to finish the job?
#
Friday, July 02, 2004
****************************
PROFILING IN CONTEXT.
AN INVITATION FROM A PARTISAN.
TWO QUESTIONS.
WRITERS AND MADNESS.
DUPES AND THEIR LIES.
*********************************************
Muslims living in the West are angry because they say they are being profiled by government agencies. Now they may be in a better position to understand Armenian anger over what happened to them a hundred years ago in the Ottoman Empire. Just because non-representative militant groups of Armenians engaged in isolated acts of terrorism, nearly two million innocent civilians were profiled, deported into the desert, starved, burned alive, raped, and massacred. Now they may even be in a better position to understand the anti-Mulsim bias that animates the West after 9/11, the endless series of terrorist acts in Israel, Iraq, Spain and elsewhere, which are all clear-cut cases of profiling too: but with one important difference: when Muslims profile, they murder; when they are profiled, they are only interrogated.
*
"Instead of criticizing us, you should join us!" I have been told by partisans on more than one occasion. First they silence me, then they want me to be one of them in order that I too may silence anyone who refuses to be their dupe.
*
The question that I ask myself again and again is: What makes an Armenian hate a fellow Armenian as much or even more than he hates Turks? Another question: Why is it that an Armenian writer enjoyed more freedom of expression under the Red Sultan in Istanbul at the turn of the last century than today in the land of the brave and the free and under the watchful eye of our mini-sultans who run cultural foundations and parade as supporters and promoters of Armenian literature? Is it conceivable that we are as guilty of profiling as Muslim terrorists?
*
Writers are sometimes described as mental cases. That's because they bare their souls. Which is not something that is required of garbage collectors, dentists, politicians, or lawyers.
*
He who is never wrong, never learns. Example: our bosses, bishops, benefactors and their assorted flunkeys and dupes.
*
I don't want to change the world or anyone in it. I just want to change myself so that I will no longer care about forked tongues, venomous fangs, and fools pretending to be wise.
*
A dupe is also one who believes in his own lies, and after saying "I hate no one," he uses that line as a license to hate everyone with an easy conscience (assuming of course he has one).
#
Saturday, July 03, 2004
**********************************
WRITERS AND READERS.
THE POVERTY OF FAITH.
SEMANTIC HELLS.
OUR GENOCIDE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.
**********************************************
I may improve the quality of my writing but I cannot improve the quality of understanding in my reader. There is only one way to please a Nazi reader and that is by recycling MAIN KAMPF. Something similar could be said of Bolsheviks, mullahs and their dupes, racists and chauvinists. Doubt and anxiety are an integral part of the human condition, and those who think they can dispel both by adopting a religion or a closed system of thought are like alcoholics who permanently damage their physical health for an ephemeral sense of well-being. In their search of heaven the can find only a hell of illusions, prejudices and lies.
*
When the complexities of life are reduced to a problem by means of a verbal formula, it becomes relatively easy to find a verbal solution. Only when the solution fails to do its job do we realize its inadequacies and erroneous assumptions. "At the beginning was the word" only because it was God's word. By contrast, man's word is as imperfect a tool as his understanding.
*
This may explain why what can rightly be called our "genocide industrial complex" (historical studies, memoirs, commentaries, articles, editorials, speeches, sermons, plays, movies, documentaries, art works, monuments, requiems) has so converted no one but members of the congregation.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, July 08, 2004
*****************************
ON GOD AND UNDERSTANDING.
A CRITIQUE OF ANTI-AMERICANISM.
SERIAL KILLERS AND THEIR DEFENDERS.
*********************************************
"They think when I say God, I mean God rather than the idea of God." These words by C.G. Jung remind me of Sartre's "We believe that we believe but we don't believe," and Hegel's famous last words: "No one understood me except one, and even he didn't understand me." To be on the safe side, we should question everything and after we get an answer, doubt the answer.
*
Anti-Americanism is not a political stance but a psychological complex like inferiority complex, and very much like inferiority complex it may be said to be an expression of inadequacy in relation to a superior political system and culture.
*
The difference between a functional and a dysfunctional system is that the first comes to grips with its problems and the second pretends it has none.
*
"We survived because we were divided," an imbecile once told me, thus implying that our numberless victims were an undeniable proof of our success as a nation.
*
After an imbecile assesses himself as smart he will also assume he is wise even when he behaves like a certified moron with a single-digit IQ.
*
Anti-Americanism is not the same as being critical of America. All Americans have been critical of America at one time or another. Anti-Americanism in its extreme form views America not only as an evil empire but also as the source of all evil in the world. A genuine anti-American will go as far as believing that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was a CIA agent.
*
Anti-Americanism has its source in pro-Sovietism, pro-Arabism and anti-Semitism - three politically and morally bankrupt belief systems (except to their crypto-adherents, of course). Anti-Americanism has little or nothing to do with America itself and everything to do with concepts alien to it. It's almost like hating chemistry because you love, sociology, music and poetry.
*
Even a dog's fleas have fleas. That's the only plausible explanation as to why serial killers like Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, Milosevic, and Bin Laden have their defenders.
#
Friday, July 09, 2004
*****************************************
PASSION AND FANATICISM.
MY SOURCES OF INSPIRATION.
FOOLS ARE INVINCIBLE.
***************************************
"He who loses himself in his passion, loses less than he who loses his passion." When Saint Augustine wrote these words, he knew nothing about suicidal fanatics. Times change, ideas evolve (or devolve) and timeless truths become dangerous lies. The Greeks knew better when they espoused moderation in all things and when Socrates said: "Ignorance is the source of all evil." Next question: What is the value of the passion of a dupe or a fanatic?
*
I use my enemies as sources of inspiration, and they use me as a target for their poison arrows. I immortalize them even as they try to kill me.
*
Andre Labarrere: "I doubt and question everything, but I have faith all the same."
*
The answers exist even if we may never find them in this life. As for finding them in the next one: that's in the lap of the gods (if they exist).
*
In the battle between wisdom and folly, the fools are destined to emerge the victors because they outnumber the wise a thousand to one. As if that weren't enough, whenever a wise man appears (from Socrates and Jesus to Gandhi and Martin Luther King) the fools kill him. But the opposite never happens: the wise have at no time conspired to silence, let alone kill, anyone, least of all a fool.
*
When he turned seventy and there were no banquets to celebrate the momentous occasion, a disappointed and disgusted Armenian writer confided to me: "No one gives a damn!" I was tempted to tell him: You were left alone. You survived to a ripe old age unharmed. What more could you possibly want? Consider yourself the luckiest man on earth. How many of our writers can say as much?
#
Saturday, July 10, 2004
*****************************
BUSH AND HIS CRITICS.
ANTI-AMERICANISM, AMERICAN CRITICS, AND PRAVDA.
MICHAEL MOORE AND HIS CRITICS.
************************************************** ****
You may have noticed by now that anti-Bush partisans share one important feature with Bush: his dogmatism and a stance that says: "You are either with me or against me."
*
To justify their anti-Americanism, foreign observers and pundits tend to rely on American critics, which is also what PRAVDA did during the Soviet era. Its anti-American propaganda section was handled by a single young woman in a tiny office the size of a cubicle. During an interview with 60 MINUTES, she explained that her job consisted in reading the NEW YORK TIMES and some other American publications and selecting all the negative articles, thus giving readers the impression that most Americans were either unemployed, homeless, or members of a criminal gang, the rest being mercilessly overworked and underpaid factory hands, cigar-chomping and blood-sucking capitalists and corrupt politicians.
*
Now, about Michael Moore and his FAHRENHEIT 9/11, let me begin by saying that I share and even admire his left-wing, anti-establishment, and liberal worldview. But may I remind those who take his documentary at face value, that Moore himself has conceded that his facts have been carefully selected and edited. Which means there may well be an equally valid selection of other facts which may contradict his thesis. Even Richard Clark, one of the most severe critics of the Bush Administration, has dismissed some of Moore's central assertions as absurd. Furthermore, the French press, whose hostility towards Bush is no secret, has attacked Moore for his bias that sometimes borders on the absurd.
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, July 11, 2004
********************************
Being a writer means living with rejection - by editors, publishers, critics, and readers. I doubt if there is a single reader alive today who has read and enjoyed all of Shakespeare, Homer and the Bible. Last week I tried to read the final pages of EXODUS and the first pages of LEVITICUS and may I confess that I found them to be just about the most boring things I have ever read, and when I say boring I mean designed to bore the reader slowly to death -- the esthetic equivalent of the Chinese water torture.
*
This much said let me also admit that I have learned more from my critics and enemies than from my friends and fans. By reinforcing our prejudices, our friends succeed only in certifying our limitations. Friendship can be a risky business and fans can be lethal. By contrast, criticism and rejection can be instructive as well as challenging, even if painful, provided, of course, one sees them for what some of them may well be - expressions of incompatibility, prejudice, ignorance, and envy.
*
Another reason why I admire J.S. Bach is that even when he is monotonous and boring (as in the seldom performed Organ Toccata and Fugue in F) he goes about his business with the self-assurance of a mighty river without giving a damn what anyone may think. That's because he knows God or all the forces of the universe are on his side. If this be arrogance, it is fully justified and well-earned arrogance.
*
There is only one way to avoid rejection in life and that is by saying and doing nothing, by being, in other words, a living corpse.
#
Monday, July 12, 2004
*******************************
ON THE DESTINY OF GREAT MEN.
HOW TO JUDGE AN IDEOLOGY.
PHONY TACTICS.
SCHOPENHAUER ON HUMAN NATURE.
PRO-ARABISM OR ANTI-SEMITISM?
ON KNOWING ONESELF.
************************************************** *
On a planet that has consistently rejected its best men -- among them Socrates, Jesus, and Gandhi - it is safer to be on the side of the rejects. To those who say Socrates, Jesus and Gandhi may have been rejected by a tiny gang of fanatics, but they are now accepted by the overwhelming majority, I say, it's the old story that an Armenian popular saying aptly sums up as: "Get lost, drop dead, and I'll love you."
*
When it comes to judging ideologies, the first question we should ask is: "Who is the ideologue?" Because it is safer to judge an ideology by its history than by its political and economic merits. May I remind those who are not convinced that the 20th Century was shaped by ideological idiots and their dupes.
*
The problem with dupes and their dogmas is that, the more untenable their position, the more dogmatic they become. Common sense seems to make them even more irrational. They behave like captains who, as they go down with the ship, they start breaking the deck chairs. Remember Hitler and his thousand-year Reich. Remember too Saddam and his financial support of suicidal terrorists, knowing full well that some of the most important players in Washington are xxxs.
*
Your average phony has been so successful in convincing himself that in a world of phonies he is less of a phony that he might as well qualify as an honest man.
*
Since self-deception begins in the subconscious, one could say that victim and victimizer are one.
*
Human nature, Schopenhauer tells us, has "a fund of hatred, anger, envy, rancor, and malice, accumulated like venom in a serpent's tooth, and waiting only an opportunity of venting itself and then, like a demon unchained, of storming and raging."
*
Speaking of venom: There are those who say they are pro-Arab because they are afraid to say they are anti-xxxish. What if they work for an institution controlled by xxxs? What if by identifying themselves as enemies of the tribe they run the risk of being demoted or even fired?
*
A fanatic views moderates as a bunch of degenerates and himself as a man of integrity who refuses to compromise on cherished principles.
*
On detecting a defect in himself, a phony will use a euphemism to describe it. Envy, for example, he will call the competitive spirit, he will thus convert a vice into a virtue. I once knew a woman in her eighties who was friendless because she had the habit of insulting anyone who came near her and she described this habit as "love of truth."
*
When the Greeks adopted the slogan "Know thyself," what they probably meant to say was: "You are not what and who you think you are."
#
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
********************************
ENIGMA VARIATIONS
*****************************
"The Armenian is an enigma that refuses to be solved."
************************************************** *****
Every analysis begins with self-analysis. When I speak of Ottomanized Armenians, I speak of myself. Much worse than an Ottomanized Armenian willing to identify himself as such is the Armenian who adopts a holier-than-thou attitude and considers himself a superior patriot, a paragon of virtue and a role model to future generations blissfully unaware of the blind forces raging within him.
*
Unawareness is the real enemy. It poisons and perverts every idea and principle we hold dear to such an extent that what we preach and what we practice become direct contradictions, and what we think we are the exact opposite of what we really are - a devil who parades as an angel. Hence the phenomenon of the Armenian who turns into a cannibal in defense of tolerance.
*
"Even the Good Lord could not make up his mind what to make of the Armenian," writes Neshan Beshigtashlian (1898-1972). " First He made him an angel, then turned him into a devil, after which He changed His mind again. But the Armenian retained deep within him angelic as well as diabolic traits."
*
And speaking of preachers, role models, and educators, allow me to quote Beshigtashlian again: "Priests wear black because they are in perpetual mourning, and what they mourn is the death of the human being within them."
*
I am willing to concede that I must be just about the lousiest judge of human character there is. Some of my best former friends are now my worst present enemies who would love to get drunk on my blood.
*
One way to define an Armenian is to say, he is one who identifies himself as a Christian but who hates like a Muslim fanatic.
*
What do Armenians and Arabs share in common? Centuries of Ottoman oppression, which means that Turks have been successful in recreating both in their own image.
*
If I were a xxx-hater and if I believed they were planning to take over the world, I would convert to Judaism in order to avoid being once more on the side of the losers, especially after considering the fate of recent xxx-haters - KKKs, Nazis, Stalinists, Muslim fanatics, skinheads and fascists: in short, the zoo department of mankind.
*
Bush-basing has become an American sport. The difference between an American and an Armenian Bush-basher is that an Armenian does it in the name of Saddam and bin Laden.
*
Speaking of my former friends: Are they masters of deception? I wouldn't be surprised. After all, for six hundred years we successfully deceived the Turks (themselves masters of cunning and deception) into believing we were the most loyal millet (ethnic minority) in the Empire. When deception is adopted as a survival tactic, it is no longer thought of as a moral failing but as a biological asset. That is why it is no longer thought of as deception but as a necessary condition of life - provided of course it is aimed at the oppressor and the enemy. An Armenian who deceives his fellow Armenian is no better than a cannibal.
#
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
*********************************
No one can be as transparent as an idiot who thinks he is smart.
*
Why is it that among some Armenians disagreement is thought of as a capital offense?
*
Those in power judge a writer not by the usefulness of his ideas or the accuracy of his analyses but whether "he is with us or against us." In that sense, they'd rather go to hell on their own than be saved by an outsider, especially one engaged in exposing their blunders. As for blunders that resulted in defeats and disasters that resulted in the death of thousands, sometimes even millions: they plead not guilty by placing the blame on others or on conditions and forces beyond their control thus admitting that their own powers are limited and not equal to the challenges they face.
*
In our environment, ignorance and prejudice have more friends than knowledge and objective judgment.
*
How do you reply to the hiss of a viper?
*
My respect for editors went down one notch on the day a Canadian editor confused my prose with verse simply because I had typed my story on a page with wide margins.
*

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, July 15, 2004
*******************************
ON OUR DIRTY LINEN
*****************************
Whenever I am urged not to expose our dirty linen in public, I take it to mean, I should join our charlatans in covering up their lies.
*
There are those who think, just because they have been successful in deceiving and misleading our dupes, they will have the same luck with odars.
*
There are top dog and underdog nations. To top dogs, underdogs are an open book if only because they were reduced to their underdog status by the manipulation of top dogs - divide-and-rule being as old as human history.
*
The world may be divided into open and closed societies. Democratic societies, unlike their authoritarian counterparts, are, as a rule, open. The Americans discuss their shortcomings and shenanigans publicly (think of Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Clinton-Lewisnky) without worrying what others may think of them, perhaps because they know their failings are human and that to pretend otherwise means denying their humanity. The Soviets, by contrast, hid everything behind a cloak of secrecy: so much so that for a long time the Gulag was dismissed by left-wing pundits in the West as anti-Soviet propaganda.
*
Closed societies hide their dirty linen because they don't like who and what they are, but neither are they willing to make an effort to change. Open societies are progressive because they are not afraid to face reality and to deal with it.
*
By covering up their contradictions, closed societies dig their own graves because they end up at the mercy of charlatans and criminals. History is very clear on this point, and only simpletons pretend not to see what is visible to all except perennial dupes and victims.
*
Exposing our dirty linen is not the real problem we face today, neither is the fact that our shortcomings are known by others. The real problem is that nobody gives a damn, not even ourselves; because if we did care, we would do something about it as opposed to promoting and legitimizing dishonesty and double-talk thus adding another sin to our previous list of vices.
#
Friday, July 16, 2004
*****************************
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM.
TYRANTS, FASCISTS, AND FANATICS.
ON FAME.
GENTLE READERS AND VULGARIANS.
********************************************
Unless your views contradict conventional wisdom, why even bother expressing them? Any average person can voice an average opinion that will elicit the agreement of the masses.
*
Tyrants are not satisfied with subservience. They also demand gratitude and adulation from their subjects because they consider the absence of gratitude and adulation as the probable presence of discontent and dissent. It is the same with the fascist mindset: it demands total agreement as well as affection and admiration. And consider the conduct of fanatics: not only do they insist on acting against their own interests by doing the wrong thing but also doing it in the name of Allah, ideology or something, anything, that is higher than themselves perhaps because they sense the fact that their own status is lower than a snake's belly full of buckshot.
*
A reader writes: "I disagree with everything you say!" But if you disagree with one key issue, why even bother reading everything I write? Unless of course, like all mortals who happen to be fallible, deep inside somewhere you harbor uncertainties and doubts.
*
Between fame and indifference, I would choose indifference any day. Fame implies dependence on others; whereas indifference is self-reliant, self-sufficient, free from all ties, and as such, invulnerable.
*
When asked why, at the age of 76, he continues to write, A French writer is quoted as having said: "To expose things that annoy the hell out of me, and above all, vulgar conduct. Whenever I deal with my fellow men, I have the impression that most of them fart with their mouth."
I should have said that myself. My style. Crude.
#
Saturday, July 17, 2004
**************************************
DEATHBED CONVERSIONS.
OF GOD, GODS, AND THEIR ABSENCE.
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE?
**************************************
If you are brought up on lies and you hear the truth, something peculiar happens. Even if you reject it, the truth will penetrate your very bones and it will not be shaken off. And the more violently you reject it, the deeper into your subconscious it will penetrate, to resurface at the last hour of your life in the guise of a deathbed conversion.
*
I use the word truth the way Jung used the word God, as a point of reference rather than an attainable verbal formula. I see truth as a rejection of all lies, and reality as an onion with layers upon layers of lies and half-truths and at its center an absence rather than a presence accessible to our perceptions.
*
What Socrates said about gods is as true today as it was 2500 years ago: "Of the gods we know nothing." Which may explain why some religions believe in one god, others in many, and still others (like Buddhism) in none.
*
What are theologians if not bald-headed men fighting over a non-existent comb?
*
There are opinions that are based on hearsay and there are opinions that are based on the experience of a lifetime. The first are sterile and therefore worthless even when closer to the truth.
*
Silva Kaputikian accepted the Stalin Prize but rejected the Mesrop Mashdots Medal: a clear-cut case of too little too late or a probable case of better late than never?
#

[arabaliozian]

What kind of people are we? What kind of
leadership is
this? Instead of compassion, mutual contempt.
Instead of
reason blind instinct. Instead of common sense,
fanaticism.

They speak of the cross and nail us to it again
as
they
speak.

ANTRANIK ZAROUKIAN
(1912-1989)
Poet, novelist, critic, editor.

*******************************************

All our religious, political, and cultural
institutions
share a single aim, the survival of the nation.
If
the nation perishes, neither Echmiadzin nor
Antelias,
not
even God in his heaven, can be of any help to us.

SIMON VRATSIAN
(1882-1969)
Statesman. Last Prime Minister of the Republic
of
Armenia
(1918-1920).
***********************************************

We Armenians are products of the tribal mentality
of
Turks
and Kurds, and this tribal mentality remains
stubbornly
rooted even among our leaders and elites.

NIGOL AGHBALIAN
(1873-1947)
Statesman, literary scholar, educator.

************************************************** *

A familiar figure in our collective existence is
the
prosperous and arrogant community leader who, by
obstructing the path of all those who wish to
reform
and
improve our conditions, perpetuates a status quo
whose
sole
aim is his own personal profit and
aggrandizement.

LEVON PASHALIAN
(1868-1943)
Athor, editor.

**************************************************

The Armenian Diaspora is losing its character.
Our
language, our literature, and our traditions are
degenerating. Even our religious leaders have
abandoned
their calling and turned into cunning
wheeler-dealers.
Our
publications thrive on meaningless controversies.
I see charlatanism and cheap chauvinism
everywhere
but not
a single trace of self-sacrifice
and dedication to principles and ideals. What's
happening
to us? Where are we heading?
Quo vadis, O Armenian people?

SHAVARSH MISSAKIAN
(1884-1957)
Author, editor, critic.

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, July 18, 2004
******************************
THE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES.
FRIENDSHIP AMONG ARMENIANS.
GENERAL ANTRANIK AS A ROLE MODEL.
GOOD TURKS AND BAD ARMENIANS.
BARONIAN AND HIS GENTLE READERS.
************************************************** ****
Truth will expose liars, honesty will hurt the dishonest, and knowledge will offend the ignorant: which may explain the number of my enemies.
*
We have all heard the line, "Some of my best friends are xxxs." But has anyone ever heard someone say, "Some of my best friends are Armenian"? Speaking for myself, I can truly say, "Some of my worst enemies are Armenian!" and when I say enemies I mean Armenians with an endless store of venom accumulated during six long centuries of Ottoman oppression, or, to paraphrase Zarian: not even Armenian venom but venom harvested from Turkish vipers.
*
Sometimes I am accused of being a Turk-lover in the spirit in which Southern bigots were in the habit of calling white liberals "nigger lovers." I have also been described as an Armenian-hater by hateful Armenians as if every Armenian deserves another Armenian's love on ethnic grounds. I have said this before and it bears repeating: I am for good men and against bad people regardless of national origin, very much like General Antranik who said he was for all underdogs regardless of nationality.
*
It is a well-documented fact that some Armenians were saved by Turks. It is also a well-documented fact that many Armenians, among them the 254 intellectuals who were arrested and butchered by Talaat on April 24, were betrayed by their fellow Armenians. And to those who think this may well be a historic aberration, may I remind them that the same scenario was played out in the USSR under Stalin: writers like Charents, Bakounts, Zabel Yessayan, and many others, were betrayed and sometimes even tortured and shot by their fellow Armenians.
*
To be for Armenians, all Armenians, does not and should not mean being for treason and betrayal; in the same way that being against Turks should not mean being against self-sacrifice and heroism - because that's what it took to save Armenians during the Genocide.
*
I said above 254 intellectuals. On second thought it may have been 278, perhaps even 283. But what the hell! What's a couple of dozen Armenian victims more or less, especially if they happen to be intellectuals who happen to be a dime a dozen among us.
*
But if you think Armenians betraying Armenians is a thing of the past, think again. I once read an Armenian-American academic in one of our prestigious literary periodicals saying something to the effect that Armenians in Istanbul were justified in betraying Hagop Baronian to the Turkish police because Baronian had insulted them by portraying them as ignorant, greedy, vain and stupid. Baronian, this academic went on to explain, must have been very naïve to think that he could insult his fellow Armenians and get away with it without paying a price. There you have it: a contemporary well-educated and progressive Armenian-American willing to explain and justify treason by implying Baronian was wrong and those who betrayed him right.
*
You can take an Armenian out of the Ottoman Empire but you can't take the Ottoman Empire out of an Armenian.
*
Long before Baronian, Raffi stated: "Treason and betrayal are in our blood." But leave it to our Ottomanized charlatans to follow their animal instincts and to dismiss Raffi and Baronian as Armenian-haters who deserve to die.
*
Some of my gentle readers appear to be unaware of the fact that before criticizing a writer, they must read him, and before they decide to read him, they must learn how to read. To those who are too lazy or impatient to go through these stages, I have got bad news: sorry, there are no short cuts!
#
Monday, July 19, 2004
*******************************
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
IDENTITY AND POWER.
GOOD TURKS.
**********************************************
There are those who think a writer should behave like a waiter in a posh restaurant: serve only food to their specifications, move about like a dancer, and wear a friendly smile thus indicating his desire to please and his dependence on their generosity.
Even though I keep serving cold soup, warm beer, tough steaks and wilted salads with an unfriendly expression that says "You know what you can do with your tip, you lousy skinflints!" they keep coming back for more. I wonder why. For the pleasure of xxxxxing afterwards? Gluttons for punishment? In search for an excuse to discharge their Ottoman venom? Warped imbeciles who don't know what's good for themselves?
*
When asked if he is a historian or a philosopher, Michel Foucault is quoted as having said: "I am a warrior whose aim is to destroy. I am not for destruction. Rather, I am for progress and the tearing down of walls that obstruct its path. Think of my books as explosive devices. I want my words to penetrate walls, to shatter locks, and to open windows."
On identity: "Identity is an extension of the power structure within which it is formed. It is a trap from which we must extricate ourselves."
On truth: "There is power in truth. It produces practical as well as political results."
On power: "What remains to be discovered is not that which is alienated in us or remains hidden in our unconscious, but the many subtle ways in which power insinuates itself and adjusts us to its demands."
*
In his recently published book ON THE ROAD FOREVER: MARYAM AND DUDU - TWO WOMEN FROM CHENGILER (Toronto, 2004) Hagop Yeramian writes in his dedication: "A very special thanks to the kind gendarmes with whose help many Armenians survived."
#
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
********************************
AN ARAB DISSIDENT.
ARMENIANS AND ARABS.
WHEN THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES INEVITABLE.
************************************************** **
K. Abourish (a Palestinian) introduces his recent biography, NASSER: THE LAST ARAB, with the words: "The insulting treatment the Arabs are getting from Bush is deserved." Elsewhere we read that nothing divides Arabs more than talk of Arab unity.
*
Another thing we share in common with the Arabs is nostalgia for the Middle Ages, when they had an Empire and we had our "historic lands."
*
Historians study the past in order to establish regularities and to be thus in a better position to predict the future. But, according to Michel Foucault, what really matters is that which is unpredictable and on the other side of all regularities, and sometimes it is the impossible that becomes the inevitable. A good point.
*
Consider our revolutionaries and the Genocide: after establishing a successful outcome to past revolutions (the American, French, Greek, Bulgarian, and so on) our revolutionaries assumed defeat would be impossible. What they failed to take into consideration were such minor details as the advent of World War I and the resulting inability or failure of the Great Powers to intervene on our behalf.
#
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
*******************************
ABOUT TRIBALISM.
MODERATES AND FANATICS.
GOOD AND BAD ARMENIANS.
CRITICISM ARMENIAN STYLE.
LAST WORDS.
***************************************
Tribalism is like any other ism - it divides mankind into believers and infidels or enemies.
*
Where tribalism is the norm, hatred of infidel dogs will be a religious commandment.
*
Where there is tribalism there will also be inter-tribal divisions.
*
We all agree there are good and bad Armenians. Where we disagree is in identifying them.
*
Every bad Armenian will identify himself as good and if you dare to disagree with him he will call you an Armenian-hater.
*
In a tribal environment, every word and idea is given a tribal definition.
*
Between war and peace, a fanatic will invariably choose war.
*
Where there are fanatics, there will also be moderates because, according to Descartes, common sense is a universal faculty and anyone with the minimum amount of it will agree that fanaticism, like crime, doesn't pay if only because a house divided against itself cannot stand.
*
One could also define a fanatic as a moderate who has become the dupe of a fanatic at a time when he had not yet acquired the ability to think for himself; or, to put it differently, fanatics are not born but made.
*
In the absence of Turks, some Armenians will assume their role.
*
Criticism Armenian style: It is not enough to criticize someone's style, ideas or views, he must also be personally attacked, insulted, degraded, dragged through the mud, kicked to death (metaphorically if literally is against the law), shot, hanged, buried, dug up, stoned, drowned and cannibalized. All of which proves once more that Armenians were indeed the first nation to accept Christianity as their state religion.
*
Axel Bakounts's last words scratched on the wall of his prison in Yerevan shortly before he was shot: "They are tearing me to shred like wild beasts."
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, July 22, 2004
*******************************
ASSERTIONS OF SUPERIORITY.
MODERATE ARABS AND FANATICS.
ALLAHU AKBAR.
DISORIENTED ARMENIANS.
***************************************
All assertions of moral superiority are made from the gutter.
*
We are never as transparent as when we pretend to be morally or intellectually superior.
*
Superiority is more persuasively asserted between the lines and with body language than with words.
*
The louder the words, the less convincing the argument. Hence the old Chinese proverb: "He who loses temper has wrong on his side."
*
Moderate Arabs may admit their failings but leave it to a clueless pro-Arab Armenian (and I have had the misfortune of meeting several of them) who are more pro-Arab than bloodthirsty Arab fanatics - all in the name of tolerance, of course.
*
What could be more transparently perverse than to disguise one's murderous hatred with such abstractions as love of justice, or obedience to the scripture, or tolerance.
*
In a non-tribal environment, like Canada and the U.S., xxxs and Arabs, Armenians and Turks, Hutus and Tutsis, believers and infidels, may live side by side without feeling the need to massacre one another. Where tribalism is legitimized by the power structure, murder becomes a patriotic or religious duty.
*
A brainwashed Arab teenager on TV: "When I kill it is not I who kills but the Prophet." Another teenager identified the killer as "Allah."
*
How can an Armenian justify his hatred of fellow Armenians? If you were to ask a disoriented Armenian that question, he is sure to answer it by bouncing the question back to you or say, "It is you who hates Armenians."
*
I once knew a bewildered Armenian who would use the sentence "I hate no one!" as a license to hate anyone who dared to disagree with him.
*
Dialogue Armenian style: If you can't convince them, intimidate them; if they refuse to be intimidated, insult them and continue to insult them until they give up in disgust; and if they refuse to give up, massacre them - verbally, of course! All in the name of Armenianism!
*
A definition of a disoriented Armenian: One who cannot tell the difference between Armenianism and Ottomanism.
#
Friday, July 23, 2004
******************************
THE QUINTESSENTIAL OXYMORON.
THE ABC OF ETIQUETTE AND LOGIC.
PATRIOTISM OR TREASON?
WHAT IS DISAGREEMENT?
**********************************************
The first example of oxymoron that comes to mind is Armenian consensus.
*
Many obstacles stand between us and consensus, the first being total ignorance of the basic rules of etiquette. The problem is, how to teach these rules to adults some of whom are themselves educators, and the rest think of themselves as role models to future generations.
*
We are a people with many unsettled scores, and because so far we have been unable to take it out on our enemies, we victimize one another and, having done so, we think we have taken a step in the right direction, rather than the exact opposite.
*
Not only must we learn the ABC of etiquette but also the fundamental principles of logic, one of which is: victimizing our fellow Armenians is more akin to treason than to patriotism.
*
Disagreement is a necessary ingredient in all dialogue. But in our context it is more akin to a declaration of war.
#
Saturday, July 24, 2004
******************************
THEM AND US.
TURKS AND ARMENIANS.
TUTSIS AND HUTUS.
AS OTHERS SEE US.
AS WE SEE OTHERS.
*********************************
"The internet is a wide open medium and odars may read you too," I am warned once in a while by overly concerned readers: "You should be more careful of what you say."
In other words: propaganda is in, criticism and dissent out!
I have got news for these readers. The world cares about us as much as we care about the world.
*
What do Hutus and Tutsis know about us? And what do we know about them? May I confess that I still don't know if it was Tutsis who massacred Hutus or Hutus who massacred Tutsis? And I remember the words of a Canadian friend: "Turks say you massacred them, and you say they massacred you, and I say, let bygones be bygones."
*
Until very recently most Canadians that I dealt with had never even heard of Armenians and whenever I identified myself as one I was taken for a Romanian or an Aramaean. On only one occasion I met an older Canadian who remembered "the starving Armenians" mentioned by her parents at the dinner table.
*
As an Armenian, what do I really know about Algerians, Libyans, and Rhodesians - or is it Zimbabweans?
*
What does the average Armenian know about America? I have heard smart Armenians dismiss all of the West as a civilization of xxxxxs and pimps, and America as a continent obsessed with money and sex. It is naïve to think that just because we have brainwashed our dupes and ourselves into believing we are morally and intellectually superior beings surrounded by swine, we can also fool the world.
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, July 25, 2004
*******************************
MOUNT ARARAT AND ARMENIAN IDENTITY.
AN AUTOBIOGRPHICAL ASIDE.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE A BAD ARMENIAN.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE.
************************************************** ****
We all agree that Mount Ararat is the quintessential Armenian symbol with which every Armenian identifies himself. But Mount Ararat has been a captive of the Turks for a number of centuries now. Perhaps something very similar could be said about our identity and voki.
*
Originally I wanted to be a short story writer, a novelist and a playwright. But somewhere along the line I discovered that the best short stories, novels and plays had already been written by Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Thomas Mann, Shaw, Simenon and Nabokov. That's when I decided to do what nobody else was doing: to write about Armenians as I saw them -- as opposed to how they would like to be seen; the reality, not the image; the substance not the shadow. But very soon it was made abundantly clear to me that between propaganda and truth, Armenians have a marked preference for propaganda.
*
"If you don't like Armenians," writes a gentle reader, "why don't you assimilate?" I may not yet be assimilated but I am on my way there. I am an alienated Armenian (and alienation is the first step in the direction of assimilation) who, during the last thirty years, has consistently refused to be a member of any congregation, political party, or cultural organization (make it, pseudo-cultural or semi-political mafia: because all our so-called cultural organizations are satellites of political parties).
*
"Why don't you assimilate?" - meaning, of course: "Why don't you drop out, shut up, and get lost!" I understand these Armenians who have no stomach for a dose of reality. I also understand their need to alienate and silence dissenting voices. I too am in the business of alienating Armenians -- with one important difference however: whereas they alienate good Armenians, I try to alienate bad ones, without much success, may I add. They are better at it than I am. As Zarian points out somewhere: the bad are always better organized. Which may explain why they outnumber the good ten to one.
*
Why do bad Armenians alienate good ones? The answer must be obvious. By alienating the good and silencing the honest, they can have the innocent dupes all to themselves to propagandize, deceive, mislead, brainwash, and exploit.
*
How to recognize bad Armenians? Two ways:
(one) they blame all our defeats, disasters, and catastrophes on outside agencies and never on their own blunders, ignorance, stupidity, arrogance, incompetence, greed, absence of vision, and above all, intolerance and the resulting inability to engage in dialogue with the opposition;
(two) they send out letters with Odian's celebrated Panchoonie punchline: "Mi kich pogh oughargetsek" (Send us a little money).
*
There is money and power in being bad. There is only starvation and death in being good. Consider the life and death of our foremost writers - from Abovian (a suicide) to Zarian (a non-person silenced and ignored by all).
*
Abovian and Zarian: two giants among midgets. That's the way it has been with us: the giants have been successfully silenced and driven out by a lynch mob of midgets.
#
Monday, July 26, 2004
*******************************
KINGS AND THE RULES OF GRAMMAR.
PRINCIPLES OF LOGIC.
PATRIOTISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS.
ON REPETITION.
*********************************************
Even kings must obey the rules of grammar. No one can say the rules of logic do not apply to our arguments; or the fundamental principles of civilized conduct are not for us. Because the rejection of these principles might as well be a tacit declaration of our status as barbarians who will gladly massacre their fellow men - provided of course they have the laws of the land or a sultan on their side.
*
An Armenian who justified his perversions in the name of patriotism is no different from the very same Turks who massacred our ancestors in the name of Allah.
*
There are those who think by silencing me they are defending and protecting values higher than myself. But what if, by violating my fundamental human right of free speech they are also violating principles that are higher than all of us? Is it possible to achieve noble ends by ignoble means?
*
There are limits to free speech, yes, of course. But what system of logic authorizes you or anyone else to set these limits?
*
Why is it that Armenians who believe they are better than Turks make no effort not to behave like them? - as if by asserting moral superiority they automatically place themselves beyond all rules of conduct, common sense and decency.
*
Have I said this before? Probably. Do I repeat myself? Most likely. My question to you is: Why do you repeat the mistake of reading me again and again when you have the option not to read me?
*
If we are going to set Turks as our role models, why not choose good Turks (by helping our fellow Armenians) as opposed to bad Turks (by crapping on them)?
*
Overheard: "Ninety percent of everything is humbug!"
#
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
*******************************
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
********************************
Repetition becomes routine, routine becomes a habit, and habit becomes destiny. That's the way it is with individuals as well as nations.
Again and again I am accused by proud Armenians of not being one of them -- that is, another proud Armenian. Again and again I have explained that I see no merit in national pride because national identity is not a personal achievement but an accident of birth. We are Armenian for the same reason that a zebra is a zebra, a kangaroo is a kangaroo, and a jackass is a jackass.
But that's not the only reason why I am not a proud Armenian.
I am not a proud Armenian because I see no advantage in being a proud Armenian in a world of proud Turks, Kurds and xxxs, or proud Greeks, Germans, Afghans, Americans and Arabs.
I'd much rather be a humble human being who views all such labels as suspect, even dangerous.
Because my life, very much like our history, has been a nightmare, I dream of sharing my brief existence on this planet with fellow human beings who view all labels as sources of prejudice and intolerance. I dream of living in a world of human beings who consider brotherhood and peace infinitely more desirable and important than hatred, war, and massacre.
#
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
********************************
ON HONESTY AND DISHONESTY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS.
A NEW PROPOSAL.
WHY PEOPLE AND NATIONS LIE.
ON BLUFFING.
HOPING FOR A MIRACLE?
************************************************** ***
Sometimes the unspoken line against me seems to be: "How dare you be honest in a dishonest world? Who authorized you? What makes you think you are ahead of us?"
A brief backward glance and common sense tell me dishonesty may work for others, but so far it has not been of any use to us. Let's therefore try a different approach.
*
People lie only when they are afraid of the truth, or when they have something to hide, or when truth is against them. We have consistently asserted to the world at large that truth is on our side, we have nothing to hide or cover up - unlike our enemies who are compulsive liars and cunning manipulators. We are therefore innocent and they guilty.
*
Speaking of cunning manipulation: bluffing may be one such manipulation. When at the turn of the last century we rose against the Ottoman Empire, we were, in a manner of speaking, bluffing. But bluffing has a chance to work only when the state of mind of the opposition and the rules of the game are known. Life or reality is not a game with set rules. There is an element of unpredictability in all human affairs, and sometimes what matters is not the state of mind of the opposition but that of one's own partners. One reason we bluffed is that we thought we had the support of the Great Powers and the international community. What we didn't know is that in diplomacy verbal or moral support does not always translate to military support. The Turks knew this. We didn't. Which is why our bluff failed to the tune of two million lives.
*
Which is also why I suggest we quit all forms of deception (from propaganda to bluffing) and see what happens. If things don't improve, we can always revert to our tried and familiar ways and hope for a miracle - provided, of course, we do this with the full awareness that hope is not a policy, or if it is, it is the policy of the impotent.
#

[dusken]

I would like to see Ara Baliozian attack all labels instead of one, since they all have the same relative importance. Since all of them use propaganda and all of them alienate they are all equally deserving of the critic who uses the whole to justify argument against the one. That would be a more dynamic read.

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, July 29, 2004
***********************************
ON SURVIVAL.
FLIES AND DINOSAURS.
GIANTS AND MIDGETS.
**********************************
As a child I was brought up to brag about the fact that we had survived as empires around us had collapsed and bitten the dust, until I heard someone remark that flies and mosquitoes had also survived as dinosaurs had become fossils - you don't hear them brag about it.
*
Survival in and of itself is nothing to brag about, especially if the best have perished and the worst have survived. What if after being systematically silenced, starved, betrayed to the enemy, alienated, forced into exile and assimilation, the best and the brightest have been eliminated and the collaborators, charlatans and the neo- and crypto-commissars have survived?
*
Why is it that instead of another generation of Baronians, Odians, Voskanians, Zohrabs, Zarians, and Massikians (who fearlessly exposed and ridiculed our wheeler-dealers and bloodsuckers) we now have nothing but spineless academics who write only about the Middle Ages and the massacres? And what have these gentlemen accomplished except to teach us to lament about our countless victims and to brag about our survival?
#
Friday, July 30, 2004
*****************************
WRITERS AND TYRANTS.
WRITING AND UNDERSTANDING.
ON ALIENATION AND ASSIMILATION.
ON ARMENIAN FRIENDS.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SONG IN THE WORLD.
*************************************************
To those who say, "Words are cheap and writers a dime a dozen. Who cares what they say?" I ask: Why do you think the first victims of tyrants are writers? And how do you explain Napoleon's words: "He who has an idea is my enemy."
*
If I can change someone's mind with my thoughts, am I not a man of action?
*
If understanding me means admitting to have misunderstood everything, it goes without saying that some readers will prefer not to understand me.
*
If there are two sides to a question, choose the third by being objective. That way you will always have more enemies than friends.
*
After informing me that he can't figure out what I am driving at, a reader takes it upon himself to explain in some detail what I should think and write.
*
If we are responsible for our actions, should we not be held responsible for our inaction? May I therefore ask: What exactly have we been doing about our "white massacre? - that is, alienation and assimilation. In case you didn't know, for an alienated Armenian, the Armenian identity or life among Armenians is something to be avoided at all cost as if it were an infectious disease. And for an assimilated Armenian, the Armenian identity is something to be discarded and buried very much like the cadaver of a mad dog.
*
Before you make an Armenian friend, ask him the following question: "Will you still be my friend if once or twice a year I fail to echo your sentiments and thoughts?"
*
If you have not yet heard Beniamino Gigli singing "Quanto spunta la luna a Marechiar," I envy you, because you can now look forward to the thrill of listening to one of the most beautiful songs in the world sung by one of the greatest tenors that has ever lived.
#
Saturday, July 31, 2004
*******************************
ARMENIAN TYPES.
MEMO TO OUR COMMISSARS.
LEADERSHIP AND CHARLATANISM.
WHAT IS LUCK?
**********************************************
There are those who disagree with me violently, others who don't take me seriously, and still others who ignore me. I don't let that bother me because history tells us just because some ideas are rejected or ignored is no proof against their validity.
*
Armenians tend to be either brazenly loud and rude or morbidly sensitive and touchy; and whenever these two extreme types meet, it is the gutter that triumphs.
*
As long as I am a threat to our charlatans, they will do their utmost to silence me, and whenever they fail to silence me, to insult me. After several decades of such treatment, I have learned to use insults as sources of stimulation. On the day they stop insulting me, I will know I have become irrelevant.
*
If you trust a man simply because he identifies himself as a man of God, you may consider yourself an advanced case of arrested development. Something similar could be said of a politician who parades as a selfless servant of the nation. Millions of innocent men, women and children have been slaughtered because homo sapiens is not sapiens enough to question the integrity or judgment of charlatans with messianic ambitions.
*
A wise man once said: "The harder I work, the luckier I get."
#

[arabaliozian]

I would like to see Ara Baliozian attack all labels instead of one, since they all have the same relative importance. Since all of them use propaganda and all of them alienate they are all equally deserving of the critic who uses the whole to justify argument against the one. That would be a more dynamic read.

all nations have their share of critics who take care of their own.
i am taking care of mine and i already have my hands full! / ara

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, August 01, 2004
*********************************
Yesterday I decided to take a summer break. This morning I realized I had things to say that could not wait. As for tomorrow - all I can say today is that tomorrow is another day.
*
There is a type of reader whose understanding is limited but whose critical faculties are limitless. The less he understands, the more he attacks. I call this the "mad dog" school of criticism. If you are thinking, "It takes one to know one," let me warn you, my friend, that compared to Baronian, Odian and Massikian, I don't even qualify as a xxxxx cat.
*
Because I don't criticize Turks I am sometimes mistaken for a half-Turk or pro-Turkish. The reason I don't criticize Turks (though I have done so in the past - see my ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND THE WEST) is that we have developed a veritable industry of anti-Turkish criticism; so that for every Armenian who dares to criticize Armenians, there are a hundred willing and eager to verbally massacre Turks. But history tells us Turks have been invulnerable to our criticism and criticizing them amounts to barking up the wrong tree. As for criticizing Turks in order to influence international diplomacy: I suggest international diplomacy is interest- driven, not truth-driven, and an Armenian who pretends not to know this is too naïve to get involved in world affairs or to entertain political ambitions - except that of a dog-catcher in a village of three, two of whom are idiots.
*
Some readers accuse me of being a bitter, disappointed old man who stresses the negative and ignores the positive. To them I say: "If you are used to reading cheerful, upbeat writers who spread joy and contentment with every line they write, you should welcome me for no other reason than variety is the spice of life, and by being exposed to the dark side of things, you may appreciate the light even more."
*
Readers who accuse me of hating Armenians, should ask themselves: "Am I lovable?" or, "If I am a loud-mouth phony, do I deserve anyone's love?"
#
Monday, August 02, 2004
********************************
THE FEEL GOOD FALLACY.
EXPLOITING THE MASSACRES.
TURKISH CRIMES AND ARMENIAN IRRESPONSIBILITY.
ZARIAN'S VERDICT.
SHISH-KEBAB AND CROCODILE TEARS.
**********************************
A recent episode: I am invited to join a new Armenian discussion forum. Shortly thereafter I am warned by the moderator that "this is a feel-good forum," and that I should not engage in negativism and sarcasm.
Yes, I thought, we are a feel-good people even when history keeps reminding us again and again with a swift kick in the belly that we have nothing to feel good about.
And then I thought: If we are in fact a feel-good people, how do we explain our obsession with the massacres and the popularity of books on the subject? How do we manage to feel good by reading again and again that the Turks butchered two million innocent women and children? The only answer I could come up with is that we emphasize Turkish crimes in order to cover up our own incompetence, and yes, stupidity. We will never say, "We were bluffing when we challenged the might of the Ottoman Empire and when they called our bluff, we lost." Or, "We miscalculated when we relied too much on the verbal support of the Great Powers" -- as if Great Powers also meant Superior Morality.
Our political leaders will consistently refuse to admit that which has been clearly visible to outside observers: they were guilty of using civilians as human shields. Which is why, to make us feel good, our academics, amateur historians and dime-a-dozen phony pundits will continue to publish books and commentaries in which they will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Turks are as guilty as hell (which they are, of course; no one with any self-respect and integrity denies that, not even such pro-Turkish historians as Toynbee and Bernard Lewis) and that the Great Powers were no better than cynical manipulators (a routine charge leveled against all politicians and regimes) and that our own political leaders were selfless statesmen of vision, humble servants of the nation, and men of integrity and courage willing to sacrifice their lives for freedom (compared to our present bosses, they may well have been, which doesn't mean a hell of a lot, of course).
But I prefer Zarian's final verdict: "Our political leaders have been of no political use to us. Their greatest enemy is free speech."
Also Garabents's dictum: "Once upon a time we were willing to die for freedom. We are now afraid of free speech."
And I cannot help thinking that feel-good Armenians are no better than a bunch of brainwashed dupes who confuse Armenianism with eating shish-kebab and pilaf and once or twice a year shedding crocodile tears over our victims.
#
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
********************************
SUMMING UP.
THE GENOCIDE AND ARMENIAN IDENTITY.
ARMENIAN MANIFESTO.
**************************************************
About readers who say they don't understand me: I am never sure if they really don't understand me or they only pretend not to understand me, because admitting that they understand me would also mean agreeing with me, and agreeing with me would mean acknowledging the fact that they have been wrong not only about one or two things, but about everything, including who they are, what made them who they are, and who they want to be. It is as if they were facing a mirror and suddenly their mask is torn off and they have trouble recognizing themselves. Because what I have been saying is that there is more to being Armenian than hating Turks, and there is more to Armenianism than the Genocide.
*
Hating Turks is a dead end. We cannot change the past and no amount of compensation or apology can resurrect a single victim. If we must hate, let's hate instead what the Turks have done to our identity, to our collective unconscious, to our character as a people by recreating us in their own image during six hundred years of subservience.
*
If this sounds depressing to you, it may be because you don't see the exit from the labyrinth - namely, the prospect of being reborn as a human being as opposed to remaining a dehumanized dupe and a perennial loser driven to wallow in self-pity, lamentation, and thirst for revenge.
*
To those who say, "Speak for yourself, because you sure as hell are not speaking for me!" I say: You are right: I can only speak for myself and I am neither qualified nor authorized to speak for you or anyone else. I can only suggest that if you see anything useful in what I am saying, you may have it without charge, and if, on reconsideration, you discover that even that which you thought of some use, on closer inspection, to be of no value, you may return it and your money shall be cheerfully refunded. You have nothing to lose but the chains of your Ottomanism.
#
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
************************************
TWO KINDS OF REACTIONS.
PAINFUL ADMISSIONS.
WHAT IS OTTOMANISM AND SOVIETISM?
VERBAL MASSACRE.
*********************************************
If you voice an opinion that is your own as opposed to being regurgitated chauvinist crapola, you will get two kinds of reactions from Armenians: those who are civilized or born-again human beings will say: "I disagree with you," after which they will proceed to explain why. The Ottomanized Armenians, by contrast, will call you names - jerk, moron, idiot, Turk…and even ask you such questions as, "Was your mother a concubine in a Turkish harem?" As you may have guessed by now, I speak from experience.
*
Six hundred years, even sixty years, is a long time, and whether we like it or not, we have all been to some degree Ottomanized or Sovietized or both.
*
Where there is an ism there will also be an anti-ism, namely (in our case) anti-Ottomanism and anti-Sovietism. One reason I stress the Ottomanism and Sovietism in some Armenians is that I have developed an allergy towards these aberrations that have made of us a nation of frauds who speak with a forked tongue and legitimize treason in the name of patriotism and subservience in the name of freedom.
*
Authoritarianism is another symptom of our Ottomanism and Sovietism, and authoritarianism creates an environment where the liars at the top are free to lie and those who dare to speak the truth are rudely and unceremoniously interrupted and, whenever possible, silenced. Which is why an opinion that springs from personal observation and experience and does not bear the seal of approval of a boss, bishop or benefactor provokes verbal abuse, gutter disapproval, and sometimes even verbal massacre.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, August 05, 2004
*******************************
CRITICISM AND HATRED.
WHY IS ISRAEL PRO-TURKISH?
A REVERSAL OF ROLES.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF NATIONS.
THE IRRELEVANCE OF LITERATURE.
*******************************************
The difference between being critical of American politics and being anti-American is that, Michael Moore's FAHRENHEIT 9/11 is critical, whereas Muslim fanatics are anti-American.
*
Something similar could be said of anti-Armenianism and of being critical of Armenian politics. Movses Khorenatsi, Yeghishe, Raffi, Baronian, Odian, Zohrab, Zarian, Massikian, Shahnour and many others were critical of Armenian politics, but Sultan Abdulhamid II and Talaat were anti-Armenian.
*
Perhaps one reason the Israelis are pro-Turkish is that they would like to do to Palestinians what the Turks did to us. And I cannot help wondering what would have happened had the Ottoman Empire been an Armenian Empire and the Turks our "Armenians." One guess: We would have done to them what we did to the Azeris in Karabagh (more or less), and having done so we would brag about it; and when asked to admit responsibility or guilt we would accuse our accusers of anti-Armenianism sure in the knowledge that we would have the support and understanding of all imperial powers who at one time or another had been in our position.
*
Like individuals, nations too have their psychological complexes. This is not a secret. Anyone in a leadership position knows this but it is to his advantage to exploit these complexes rather than to analyze them, if only because analyzing them may expose him as a wheeler-dealer whose number one concern is number one but who must pretend otherwise by parading as a selfless and humble servant of the nation.
*
Sartre is right. Literature solves nothing and helps no one. Our history is very clear on this point. Writing for Armenians is a waste of time. But I go on because Armenianism has been hijacked by rascals and standing by and saying nothing is as difficult as witnessing a gang rape and assuming a passive stance. So what if everything I have said so far doesn't even amount to a whisper on a deserted street in the middle of the night?
#
Friday, August 06, 2004
********************************
DEFINING PROPAGANDA.
POWER STRUCTURES AND DISSIDENTS.
ARMENIAN HISTORY 101.
********************************************
One Way to define propaganda is to say that it is anything and everything that a power structure tells you.
*
If a common crook or a pathological liar tells you 2+2=4, believe it. But if a power structure tells you the same thing, believe it not.
*
To recycle propaganda means admitting two things at once: "I am a dupe," and "I hate to think for myself."
*
Power structures are not monolithic entities; rather, they have internal fissures and divisions with constantly shifting alliances. A smart Armenian who wants to survive in our environment must sooner or later associate himself with and be subservient to either a boss, bishop or benefactor, all of whom unite only against a common adversary, dissidents. That may explain why Armenian dissidents are an extinct species today.
*
The French beheaded their king, the Russians executed their czar, and the Italians hanged Mussolini. Our leaders have managed to survive because they brainwashed us to believe we owe our survival to them.
*
"When the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch," the Bible tells us. Our history in a nutshell.
*
When the blind leads the blind and the inevitable happens, should we call that leading or misleading?
*
When the blind lead the blind and if both are Armenian, they will brag about their survival even as they lament over their shattered bones.
#
Saturday, August 07, 2004
*********************************
THE USES AND ABUSES OF PATRIOTISM.
DEFINING HOMELAND.
WHAT IS CULTURE?
MEMO TO A CRITIC.
**********************************************
Why is it that some Armenians are not emotionally and intellectually equipped to disagree without engaging in verbal abuse? And to think that more often than not they are the very same Armenians who reject the label "Ottomanized." And then there are Armenians who think there is nothing wrong in hating a fellow Armenian or an entire class of them so long as it's in the name of patriotism; and their definition of patriotism is so narrow that any other definition is dismissed as treason.
*
What is patriotism? Let's see if we can define it or at least take a step in the right direction. If we say it is love of country (in the sense of homeland) then we shall have to define country: is it the real estate? -- the mountains, lakes, rivers and valleys? Is it the Armenian people as a whole? Is it the present regime or the administration of justice? Is it the culture? Things, as you may begin to suspect, are not as simple as they may appear to be at first sight.
*
If by country we mean the land, then we must ask the question: In what way Armenian mud is different from Turkish mud?
If it is the people: Does that mean you are less of a patriot if you hate or disagree with even a single fellow Armenian?
If it is our culture: What is culture? Or, who is qualified to define it? - a politician (whose central concern is power), a priest? (whose business is saving souls), or a writer (whose aim is to understand reality by separating fact from propaganda)?
*
If, on the other hand, we adopt Goethe's definition of homeland ("Wherever a man is allowed to work and provide for his family") we may have to agree that Armenians of the Diaspora and Armenians in the Homeland who wish to emigrate (and I am told everyone except policemen and politicians does), Armenian patriotism might as well be an oxymoron.
*
It took me about three decades to figure out what's what and who's who in our environment. Instead of calling me names or identifying me as an enemy of the people, I suggest you give yourself a little more time before you jump to conclusions - unless of course you happen to be one of our dime-a-dozen geniuses or self-appointed experts on any given subject born with superior powers of observation and understanding. In which case you should get busy sermonizing and speechifying in an effort not only to convert skeptics like me but also to re-interpret the work of many of our ablest writers who at one time or another adopted a critical stance.
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, August 08, 2004
*******************************
THE NATIVE TONGUE.
*********************************
In the Greek ghetto where I grew up the old folks spoke in Turkish among themselves and the kids spoke in Greek. Once when urged to speak in Armenian by the old, I asked my dad: "You speak in Turkish, and yet you insist that we speak in Armenian, why?" My father explained: "We speak in Turkish because the Turks used to threaten to cut out our tongues if they caught as speaking in Armenian." Armenians must have been an obedient bunch, I remember to have thought, because there were no Armenians in the ghetto of several thousand (all of them refugees from the Ottoman Empire) with missing tongues or any kind of speech impediment.
*
The question we should ask at this point is: If it was Ottoman policy to cut out tongues, why is it that they allowed Armenian writers to write and publish hundreds of books and dozens of newspapers, periodicals, and calendars in Istanbul? Unless of course cutting out tongues was a policy implemented only in the interior provinces. But then, even in remote villages there were Armenian churches and schools and most of our writers were educated in such provincial schools.
*
Consider what is happening in the Diaspora today: most Armenians cannot or don't want to speak in Armenian even though no one is threatening to cut out their tongues if they choose to do so. And most Armenians prefer to assimilate perhaps because they instinctively see no future in keeping their identity, culture and traditions - except perhaps when it comes to shish-kebab and pilaf.
*
The thought now occurs to me that perhaps when our elders reminisce about the "old country" they do not always speak the truth.
*
Cutting out tongues is a barbaric custom and it is against the law in all civilized countries, including America. But in what way silencing a writer is not cutting out his tongue? And of what possible use is the fundamental human right of free speech if it is employed only to recycle propaganda or to engage in verbal vandalism? -- which consists in doing to civilized discourse what the Turks did to us.
*
Perhaps what I am trying to say here is that, if you ever want to assert your Armenianism, do not behave like a Turk, and when someone points that out to you, do not pretend not to see it.
#
Monday, August 09, 2004
*********************************
RAFFI'S THEORY.
A 19TH-CENTURY FALLACY.
INFANTILE CRITICISM.
WHAT IS MORAL COMPASS?
I PROPOSE AN EXPERIMENT.
***************************************
Raffi once ascribed all our defeats to treason, which, he said, "is in our blood." The conception of "blood" as the source of racial traits or national character is, of course, a 19th-century fallacy. Instead of blood, we now speak of convolutions of the brain, or environmental conditioning, or collective unconscious. Raffi's theory is not without merit, however, even if it requires some terminological updating.
*
In my view, all our misfortunes may be ascribed not to blood or fate or an extension of powers beyond our control or comprehension, but to a certain type of individual or rather meddler (and here we can borrow Odian's terminology by calling him a Panchoonie) who, in today's parlance, would be described as a loud-mouth smart-ass with the moral compass of a certified moron, by which I mean an inherent inability to tell the difference between patriotism and fascism, or between Armenianism and Ottomanism (or Sovietism). When such a type preaches tolerance, he means tolerance only of his own ideas. As for free speech, dialogue, compromise, consensus, and democracy: he dismisses them all as Western aberrations. In his view, the West is morally bankrupt, and Armenianism (meaning Ottomanism) is a superior brand of ideology, mindset, or system of thought. And if you were to ask him how does he know these things or what has been his experience in the field, he will either call you names or ascribe his wisdom to his racial inheritance or blood.
*
Because I have written again and again against dogmatism, intolerance, authoritarianism, all forms of fascism and racism, I have been called dogmatic, intolerant, authoritarian, fascist and racist - among other things. I call this type of criticism infantile or bounce criticism, because it doesn't require any thinking: it simply bounces back the criticism to the critic; and infantile because that's exactly how we reacted when we were kids: when someone called us a liar, we replied: "You are the liar!"
*
To those who say writers are unreliable because they are eccentrics, sometimes even unstable, I suggest the following experiment: ask any alienated or assimilated Armenian (and there are millions of them): "Why? Why are you alienated?" or "What motivated you to opt for assimilation?" and don't be surprised if his reasons are variants of the very same ideas that I have been expounding here.
#
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
*******************************
ARMENIAN HISTORIANS AND THEIR COUNTERPARTS.
A MATTER OF CREDIBILITY.
HOW TO RECONCILE THE IRRECONCILABLE.
WHO WAS ARTIN DADIAN?
************************************************** ******
Even though Armenian pundits and historians don't always agree with one another and notwithstanding the fact that I have myself been exposed to a great deal of nonsense by them, I have been brought up to believe they are fundamentally more honest than their Turkish counterparts. The problem is, most Turks have also been brought up (or brainwashed, if you prefer) to believe their own historians are more honest than their Armenian counterparts. How to reconcile these two opposite camps?
*
I am told some Armenian historians, among them our foremost Genocide authority, Vahakn Dadrian, are now available in Turkish. On the day we translate and publish Turkish historians into Armenian, we may be in a better position to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I for one am not holding my breath. Armenians refuse to publish even their own writers who refuse to recycle a certain brand of crapola.
*
How many of my readers, I wonder, are familiar with the name of Artin Dadian? - a prominent member of the Ottoman Administration under Sultan Abdulhamid II, who wrote the following letter to our revolutionaries in 1898:
"I suggest that today we exercise nothing but patience and tolerance. First, Europe shows complete indifference and says there is no Armenian question as far as they are concerned. Second, the threat of the complete annihilation of the Armenian nation has not yet entirely passed, and third, the people are tired of revolutionary deeds and are ready to patch up their differences with the government in order to remain safe from further terrible events as have almost wiped out our people from the face of the earth. Fourth, various organizations are fighting different causes, each in their own way, and in the middle of all this stands one pitiful Artin Dadian, who on the one hand begs the Sultan for mercy by telling him that this would be the best thing for his empire and on the other hand fights base individuals who in order to attain their selfish aims are even willing to sell their nation. I believe it will be proper, as I have mentioned countless times before, for our people to patch up their differences with the Sultan."(*)

************************************************** *********
(*)See THE ROLE OF THE DADIAN FAMILY IN OTTOMAN, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL LIFE by Pars
Tuglaci (Istanbul, 1993).
#
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
***********************************
VARIETIES OF PATRIOTISM.
FREE SPEECH AND ITS DEFENDERS.
DO I REPEAT MYSELF?
DISSENT AS TREASON.
**************************************
Patriotism has several meanings, including some that are downright unpatriotic. Patriotism is unpatriotic when it consists in supporting and defending a corrupt or incompetent leadership whose ultimate if unstated aim is the destruction of the homeland. Cases in point: Italian and German patriotism under Mussolini and Hitler, or, for that matter, under any form of power structure that views dissent (or free speech) as treason.
*
Like patriotism, free speech too has more than one definition, and under all authoritarian regimes it means only one kind of speech and one kind of ideas, any other kind being a manifestation of hostility that should be suppressed.
*
I remember to have read only one editorial in defense of free speech in our partisan papers -- that's when Levon Der Bedrossian banned the ARF press in Armenia.
*
No doubt some of my readers will think I am expressing these views because I have been silenced by our press. "What if you have been silenced because you are wrong?" they may even demand to know. Free speech and the possibility of being wrong are not mutually exclusive and might as well be synonymous. If we say free speech is a privilege accorded only to the wise and the infallible, who among us would qualify? Or who among us would admit to being unwise and foolish?
*
Have I said all this before? Probably. Do I bore you with my obsession with a limited number of ideas? If yes, do yourself a favor and stop reading me. No doubt you will find more variety and entertainment in the kind of talk that says we were the first nation to convert to Christianity and the first nation to suffer a genocide in the 20th century, the implication being, we owe our Christianity to our enlightened, progressive and far-sighted kings and our massacres to the barbarism of the Turks and the hypocrisy of the West; which also means that our leaders (unlike all other leaders) can do no wrong and anyone who says otherwise is an enemy.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, August 12, 2004
******************************
A MATTER OF SEMANTICS
*******************************
It is wrong to say "The Turks massacred us." We should say instead, "Some Turks massacred us." Not all Turks were bloodthirsty savages. Had they been, there would have been no survivors.
*
When we ascribe the crimes of a few on the many, we do to civilized discourse what the Turks did to us - make it, "what some Turks…." As you can see, habit is an irresistible force and it requires a vigorous and sustained program of re-education.
*
Though I can say these things on a conscious level, there is something within me or deep in my subconscious that wants to cry out: "To hell with semantics! Turks are butchers and barbarians, and no amount of logic can alter their image or minimize the enormity of their crimes against humanity!"
*
It has been said that to generalize is the original sin of the mind. When Turkish and Turcophile historians today try to explain and justify the Genocide by accusing Armenians of disloyalty or acts of terrorism, they generalize too and are therefore abysmally wrong. Most Armenians - the overwhelming majority - within the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the century were law-abiding citizens who lacked political awareness. The revolutionaries were only a handful of misguided agitators who represented no one but themselves.
*
We know that under Stalin, some Armenians tortured and killed fellow Armenians - and they did this to their best and the brightest. We also know that members of the Armenian bureaucracy today are thoroughly corrupt. It doesn't necessarily follow that all Armenians are sadists, executioners, and bloodsuckers. On the contrary, most Armenians - and again, the overwhelming majority - are victims of Ottomanized partisans and Stalinized bureaucrats who represent no one but themselves.
*
Somewhere we read in the Bible that it is hateful not to hate evil. By all means, let us hate all criminals regardless of nationality, but let us also support and befriend those who are on our side - regardless of nationality - including Turks. To those who say, Turks will never be our friends, I ask: How does one explain the fact that thousands of Armenians today prefer to live in Turkey rather than in Armenia?
#
Friday, August 13, 2004
******************************
HUBRIS AND NEMESIS
******************************
Something very strange happens when an Armenian calls a fellow Armenian an idiot - he turns into one. And there is a reason for that.
The Greeks believed that arrogance (hubris) is sooner or later punished by the gods (Nemesis). One could therefore say that, he who brags about his superior IQ will be punished by the gods who will turn him into a blabbering idiot. Who says there is no justice in this world?
*
When I speak of superior IQ, I speak of Armenian arrogance and inability of Armenians in general and our leaders in particular to admit and learn from their blunders. Why admit blunders if we can blame all our defeats, catastrophes and misfortunes on outside agencies?
*
And now, from the general to the specific. Whenever a reader calls me an idiot, he condemns himself to spend the rest of his life trying to prove that I am an idiot, not because he cares to prove who or what I am - after all, what would be the possible merit in proving that an idiot is in fact an idiot? - but because he wants to prove to himself that he is smart.
*
Calling a fellow Armenian an idiot simply because you disagree with him is doing to civilized discourse what the Turks did to us. This point needs to be repeated and emphasized until it sinks in.
*
I don't preach a strange cult; neither do I promote a new ism. What I do is express my views as honesty as I can by using my common sense. Instead of calling me names, show me in what way your common sense is different from mine. If you can prove me wrong, why go down into the gutter thus besmirching your own status as a civilized human being and proving once more that "one Armenian eats one chicken; two Armenians eat two chickens; and three Armenians eat each other."
*
I don't believe in covering up bad manners in the name of patriotism. If an Armenian does the wrong thing, he should be exposed because ignoring bad manners today may lead to covering up criminal conduct tomorrow.
*
Like all Armenians I too was brought up to condemn Turkish crimes against humanity and Western hypocrisy. But neither Turkish crimes nor universal hypocrisy justifies our intolerance towards and contempt for fellow Armenians. And what could be more contemptible than hurling insults at someone simply because he fails to echo our sentiments and thoughts? And what could be more arrogant than to assert infallibility?
*
If we operate on the assumption that we are smart and we can do no wrong, we condemn ourselves to learn nothing and to remain fixed in our state of total ignorance. If scientists adopted that stance, mankind would now believe the earth is flat and at the center of the universe.
#
Saturday, August 14, 2004
*******************************
THE ART OF LEARNING.
HOMO IGNORAMUS.
ON REPETITION.
ARE WE SMART?
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF ALL.
******************************************
If you don't learn from your friends, you will learn from your enemies - provided of course you survive the lesson.
*
The older I grow the more I realize that reality isn't merely different from anything I know, but different from anything I can imagine.
*
When I compare what I knew as a child with what I know today, and what I know today with what I don't know, I am more than willing to identify myself not as homo sapiens but as homo ignoramus.
*
It has been said that man cannot create a single worm, yet he has created ten thousand gods, and not only believed in them, but also fought, killed and died in their name.
*
Have I said that before? Very probably yes. Do I repeat myself? Certainly. What's wrong with repetition? Readers who criticize me for repeating myself are not themselves against repetition per se. On the contrary. They love repetition to the point of addiction - provided of course what's being repeated is in their favor, such as "Armenians are smart." I have at no time heard an Armenian complain that after being exposed to that line ten thousand times, he has had enough of it. Only once, I remember, many years ago, when I repeated that cliché in the presence of an assimilated Armenian who happened to be a professor at a prestigious American university, he became agitated, almost lost his temper, mumbled some disconnected and incomprehensible words, and gave up in disgust. My guess is, what he tried to say was that being smart in the marketplace does not necessarily translate to being smart in politics; I also know now that when it comes to politics, our collective IQ might as well be single-digit, if not downright negative.
*
And what is even more astonishing (and I can see why the good professor gave up on me in disgust) is that we have consistently refused to learn from our critics, beginning with Movses Khorenatsi and Yeghishe in the 5th century AD to Raffi, Baronian and Voskanian in the 19th century. And because we refused to learn from them, we were taught a harsh lesson from the likes of the Sultan and Talaat.
*
The question we must ask at this point is: What have we learned from our massacres? Reread Khorenatsi and Yeghishe, reread Raffi, Baronian, and Voskanian, and they might as well be our contemporaries. Nothing has changed. Or, as the French are fond of saying: "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme merde."
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, August 15, 2004
********************************
DECLINE AND FALL
OF THE ARMENIAN EMPIRE
************************************************** *****
If at the beginning was the word and if the world is a mess today, it must be because the word has no effect on hooligans; and hooligans come in all sizes and shapes, including professors and schoolteacher as well as political and religious leaders. History is very clear on this point.
*
If patriotism is the last refuge of rascals, hooliganism is the first; and one way to define hooliganism is to say what it is not: it is not a system of thought because its upholders cannot think. Destruction is its sole aim. Which is why it must assume another identity and adopt noble vestments, and what could be more noble and more universally accessible than love of God or homeland? There you have the source of all our miseries: not just Turkish savagery and Western double talk, or for that matter, Assyrian, Persian, Arab, Mongol, and Russian hordes. But hooligans regardless of national origin. This is why the written word has had no effect on our leaders and no writer in the entire history of our literature has ever made a difference, except perhaps Naregatsi, who taught us to grovel in the dust and to repent our countless sins because in the eyes of the Almighty we are no better than the scum of the earth - what a heartless lesson to teach to perennial victims!
*
And consider Zarian, for whom Armenianism was a form of messianism. Dostoevsky believed it was Russia's manifest destiny to be the messiah of nations. In Zarian's eyes, Dostoevsky was a charlatan. It was Armenia's manifest destiny to be the messiah of nations. Zarian believed this with every fiber in his body. It took him several decades and near the end of his life to realize that Armenianism was a mask of hooliganism and Armenians survived by "cannibalizing one another."
#
Monday, August 16, 2004
******************************
VARIETIES OF QUESTIONS.
PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS.
PUNDITS AND APOLOGISTS.
CHARLATANS AND RIFFRAFF.
***************************************
Everything I write and everything I have written so far is an answer to some specific question raised at one time or another. Whenever I fail to answer a question it may be because, unlike some of my fellow Armenians, I don't have all the answers. Another reason: Some of the questions I am asked are not genuine questions but what's known in the business as loaded or phony questions, such as: "Did your mother enjoy being a concubine in a Turkish harem?" or, "If you are single, is it because you are a homosexual?" But more often than not, I am asked questions whose answers are already known to the interrogator.
*
A wise man once said, we cannot predict the future if we don't understand the present. This, needless to add, does not apply to men of faith and ideologues, who will tell you they may not have the answers to such petty questions as those dealing with the weather or the stock market, but they do have all the answers to questions that matter or are vital to our welfare as a nation.
*
As a child, I was taught to believe if I did this, that or the other, or rather, if I refrained from doing certain things (for more details see the Ten Commandments) I would go to heaven and live in eternal bliss. Any mullah will tell you today if you die while killing infidel dogs (even if they happen to be innocent women and children), Allah will reward you with 73 virgins.
*
At the turn of the last century we were told by our ideologues that if we rise against the Ottoman Empire we will be rewarded with our historic lands. That dream turned into a nightmare but there are still dupes who believe our partisans were right and reality (in the shape of Turkish savagery and Western double-talk: was there a time when the Turks were civilized and the West honest?) wrong, and if we continue the struggle, sooner or later Mount Ararat will be ours.
*
At this point someone will no doubt remind me that all politicians make promises they have no intention of keeping, and that in politics lies and promises might as well be synonymous. Why make unreasonable demands on our own politicians?
*
As you can see, we are blessed with an abundant supply of self-appointed pundits who have all the answers, and anyone who dares to remind us that truth or reality may not fit in our straight-jacket view of life is a spoil-sport, a cynic, an enemy, and very probably a Turk parading as one of us.
*
The world continues to be at the mercy of charlatans and riffraff who will never run out of dupes, or as Zarian once put it, "of cripples in search of a crutch."
#
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
*********************************
THE PATIENCE OF A CORPSE.
THE ORIGIN OF OUR STATUS AS UNDERDOGS.
TO EACH HIS OWN.
A PASSAGE FROM A RECENT HISTORICAL NOVEL.
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE.
************************************************** *
What happens when a Ramgavar dies in a predominantly Tashnak town with a single priest? A Ramgavar priest is imported for the occasion from the nearest city, of course. This is exactly what happened in our town last week, but since the out-of-towner had to travel on a busy highway where accidents and delays are daily occurrences, he was three hours late. Inconvenient? Not to the corpse, it wasn't.
*
We like to say and repeat: "We are a small nation. We are weak." What we avoid asking is, Why? Is it because God or the sinister forces of the universe conspired to will it so, or is it an inevitable consequence of our penchant for dividing and subdividing ourselves? Even the mightiest empire in the world would become a perennial victim if it kept dividing and subdividing itself. And now that we know the reason, will we change? One can always dream, of course.
*
Once, recently, when I wrote something to the effect that Armenians and Turks, xxxs and Palestinians live side by side in the United States and Canada without feeling the need to slaughter one another, a reader shot back: "That's because Americans and Canadians are too obsessed with money and sex to think of anything else!" thus implying, massacre is morally superior to sex and dollars.
*
And speaking of Armenians and Turks, I read the following in a review of a recent book titled BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS by Louis de Bernieres: "The story is set in a small coastal town in the Ottoman Empire before the Great War. There, Muslims and Christians (mostly of Greek background, a few Armenians) lived peacefully together. Everyone spoke Turkish and was loyal to the Sultan."
*
The uncertainty principle in physics also applies to human thought. Which means that no matter how competent a writer is, he will not be able to express his views with mathematical precision. As a result, his ideas will have a penumbra of doubt and uncertainty, and they will be open to misinterpretation. On the day man acquires the ability to express himself with mathematical precision, questioning the validity of his views will be like questioning the existence of the atom after Hiroshima.
#
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
********************************
THE USES AND ABUSES OF NATIONALISM.
ATATURK, HITLER, AND…SIBELIUS.
MUSIC AND POLITICS.
WAS KHACHATURIAN A NATIONALIST COMPOSER?
************************************************** ******
At one time or another I have been accused of being against everything and everyone, including Mount Ararat, Lake Sevan, motherhood, apple pie, and, the other day…believe it or not…Sibelius. Why Sibelius? Because he is a nationalist composer and I am against nationalism.
*
For the record, I have nothing against Sibelius and nationalist music in general if only because it is not easy being against someone or anything that means no harm to anyone. If I am against political nationalism it's because it is one of the three pillars of fascism - the other two being racism and anti-intellectualism (that is, dissent, free speech, dialogue and consensus) and because it (nationalism) has been the cause of many wars, massacres, and genocides, including our own.
*
To say our nationalism is good but our enemy's nationalism is bad is to voice the very same propaganda line that emanated from the likes of Ataturk and Hitler.
*
To those who say our nationalism cannot be compared with Turkish or German nationalism because we are not guilty of genocide, and all our wars have been defensive wars, is to imply that we belong to a morally superior race (which happens to be racist nonsense). If we have not victimized millions it may because ours has been the nationalism of underdogs, and because we were vastly outnumbered by our enemies.
*
More on Sibelius: I love his music. He happens to be one of my favorite composers. I love not only his symphonic poems, symphonies, and Violin Concerto (with its Gypsy and Slavic interludes) but also his seldom performed piano music. One of the very first things I did when I became gainfully employed in a department store was to acquire a complete set of his seven symphonies under Karajan (please note: not of Armenian but of Greek descent- real name, Karayannis, literally Blackjohn).
*
More on nationalist music. All music speaks a universal language even when it employs local or native folk melodies; and it uses these melodies for the same reason that a Hungarian speaks Hungarian, a Romanian speaks Romanian, and an Armenian speaks Armenian. Sibelius used Finnish folk music not because it is superior to Greek or Russian folk music but because he was exposed to Finnish folk songs at an early age. This may explain why Khachaturian did not use exclusively Armenian folk tunes (he was born and raised in Georgia) but also Georgian, Azeri, Abkhazian, and Chechen folk tunes and rhythms. In music, unlike in politics, there is no such thing as enemy folk tunes or rhythms. Good music is accessible to all of mankind, and in that sense, its massage emphasizes the universal brotherhood of all men.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, August 19, 2004
********************************
BELIEF SYSTEMS AND HERESIES.
A PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION.
THE SHORTEST BOOK IN THE WORLD.
REVERSE BOLSHEVISM.
*************************************************
In the eyes of a man with deep religious and political convictions, all disagreement will be seen as heresy, and as everyone knows, the only way to deal with heretics is to burn them at the stake, because they will burn in hell anyway. Likewise, to a fanatic Muslim, all non-Muslims are infidel dogs and killing them is no sin. To my gentle readers who disagree with me, I ask: If in your eyes I am no better than an infidel dog, in what way are you yourself different from those who at the turn of the last century massacred our forefathers?
*
If disagreement makes you unhappy, here is a solution to your problem: Gather around yourself like-minded men, start a forum or a club of mutual admiration, and live happily ever after.
*
There are many ways to prove that you are a better man or, for that matter, that you are right, perhaps even infallible, and going down into the gutter is not one of them. This may be elementary to Dr. Watson but not to Jack S. Avanakian.
*
If a writer were to think like everyone else, of what possible use could he be to anyone? - unless of course you say that the best writer is a useless writer, perhaps even a dead writer.
*
If every dissenting voice in our environment had been silenced, the history of our literature would be the shortest book in the world.
*
I never argue with someone who has all the answers or speaks in the name of God, because to disagree with him would be like disagreeing with God.
*
On the day you begin to think for yourself, you may be astonished to discover that some received ideas are no better than self-evident lies.
*
Jean-Francois Kahn: "What we are witnessing today may best be described as reverse Bolshevism. Instead of the USSR we have the USA. Instead of anti-Sovietism we have anti-Americanism. And instead of struggle for socialism we have struggle for democracy."
#
Friday, August 20, 2004
******************************
HISTORIOCENTRISM.
VERSIONS OF THE PAST.
THE CASE OF ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE.
THE WHOLE TRUTH OR A FRACTION OF IT?
************************************************** **
A friend recently observed that Armenians are historiocentric. I suspect what he meant is that we are massacrocentric, or obsessed with the Genocide, or perhaps even that, we operate on the assumption that, since the past is one, our version of it is the only valid one and all other versions should be dismissed as lies, distortions and propaganda based on the testimony of hostile or perjurious witnesses.
*
It goes without saying that, as an Armenian, I trust Armenian historians more than I trust Turkish historians. The trouble is, Turks too trust their own historians more than ours; and also, very much like us, they too operate on the assumption that their own version of the past is the only valid one. It follows that, our Genocide must be a figment of our collective imagination.
*
The problem we face is not a new one. There are and have always been as many histories as there are historians with their own unique perspectives, memories, ideologies, vested interest, religions, and set of prejudices and blind spots. Consider the recent invasion of Iraq, which ought to be, by all accounts, an open book. Don't even try to reconcile the Muslim with the American position, or, for that matter, the pro-Bush with the anti-Bush position.
*
History may also be divided between that of victors and that of their victims, such as the native-American or Indian version of American history, and history as taught in American educational institutions.
*
To complicate our own case even more, there are Turkish historians critical of Turkish conduct, as there are Armenian historians whose understanding and interpretation of the Genocide is such that they have been accused by their peers of revisionism and treason.
*
Even more confusing is the case of the eminent British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, who after writing several books on Turkish brutality and their Armenian victims, wrote several more books in which he said Armenian territorial claims at the turn of the last century (claims that had provoked Turkish reprisals) had been unjustified and unreasonable.
*
Will there ever come a time when historians of all nations and persuasions will develop a consensus? Don't hold your breath. In the meantime it is safe to assume that (one) by emphasizing some aspects of the past and ignoring or covering up others, all historians give us only a partial or distorted view of the past, (two) only God is in a position to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and (three) mortal man is destined to know only part of the truth -- which, by the way, happens to be one definition of propaganda ("part of the truth").
*
In case you think I am trying to whitewash Turkish crimes against humanity and to question the reality of our Genocide, let me emphasize that even pro-Turkish historians like Toynbee and Bernard Lewis have at no time denied the Genocide. What they tried to do is to explain (which does not mean to justify) why certain things happened and why men behave as they do.
#
Saturday, August 21, 2004
*******************************
ON BEING FALLIBLE.
OTTOMAN TACTICS.
ON REPETITION.
AN ARMENIAN MISCONCEPTION.
**************************************
To be fallible means to think "I could be wrong," even when you are sure to be right. Remember, some of the most catastrophic blunders in the history of mankind were made by individuals who were so sure they were right that they were willing to risk the lives of millions of innocent women and children.
*
It is not at all unusual to come across an Armenian today who pretends to be 100% right on the assumption that his fellow Armenians are too backward, ignorant, or impressionable to dare to question his authority; and they are the very same Armenians who become abusive whenever they confront a fellow Armenian who is neither timid nor impressionable enough to be bullied into silence. Zarian was absolutely right when he said some Armenian do with their tongues what the Turks did with their yataghans.
*
To those who say I repeat myself, I say: You may ignore my words, but can you ignore our blunders? - especially when they are repeated.
*
In writing, whenever you try to please everyone, you please no one; and even when you try to please one person, you succeed only in poisoning your well.
*
A typical Armenian misconception: Free speech is a fundamental human right that applies only to those who agree with us or are willing to recycle our propaganda line.
*
To think that, just because you understand an idea, you can also explain reality, is like thinking you can guess another's thoughts by observing the outline of his shadow.

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, August 22, 2004
******************************
IN PRAISE OF SKEPTICISM.
**********************************
If you doubt and question everything I write, I say, you are indeed on the right path and you have understood the moral of my story, which is: Question everything you are told, not only by Turks but also by everyone else, including fellow Armenians.
*
None of us lives in a vacuum. We all have an ax to grind. The ax may be well hidden, but it's there all the same: look for it hard enough and you will find it.
*
My own ax to grind is against those who dished out all kinds of half-truths and lies to me when I was a child and had not yet acquired the ability to think for myself. Case in point: For many years I was led to believe Armenia had been a Christian island in a Muslim sea, until someone pointed out the obvious fact that Georgia to our north had been a Christian nation too, which made of us not an island but a peninsula.
*
For many years I was also led to believe our revolutionaries had been heroes and the Ottoman Bank takeover at the turn of the last century had been a brilliant exploit worthy of universal admiration, until someone raised the obvious question: "Was it worth 5000 innocent lives?" What kind of heroes make a separate deal with the enemy, secure free passage abroad for themselves, and abandon their defenseless people at the mercy of an enraged and vindictive tyranny not widely known for its compassionate and fair treatment of its subjects?
*
History, it has been said, is the propaganda of the victor. What if our version of history is nothing but the consolation of the loser?
*
I was taught to believe ignoring the lessons of history means repeating past blunders. Isn't that what we do whenever we divide and subdivide ourselves, or whenever we fail to question the competence and integrity of those who pretend to know better, and based on that false assumption, proceed to draw the line of our destiny?
*
If our revolutionaries had learned to question and doubt the verbal support of the Great Powers, would they have behaved as they did? What if our central problem is neither being an island nor having bloodthirsty barbarians as neighbors, but being naïve dupes of charlatans who promise heaven and deliver hell?
#
Monday, August 23, 2004
******************************
THE NORMAL AND THE ABNORMAL.
THE ABNORMAL AS A THREAT TO THE NORMAL.
THE LYNCH-MOB INSTINCT.
WHAT IS GENOCIDE?
BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG.
************************************************** **
If you are honest, all the crooks will conspire against you. Likewise, if you speak the truth, liars will retaliate because they will feel exposed and threatened.
*
At all times and everywhere the majority takes it upon itself to set the rules of conduct and to view dissent or divergence as a threat. The majority may tolerate the existence of a minority so long as the minority adopts a subservient role. But in times of crisis, when the majority feels threatened, minorities will be suppressed, persecuted, and sometimes even eliminated.
*
The lynch-mob or gang-rape instinct is not peculiar to a single race, color, or creed; it is a universal phenomenon.
*
Genocide has nothing to do with number of victims. Killing even a single person on grounds that he belongs to a different race, religion, or ethnic group is genocide.
*
In my efforts to raise consciousness, sometimes it seems, I lower it. That may be because, after centuries of conditioning, some of my readers don't know whether they are rising or falling. It is as though their sense of gravity had been permanently damaged beyond repair.
*
In everything I write I describe the evolution of a damaged consciousness from subservience to liberation. But where subservience is a millennial condition, it becomes second nature and liberation is seen as a deviation, perhaps even an aberration.
*
It has been observed that when the blind acquire vision, they take refuge in dark rooms.
*
Some of my partisan friends are shocked when I tell them the greatest statesman in the world is not qualified to tell even the worst scribbler in the world what to feel, think, and write.
*
In the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we read: "Every individual is equal before the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination."
*
It may be safer to assume you are always wrong with extenuating circumstances if only because the alternative - that you are always right - is too absurd to merit serious consideration.
#
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
*******************************
REPLIES TO MY CRITICS
*********************************
To those of my readers who at one time or another have questioned my qualifications as a writer, or, for that matter, as a concerned citizen (which is how I prefer to identify myself), I say: If you speak as a commissar of culture and your secret god is Stalin, you live at the wrong time and in the wrong place, and I have every reason to suspect, before things get better for you, they will get worse. Prepare yourself for a minimum of seven more lean years.
*
I define a dupe anyone who is taken in by propaganda; and because I have criticized dupes, regardless of national origin, I am described as an Armenian-hater by our dupes, who it seems, are so hungry for love that they can't stand anyone who fails to flatter their ego. To them I say: You are not the only game in town, my friends. Unlike you, there are many others who have mastered the ability to think for themselves. I will go further and say that, the overwhelming majority of Armenians (especially the assimilated and alienated) are not dupes. I count among my friends members of the Party who reject the Party's propaganda line. The only reason they continue to be members is that they come from a long line of partisans and membership in the Party has become a family tradition. Their loyalty is motivated more by nostalgia than ideological commitment.
*
Criticism in defense of a propaganda line is not criticism but cretinism.
*
To those of my critics who write under a false identity, I ask: Does anonymity make you behave in a more responsible or irresponsible manner? If irresponsible, don't you think there is more merit in being responsible? And if everyone were to behave irresponsibly, would we be better off or worse off?
*
A final question: How honest are political leaders in whose version of the past they have done nothing wrong, they are blameless and beyond criticism, and all their utterances must be treated as if they emanated from the Vatican?
#
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
********************************
If all human utterances have a margin of error, dogmatic assertions can't be right.
*
On the subject of our genocide, when I attempted to explain the Turkish side of the story, an outraged reader countered: "Some stories have only one side!" thus echoing a sentiment first expressed by Albert Camus (who was himself, be it noted, in the eye of several controversial firestorms). But isn't that what the Turks are saying too? - that their side of the story is the only true one and all others must be lies? Is it not inconsistent of us to repeat a line or to adopt a mindset of people whom we consider bloodthirsty savages?
*
No one's version of the story is Holy Scripture. And even if it were, not all of us are fundamentalists.
*
There is an entire library of writings (poetry, prose, criticism, fiction, drama, epic poem, moral treatise, dialogue, etc.) that consists in telling "the devil's side of the story." Three literary masterpieces that come readily to mind: Milton's PARADISE LOST, Goethe's FAUST, and more recently, Thomas Mann's DOKTOR FAUSTUS.
*
Speaking of Thomas Mann: during World War II he published an essay on Hitler (who had tried to assassinate him) titled "A Brother."
*
I doubt if there will ever come a time when Armenians will develop Mann's degree of detachment and call Turks their brothers, but consider some of the arguments in its favor: For six centuries we were their most loyal millet (ethnic group), and since intermarriage was a common practice, it is not at all unreasonable to suggest that a good fraction of Turks today, perhaps even half of them, may well be our half-brothers.
*
If this is bad news to some of my readers, blame historic reality, blame facts, blame statistics, blame even God (as some of our poets have done) but do not kill the messenger, because if you do, you may run the risk of being a Turk's brother not only in thought but also in deed.
*
Even an august institution like the Catholic Church finds the concept of the devil's advocate useful. If we are to the right of the Vatican, can we be too far off the left of Genghis Khan? That may be a comfortable position for some, but not for others, among them myself.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, August 26, 2004
*****************************
THE ART OF DIPLOMACY.
ON ARMENO-TURKISH RELATIONS.
THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG WAY.
A MODEST PROPOSAL.
A CRIME AND A TRAGEDY.
LOGIC AND EMOTIONS.
*********************************************
One of the first things Raffi Hovannisian did when he went to Turkey as a minister of foreign affairs was to say to the Turks: "You must recognized the Genocide." The Turks responded by saying: "This man hates us and we cannot deal with a man who hates us."
*
One way to define diplomacy is to say that it consists in dealing with the adversary in such a manner as to make him see your side of the story in order to consider its merits. Obviously, so far and after nearly a century of trying, we have failed in that endeavor. We must therefore be more versatile and less stiff-necked and dogmatic in our approach.
*
Before they are condemned, Turks want to be understood because they know instinctively that to be hated precludes understanding, or for that matter, objectivity, fair play and justice.
*
The need to be understood is universal. But we can't understand someone we hate. The alternative is not to love him (only saints can love their enemies) but to try to understand him on his own terms, if understanding him on our own terms means hating him.
*
Henceforth, we should concentrate our efforts on humanizing the Turks as opposed to dehumanizing them, if only because we cannot make any moral demands on a dehumanized entity.
*
If a wolf kills a sheep, is he guilty of murder? In a way, when we reduce Turks to the level of bloodthirsty beasts, we also enter a plea of not guilty on their behalf -- a plea similar to that of insanity. Because if they are no better than animals, they cannot be held responsible for their actions. It is therefore to our advantage not to dehumanize but to humanize them. In other words, to think of them as we think of all other nations that have at one time or another committed genocide and other unspeakable crimes against humanity - that includes Germans and Americans.
*
Our genocide is not just a crime against humanity but also a tragedy, and tragedy, as defined by the Greeks, consists in the downfall or destruction of a being who, as a result of a weakness (as pride, envy, etc.) breaks a divine law or moral precept that leads to terror and catastrophe.
*
I don't always agree with what I write, but if logic dictates, I follow, hoping in the near or distant future my emotions will catch up.
#
Friday, August 27, 2004
*****************************
AN ENIGMA & A BUNDLE OF CONTRADICTIONS.
THE BEST AND THE WORST.
THEM AND US.
ABDICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY.
************************************************** ****
Writers who have analyzed the Armenian temperament agree that an Armenian is an enigma and a bundle of contradictions. Writes Derenik Demirjian: "An Armenian curses God and the Church constantly. But behold the magnificent cathedrals he has built!" And Neshan Beshigtashlian: "Even the Good Lord could not make up his mind what to make of the Armenian. First He made him an angel, then He turned him into a devil, after which He changed His mind again." His conclusion: "The Armenian is an enigma that refuses to be solved."
*
But then, one could say (with Freud and Jung) that all men are to some degree, bundles of contradictions and enigmas even to themselves. Our situation or the Armenian enigma, if you wish, is an integral part of the human condition. Hence the spectacle of the worst parading as the best.
*
Some cases in point from the last century: Fascists in Italy, Germany and Spain; Stalinists in the USSR, and before them, Southern racists in the U.S. before the Civil War, all of whom pretended to be la crème de la crème, but were in fact la crème de la scum.
*
There is however a significant difference between them and us. Whereas racists, fascists and Stalinists have been exposed, and militarily defeated or politically consigned to the dustbin of history, ours continue to be in charge of our destiny. If that's progress, it's more like the progress of a terminal disease.
*
As for those who say it will take at least two generations for things to improve in Armenia, it seems to me, they lack the common sense and decency to see that, by adopting and promoting a passive stance, they are not only abdicating their responsibility as citizens but also legitimizing criminal conduct by supporting a corrupt and incompetent crypto-fascist and racist power structure in both the Homeland and the Diaspora.
#
Saturday, August 28, 2004
********************************
THE TURKS AND US.
THE ARMENIAN WAY AND THE RIGHT WAY.
TURKS AS UNDERDOGS AND VICTIMS.
THE SULTAN'S COMPLAINT.
************************************************** ****
May I confess that when it comes to Turks and us, more often than not I agree with my critics on an emotional level. But I also know that in diplomacy, politics, and life in general, it is preferable for emotion to be subservient to reason. There is an old saying that I heard again and again as a child: "Why stand up in anger if you are going to sit down the loser?" Isn't that what we did? We rose in anger and most of us didn't even have a chance to sit down.
*
With the slogan, "We have no enemies, only interests," the British built an empire. Consider our status as perennial losers, underdogs and victims to theirs….
*
And since we have been stressing our status as perennial losers, underdogs and victims by constantly reminding ourselves and the world of the massacres, the cynical manipulation of the Great Powers, and the bloodthirsty conduct of the Turks, it never even occurs to us to think of Turks as underdogs and victims. And yet, that's exactly how they saw themselves - and victims not just of a single ruthless adversary but victims of the whole world, beginning with the Russian colossus to the North, the Great Powers to the West, the United States and Australia from across the oceans, and from within their own borders, Arabs, Greeks, Kurds, and Armenians.
*
Listen to the Sultan: "By taking Greece and Romania, the Great Powers cut off the feet of the Turkish state. By taking Bulgaria, Serbia and Egypt they cut off our hands. Now, by stirring up trouble among the Armenians they are getting close to our vital organs and want to cut out our intestines. This is the beginning of mass destruction."
*
With a disintegrating empire and surrounded by enemies on all sides like vultures ready to feast on its carcass, the Turks made the mistake of allowing their emotions to dictate their actions. They were told repeatedly by foreign diplomats and observers that not all Armenians were their enemies, but as a victimized minority, they did what felt right, not what reason told them to be right.
*
It is only very recently that I read that in a single battle at Gallipoli, the Turks had lost 350,000 men to the Allies. But I still don't know the total number of Turkish dead during World War I. I wonder, does any Armenian? Or is it: "The only good Turk is a dead Turk"? Why should we be surprised if the Turks adopted that slogan too? "The only good Armenian is a dead Armenian."
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, August 29, 2004
************************************
ON TRIBALISM.
GUT REACTIONS.
ARTICLES OF FAITH.
TABLE MANNERS.
********************************
One way to explain our tribalism is to say that our bosses, bishops, and benefactors see the nation as an extension of themselves and not the other way around. It's the tail-wagging-the-dog routine. Unlike Louis XIV, they don't even feel the need to say "L'etat c'est moi," (I am the state) because they assume it must be obvious to everyone with the minimum of sense.
*
There are some disagreements that come straight from the gut. And when gut meets brain, brain is bound to lose. I speak from experience. Once upon a time I too had gut reactions. I still do, but when I do I use my brain to cross-examine and x-ray my gut, and sure enough, I invariably detect an infection in the form of an ingrained childhood prejudice or a youthful misconception.
*
When you believe in a propaganda line it ceases being propaganda and is automatically elevated to the status of an article of faith, which also means that anyone who doesn't agree with you must be an infidel dog.
*
A dupe is one who believes his propaganda line is Scripture and someone else's religion is verbal trash. That's one reason why dialogue is un-Armenian.
*

Other possible reasons, according to Shant Avedissian:
"Our instinct for survival drives us to gobble up food
but to scorn table manners;
to get married and establish families but to neglect love;
to accumulate wealth but not to share it;
to erect churches but to be indifferent to matters of faith;
to build cultural centers but to have no interest in culture;
to construct schools in order to teach Armenian to our children but to despise the true meaning of words.
In short, we have mastered the art of survival but not the art of living…."
*
On second thought, have we really mastered the art of survival when most of us, and very probably the best and the brightest, have not survived?
*
Have we really mastered the art of survival if we are, even as I write, witnessing two ongoing genocides: exodus from the Homeland and Assimilation in the Diaspora.
*
When asked about the exodus, an Armenian political leader is quoted as having said: "If they want to leave the Homeland, let them!" That's what I call an answer worthy of a Talaat. With public servants like that, who needs sultans and Stalinists?
#
Monday, August 30, 2004
********************************
WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.
TWO QUESTIONS.
THE UGLY ARMENIAN.
QUEEN MAMIKONIAN.
******************************************
Bad things happen to good people.
Everyone knows that.
And smart people do dumb things.
Everyone knows that too.
What is less well known is that there may be secret and underground connections between these two incongruities.
*
Why do smart people do dumb things?
Because they are never as smart as they think they are.
*
I have received nasty e-mails from both Turks and Armenians, and it is astonishing how similar in style, tone, and vocabulary they are. So similar in fact that they might as well have been written by the same person or identical twins.
*
Nobody is perfect, of course. So what if smart people sometimes do dumb things, and dumb people dumber things? That's not a tragedy. Our tragedy or the tragedy of our condition is that we have been and continue to be at their mercy.
*
Why is it that in their efforts to prove they are smarter and better, some Armenians see nothing inconsistent in writing like dumb Turks? Another question: Is it conceivable that the cradle of civilization has spawned gravediggers of civilized discourse?
*
Behind every alienated Armenian there is an ugly Armenian who thinks, since he is smarter and better, he can do no wrong and self-criticism is self-hatred and therefore unpatriotic.
*
If being honest means admitting a major blunder and thus committing political suicide, an ambitious leader will invariably choose survival at all cost and forever after brag about his personal integrity.
*
Who can trust a politician who says "I can do no wrong and I am therefore beyond criticism"? And yet!
*
The only reason some politicians admit minor miscalculations is to cover up major blunders.
*
Only a certified dupe will say, "All politicians lie except ours." And only a fanatic will say, "My party is always right and the opposition always wrong."
*
Sometimes when two Armenians disagree, I cannot help wondering: Is the disagreement between two Armenians or is it between an Armenian and a Turk?
*
Sophie Audouin Mamikonian on Armenians (in a recent issue of PARIS-MATCH): "They don't have enough to eat but they want to crown me Queen of Armenia. When I refused to ascend the throne, these monarchists threatened to abduct my children. We were placed under police protection."
#
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
********************************
CLICHÉS AND SLOGANS.
THE BLISS OF IGNORANCE.
THE SHEEP AND THE WOLVES.
*********************************
Knowledge is power? What nonsense! No one can tell me the Ottoman Empire, one of the mightiest empires in the history of mankind that lasted six centuries, was based on knowledge.
*
Unmask a slogan or a cliché and you may see more truth in its contradiction. One way to explain the popularity of slogans or clichés is to say that they satisfy a deep-seated need in all of us to simplify the fathomless complexities of life in our favor.
*
If you think, "ignorance is bliss," remember the last time you were manipulated by someone who knew you did not know what he knew.
*
"Power corrupts," we are told. What we are not told is that lack of power or subservience corrupts even more. Are we as a people today more or less corrupt than Turks and Russians, our former masters?
*
A reader, who subscribes to the slogan "The only good Turk is a dead Turk," demands to know: "If good Turks existed, why didn't they stop the genocide?" It doesn't even occur to him to ask, "Where were our revolutionaries - the future leaders of our historic homeland? Why is it that they had a Plan B for themselves but not for the people? We have all heard about our heroes and martyrs and we know the number of our martyrs, but does anyone know the number of our heroes? - or perhaps there were so many of them that no one bothered to count them. If there were many and they were our shepherds, why did they abandon the sheep to the wolves?
#
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
**********************************
AMERICA AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.
RAFFI, ZOHRAB AND SIAMANTO.
THE WISDOM OF THE MASSES.
TWO WARNINGS.
THE MAMIKONIAN PALACE.
SLOBO'S DEFENSE.
************************************************** **
It is not enough being right; one must also be right at the right time and place.
*
Trying to convince Americans to recognize our genocide is like arguing against capital punishment in a hangman's house.
*
Long before the massacres, Raffi said the Ottoman Empire was no place for Armenians because Turks had no respect for human life. He was ignored.
*
Shortly before the Genocide, Krikor Zohrab urged Armenians to get out of Turkey because, he explained, "this time around they will exterminate all of us." He too was ignored. "Zohrab effendi is exaggerating," they said.
*
When Roupen Sevag's German fiancée urged him to leave Istanbul because, she said, the Turks were nasty folk, Sevag replied: "You don't know these people. I do. Deep down they are nice. Take my word for it. I know what I am saying. I have lived with them all my life." And what was bound to happen, happened. Zohrab, Sevag and Siamanto (who couldn't get used to life in America and returned to Istanbul) were among the first victims of the Genocide.
*
Today, no one is urging Armenians to leave Armenia but they are leaving anyway…by the million. I am told everyone wants to leave - everyone except politicians and policemen. Unhappy is the land whose only happy inhabitants are legislators and law enforcers.
*
An English sociologist published a book recently in which he proves crowds are wiser than individuals. There may be some truth in it. "Two heads," they say, "is better than one."
*
When I was young, my elders misled me; and now that I am old, the young misunderstand me.
*
Everything I write should come with two warnings: "Not for children," and "I could be wrong." On the day I say or imply I can't be wrong, you can be sure of one thing: you are dealing with a morally and intellectually bankrupt charlatan.
*
Sophie Mamikonian: "The Armenian monarchists showed me a picture of my palace in Armenia: the wall of a ruin with three crows on top."
*
Accused of genocide, Slobodan Milosevic is pleading not guilty on the grounds that "Croatia, the United States, Europe, Muslim fundamentalists and terrorists, the Vatican…in short, the international community" had conspired to destroy Yugoslavia, and all his actions had been in defense of the territorial integrity of his homeland.
Sounds familiar?
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, September 02, 2004
***********************************
MIKOYAN'S ROLE IN THE STALINIST PURGES.
TOLSTOY, DOSTOEVSKY AND SHAKESPEARE.
GREGORIAN CHANT.
WHAT IS ARMENIANISM?
*************************************************
A number of Sovietologists have identified Anastas Mikoyan as the main architect of the Stalinist purges in Armenia. If he was, he was a reluctant one, writes Simon Montefiore. In his recently published book, STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR, based on interviews with the children of survivors, post-Soviet studies, and newly opened archives, he writes that Stalin chose Mikoyan for that grim task to test his loyalty. “In late 1937,” we read here, “Stalin tested Mikoyan’s commitment by dispatching him to Armenia with a list of three hundred victims to be arrested. Mikoyan signed it but he crossed off one friend. The man was arrested anyway.”
*
While in Siberia, Dostoevsky read some stories by a writer who signed himself “L.T.” Dostoevsky liked the stories but he said, “I believe he will write very little,” adding, “but perhaps I am wrong.” He sure was! “L.T.” stood for Leo Tolstoy, one of the most prolific writers of all time.
*
Though contemporaries, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky avoided each other. But the last book Tolstoy read shortly before his death was Dostoevsky”s BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, perhaps because his home situation, from which he was running away, was more Dostoevskian than Tolstoyan.
*
Tolstoy and Dostoevsky shared one thing in common: they didn’t much care for Shakespeare.
*
Readers sometimes complain that I don’t always answer questions. The truth is everything I write is an answer to a specific question, even when the questioner is anonymous and even when the question is disguised verbal vandalism and hooliganism. Case in point: on a number of occasions I have been asked if my mother was a concubine in a Turkish harem. My mother became an orphan at the age of one and was brought up by French Catholic nuns in Lebanon. Instead of lullabies she sang Gregorian chant to me, which to this day is my favorite kind of music – music in its purest form: simple, accessible, melodic, incandescent, with none of the technical fireworks of J.S.Bach or the rhetoric of Beethoven.
*
Whenever I read an ugly e-mail from an Armenian, I cannot help wondering: what if in our case the concept of survival of the fittest should be replaced with the concept of survival of the nastiest?
*
There are open minds and closed minds, but when an Armenian decides to close his mind, he locks it with seven rusty keys.
*
Why is it that some Armenians use the massacres as a license to do to civilized discourse what the Turks did to us? And more often than not, they are the very same Armenians who demand our unconditional love on grounds of Armenianism.
*
Writes Denis Donikian: “At one time or another we have all been victims of Armenianism.” Perhaps because no one has yet defined what Armenianism is and every Armenian thinks his own brand is the only true one.
#
Friday, September 03, 2004
*******************************
BAYROU ON TURKS.
MONTEFIORE ON MIKOYAN.
AXIOMS.
MEMO TO MY CRITICS.
************************************
Francois Bayrou, identified as the President of the UDF, in a recent interview published in LE POINT (August 5, 2004): “Turkey’s geography, history, and sociology are not European. Its anthropology is not the same as ours. During a recent conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Nayyip Erdogan, he said: ‘For us, Europe must be a place where different civilizations meet and coexist,” thus conceding that our civilizations are indeed different. In order to qualify as a member of the European Union, Turkey must meet certain criteria. Even the recognition of the Armenian genocide, an indispensable condition in our eyes, is open to negotiation and compromise. That’s not the real stumbling bloc. The real stumbling bloc is the question: Is Turkey’s membership compatible with the political unity of Europe? My answer is, No.”
*
Simon Montefiore on Anastas Mikoyan: “This Armenian who had studied for the priesthood like Stalin himself, was slim, circumspect, wily and industrious, with black hair, moustache and flashing eyes, a broken aquiline nose and a taste for immaculate clothes that, even when clad in his usual tunic and boots, lent him the air of a lithe dandy. Highly intelligent with the driest of wits, he had a gift for languages, understanding English, and, in 1931, he taught himself German by translating DAS KAPITAL.” (And to think that most people can’t understand DAS KAPITAL even when they read it in their mother tongue).
*
We know what we think and how we feel. It is only by knowing what others think and feel that we may acquire a better understanding of our fellow men, and by extension, of the world in which we live – that is to say, reality.
*
Can we really understand ourselves if we don’t understand others? And if we don’t understand others, what can we really understand?
*
Understanding of reality is a seamless web. Partial understanding might as well be misunderstanding, and action based on misunderstanding is bound to fail.
*
Memo to my anonymous critics: “The merit of a criticism is diminished when the critic is too afraid to identify himself.”
#
Saturday, September 04, 2004
*********************************
THE ORIGIN OF WISDOM.
SOCRATES AND ERASMUS.
PERVERTED PATRIOTISM.
ARMENIAN-HATERS.
**********************************
All wisdom begins with the realization that what we know is only a very small fraction of knowledge, and very often so small that it would be more accurate to admit, like Socrates, that all we know for certain is that we don’t know.
*
And speaking of Socrates: there are people who reject ideas simply because they are new ideas. Whenever in history great men, like Socrates, have been persecuted, you can be sure of one thing: the persecution was organized by such people, namely, the scum of the earth who, in the words of Erasmus, prefer “the smell of their excrement,” simply because they are familiar with it.
*
Where hooligans are allowed to hijack the word “patriotism,” love of country becomes hatred of fellow countrymen.
*
To those who at one time or another have accused me of being an Armenian-hater, I say: You have no idea what you are saying. A real Armenian-hater is one who hates Turks not because they massacred us, but because they didn’t do a more thorough job; and I happen to be personally acquainted with such an Armenian, and he happens to be a genuine, bona fide, dyed-in-the wool born-again Christian whose every other line is a quote from the Bible. And he feels as he does because he is convinced Armenians are evil and the Turks massacred them because they were following orders from God – not their Allah, be it noted, but our God who can do no wrong. And if you were to say, I should be ashamed to admit that I have such friends, I will reply: I have made it my business to understand all kinds of Armenians and not just a fraction of them.
#

[arabaliozian]

Wednesday, September 08, 2004
************************************
WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN.
WHO IS CAIN?
FROM PALACES TO CRAP.
VERBAL SOLUTIONS AND PIZZAS
WITH MUSHROOMS AND ANCHOVIES.
************************************************** ******
In 1957 Bertrand Russell published a book titled WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN, which contains quotations from the Old Testament that legitimize prejudice, racism, and massacre - and massacre not only of women and children but also cattle.
We now have two recent books titled WHY I AM NOT A MUSLIM by Ibn Warraq and WHY I AM NOT A HINDU by Ramandra Nath.
In the first we read: "As soon as I was able to think for myself, I discarded all the religious dogmas that had been foisted on me. I now consider myself a secular humanist who believes that all religions are sick men's dreams, false - demonstrably false - and pernicious."
In the second: "Though I agree with Buddhism in its rejection of god, soul, infallibility of the Vedas, still I am not a Hindu even in this broad sense of the term Hindu, because as a rationalist and humanist, I reject all religions."
If the world is saved it will not be by ayatollahs, mullahs, bishops, popes, televangelists and rabbis but by enlightened men like Bertrand Russell, Ibn Warraq and Ramandra Nath, who refuse to divide their fellow men into believers and infidel dogs.
*
When I went into this business, I made a solemn promise to myself never to lose my temper, to answer all criticisms and questions, to ignore all insults, and to think of my critics not as my enemies but as my brothers. I kept this promise until I realized that one of the worst things that can happen to a man is to have a brother like Cain. I am not saying or implying that my critics are a bunch of Cains; rather, that they assign to me the role of Cain and to themselves that of Abel.
*
The Bible tells us to love our neighbor. It does not tell us to love him only if he agrees with everything we say no matter how uninformed, narrow-minded, and unchristian.
*
Goethe once said that every young writer thinks he can build palaces, but with experience he learns the best he can do is shovel crap.
*
I am reminded of an American plumber's advertising slogan: "Your crap is my bread and butter."
*
As for those who demand instant solutions to all our problems, I ask two questions: (a) What possible use are or have been verbal solutions? and (b) What has been your own contribution to our welfare as a nation, in addition to ordering solutions like a patron in a pizza parlor ordering a pizza with mushrooms and anchovies?
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, September 09, 2004
***********************************
CREDIBILITY CANYON.
A QUESTION OF RELEVANCE.
PARTISAN VERSIONS OF THE PAST.
ARMENIAN SHAMANISM.
*******************************************
Just because I don't believe anything Turks tell me, it doesn't necessarily follow that I am willing to swallow everything Armenians tell me. I have been fooled by so many Armenians on so many occasions that, if an Armenian were to tell me my mother loves me, I would want to double-check his source.
*
If you think my attitude towards my fellow Armenians is negative, I say, I assure you, my friend, my attitude might as well be irrelevant on grounds of insignificance. Who after all gives a damn what a minor scribbler says? Any idiot can contradict him, any hooligan can insult him, and any imbecile can silence him. What is infinitely more relevant and significant is Armenian treatment of writers and, by extension, their fellow Armenians.
*
To put it as elegantly and as diplomatically as I can, collectively, Armenians have behaved like swine towards their writers. No need to take my word for it. Read any history of Armenian literature. But don't expect Bolsheviks, or for that matter, any member of any party to expose its own criminal conduct. When a partisan writes about his party, he operates on the assumption that its leadership has been infallible, therefore beyond reproach.
*
If you want to know how misleading an Armenian can be, read a Communist on Tashnaks and vice versa: a Tashnak on fellow travellers. Once, when I was young and naïve, I published an interview with a prominent Tashnak only to be informed by a prominent Ramgavar that every line in my interview contained a minimum of two lies.
*
Two reasonable men may disagree, but not if one of them is an Armenian.
*
When a reader does not agree with me, he says, "I don't agree with you." But when an Armenian does not agree with me, he calls me an idiot, probably because he believes in shamanism and thinks if he calls me an idiot a few times, I will grow long ears and bray like an ass.
#
Friday, September 10, 2004
*******************************
TOYNBEE'S ANSWER.
GANDHI'S SOLUTION.
GRUB FIRST, THEN ETHICS.
*************************************
When, in the final volume of his STUDY OF HISTORY, Toynbee attempted to combine all religions into a single belief system, because he saw no other alternative to mutual tolerance, universal brotherhood and peace, he was dismissed as a charlatan by humanists and as a blasphemer by men of faith. Result? Mankind continues to be at the mercy of frauds and their dupes, who persecute, kill and die in the name of a truth, which is a lie.
*
Religious leaders would agree with the above assertion provided they and their followers are excluded, of course!
*
xxxs believe the Pope and his followers and all Christians in general believe in a false messiah. Christians believe, by rejecting the only true messiah, xxxs are destined to burn in hell. Mullahs view Christians as infidels, and Buddhists are convinced anyone who speaks of gods, holy ghosts, messiahs, prophets, angels, devils, and virgin births inhabits a world of non-existent shadows and empty illusions.
*
A humanist believes trying to reconcile two religions is like trying to reconcile two sets of lies. You cannot reconcile 2+2=5 with 2+2=22. How can you reconcile the existence of God with his non-existence? Easy, Gandhi said. If we replace the word God with the word Truth, he explained, even atheists become believers in so far as they believe the non-existence of god to be the truth.
*
Like Toynbee's answer, Gandhi's verbal solution has been ignored, perhaps because it does not take into account theologians and their dogmas, for the sake of which countless men have shed their blood.
*
If a universal religion continues to be a utopian dream today, it's because for every Toynbee and Gandhi, there are thousands of bishops, mullahs and rabbis, who make a comfortable living by peddling nonsense; and between a useless, not to say dangerous, nonsense and a useful truth, man will invariably choose the nonsense.
*
Call it original sin, call it the crocodilian fraction of the human brain, call it human perversity, call it what you will, history is clear on this point: if we view the future as an extension of the past, we are destined to be at the mercy of frauds and their dupes who value superstition above truth, brotherhood and peace.
#
Saturday, September 11, 2004
***********************************
MORE ABOUT RELIGION.
THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE.
FROM GIBBON TO MARX &
FROM HEGEL TO RAFFI.
***************************************
One of my critics informs me that I tend to emphasize the negative at the expense of the positive. This pattern, he writes, is evident also in my treatment of all organized religions. When I write about Christianity, for instance, I completely ignore its many positive contributions.
*
Let me expand on some of the points in my previous post:
There is no evidence to suggest that mankind has made any moral progress after the advent of Christianity. The last century, for instance, has seen more senseless bloodshed than at any other time in the history of mankind.
*
During the last two thousand years, Christianity has legitimized authoritarianism, monarchy, imperialism, colonialism, intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism, fascism, the persecution and torture of heretics, wars and massacres. Remember Voltaire's dictum: "Since it was a religious war, there were no survivors."
*
After the Golden Age of Greek culture, Christianity ushered in a thousand years of Dark Ages during which scientists were forced to accept the word of the Old Testament as the ultimate authority on all branches of knowledge.
*
Some of the greatest historians and thinkers of the West (from Edward Gibbon to Marx and Nietzsche) have written at considerable length about the negative, not to say, sinister, role of the Church in the West.
Hegel summed up the role of Christianity in the West when he said "the Christian frees himself from the human Master only to be enslaved by the divine Master." Our own Raffi echoed the same sentiment when he wrote: "As for our clergy: they have always been against individual freedom."
*
Speaking of Roman persecution of Christians, Gibbon writes in his DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: "Christians have inflicted far greater severities on each other than they had experienced from the zeal of infidels." The number of Protestants "executed in a single province and a single reign far exceeded that of the primitive martyrs in the space of three centuries and of the Roman Empire."
*
For more on this subject, see DOUBT: A HISTORY by Jennifer Michael Hecht (New York, 2003. 551 pages. Index. Bibliography).
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, September 12, 2004
************************************
FAITH, RELIGION, POLITICS AND POWER.
ORWELL, HUXLEY, TOYNBEE, GANDHI.
CRITICIZING THE CRITIC.
BELIEF SYSTEMS AND THEIR CRITICS.
************************************************** *****
Faith is something that happens in the hearts, minds, and souls of men. What I criticize is not faith but organized religions and the power they wield; and power is power regardless of its physical or metaphysical content.
*
Faith may be beyond criticism, but organized religions, politics and power are not.
*
George Orwell: "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
*
Those who oppose criticism engage in criticism in so far as they criticize dissent on the grounds that their convictions are beyond criticism, especially if there is no positive proof that their convictions are true.
*
Every belief system is also a critique as well as a rejection of all other belief systems.
*
Critics and dissidents are not popular because those who speak in the name of God or Truth don't like being exposed as dealers in "pure wind."
*
Christians called their critics heretics and burned them at the stake. Bolsheviks called theirs Trotskyites, bourgeois reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries and shot them. Muslims called theirs infidel dogs and blasphemers and exterminated them.
*
Even religious leaders who preach love, hate to give up their claim of monopoly of truth, to the same degree that their followers hate to give up their sense of superiority, that allows them to see themselves as the Chosen, and the rest of the world as second-class citizens, or even morally inferior trash.
*
In that sense, one could say that all belief systems are in the business of dehumanizing their fellow men. To flatter the collective ego of a minority (and all religions are minorities) they dehumanize the majority.
*
Efforts to reconcile belief systems, like those made by Aldous Huxley in his book, PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY, and by Toynbee in the final volume of his 12-volume STUDY OF HISTORY, have been ignored, sometimes even ridiculed. Who remembers today Gandhi's noble, even if only semantic, effort to elevate the status of atheism from the opposite of religion to that of religion?
*
As for the positive contributions religions have made: consider the fate of a respectable citizen who has done nothing but serve his fellow men for many years, but as a result of unforeseen circumstances, or confluence of emotional experiences, he commits a criminal act. He is caught, arrested, tried, found guilty and punished. His standing within the community is wrecked. He is disgraced. He becomes a pariah. And now consider the case of the Catholic Church and its many corrupt popes: what has happened to the institution of the papacy? What has happened to Christianity and Islam after their countless crimes that have claimed millions of innocent victims?
*
To those who say, the abuses of individuals should not be ascribed to their institutions, I ask, What if these abuses were committed in the name of these institutions? Should we continue to assert these institutions can do no wrong or they are beyond criticism, and anyone who exposes these abuses is a blasphemer, an idiot, a lunatic, whose ideas are dangerous, negative and anti-social?
#
Monday, September 13, 2004
************************************
A TURKISH NOBELIST.
A TURCOPHILE HISTORIAN ON TURKS.
ANKARA'S ROLE IN WORLD HISTORY.
PROPAGANDA WAR.
TOYNBEE'S VERDICT.
************************************************** *
In the August 30, 2004 issue of the NEW YORKER (New York) John Updike reviews a novel titled SNOW by Orhan Pamuk, a contemporary Turkish writer, several of whose books have already been translated into English and published in the U.S. and England. After comparing the author with Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, and Dostoevsky, Updike writes: "Pamuk, relatively young as he is, at the age of fifty-two, qualifies as that country's most likely candidate for the Nobel Prize."
It is to be noted that the novel takes place in the city of Kars and the Armenian massacres are not mentioned in the lengthy review.
*
In the August 21 issue of the SPECTATOR (London) David Pryce-Jones opens his review of Andrew Mango's THE TURKS TODAY with the words: "Mustapha Kemal, otherwise Ataturk, took the corpse of the Ottoman Empire and reanimated it as Turkey. Breaking both the old sultanate and the hold of Islam, he laid the foundation of a democratic state. It was an extraordinary achievement, not to be witnessed again until Mikhail Gorbachev broke the Soviet Union and the hold of the Communist party - and that was more by accident than design." Armenians are not mentioned in the review.
*
In the August 19 issue of LE POINT (Paris) there is an interview with Semih Vaner, identified as a French expert on the Middle East, who is quoted as having said: "Ankara can play an essential role between the West and the Muslim world." And: "It is time to view the Muslim world in all its diversity. Turkey has a parliamentary system that is competitive and democratic."
Again, Armenians are not mentioned.
*
Is there an Armenian military leader comparable to Ataturk? General Antranik comes to mind. But he might as well be a non-person to the world at large, thanks to our own political leadership that rejected him in mid-career.
*
Did we ever produce a writer who could have qualified as a candidate for the Nobel Prize? The answer is, yes, certainly, many. But we silenced all of them. I have in mind not only writers of the Soviet period that were systematically purged by our commissars, but also writers of the Diaspora, like Zarian, Shahnour, and Massikian, who were rejected and silenced by our own political and literary establishments.
*
If we are losing the propaganda war, whose fault is it? Is it because the world has a short memory? Or is it because we have allowed our destiny to fall into the hands of mediocrities whose number one enemy is excellence?
*
I am reminded of Toynbee's dictum: "Nations and civilizations are not killed, they commit suicide."
#
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
***********************************
Persian proverb: "Adam and Eve spoke in Persian, and the angel who drove them out of Paradise spoke Turkish."
*
I have heard it said that poets are useless, writers deal in verbiage, intellectuals are addicted to words, and you cannot cook pilaf with words. I have also heard it said that man does not live by pilaf alone; and if the man happens to be an Armenian, he will also want some shish kebab.
*
Churchill, not exactly a daydreaming poet, once said: "Jaw-jaw is better than war-war."
*
Ludwig Wittgenstein: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." It follows, to silence writers means limiting our options, and with them, our chances to survive and to achieve excellence, both of which are interconnected. To survive in the jungle, you need all your faculties.
*
Where critics are starved, crooks, charlatans and liars grow fat. Hence the old saying: "Priests have seven stomachs."
*
You say I complain too much, but isn't that what you are doing too?
*
"Every concept is in itself an exaggeration," Jose Ortega y Gasset tells us. So that if you say I exaggerate, you are saying I deal in concepts, to which I can only reply, I don't know any other way to express my thoughts, and I refuse to apply fig leaves to them.
*
Zarian was right. We don't have literary critics. What we have are petty meddlers and frustrated commissars of culture who, given the chance, will gladly put a bullet in the neck of anyone who dares to disagree with them.
*
According to Shaw, "A thought is an assault on the unthinking." Every unfamiliar thought is therefore bound to violate our inner balance and thus put us on the defensive. Our first impulse is not to understand it, but to reject it and to silence the thinker.
*
The hardest thing about being Armenian is to disagree with a friend without losing him, and to win an argument without making a mortal enemy.
*
By concentrating on someone else's criminal conduct (which is what we have been doing) we learn nothing. But by exposing our own blunders we may learn not to repeat them.
#
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
**************************************
VERSIONS OF THE PAST.
HISTORY AS THE PROPAGANDA OF THE VICTOR.
ON THE MEDIOCRITY OF OUR WRITERS.
THE NUMBER TWO IN NATURE.
************************************************** *****
To appreciate the absurdities of history as taught to millions of unsuspecting children, consider a Turk's version of Armenian history. I once heard a Turkish historian say that there has never been such a thing as an Armenian nation. Christian Turks, maybe. Armenian nation, never! It follows; to speak of the Armenian genocide is to speak of the Genocide of a non-existent entity.
*
In his book, THE DA VINCI CODE, Dan Brown exposes the dark side of Christianity. When told by readers that his book contradicts everything they have been taught, he replies that history has always been written by the "winners (societies and belief systems that conquered and survived)." So that, in gauging what is true, we should ask: "How historically accurate is history?"
*
Hindus treat their cows with greater respect than their Untouchables. I should like to see a history of Hinduism written by an Untouchable, or a history of the United States written by an American Indian or a Negro. Unless of course you say the testimony of an American racist is more valid than the testimony of a Negro.
*
Even belief systems whose central idea is mercy can be merciless against their critics.
*
After silencing and starving our ablest writers, our commissars of culture say: "Our writers are mediocrities."
*
A hooligan once said to me: "Books speak about the past. I am more interested in the future." He is thinking of his next screw, I thought.
*
Nature seems to be partial to the number two: we have two eyes, two ears, two arms, two legs, and a forked tongue.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, September 16, 2004
**********************************
To speak of the wisdom of propaganda is like speaking of the shadow of a non-existent object in a dark room.
*
Fascists make good speechifiers, but I see more eloquence in the braying of an ass.
*
Two individuals from two different cultural environments do not speak the same language even when they speak the same language.
*
Confucius: "Clever talk and a pretentious manner are seldom found in the Good."
A variant translation: "A garbage-mouth cannot harbor a golden tongue."
*
I am not in the business of changing anything. I am in the business of understanding, and whenever I am allowed, to share my understanding.
*
When a reader tells me he hates what I write, I make an effort to be more hateful. I don't write to entertain, amuse, and flatter.
*
All censors are cowards because they are afraid of ideas, especially ideas that will expose them as cowards.
*
Judge a tree by its fruit, a man by his ideas, and a belief system by its history.
*
To say nothing is better than to call someone an ignoramus, especially if he is one.
*
An easy riddle: "What does an Armenian with an opinion have in common with the Rock of Gibraltar?"
#
Friday, September 17, 2004
************************************
AGAINST TURKISH MEMBERSHIP IN THE EU.
ON THE ORIGINS OF PROVERBS.
WAS KOMITAS A TURK?
THE FALLACY OF CENSORSHIP.
************************************************
In an interview published in LE POINT (Paris, August 12, 2004) Pierre Moscovici, a member of the European Parliament, cites the following three reasons why Turkey cannot be admitted into the European Union: "The role of the military on the margins of the regime;
the rights of minorities, notably that of the Kurds; and
the recognition of the Armenian genocide - this final point is for me decisive."
*
If "to kill with words is also murder" (German proverb), who among us will dare to plead not guilty to the crime of massacre?
*
Anonymous: "Let not your tongue cut your throat."
*
More and more frequently now, in English-language books of quotations, Armenian proverbs are identified as Turkish. Since no one has ever come forward and said: "I was there when this proverb was first spoken," I suppose, any nation can identify a proverb as its own. The same applies to the origin of dishes and folk tunes.
*
I remember to have read somewhere that in some Turkish reference works Komitas is identified as a Turkish musician, I suppose, in the same way that Mikoyan and Khachaturian are identified as "Soviet," Saroyan as "American," and Adamov as "French." But since present-day Turkey has disassociated itself from its Ottoman past and its many crimes against humanity, it would be more accurate to use the qualifier "Ottoman" in reference to Armenian proverbs and personalities who were active in Istanbul before World War I.
*
By silencing a writer and suppressing his testimony, censorship attempts to arrest the advance of time, but the best it can do is to slow it down and to postpone the final catastrophe.
*
Whenever I reflect that a fellow Armenian, who insults me or bans me from a forum, would have betrayed me to the authorities or put a bullet in my neck in a different time, place, and regime, I feel like celebrating.
*
To how many of my Armenian critics I could say: "Your aim is not to contradict but to murder with words."
#
Saturday, September 18, 2004
***********************************
ON PROPAGANDA AND
RELATED ATROCITIES.
*********************************
Propaganda is the enemy of literature because literature is the enemy of propaganda.
*
Speechifiers and sermonizers are not used to being contradicted.
*
One of our elder statesmen once told me: "Why do you bother replying to your readers? F*** them!" To which I remember to have replied: "No, I refuse to adopt our leaders as my role models."
*
I write brief sentences to fit the attention span of my readers. To write long paragraphs would be like serving gourmet dishes to addicts of junk food.
*
When a jackass brays he does not expect to have the applause of his audience. But if the jackass is an Armenian he is sure to think his braying is as good if not better than an aria from DON GIOVANNI or THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.
*
I grew up among survivors of the massacres who spoke Turkish among themselves. They had no illusions about their fellow men regardless of nationality. They may have been functional illiterates but they had an instinctive understanding of the role of destiny in human affairs. They didn't make a career of hatred and a full-time job of the massacres. If someone had said to them, by writing books, newspaper articles and letters to the editor, or by delivering speeches and sermons we may be able to persuade the Turks to apologize, they would have looked at him in silent astonishment as if to say: "Of the forty-four types of insanity I have heard about, this must be one of them."
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, September 19, 2004
*********************************
SCHOOLS OF ARMENIAN CRITICISM.
*******************************************
Armenian critics come in all sizes and shapes. A tentative classification follows.
*
The Partisan: Every word he utters is a result of conditioning.
*
The Hooligan: He slings mud on a windy day and he is too dumb to know that the mud will boomerang.
*
The Kibitzer: A smart-ass whose sole ambition in life is to appear better informed rather than to know or understand better.
*
The Fanatic: His brain is so narrow that he is incapable of entertaining more than one idea at a time, and the idea he entertains is either a prejudice or a fallacy.
*
The Garbage-mouth: Imagine a skunk with bad breath that insists on getting up-close and personal.
*
The Parrot: One who operates on the assumption that if he repeats what his daddy, schoolteacher, or parish priest told him when he was a little boy, he can't be far out.
*
The Pontiff: He can say or do no wrong because he knows better; and he knows better because he is better; and he is better because he is in constant touch with the Holy Ghost.
*
The Stalinist: A frustrated commissar of culture who puts a bullet in your neck and calls it dialectic.
*
The dogmatist: He believes every inanity he utters is the alpha and omega of human thought from the ancient Greeks to the present.
*
The Born-again: He has made a religion of patriotism and believes faith can move mountains even though so far he has done nothing to move the dunghill in his backyard.
*
The Phony: He recycles a line from the morning editorial and expects to be taken for a pundit.
*
The Hypocrite or the Forked-tongue: He believes as long as he says the opposite of what he really feels and thinks, he will be on safe ground.
*
The Fundamentalist: He identifies his verbal crapola with Holy Writ.
*
Question: Is it a waste of time reading these critics?
Answer: No, if you want to understand why our past and present are a disaster area and why the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train with a toxic cargo.
*
To those who say, "If you want your readers to respect you, you should respect them." I say, I am not in the business of respecting the irrational, the irresponsible, the phony, the pretentious, and the dishonest. I am in the business of exposing them.
*
And if you were to say, "Why is it that you are the only writer who has such a negative and pessimistic view of our reality?" I will say: No, I am not, not by a long shot! Three generations of Armenian writers before me were brutally cut down before they had a chance to sound the alarm: first time in the Ottoman Empire by Talaat, second time in Soviet Armenia by Stalin, and third time in the Diaspora by our partisans. So much so that I have heard even our chauvinists admit that we have no more literary giants, only contemptible midgets.
*
But in all fairness to our lost writers, many of them predicted the coming catastrophe and were ignored whenever they were not murdered. Shahnour and Massikian come to mind; and Zarian, who said: "Our political parties have been of no political use to us. Their greatest enemy is free speech"; and "Armenians survive by cannibalizing one another." Also to be noted: Zarian ended a chapter in his TRAVELLER AND HIS ROAD , written in the 1930s, with the words, "Vdank, vdank, vdank!" (Danger, danger, danger!) If that's not an S.O.S., I should like to know what is.
#
Monday, September 20, 2004
************************************
ANALYZING FANATICS.
INSURANCE CLAIMS OF GENOCIDE VICTIMS.
LIES THAT FLATTER AND TRUTHS THAT HURT.
************************************************** ****
To understand some Armenians it helps to read Muslim pundits on their fellow Muslims, because fanatics are fanatics regardless of national origin.
According to Chahdortt Djavann, an Iranian writer and author of a book titled WHAT DOES ALLAH THINK OF EUROPE? "Islam is a closed system that excludes non-Muslims and condemns to death all apostates…. In the Muslim world, Islam has confiscated all thinking. There is no such thing as a thought that is not religious…. [Muslim intellectuals are silent] because the alternative would be to question the legitimacy of the Koran…. Islamists know how to convert the frustrations of the young to religious energy," (LE POINT, Paris, August 26, 2004).
*
On the subject of reparations and insurance claims, I read the following in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "The international Commission of Holocaust Era Insurance Claims offered victims $41.5 million in settlements while lavishing more than $40 million in expenses on itself. Neal Sher, head of the commission's Washington office, resigned after an investigation found that he has misappropriated funds. He was later disbarred." Had he been an Armenian, I thought, he would have run for office and would now be the Armenian minister of foreign affairs, perhaps even the prez."
*
To some Armenians the word "kind" might as well be a four-letter word in a foreign tongue.
*
An Armenian says, "Turks are evil and Armenians good." A Turk says, "Armenians are evil and Turks good." Both are believed by millions of their fellow countrymen because a lie that flatters will always enjoy more popularity than a truth that hurts; and because I refuse to be a brown-noser, I have acquired many enemies who would like to see me silenced permanently.
*
But I shouldn't complain because if it weren't for my enemies I would probably have no faithful readers and a steady source of inspiration. As for readers who agree with me: I wouldn't be in the least surprised if I bore them to death. I too would be bored with a writer who tells me nothing I don't already know.
#
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
********************************
A FAILED EXPERIMENT?
DOUBLE UNDERDOGS.
INDIANS AND FORKED TONGUES.
*************************************
"Armenia is a failed experiment," a friend keeps telling me, "and writing for Armenians a waste of time." Is he right? I am not sure. One reason I continue to write for Armenians is that, as an underdog, I prefer to write for underdogs - make it, as a double-underdog, I prefer to write for double-underdogs. Because, if you didn't already know, we happen to be underdogs not only of Turkish barbarism and Western hypocrisy but also of our own incompetent leadership.
*
Consider our revolutionaries at the turn of the last century: they knew massacres to be a strong possibility, and yet, they didn't have a plan B. They may have had a plan B for themselves (as in the Ottoman Bank caper) but not for the civilians. And they should have had not only a plan B, C, D, and E but also X, Y, and Z. But the fact remains: they did not. And what was bound to happen, happened.
*
And consider our present situation. What's their plan B, or, for that matter, plan A, to arrest the exodus from the Homeland and the assimilation in the Diaspora ? - two ongoing processes that have been described as "white massacres." Again, they may have a plan B for themselves, as they did the first time around…and having survived the massacres, they published copious memoirs in which they portrayed themselves as heroes and dedicated servants of the nation. How to explain their failures? Elementary, my dear Watson. They blamed the West for its double talk (as if there ever was a time in recorded history when the West had not spoken with a forked tongue) and the Turks for their bloodthirsty disposition (as if that came as a surprise too).
*
Speaking of forked tongues: that's how American Indians described all white men long before our massacres. Which may suggest that our own leaders did not know what Indians knew before them. Why should we be surprised if a high-ranking Turkish diplomat is quoted as having said to Bush Sr. during a visit to the White House: "Armenians are our Indians." Thus implying, "If you tried to exterminate your Indians, why shouldn't we exercise the same right when it comes to our own?" And, "If you can speak with a forked tongue, why can't we?"
#
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
***********************************
NATURAL-BORN KILLERS.
SOCRATES ON GODS.
THE NEGATIVE AND THE POSITIVE.
ARMENIAN POLITICS.
********************************************
An Armenian is a natural-born verbal killer. Zarian put it best when he said, "An Armenian's tongue is sharper than a Turk's yataghan." Who among us will dare to plead not guilty to the charge of verbal massacre?
*
When an Armenian from Lebanon and an Armenian from Iran (or anywhere else for that matter) converse in English, nuances are bound to collide, explode, and maim innocent bystanders.
*
Socrates, who has been described as "the big-bang of Western philosophy," once said what needs to be said of all religions: "Of the gods, we know nothing." (See Plato, CRATILUS). Which is why, when it comes to religions, we should have more questions than answers. Which is also why, he who speaks in the name of God should be declared a certified charlatan, a pathological impostor, and a fraud.
*
Everything has been said before. There is nothing new under the sun. Originality now consists in saying, or rather quoting, the right word at the right time and place.
*
Patriotic sentiments spring from the gut and appeal to the gut without a detour to the brain. Unless, of course, you say, "My patriotism is good, but my enemy's patriotism is evil."
*
To those who accuse me of negativism, I ask: "If to expose charlatanism is positive and to cover it up negative, are you not the negative one?"
*
I remember, whenever I would submit an essay dealing with our present situation to the late editor of ARARAT Quarterly, he would reject it with the words, "I don't want to get involved in Armenian politics," as if Armenian politics were a pestilential swamp better left alone than drained.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, September 23, 2004
**********************************
DISAGREEMENT - ARMENIAN STYLE.
THE LANGUAGE OF PROPAGANDA.
FOUR RULES WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS.
***********************************************
There is a type of reader who disagrees with me long before he has read the first word of the first line. Such a reader is a critic only in the sense that a cobra is a critic of a mongoose and vice versa. Some cases in point follow.
*
"You don't always mention your sources. Is it because you have none to back up your ridiculous assertions and theories?"
More often than not my sources are anonymous readers like yourself whom I sometimes identify as Jack S. Avanakian.
*
"None of your explanations makes sense to me. Why do you insist on wasting your time and ours?"
Perhaps you would like to share your wisdom with us, and if you have none to spare, perhaps you would care to mention another writer we could all read with profit. I hate to think I am the only game in town. Surely, our people deserve better than that.
*
To the gentle reader who tells me, "Haven't you got anything better to do than produce a steady flow of waste matter every day?" I can only say: What's a major intellect like you reading a minor scribbler like me?
*
It has been the destiny of Armenian writers to live among foreigners who don't give a damn about Armenian literature, and Armenians who care more about the false certainties of propaganda and less about the honest uncertainties of literature.
*
Power can speak only one language, that of propaganda. This is true of political as well as religious power. And propaganda and truth are as mutually exclusive as fire and water.
*
My source about the above assertion: life in three different countries - the first predominantly Orthodox (Greece); the second Catholic (Italy) and the third Protestant (Canada) all claiming to have a monopoly on truth, and when asked for proof, all pleading faith, the way cold-blooded murderers plead insanity.
*
All rules have exceptions, except the following four:
Where there are laws, they will be broken.
Where there are principles, they will be corrupted.
Where there is an ideological movement, it will be confiscated by power-hungry cynical manipulators whose number one concern will be number one.
And (I owe the following to Toynbee): Where there are chosen people, they will have been chosen by no one but themselves.
#
Friday, September 24, 2004
********************************
WARNING.
ENFER DE MERDE.
THE LESSONS OF HISTORY.
PUNDITS & DUPES.
ON INFALLIBILITY.
************************************
In order not to be misunderstood, one must express the same thought in different ways, and the more ways, the narrower the gap open to misinterpretation.
*
What I am about to say you may have heard or read before. Feel free not to read what follows.
*
The world is an enfer de merde or a cesspool of conflicting interests and belief systems because, (one) only historians learn from history; (two) they invariably draw contradictory lessons; (three) they don't have the power to put into practice what they have learned; and (four) if they had the power, the world would be in a worst mess.
*
We are all authorities on at least one subject: what's good for us, and more often than not, we are dead wrong.
*
Where there is disagreement, either one or, more often than not, both sides are wrong, because any dupe can say, "my side is right," and have a counterpart in the opposition who says the same thing.
*
If we agree that what we don't know far exceeds what we know, or "of the gods we know nothing" (Socrates), or "we cannot answer the most important questions" (Chekhov), it follows, to assume being consistently right or infallible must be just about the surest symptom of being consistently wrong. This must be true not only of Muslims who speak in the name of Allah, but also of Catholics who speak in the name of the Pope, or partisans who speak in the name of the Party, or dupes who at one time or another spoke in the name of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Saddam, and countless others who pretended to know better.
*
If millions, perhaps even billions, have been wrong in the past, who among us will dare to pretend to be right or to know better?
#
Saturday, September 25, 2004
***********************************
FROM AN AFRICAN NOVEL.
MORE ON WRITERS AND COMMISSARS.
ON ARMENIAN IDENTITY.
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE.
OUR PANCHOONIE RACKET.
GOD, OUR FATHER.
************************************************
From a contemporary African novel: "as ugly and dirty as a hyena's anus."
*
No one and nothing can be as contemptible as a writer in an environment dominated by commissars of culture. Which is why I prefer to identify myself as a concerned citizen. And if, on occasion, I have committed the unforgivable blunder of calling myself a writer, it has been only in the sense of one who uses the written word as a means of communication - as in "the writer of this memo."
*
If you chart the family tree of a commissar of culture, you are sure to find at least two hangmen, three cold-blooded murderers, several career criminals, and a minimum of a dozen jailbirds.
*
In a non-democratic environment one cannot speak of the voice of the people ("vox populi") which has been identified in the past with the voice of god ("vox dei"). One can speak only of the voice of an elite or a power structure, which is more akin to the voice of the Devil. And now, consider the fact that throughout our millennial history we have at no time experienced democratic rule. Even in democratic environments like the United States, France and Canada, we are dominated by non-representative cliques that are as representative as exclusive clubs. As for the so-called democracy in Armenia today: it is as representative as a criminal gang or a mafia.
*
An Armenian born and raised in the United States will share more in common with his fellow Americans than with an Armenian born and raised in the USSR. Most Armenians today might as well be foreigners to one another. But whereas the laws of the land promote solidarity in America (which is also populated by foreigners), the absence of similar laws or values in our case moves us in opposite directions, namely, mutual mistrust, alienation, and assimilation.
*
The only time an Armenian will speak of brotherhood is when he goes into the business of raising funds, which I like to call our "Panchoonie racket."
*
I am willing to concede that even if god doesn't exist, we should live as though he did, otherwise we may end up slaughtering one another. But man, it seems, is so predisposed to slaughter that he will slaughter even in the name of a merciful and compassion god.
*
The aim of propaganda, it has been said, is to deceive your friends, not your enemies. Imagine, if you can, a Turk falling for our chauvinist crapola….
*
After being verbally abused by our commissars and partisans (but I repeat myself) I can truly testify to the fact that an Armenian's tongue can be "sharper than a Turk's yataghan" (Zarian) and uglier than a hyena's anus.
#

[sleuth]

Sunday, June 20, 2004
*****************************


Truth may be beyond our reach but lies are within us; all we have to do
is recognize, name, and reject them.
#

I really do like your writings,but i bet i read this one before.

*Truth may be beyond our reach but lies are within us; all we have to do
is recognize, name, and reject them.* Mikhail Bakunin

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, September 26, 2004
**********************************
INFORMATION AND WISDOM.
LITTLE BOYS AND BIG BOYS.
ON THE COMPLEXITIES OF LIFE.
ON LOSING AN ARGUMENT.
ON FICTION.
****************************************
There is a natural tendency in all of us to overestimate the wisdom of someone who knows something we don't know, or to confuse information with wisdom.
*
Everyone knows something no one knows, even if what he knows is about himself and his experiences.
*
Little boys brag about things they haven't done or cannot do. Big boys brag about things they neither know nor understand, all the while hoping no one can tell if they are bragging.
*
In life, the crucified do not always rise on the third day.
*
A bishop will never lose an argument if losing it would mean defrocking himself. Neither will a born-again lose an argument if losing it would mean being dead again.
*
Reality or life is a succession of false starts, vicious circles, and dead-ends. Faith or a belief system allows us to think otherwise by reducing life to a one-dimensional operation in which all questions have answers, the end is predictable, and man is subject to rigid laws. In other words, a belief system is a program and a believer is one who constantly programs himself in order to eliminate the uncertain, the irrational, and the incomprehensible by means of prayer and ritual, also known as incantation and mumbo jumbo.
*
There is a visible as well as an invisible universe. Great many questions about the visible universe remain unanswered. As for the invisible: we know nothing about it. We don't even know if it is an extension of the visible. To believe means to reduce the mystery of reality by assuming that since we know the Creator, we need all we need to know about His creation. I am somewhat simplifying things, but not as much as a man of faith simplifies reality.
*
Every novel has a central theme or thesis, which can be expressed in a single sentence or brief paragraph. I speak only of themes because I have a horror of boring my readers with imaginary characters, landscapes and dialogue. When I was a child, words like "Once upon a time," were pure magic. But I am no longer a child, and dark forests, castles, palaces and beautiful princesses no longer exercise the same spell on me. And it is beyond me why anyone would be interested to read such an opening sentence as "The bell rang and I went to the front and opened the door," or "It was on my wanderings that I first met my beloved."
*
Fine sentiments and thoughts should be expressed either in a fine style or with the utmost simplicity, because even a hint of pretentiousness may expose the writer as a counterfeit.
*
It has been observed that even when our words have wings they may fly in unpredictable directions.
#

Monday, September 27, 2004
*************************************
WHEN BELIEF SYSTEMS CLASH.
PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED.
HOW TO JUDGE A NEW IDEA.
REALITY AND PROPAGANDA.
EXPLOITING DUPES.
******************************************
It is a mistake to judge a belief system on its own terms. It is only when it clashes with other belief systems that it arouses the irrational and the crocodilian in man.
*
If I had a choice between a hundred readers who don't agree with me and ten readers who do, I would choose the hundred for the very simple reason that there is no merit in preaching to the converted.
*
One of the worst mistakes we can make is to approach a new idea with the question: "Is it for us or against us?" We should ask instead: Does it make sense? Does it appeal to our reason or to our emotions? Is it consistent with established facts?
*
Whenever a reader writes that he enjoys reading me, I cannot help reflecting that I must be doing something wrong. I don't write for anyone's enjoyment.
*
The best way to see the discrepancy between reality and propaganda is to study history and compare what happened with what was said by politicians on both sides of the conflict.
*
The astonishing ease with which most people believe their side of the story and the ruthless cynicism with which leaders on both sides exploit this human weakness.
*
Islam says, "If the enemy is an infidel, he deserves to be slaughtered." Christianity says, "If Almighty God is on our side, we can't lose." The clash of these two belief systems resulted in the senseless slaughter of nearly two million Armenians. I am not saying religion was the main cause of our genocide, but I hope no one will disagree with me if I say it was a contributing factor.
#
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
**********************************
ON THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
A MONUMENT TO HUMAN DEGRADATION.
THE AIM OF CRITICISM.
***********************************************
As a child I was brought up to believe all prayers are eventually answered. If we assume that to be true, we must also assume that the millions of innocent civilians who were senselessly slaughtered during two world wars did not pray hard enough; and they did not pray hard enough probably because their faith in God was not of sufficient strength to meet God's standards. Which also means that in some minimal way, they contributed to their own demise. This type of thinking is another proof of the fact that organized religions, and men of faith in general, are first and foremost in the business of dehumanizing not only their fellow men but also diminishing God. Because, if you think about it, what kind of God would allow children to be slaughtered simply because He was disappointed in the quantity and quality of their prayers? But then, what kind of God would ask a decent father to butcher his own son (see GENESIS) to test his loyalty? Can God be so insecure as to be in need of a poor mortal's loyalty? And if He knows everything, shouldn't he already know the answers to His own questions?
*
The most underdeveloped countries are also the most religious. Two cases in point: Mexico and India. Where religion plays a central role, there will also be poverty, disease, corruption, prejudice, ignorance, and overpopulation. Are we to assume Mexican and Indian children deserve their fate because their parents did not pray hard enough?
*
If Armenians were slaughtered because they more or less deserved it, does that mean the Turks did what they did with God's consent? Or perhaps Sultan Abdulhamid II and Talaat were His messengers?
*
I read in today's paper that Taj Mahal (described as "a monumental love nest" and "India's most famous monument") was built 350 years ago. When I think of Taj Mahal I do not consider its beauty but the degradation of poor anonymous laborers who worked on its constructions to memorialize the love of two individuals who should have been hanged from the nearest tree for their arrogance and greed for immortality.
*
Only the abysmally ignorant view criticism as an expression of hostility rather than concern.
#
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
************************************
FATHERS AND CHILDREN.
MUD IS MUD.
IN PRAISE OF MODERATION.
**************************************
As children we trust our elders and accept their simple answers to our questions. As adults we continue to behave like children when we are told patriotism or nationalism is good only when it is ours; or the word "homeland" is sacred only when it refers to our own homeland; or again, our mud is better than someone else's.
*
Silence contains the worst lies as well as the best truths.
*
The difference between a fanatic and a moderate is that a moderate suspects there are two sides to every question and if he is honest and objective he may have a better chance to understand reality.
*
If a writer cannot change our perception of reality, he might as well identify himself as an entertainer.
*
Never insult an Armenian writer: being one is insult enough.
#

[arabaliozian]

I really do like your writings,but i bet i read this one before.

*Truth may be beyond our reach but lies are within us; all we have to do
is recognize, name, and reject them.* Mikhail Bakunin

If Bakunin said that, he was the first to say it.
i am thrilled to know that Bakunin and I share something in common!/ ara

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, September 30, 2004
**********************************
BUDDHA, SOCRATES, JESUS.
THE SEMANTICS OF RELIGION,
PHILOSOPHY, AND MYSTICISM.
GOOD AND EVIL.
GOD AND THE DEVIL.
************************************************** **
Abandon old habits of thought. Do not even think in terms of good and evil, or right and wrong. Forget what you were taught. Get rid of all preconceptions: that's the only way to grasp reality. This indeed is the central message of Buddhism.
*
Now compare this with Christianity's "Love your enemy," - an idea so new, so strange, and so much against the grain that after two thousand years of countless sermons in countless churches it has yet to penetrate our crocodilian brain. The only way to understand it is by abandoning all definitions, because (according to the recent academic discipline of semantics) words and their definitions are at the root of all our misconceptions and prejudices.
*
Abandoning all definitions: that's also the mantra adopted by Socrates. In his dialogues Socrates begins by stating that he knows nothing and ends by proving that his interlocutors know even less. And who are his interlocutors? Generals, statesmen, philosophers - in short, la crème de la crème of Athenian society at the peak of its Golden Age. As the dialogues unfold, Socrates makes it abundantly clear that the commonly accepted definitions of such terms as justice, goodness, beauty, and courage are full of inconsistencies and contradictions.
*
What I am trying to say here has been said before by far better men than myself, among them Aldous Huxley in his PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY, and Arnold Toynbee in the 10th volume of his STUDY OF HISTORY. The aim of all religions, schools of philosophy and mysticism is the same. It is only when religions acquire a power structure, a hierarchy and bureaucracy, rituals and mumbo jumbo that they betray the original intent of their founders and become instruments of the devil by legitimizing intolerance, fallacies, prejudice, hatred, war and massacre.
#
Friday, October 01, 2004
******************************
ON FANATICS
**********************
Fanatics are not born but made, and what makes them are fanatics in the opposite camp. Armenian fanatics exist today because Turkish fanatics existed yesterday; and Turkish fanatics will exist tomorrow because Armenian fanatics exist today. Fanaticism is an endless cycle and if allowed to prevail, the world is bound to drown in blood.
*
When fanatics fight, it is the defenseless and the innocent who die.
*
All fanatics operate on a number of false assumptions or illusions, among them: (one) they are the only answer to a very important question; (two) they are not fanatics but realistic moderates who understand the nature of the adversary; (three) they are instruments of a noble principle or even messengers of God; and (four) they are la crème de la creme (rather than la crème de la scum).
*
One reason the Bible is a perennial best seller is that there is something for everyone in it. Good men will find many passages that speak of compassion, mercy, forgiveness, tolerance, and love, and bad men will find many more lines that justify criminal conduct, including the massacre not only of enemy tribes, including their women and children, but also their cattle. Hence Shakespeare's dictum: "Even the devil can quote the Scriptures to his advantage."
*
One of my born-again critics - make it, crypto-commissars or frustrated executioners parading as devout Christians - writes: "There was a time when we burned blasphemers like you at the stake."
*
If "a bourgeois is a bourgeois regardless of nationality"(Lenin), so is a fanatic. A Muslim fanatic and a Christian fanatic might as well be interchangeable, faceless units that share the same ambition: to drag the world back to the Middle Ages and to hell with such degenerate Western concepts as democracy, human rights, free speech, and the separation of church and state.
*
For every proud Armenian, there are probably ten or more proud Turks. In a battle of prides, we don't have a chance. Which is why I prefer to identify myself as a humble human being that has no use for pride.
*
Where there is chauvinist pride, there will also be self-righteous arrogance, intolerance, hatred, fanaticism, and inevitably bloodshed.
#
Saturday, October 02, 2004
******************************
WE ARE ALL ASSASSINS
********************************
From an interview with Yan Moix, a contemporary French author: "There is only one reason that prevents us from behaving like animals: the laws of the land. Without laws we would behave like wild beasts in the jungle." (LE POINT, September 2, 2004).
*
Where there is power, it will be abused. This might as well be one of those rare rules that have no exceptions.
*
Knowledge is power. But so is phony knowledge, which can be even more dangerous than abysmal ignorance. By phony knowledge I have in mind the kind that we ascribe to religious leaders, be they popes, ayatollahs or gurus.
*
Think of the countless heretics who were persecuted, tortured and killed by the Church on the grounds that church leaders knew God's will or the workings of the divine mind better than their victims.
*
Closer to home: consider the ease with which we verbally abuse one another on the Internet simply because the computer gives us the power to do so.
*
I remember the title of a 1952 French film directed by Andre Cayatte, NOUS SOMMES TOUS DES ASSASSINS (We Are All Assassins) that became a widely used slogan. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that a fraction of our brain is crocodilian, (students of anatomy tell us this to be literally true), and it will seize the flimsiest excuse to take over our "human" brain.
*
If a Pope of Rome and a Stalin can behave like ruthless killers in the name of a religion of love or an ideology based on the brotherhood of all men, who among us will plead not guilty or pretend that his brain has no crocodilian fraction?
*
The Turks massacred us because they had the power to do so. Does that mean we wouldn't have done the same to them if our positions had been reversed? To put it differently: Is the crocodilian fraction of the Turkish brain bigger than ours? Or, are all men assassins except us?
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, October 03, 2004
************************************
FROM THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION
TO THE GRAVEYARD OF BARBARIANS
***********************************************
What if Saddam Hussein understands his own people better than the ablest American expert advising Bush? What if the only way to govern Iraq is by being a ruthless dictator willing to conduct genocidal war against unruly tribes? What if this is true of all tribal people, including Armenians? Hence the often-heard line: "We are not yet ready for democracy." Is it conceivable that the cradle of civilization prefers a political system worthy of murderous barbarians?
*
In his book on Stalin, Montefiore writes that Mikoyan once delivered a speech in which he said: "Every citizen of the USSR should be an NKVD [later KGB] agent."
*
Censorship is book burning without smoke and fire.
*
The only way to make money as a writer, Flaubtert once said, is by flattering the public. Zohrab put it more bluntly when he said, anyone can engage in prostitution, including lawyers (he was a lawyer). Which reminds me of the American joke: "Please, don't tell my mother I am a lawyer. She thinks I am a pimp."
*
An authentic charlatan knows instinctively that if he wants to deceive others, he must begin with himself. In other words, he consents to being his own first victim.
*
The incomprehensible nonsense of a charlatan will be the highest wisdom to another charlatan.
*
Charlatans operate on the assumption that they can fool all the people all the time. This false assumption limits their horizons, condemns them to mediocrity, and leads them to disappointment and defeat when they are finally and inevitably exposed.
*
When I write about charlatans I don't expect their agreement; and sure enough, out come the cloven hooves.
#
Monday, October 04, 2004
************************************
SOLUTIONS.
ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS.
WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
A PROBLEM OF IDENTITY.
**********************************
As for solutions to our problems, it is not easy finding solutions in a tribal environment dominated by jihadist leaders who will automatically reject all solutions that do not require the unconditional surrender of the opposition.
*
Do you really know what I think of politicians? I think the world would not be a much worse place if it were run by cab drivers and barbers.
*
I suspect the honesty of chauvinists whose patriotism finds expression only in verbal abuse.
*
About the word happiness: I consider it to be an untrustworthy word. Happiness for a sadist means someone he can torture. The problem is, what if, unable to find a masochist, he victimizes someone who may not be in a position to defend himself?
*
To think in terms of, "If he agrees with me he is smart, and if he disagrees with me he is a fool," is to condemn oneself to learn nothing from others.
*
The search for identity, about which one hears a great deal today, is a luxury only people with full bellies can afford. To the hungry, there is only one legitimate search, that for food. The hungry may find what he is looking for but I doubt if a man without identity will ever find one, perhaps because you can find only that which exists.
*
There is a type of Armenian whose primary concern is to prove he is a better Armenian, as if Armenianism were a contest that he must win at all cost.
#
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
*******************************
FROM MY DIARY
*********************************
On the Bush/Kerry debate, a Canadian pundit comments: "Kerry made more sense but I would vote for Bush. Kerry is an intellectual who seems to be talking down to people. Americans are suspicious of intellectuals. They prefer presidents who are more like themselves." What about Wilson, FDR, JFK, and LBJ? It seems to me, what one expects from a leader, or for that matter, a doctor, a lawyer, or any professional, is not companionship but competence.
*
On the radio, the haunting slow movement of Elgar's Cello Concerto, which deserves to be heard as often as Dvorjak's and Haydn's. And I don't even remember when was the last time I heard Khachaturian's Cello Concerto. Was it ten or twenty years ago?
*
When asked if she had ever considered divorce, an English lady is said to have replied: "No, never. Murder several times, but divorce, never." I read this in Jeffrey Archer's PRISON DIARY, not a masterpiece but eminently readable.
*
Why is it that a silent woman looks wise, but a silent man dumb?
*
Unbelievable but true: Suleiman the Magnificent once wrote a poem in praise of a contemporary Turkish poet.
*
Is the word mogul related in any way to the word Mongol?
#
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
*************************************
ANOTHER PAGE FROM MY DIARY
***************************************
Overheard: "Lost my wife ten years ago. Run over by a car. Best thing that happened to me."
*
Nothing gives me more pleasure than a volume of good cartoons. A definition of heaven for me would be a set of good cartoons that stretch to infinity; and a definition of hell, a set of bad translations of German metaphysical philosophers.
*
Schnabel playing Beethoven: He makes even the most tedious passages (and there are so many of them in the G Major Sonata) interesting.
*
Perhaps one reason we feel guilty when accused of a crime we did not even contemplate committing is that, at one time or another, we have probably committed the most unspeakable crimes in our dreams, most of which we may not remember.
*
At the funeral of an elder relative I am introduced to quite a few out-of-town Armenians, one of whom tells me: "Your name sounds vaguely familiar." I am reminded of an old English joke that goes something like this: Two Englishmen meet in a pub.
"My name is Porter," says the first.
"Mine is Shakespeare," says the other.
"A familiar name," comments the first.
"It should be," replies the second. "I have been delivering milk in these parts for 35 years."
*
Is it possible to be a political or religious leader and not to engage in some form of propaganda? -- which also means, to mislead people into believing that half-lies are whole-truths?
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, October 07, 2004
*********************************
THEM AND US
***********************
Let me put it bluntly for a change.
The Turks are guilty of covering up our genocide (number of victims 1,500,000).
We are guilty of perpetrating two genocides, albeit of the "white" variant - (one) exodus from the Homeland (number of victims so far 1,500,000 and counting) and (two) assimilation in the Diaspora (number of victims many more than 1,500,000 and counting).
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my question to you is: Whose burden of guilt is heavier? Or, if you prefer: In what way are we different from them?
And before you answer that question, please take into consideration the following two factors: The Turks are motivated to cover up their crime by self-interest -- if they plead guilty as charged, they may lose a chunk of their homeland.
By contrast, we are so blinded by our incompetence, corruption and greed that we don't even bother asking: Who is going to defend the Homeland if it is depopulated?
#
Friday, October 08, 2004
********************************
FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
*********************************
I experience a state of mind that is akin to a combination of compassion, pity, self-disgust and helplessness whenever I see someone who is beyond my reach committing the same blunder that I committed twenty or thirty years ago.
*
We sometimes forget that those who disagree with us are also human beings, and like all human beings, they have their own set of blind spots and limitations as a result of a limited number of experiences. After all, who among us will claim he has experienced everything and he knows and understands everything?
*
As soon as I think I have explained a very small fraction of reality, something happens to remind me that I have been on the wrong track, and I must go back to square one and start from scratch.
*
A woman is just a woman to another woman. But she is pure magic and the promise of heavenly bliss to a man. The more distant and inaccessible she is the more powerful her spell. Which may explain why the Muslim version of heaven is much more irresistible to a sexually starving and voracious teenager than its Christian counterpart is to Christians of all ages.
#
Saturday, October 09, 2004
********************************
FROM MY DIARY
********************************
Whenever I am told "I love to read but I don't have the time," I translate it to mean, "I hate to read."
*
In his PRISON DIARY, Jeffrey Archer writes that some inmates are "genuinely evil," and others "congenitally stupid." But isn't that true of men on both sides of prison walls?
*
According to a Mahdi in today's paper: "Islam is a religion of peace. A true believer cannot be a terrorist." But what if the credo of a religion is contradicted by its history?
*
Newspaper headlines speak louder than sermons because "actions speak louder than words."
*
Are young terrorists innocent dupes? Yes, of course. But then, all followers are because, to paraphrase Krishnamurti, "If you follow someone, you cease following the truth," or "the Kingdom of God" which is within you.
*
Religions and ideologies survive and prosper because "there is a sucker born every day."
*
Belief systems create dupes because between a pleasant lie and a demanding truth, man will invariably choose the lie.
*
The winner of this year's Nobel Prize is announced. She is an Austrian novelist about whom I know nothing. Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, and Philip Roth must be three of the most disappointed men in the world today, except perhaps Saddam in his cell and Osama in his cave.
*
As soon as I sense where a sentence is leading, I skip the whole paragraph. I read as though I were about to catch a train. No patience with most 19th-century novels. Tried George Eliot and gave up after a dozen pages.
#

[curiousgeorg]

If one were to read this without ever meeting an Armenian before one would think that we were a rather horrible bunch, which is obvious nonsense. One could stereotype any nationality in a negative manner if one chose to do so. On the other hand all people need a writer that hates his own people and points out only their negative characteristics. The French have Jean Francois Ravel, Americans have Gore Vidal, Israelies had the late Israel Shahak; Ara Baliozian is ours. Of course if Mr. Baliozian was as good a writer as Gore Vidal he could be forgiven, alas he is to remain guilty as charged.

[sleuth]

If one were to read this without ever meeting an Armenian before one would think that we were a rather horrible bunch, which is obvious nonsense. One could stereotype any nationality in a negative manner if one chose to do so. On the other hand all people need a writer that hates his own people and points out only their negative characteristics. The French have Jean Francois Ravel, Americans have Gore Vidal, Israelies had the late Israel Shahak; Ara Baliozian is ours. Of course if Mr. Baliozian was as good a writer as Gore Vidal he could be forgiven, alas he is to remain guilty as charged.

pfft...Are you one of those who chooses pleasant lie??

[curiousgeorg]

pfft...Are you one of those who chooses pleasant lie??

About Armenians or the writing abilities of Baliozian?
I'm guessing Armenians. Is it a lie? I don't think so. I know plenty of wonderful Armenians, my self included I might add. lol.
To say that 99% of Armenians aren't smart and the one percent are nothing more than rug merchants, he didn't use that phrase but that's the stereotypical phrase used against the Armenian merchant class, is obvious nonsense. As for Armenians hating each other; if that was the case why in the world is the Diaspora sending crazy amounts of money to the Republic and Karabagh? Explain that to me please.

[sleuth]

About Armenians or the writing abilities of Baliozian?
I'm guessing Armenians. Is it a lie? I don't think so. I know plenty of wonderful Armenians, my self included I might add. lol.
.

I will just quote ARA:

We should remind ourselves once in a while, and the more frequently the better, that we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world and anyone who asserts or suggests or implies that he may well be an exception to this rule is one who cannot bear the weight of his imperfections and the dishonor of his blunders.

Georg it's really hard to bear the weight of imperfection.Get over from your wonderful SELF!! :)

If an odar criticizes us, we dismiss him as pro-Turkish. If an Armenian criticizes us, we call him an enemy of the people. We have no use for critics because we assume to be beyond criticism, and nothing makes us more vulnerable to criticism than this false assumption.(Ara)

Juts read and grasp.I have nothing more to add.



Conducting a civilized discussion is not exactly an Armenian art form. Here is a practical suggestion: state the facts as objectively as you can and let them speak for themselves. No need to engage in verbal abuse because insults cannot strengthen a weak case. On the contrary, they may expose it as untenable.

Simply genius!!

*To say that 99% of Armenians aren't smart and the one percent are nothing more than rug merchants, he didn't use that phrase but that's the stereotypical phrase used against the Armenian merchant class, is obvious nonsense.*

Here we go. Where did you get this? I bet it's your own evasive interpretation and this OBVIOUS NONSENSE dosen’t belong to Ara. This is simply humiliating and humiliation has brassy taste and smell.
His criticism is enlightening rather than belligerent. And it's not humiliating as you make it sound.

cheers.

[curiousgeorg]

I have never claimed Armenians are perfect human beings, myself included. And if you read my first post I stated clearly that all people need writers to point out their nationality's negative characteristics. Please read that first post. I'm not saying Ara is doing anything bad. I may disagree with his negative point of view, but I think what he is doing is a very healthy thing for the Armenian intelligentsia and culture. I'm just taking it all with a grain of salt.
About your quote by Ara saying that "[i]f an odar criticizes us, we dismiss him as pro-Turkish. If an Armenian criticizes us, we call him an enemy of the people" I have not called Ara an enemy of the people. I just [gasp] dare to think for myself and not hang on the words of an Armenian intellectual who likes to hate his own people.

And finally Mr. Baliozian said this:
"Armenians are smart!" A statement that consists in 99% wishful thinking and 1% cunning in the marketplace."
Now how am I misinterpreting this line not to say 99% of Armenians are stupid, yes that is the antonym of smart. And cunning in the marketplace is a loaded phrase that has been used to denigrate not just Armenians but Greeks and xxxs alike.

cheers, mate
P.S who said Armenians can't have a civilized argument? Sounds like another falsehood to me.

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, October 10, 2004
**********************************
"Armenians are smart." "Armenians are tolerant." "Armenians are progressive." I am astonished at the ease with which some Armenians spout similar clichés that are motivated more by self-flattery and less by objective judgment. Speaking for myself: when it comes to my fellow Armenians, I have more questions than answers, questions such as: "If suffering ennobles, why is it that we have among as such preponderance of loud-mouth charlatans who feel more at home in the gutter?"
*
In his latest novel, THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA, Philip Roth writes that he grew up "with a definition of the xxx as an object of ridicule, disgust, scorn, contempt, derision, of every heinous form of persecution and brutality." This might as well be how an Armenian writer feels among his "smart, tolerant, and progressive" fellow Armenians.
*
Between a short sentence and a long paragraph, sermonizers and speechifiers will invariably choose the paragraph and the longer the paragraph, the shorter the meaning, and the greater the distance from the truth.
*
Only Armenians who have been exposed to many sermons but have not read a single book by Raffi, Zabel Yessayan, Zohrab, Shahnour, Massikian, Zarian, and many other 19th- and 20th-century writers are convinced our Church has played a central role in our survival as a nation.
*
The only way to avoid controversy is to use words with contradictory meanings. If you think this can't be done, read James Joyce.
*
Judging by the popularity of religions and ideologies, the world seems to be populated by dupes who, when told 2+2=5, say, no, 2+2=22!
*
And speaking of our Church: I wonder, how many Armenians are familiar with Toynbee's classification of it as a "fossil" - meaning, brain-dead.
*
I read the following in a review of a recent biography of Jorge Luis Borges: "He insisted that he was part of a universal culture and refused to be pigeon-holed as an Argentine writer, though he was that, too, of course." I like that.
*
More about our Church. The question we should ask is: Do we believe the fellow with a full belly who speaks in the name of God, or the one who speaks for no one but his half-starving self?
#
Monday, October 11, 2004
*********************************
A routine occurrence in history: when they are underdogs, men of faith preach love, compassion and mercy; but when they are top dogs, they practice intolerance, hatred and murder.
*
On the roots of our own intolerance: after centuries of "Yes, sir!" to a long line of ruthless and alien lords and masters, we turn into control freaks among our fellow Armenians, banning, censoring, and verbally abusing anyone who refuses to say "Yes, sir!" to us.
*
If "there is a Turk in all of us," this Turk surfaces only when we deal with fellow Armenians. Hence, the familiar phenomenon of the Armenian who is a lamb among odars and a wolf among his fellow countrymen.
*
Am I right or wrong? Frankly, I am no longer consumed with the rage to prove myself right. I know that in the eyes of those who have programmed themselves to disagree with me, I will always be wrong. I also know that I am not qualified to deprogram Armenians. Nobody is!
*
Those who disagree with me today may agree with me tomorrow. When I was young, I too disagreed with many things with which I agree today.
*
Whenever something bad happens to me, I look for the silvery lining; and whenever, on those rare occasions, I find it, it turns out to have been a mirage. Once, I remember, I even found a positive aspect in our genocide. If it weren't for the massacres, I thought, we would now be breathing the same air as the Turks, we would be communicating in Turkish with one another, and we would be discussing such topics as the prospect of Turkey joining the EU. And needless to add, we would all be for it.
#
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
************************************
We all swim in a sea of uncertainty, doubt, and anxiety. We hunger for certainties, and when we can't find them, we invent them; and having invented them, we defend them - sometimes unto death.
*
Since the beginning of time men have sensed the presence of an invisible and incomprehensible power which they have called god. And in their efforts to make the invisible visible, and the incomprehensible accessible, they have invented an astonishing number of stories, myths, fables, legends, dogmas, rituals, and belief systems which they have called religions. But because they have failed repeatedly to explain the mystery, or, if you wish, to lower god to their own level, they have reached contradictory conclusions. The result has been a long series of disagreements, conflicts, and sometimes even wars and massacres.
*
It has been said that, man cannot create a single worm, yet, he has created ten thousand gods.
*
Where people can think for themselves, there will be disagreement. There will be disagreement even where people cannot think for themselves because they have been conditioned not to think but to parrot someone else's thoughts.
*
Disagreement in itself is not a problem. The real problem is how we deal with it. Do we see it as a symptom of heresy, blasphemy, or evil, or do we see it as the beginning of a dialogue that may lead to compromise and consensus, which does not mean agreement but working together -- as opposed to working at cross purposes and against one another. So far, religions have failed to follow the path of dialogue and consensus by asserting a monopoly on truth and by legitimizing intolerance.
#
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
************************************
When we use the word culture we think of art, literature, and music. We forget that culture springs from an invisible source within us. It is above all an expression of how we feel and think. Ignorance, intolerance and envy are not culture but barbarism.
*
There is ignorance, intolerance and envy everywhere, of course, but they don't set the tone and they don't animate institutions and their policies. Only cultures or societies that are on a downward path do that.
*
In a letter to the editor in this morning's paper I read: "God is love, yes, certainly! But God is also justice." The question is: What kind of justice are we talking about here? An-eye-for-an-eye justice, or love-your-enemy justice?
*
Sermonizers can't be contradicted because they speak on the authority of Scriptures that are full of contradictions.
*
There will come a time when theology and religions in general will be branches of study under psychopathology, like paranoia, schizophrenia, and mass hysteria. And churches will become museums as in Moscow, or movie theaters as in Venice.
*
I share my understanding with those who are in need for it. As for the others, they shouldn't even waste their valuable time reading me, because I have nothing to say to people who know and understand everything. And they have nothing to say to me either for the very simple reason that once upon a time I too knew and understood everything.
#

[arabaliozian]

i have at no time maintained to be as good a writer as Gore Vidal or Revel. But i think by good writing you mean the packaging not the content. Perhaps on the day i package my message in a more stylish manner my credibility will be enhanced in your eyes. But the content of my message will remain the same, no?

thank you for reading me! / ara

[curiousgeorg]

i have at no time maintained to be as good a writer as Gore Vidal or Revel. But i think by good writing you mean the packaging not the content. Perhaps on the day i package my message in a more stylish manner my credibility will be enhanced in your eyes. But the content of my message will remain the same, no?

thank you for reading me! / ara

Packaging is everything if you are a writer. Ideas are had by all people, but a good writer is able to take those ideas and make a piece of art out of it. A good example is Albert Camus. His Notebooks are brilliant; his style there was simply putting out his ideas in short form, like what you are doing on this webpage. But that was not great writing. Camus taking those ideas and writing :The Stranger" or "Exile and Kingdom", for example, made him a good writer. Putting out well though out ideas, which you do and I disagree with, is being an intellectual. Making art out of it is to be a good writer. Also, I hope you don't take this personally I am just putting my two cents in.

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, October 14, 2004
************************************
A prominent French philosophy (Gilles Deleuze) once said, what mankind needs more urgently than anything else is an objective and thorough analysis of human stupidity, "against which even the gods cannot compete" (Goethe).
*
When he runs for a second term, an American presidential candidate may have to defend or misrepresent or cover up four years of mismanagement and blunders. Imagine, if you can, a bishop or an imam defending centuries of intolerance, not to say, lies, sometimes even wars and massacres that have claimed millions of innocent lives.
*
We cannot explain the incomprehensible, neither can we describe the invisible, and god is both.
*
Truth is an endless search. He who claims he has found it, lies.
*
Truth, like god, is beyond our reach. The best we can do is move closer, and the only way we can do that is by exposing and discarding lies, especially the ones that say, god or truth is within our grasp.
*
A wise man once said: "I am willing to worship a man who says he is searching for the truth; but I will be glad to kill him if he says he found it."
*
When presidential candidates debate, they come very close to calling each other hypocrite and liar. I dread to think what bishops and imams will call one another if they ever debate.
*
Religion is something between you and your god. You don't need a mosque or cathedral in which to pray. Neither do you need a bishop or an imam who tells you he knows better because he speaks in the name of god.
*
He who says he understands the incomprehensible, lies. And he who says he can describe the invisible, is a fraud.
#
Friday, October 15, 2004
******************************
Imagine the following scenario: a clergyman in an isolated hicktown somewhere in America (remember DELIVERANCE) is caught torturing and burning at the stake those he views as heretics. Accused of serial killing, he is arrested and tried in a court of law. His lawyer pleads insanity even though the clergyman did what he did because he was following the dictates of his faith just as his medieval predecessors had done. Will the jury's verdict be guilty or not guilty?
*
As far as I know, no serious historian has ever ascribed the Inquisition to insanity. Which may suggest that there is no such thing as a clear and universal definition of insanity, insanity is relative, and insanity is in the eye of the beholder or an extension of the zeitgeist (spirit of the time).
*
I disagree. We can't adapt definitions to suit our prejudices even if these prejudices are ascribed to religious faith - especially to religious faith. I maintain there is rational conduct and irrational conduct, and the irrational becomes criminal when it claims innocent victims.
*
One reason I view religious insanity much more dangerous than individual insanity is that, individual insanity may lead to murder, but collective insanity may lead to war and massacre - remember Voltaire's dictum: "Since it was a religious war, there were no survivors."
*
Throughout history man (who is "wolf to other men") has always found a way to legitimize murder (or the crocodilian fraction of his brain) in the name of this or that higher principle.
*
Which is why to this day the Turks find it difficult to plead guilty to the charge of genocide. They did what they did because they were following their faith, they believed in the authority of their sultan (who spoke in the name of Allah) and his successors. The Sultan was to them what the Pope is to Catholics, and what English monarchs ("defenders of the faith") are to Brits.
*
If we justify religious insanity, or the crimes committed in the name of faith, then we must also agree with the Turks that our so-called genocide is a figment of our collective imagination. Or, the murder of innocent victims is not murder if it is committed in the name of God.
*
To those who say, we are not Asiatic barbarians and we no longer live in the Middle Ages, I say, in the eyes of jihadist Muslims, we are worse than that: we are degenerate giaours and riffraff who deserve to be exterminated.
#

[arabaliozian]

Packaging is everything if you are a writer. Ideas are had by all people, but a good writer is able to take those ideas and make a piece of art out of it. A good example is Albert Camus. His Notebooks are brilliant; his style there was simply putting out his ideas in short form, like what you are doing on this webpage. But that was not great writing. Camus taking those ideas and writing :The Stranger" or "Exile and Kingdom", for example, made him a good writer. Putting out well though out ideas, which you do and I disagree with, is being an intellectual. Making art out of it is to be a good writer. Also, I hope you don't take this personally I am just putting my two cents in.

guess what: i'd rather deal with an honest man than a good writer.

in the eyes of sartre, camus was a bad writer.
good writers are in the eye of the beholder.

but i say, to each his own.

if you are in search of good writers, there are so many of them.
why even bother wasting your valuable time on a minor and bad scribbler like myself?

i do hope it isn't in order to assert your superior literary tastes...beause that wouldn' make you an honest human being. one does not read in order to assert superiority...in case you were not aware of that.

but again, i thank you for reading me./ ara

[arabaliozian]

About Armenians or the writing abilities of Baliozian?
I'm guessing Armenians. Is it a lie? I don't think so. I know plenty of wonderful Armenians, my self included I might add. lol.
To say that 99% of Armenians aren't smart and the one percent are nothing more than rug merchants, he didn't use that phrase but that's the stereotypical phrase used against the Armenian merchant class, is obvious nonsense. As for Armenians hating each other; if that was the case why in the world is the Diaspora sending crazy amounts of money to the Republic and Karabagh? Explain that to me please.

i have at no time crticized ordinary armenians -- especially "wonderful armenians" like yourself. i criticize only charlatans and their dupes.
i do hope you are not one of them...because i have noticed that only charlatans and frauds take my critical remarks personally. / ara

[arabaliozian]

you truly ARE aboushin mege.
lol
WHO DOES THAT???

have we met before?
you sound very much like some armenians i know..../ara

[arabaliozian]

Saturday, October 16, 2004
**********************************
One way to have a balanced view of yourself is by trying to see yourself through the eyes of your enemy. If most people hate doing that it may be because they are too infatuated with their own positive image of themselves and they dread the prospect of seeing the negative. What if the enemy makes a good case?
*
To be infatuated with one’s own image is the surest symptom of being a dupe to propaganda.
*
A reader writes: “How do you know there will come a time when churches and mosques will become museums? Are you a prophet?”
No, I am not because I base my assertion on the past, on history and what is commonly known and accepted as fact. After all, is not the future an extension of the past? Consider the fate of Greek and Roman temples. Consider the fate of the 1001 churches of Ani. As recently as last year, 42 churches were closed down in the Detroit area. What happened to the mosques in Spain? And what will happen to the mosques in America when a weapon of mass destruction claims 100,000, perhaps even 1,000,000 victims, and the terrorist responsible for this holocaust is discovered to have found safe harbor in a mosque?
*
If, on the other hand, you assert that our religion, being superior to all others, is destined to shatter all historic precedents, I ask: “Are you saying that because that’s what you were told as a child or is it because you really think so?”
#
Sunday, October 17, 2004
*********************************
On the radio this morning, an interview with Jimmy Breslin, a well-known Irish-Catholic writer and the author of THE CHURCH THAT HAS FORGOTTEN CHRIST. When asked what he thought about good Catholics who believe in the Pope and go to church every Sunday, he replied: “They are sheep.” Next question: “You mean they can’t think for themselves?” “That’s right!”
*
Since I am in the business of exposing prejudices and fallacies, I am sometimes accused of having my share of them. If I do, I hope they are not those of a good Armenian or a good Christian, but those of an honest human being.
*
A good Armenian: Can anyone define him? It is not at all unusual for a good Armenian to be a bad Armenian in the eyes of another self-appointed good Armenian. The same could be said of a good Christian, a good Muslim, a good Protestant or a good Sunni.
*
Religion generates infidels. Where there are orthodoxies there will be heretics. And every ideology will have its share of dissidents, and sometimes the dissidents will be right and the ideologues dead wrong.
*
Where there are top dogs there will be underdogs. As an underdog of underdogs, or a double underdog, I don’t feel the need to identify myself with them. I am one of them.
*
Could an Armenian be a top dog in the Ottoman Empire or the Soviet Union without betraying not only a fraction of his Armenianism (however you care to define that label) but also his humanity?
*
The problem with labels is that they tend to reduce or even dehumanize the other. For an Armenian, the label Turk comes with a heavy burden of history, and we are all creatures of the past. But to be creatures of the past does not necessarily mean being its slaves.
*
When I wrote recently that a man does not need a cathedral in which to pray, a reader wrote: “How do you know? Why do you project your own predilections on others?” This reader may not be aware of the fact that it was the construction of a cathedral in Rome that split the Church into Catholics and Protestants, and this split was the cause of many wars, one of which lasted a hundred years.
*
Sometimes I feel like a Muslim among Christians, and like a giaour among jihadist Muslims. Some readers think what I say is so eccentric and odd that I might as well be an enemy of the people. I have every reason to suspect that these readers confuse spin and propaganda with fact and reality. Or, as Jimmy Breslin says, they think not like men but like sheep. They view the past and present, that is to say, reality, through the eyes of bishops, imams, and politicians. And the world continues to be in an unholy mess because people don’t trust their own judgment and prefer to accept the judgment of spinners and propagandists. But ignoring our judgment is also ignoring that which separates us from animals.
*
Propaganda dehumanizes. Political and religious leaders don’t say that because if they did, they would expose themselves as dehumanizers and the real enemies of mankind, and more precisely, wolves in shepherd’s clothing.
#

[arabaliozian]

Monday, October 18, 2004
***********************************
The human brain is designed to think, but more often than not, thinking is the last thing it does.
*
You cannot argue with City Hall, they say; neither can you argue with a bishop, or, for that matter, with a dogmatist, a fanatic, a monomaniac, a partisan, and in general, anyone with an axe to grind or has more power than you do.
*
You cannot argue with Turks either. Not that I have ever argued with one. But I have argued with Armenians. As a matter of fact, I have had many arguments with Armenians and I have lost all of them. Not only have I lost the arguments but also quite a few friends, not to say a fraction of my dignity.
*
Sometimes I ask myself: Why do I go on? And the only answer I can come with is that I don't know. I have no idea why I continue to argue with my fellow Armenians. It must be the Turk in me.
*
But I know something today that I didn't know before. Our side of the story is not the whole story. To think that it is, is to make the same mistake that Turks make when they think their side of the story is the whole story. I am a not implying truth is located somewhere in the middle. What I am trying to say is that, it is a mistake to think in any argument or conflict, one side is 100% right and the other 100% wrong.
*
You cannot have consensus without compromise, and consensus does not mean agreement but cooperation. This applies not only to Armeno-Turkish relations but also to Armeno-Armenian relations.
*
Our choice is between compromise and consensus on the one hand, and on the other, disagreement and feud to the end of time.
*
And now, let us pray: Our Father who art in heaven….
*
And, if you are not big on prayer, let us reason together. Let us, for a change, use our brain for the purpose it was designed.
#
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
**********************************
Whenever I read a favorable comment on Turks by a Western observer, I think: "What the hell does he know?" But more and more frequently now, the question I ask next is: "What the hell do I know?"
*
Is there a single imperial nation on the face of the earth and in the history of mankind that can plead not guilty to the charge of massacre?
*
When we think in terms of right and wrong, good and evil, lies and truth, love and hate, we, in a way, assume to live in a black-and-white world. But what if the colors of reality are closer to shades of gray?
*
So far we have concentrated our efforts on exposing Turkish crimes and Western lies to such an extent that we have ignored our own. Which is where I come in…. But what if I too have been so busy exposing our own prejudices and misconceptions that I have had no time to see my own? As a matter of fact, it is by observing my own prejudices that I began to see our collective lies.
*
Born and raised in a Tashnak neighborhood, educated in a chezok (Catholic) school, now living in a predominantly Protestant country among Ramgavar relatives, I have been exposed to a veritable supermarket of conflicting ideologies, religions, propaganda and lies.
*
We may agree on the number of our victims, but we agree on nothing else. What the hell do we know? That is our question.
#
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
***********************************
In one of our weeklies I read today that an Orthodox xxx spat on an Armenian archbishop in Jerusalem, and the archbishop reacted by slapping the xxx. This minor incident epitomizes all the aberrations that at one time or another have been committed in the name of god or religion.
*
God may be good, but his role in the history of mankind has been ambiguous. If god were accountable to a separate set of superior gods, he would need a dream-team of lawyers. Either that or plead insanity.
*
Socrates was condemned to death because he was accused of not respecting the gods of Athens. Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be the Messiah. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on religious grounds. Gandhi was assassinated by a fanatic Hindu. I could go on…
*
During the Soviet era, Ramgavars supported the regime in Yerevan and the Tashnaks opposed it. The regime is no longer with us but we continue to have two sets of churches, schools, community centers, weeklies, bosses and bishops where one would be more than enough. Our unspoken slogan: Bad blood first, solidarity last.
*
If our political bosses are ever impeached, they too will need a dream team.
*
Readers, who have programmed themselves to disagree with me, also program themselves to misunderstand everything I say, and when it comes to misunderstanding, the average Armenian can be as creative as a genius.
*
According to the boomerang school of Armenian criticism, if you are against something, you will be accused of that very same something. Because I have been critical of intolerance and dogmatism, I have been accused of both aberrations.
*
Religious faith is sometimes confused with religious insanity, which, unlike other forms of insanity, may raise an entire civilization against another. It is no exaggeration to say that religious insanity has claimed more victims than all other forms of insanity combined.
*
As for nationalism and idealism (two other forms of collective insanity): they too may lead to war and massacre, but only when they acquire religious fervor. Is not the fascist slogan "Mussolini ha sempre ragione" (Mussolini is always right) an echo of divine infallibility?
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, October 21, 2004
*********************************
God is not a fascist but the god of fascists is. He will not tolerate deviationists and dissidents, also known as heretics and blasphemers. Hence the tragic and violent fate of those who at one time or another dared to challenge his authority.
*
Teilhard de Chardin: "The way we treat people is the way we treat God." I wonder how many Christians even came close to suspecting that when they were burning heretics at the stake, it was God they were burning?
*
Dostoevsky: "A man is endowed with the faculty to rise above the human condition and to embrace eternity." Though he was himself a devout Orthodox Christian, Dostoevsky did not say "a Christian," but "a man." I like that.
*
A Christian needs an imam as much as a Muslim needs a bishop. As for a man: he needs neither one nor the other - unless of course he has the mind and soul of a sheep.
*
A conviction is no longer a conviction if it is a result of conditioning or brainwashing. A child or a robot cannot have convictions. Convictions are convictions only when formed by reason and experience.
#
Friday, October 22, 2004
********************************
Smart prophets and pundits are like astrologers: the more vague and ambiguous their predictions, the better chance they have of not being wrong.
*
Why do we feel the need to voice our disagreements and to insist that we are right and our adversaries wrong? According to Hegel as explained by Kojeve: "Man, to be really, truly man, and to know that he is such, must impose the idea that he has of himself on beings other than himself."
*
Sartre on Freud: "The dimension of the future does not exist for Freudian psychoanalysis." Not quite: Freud concentrated on analyzing past wounds because he knew we are creatures of the past with wounds that must be healed and conflicts that must be resolved if we want to find the right path and fulfill our destiny. But Sartre is also right in so far as obsession with the past may turn us into pillars of salt.
*
The Genocide is our collective wound and so far we have failed to heal it because we have made Turkish acceptance of responsibility as a necessary condition. In other words, as victims of murder, we have made ourselves dependent on the goodwill, decency, and sense of justice of murderers.
*
As for world opinion: it remains divided because nations too are creatures of the past with their own open wounds and unresolved conflicts. Americans cannot side with us because they too, like Turks, are guilty of having adopted a genocidal policy towards their native Indians. And Israelis side with Turks because they live in fear of another holocaust and Turks happen to be their only Muslim friends in the Middle East.
*
It is an illusion to think that on the day Turks plead guilty we will be born again as human beings and resolve our internecine conflicts.
*
"The past is not a proof that can be corrected," writes Herzen, "but a guillotine knife; after it has once fallen there is much that does not grow together again, and not everything can be set right."
*
What if our dependence on Turkish goodwill is another symptom of our slave mentality?
#
Saturday, October 23, 2004
************************************
It is not at all unusual for an Armenian to behave like a Turk in defense of his self-defined and self-assessed Armenianism and to see no inconsistency or contradiction in it.
*
It is beyond me why in the eyes of some Armenians, Armenianism and civilized conduct appear to be incompatible concepts.
*
As subjects of the Ottoman Empire, history appeared to us as immobile. But at the turn of the last century it began to move and to move so fast that so far we have failed to catch up with it, which also means we cannot grasp its meaning and perceive its direction.
*
Hegel: "Each consciousness seeks the death of the other."
When Hegel wrote that line he was not thinking of Armenians but he might as well have been.
*
Great many incomprehensible things become comprehensible if you take into consideration the fact that we live in an imperfect world as imperfect beings with imperfect judgments. If you add to that mixture the fact that we are also torn by a set of conflicting and alien traditions, ideologies, religions, loyalties and vested interests, you may have to conclude that the most incomprehensible thing of all is the fact that we are alive - though battered, wounded, and sometimes even eviscerated, but still breathing….
*
So many hooligans pretending to know better because they are better have insulted me, that I am beginning to develop the skin of a crocodile.
*
Three funerals in less than two weeks: the shape of things to come or the shapeless thing getting closer?
*
When a reader tells me to write more like Saroyan or Mark Twain or Michael Moore, I am tempted to ask: "And how do you like your pizza? - with or without anchovies?" Next question: "Do you think I am a pizza?"
*
In his book, WITH BORGES, Alberto Manguel writes, Borges was so sentimental that he wept at the end of ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, one of my favorite Jimmy Cagney movies which I have seen and enjoyed several times without shedding the shadow of a single tear…and I thought I was sentimental.
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, October 24, 2004
*********************************
SPEECHIFIERS AND SERMONIZERS
******************************************
Whenever I am invited to deliver a speech, I try to explain that what I have to say is not exactly speechifiable. Last time I heard one of our popular speechifiers, he voiced the same old familiar slogan: "We must support our beloved homeland because without it we are no better than lost sheep wandering aimlessly in a desert of alienation." My message would be the exact opposite: the Homeland should support the people or us because without the people the Homeland is nothing but a piece of real estate.
*
As things stand, to support the Homeland also means to reinforce and legitimize a corrupt power structure and a priviligentsia whose number one concern is number one.
*
Lenin opposed all forms of charity, because, he explained, "charity does nothing but postpone the revolution."
*
"The Homeland needs us!" yes, certainly, it goes without saying. But what the Homeland needs even more is elected officials who will live up to their responsibilities by being honest public servants accountable to the people. This may not be part of our culture or authoritarian traditions, granted. But what is the alternative besides despotism, Sultanism, or Stalinism?
*
I am not suggesting a regime change by assassination or revolution, but by gradual reform. Let us help the Homeland by all means, but let us also do whatever we can to clean up the mess there. Easier said than done? Yes, especially if you take into account the fact that before we undertake to clean up the mess there, we should clean up our own mess here.
*
We in the Diaspora may be financially better off, but morally we too are in desperate need of reform. Which is why I shiver when I see diasporan charlatans and gravediggers going to Armenia and parading as benefactors and saviors of the nation.
*
Corruption and incompetence are at the root of the exodus from the Homeland and a high rate of assimilation in the Diaspora: two "white massacres" that are more or less ignored by our ghazettajis and phony pundits, who prefer to stress such meaningless controversies as the use of the word "kef" or the adoption of the vernacular badarak.
*
If the present rate of assimilation and exodus continues, who do you think is going to support and defend the Homeland? Our speechifiers and sermonizers in the Diaspora or our wheeler-dealers with their Swiss bank accounts and villas in the Homeland?
#
Monday, October 25, 2004
**********************************
MATTHEW 7:6
**********************************
"One reason I refuse to write for Armenians is the warning in Matthew 7:6," a reader writes.
*
A couple of days later, the same reader: "It seems to me you take Armenian affairs and your fellow Armenians too seriously, and you consistently ignore the advice in Matthew 7:6."
*
I check Matthew 7:6 and I read: "Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, less they xxxxxle them underfoot and turn to attack you."
*
I dread to think what would happen to me if I were to adopt St. Matthew's sentiments and vocabulary. As for political correctness: I agree with those who dismiss it as "semantic fascism."
*
Ever since I read Gandhi's definition of religion - any belief system that you think is true, including atheism - I can no longer identify myself as a non-believer. Like Chekhov, I believe that we cannot answer the most important questions with any degree of certainty, and what make most belief systems intolerant are the certainties they pretend to possess.
*
People believe for two main reasons: they were conditioned to believe at a time when they couldn't think for themselves; and they believe because they feel a deep need to believe…and they will believe in anything and anyone, including Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Castro.
*
As a child I was educated to be a devout Catholic. In my twenties I discovered Zen Buddhism. I now think there is a core of universal truth in all religions, provided we define religion as an endless quest. I also think if Socrates, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed and Gandhi ever met, they would agree with one another and they would consider their followers as so many dogs and swine.
*
There is a type of Armenian criticism that I call "nuisance criticism," whose intent is not to make sense or to expose contradictions (which is the true definition of criticism) but to make a nuisance of itself and to silence dissent. It is no exaggeration to say that some of our ablest writers - from Voskanian and Massikian to Shahnour and Zarian - fell silent as a result of this type of criticism.
*
When an American criticizes America, he is motivated by love of America. But when a Muslim jihadist criticizes America, his ultimate aim is the total destruction of the continent.
*
To my critics I say: Next time you think of attacking me, ask yourself, "Am I motivated by Ottoman venom?" and if the answer is yes, keep silent. Because, remember, the most devastating criticism is silence born of apathy.
#
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
*********************************
CRITICS AND COMMISSARS
***********************************
Times may change, continents may change, but the number of our commissars, it seems, is destined to remain constant, with one difference: they no longer have a license to kill.
*
Whenever our editors reject one of my commentaries, they never explain why, and when they do, their lies are so transparent that I experience a shiver of shame on their behalf.
*
Some of our commissars may no longer have a license to kill or to silence but they make up for it with concentrated Ottoman venom.
*
I write only about what I see, experience and think. Obviously, I am in no position to write about what someone else sees, experiences and thinks.
*
To those who say I am an enemy of the people, I say: "That's what you think and I cannot be held responsible for what you think."
*
To those who would like to see me silenced, I say: "You, my friend, are an anachronism. Because, in case you didn't know, the era of commissars of culture has been consigned to the dustbin of history, where it belonged in the first place. Of course, you are free to disagree with me. But again, I cannot be held responsible for what's in your head, only for what's in mine. Besides, why should I write about what you think if (a) you are in a far better position to do that, and (b) I don't even know who you are?"
*
Censorship exists where there are dark secrets and lies, which, if exposed, would tarnish the image of those in power. It is the function of a critic to expose these lies and secrets. A critic who fails to do that is like a doctor who ignores the symptoms of serious illness in his patient. Such a doctor is not a doctor but a quack whose license should be revoked. And such a critic is not a critic but a propagandist and a parrot that can repeat only what others see, think and feel.
#
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
***********************************
Because I am in the habit of trashing charlatans, a reader writes: "It is wrong to trash the Homeland," thus identifying the Homeland with charlatans.
*
"Why is it that you consistently stress the negative and ignore the positive?" I am asked repeatedly. Allow me to answer that question by asking another, which, as far as I know, is never asked in our environment: "Why is it that we can afford to support priests, bishops, editors, and schoolteachers by the dozen, sometimes even by the hundred, but we cannot afford a single full-time investigative reporter?"
*
The publisher of a chezok diasporan weekly once said to me: "On the day I published an investigative report on the ARF, the ARF issued an order to its members to cancel their subscriptions. As a result, in a single week, I lost a thousand subscribers."
*
An editor from Yerevan: "Once, recently, when I published an investigative report critical of the regime, my office was vandalized and my reporters beaten up."
*
If we had an investigative reporter, would anyone tell him to investigate the positive and to ignore the negative?
*
As I see it, we are experiencing two "white massacres" - exodus from the Homeland and assimilation in the Diaspora: number of victims, a million and a half each. Please note that both semantics ("white massacre") and statistics (a total of three million victims) are not mine. Are they accurate? You be the judge.
*
Should I apologize for not being the bearer of bad tidings?
*
You want positive? Easy! Read ARF weeklies on ARF activities, ADL (Ramgavar) weeklies on Ramgavar undertakings, AGBU- and Armenian Assembly-sponsored publications on their respective success stories throughout the world. And if you need more, expose yourself to the verbal diarrhea of our dime-a-dozen sermonizers, speechifiers, and pundits.
*
And I can imagine a member of the Party reviewing Solzhenitsyn's GULAG ARCHIPELAGO in a Soviet literary periodical and saying: "On the whole, this book emphasizes the negative and completely ignores the many positive aspects of Soviet life."
*
We may not have real Gulags, granted; but we do have a good number of moral Gulags.
*
Even if I were to write about real Gulags, would I be believed? To this day, Solzhenitsyn is attacked by crypto-Stalinists (you will be surprised how many of them are still with us) on the grounds that he allowed himself to be an instrument of American imperialism.
*
You want more positive? Every other day I receive a newsletter or a brochure in which the many wonderful deeds of our charitable organizations (there must be hundreds of them) are described in some detail, with the inevitable Panchoonie punch line: "Mi kich pogh oughargetsek" (Send us a little money).
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, October 28, 2004
***********************************
THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE
******************************************
I once heard a xxxish comedian say, he did not care for the Ten Commandments because they stressed the negative.
*
Why were Charents and Bakounts tortured and killed by our commissars? Because they were perceived as a negative influence on Soviet society.
*
Hagop Baronian was betrayed to the Turkish authorities by his fellow Armenians in Istanbul because he too was perceived as negative.
*
Freud saw in Christianity "a distorted form of obsessional neurosis," and Karl Marx as "the legitimator of exploitation." They did not much care for the Ten Commandments either.
*
What's positive and what's negative? It depends on where you stand. My enemy is negative, my friend positive, and my enemy's enemy is my friend because two negatives make a positive. To paraphrase the African chieftain quoted by C.G. Jung in his memoirs: "If I steal my enemy's wives, it's positive. If he steals my wives, it's negative."
*
When I sit down to write, it never even occurs to me to choose between being negative or positive…especially if my house is on fire.
*
At the height of the British Empire, Matthew Arnold wrote: "The world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, [contains] neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain." As far as I know, no one has ever accused Arnold of stressing the negative at the expense of the positive.
*
A CRITIC'S JOB
**************************
I read the following in Kenneth Tynan's posthumously published diaries: "A critic's job is to make way for the good by demolishing the bad."
*
A PARABLE
***************************
Once upon a time there was a man who lived in a beautiful house on a hill. Upon his return from work one day, he saw from a distance that his house was on fire. On noticing a passerby with a cell phone, he said: "Please, call 911 for me." And the passerby said: "Why should I?" "Because my house is on fire," said the other. "That's the bad news," said the passerby. "What's the good news?"
Much later the man, whose house had gone up in smoke, found out that the passerby with a cell phone was an Armenian.
*
AN ARMENIAN DECALOGUE
***********************************
I. Thou shalt not confuse the god of our priests with God.
II. Thou shalt not consider intolerance a virtue.
III. Thou shalt not blame foreigners for all our misfortunes.
IV. Thou shalt not entertain the ambitions of a commissar of culture.
V. Thou shalt not resent those who expose the Turk in you.
VI. Thou shalt not practice or promote Ottomanism in the name of Armenianism.
VII. Thou shalt not believe every word you utter as if it were the word of God.
VIII. Thou shalt not pretend to be as infallible as the Pope of Rome, as fearsome as Stalin, and as magnificent as Suleiman.
IX. Thou shalt not parade your ignorance as if it were the latest word in wisdom.
X. Thou shalt not reject the validity of these Commandments on the grounds that they stress the negative and ignore the positive.
#
Friday, October 29, 2004
*************************************
ON THE POSITIVE SIDE
*********************************
It has been said that reality is often stranger and more brutal than any fiction. But in reality, whenever a door is closed, there may be ten or even a hundred other doors waiting to be opened. Just because we cannot see these doors, it does not mean they are not there. Very often, that which is nearest to us is also the least visible.
*
ON NATIONALIST HISTORIANS
***********************************
It is not at all unusual for a nationalist historian to be objective when it comes to other nations and turn into a pathological liar when it comes to his own. This is true not only of Turkish historians but of all historians in general. I wish I were in a position to say that our own historians are an exception to this rule.
*
THE RED AND THE WHITE
**********************************
The difference between a "red" and a "white" massacre is that, a red massacre is perpetrated by wolves and jackals, and a white massacre is perpetrated by sheepdogs and shepherds.
*
QUESTION / ANSWER
***************************
Why is it that under the repressive, not to say, murderous, regimes of the Red Sultan and Stalin we had literary giants, and under our own bosses, bishops, and benefactors, we don't even have midgets. My guess is: a combination of ignorance, prejudice, intolerance and envy can be more deadly than an army of jihadist imams and commissars with a license to kill.
*
A THOUSAND AND ONE DOUBTS,
ONLY ONE CERTAINTY
****************************************
Unlike some of my self-righteous and chauvinist detractors, I am more than willing to concede that nothing I say is certain and the chances that I may be wrong are very high. I am willing to go further and say that I may even be wrong 99% of the time. But on one point I can assert 100% certainty: namely, in my defense of free speech. I wonder, how many of our self-appointed neo-commissars, who have at one time or another advocated silencing me, have had anything remotely favorable to say about free speech, which happens to be a fundamental human right.
*
ZARIAN AND GARABENTS
**********************************
The two authorities I would like to quote at this point are Zarian and Garabents.
Zarian: "Our political parties have been of no political use to us. Their greatest enemy is free speech."
Garabents (Jack Karapetian): "Once upon a time we fought and died for freedom. We are now afraid of free speech."
*
ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE
*********************************
If, in an Armenian environment, a door is closed, you can be sure of one thing: a trap door will open beneath your feet.
*
MEMO
*****************
Expect the worst and you will not be disappointed.
#
Saturday, October 30, 2004
***********************************
BUSHWHACKED
************************
We are a people like any other people, I am reminded repeatedly, "with our own share of honest men and charlatans." If true, consider some of the insults, slogans, headlines, and graffiti directed at Bush, only a small fraction of which are quoted in BUSHWHACKED: LIFE IN GEORGE W. BUSH'S AMERICA, by Molly Ivins and Lou Debose (New York: Random House, 347 pages, 2003).
*
BUSH IS PROOF THAT EMPTY WARHEADS CAN BE DANGEROUS.
*
LET'S BOMB TEXAS, THEY HAVE OIL TOO.
*
IF YOU CAN'T PRONOUNCE IT, DON'T BOMB IT.
*
ONE THOUSAND POINTS OF LIGHT, AND ONE DIM BULB.
*
WAR IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE.
*
$1 BILLION A DAY TO KILL PEOPLE -WHAT A BARGAIN.
*
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ME AND GOD? HE MIGHT FORGIVE BUSH, BUT I WON'T.
*
SMART WEAPONS, DUMB PRESIDENT.
*
PEACE TAKES BRAINS.
*
IT'S NUCLEAR, NOT NUCULAR, YOU IDIOT!
*
Because I have been paraphrasing and expanding on these slogans in reference to our own leadership, I am perceived as a hostile witness and an enemy that should be silenced. My question is, if you disapprove of our leaders, what have you done to expose their blunders? But if you approve of them, what right do you have to tell me to recycle your own particular brand of pro-establishment crapola?
*
CRITICS, MEDDLERS, AND COMMISSARS
**************************************************
After criticizing me, a reader writes: "I am not a critic." Zarian is right. "We don't have critics. What we have are meddlers." And more often than not, may I add, meddlers with the ambitions of commissars of culture who miss the good old days when they had a license to kill.
*
EMPEROR MURPHY
*****************************
If the massacres can be blamed on the bloodthirsty disposition of the Turks and the double talk of the Great Powers; if the exodus from the Homeland and the high assimilation rate in the Diaspora can be blamed on social and economic conditions beyond our control; the question we must ask is: What the hell do we need leaders for? If so far they have been of no use to us when we needed them most, why don't we get rid of them and consider ourselves perennial subjects of Murphy and his inflexible law, that says: "If things can go wrong, they will go wrong at the worst possible time."
*
IN PRAISE OF HUMILITY
********************************
In a book of Anatolian travel impression by Lord Kinross (who is also the author of a mammoth biography of Ataturk), I remember to have read about his encounters with old Turks who bragged to him on having taught the Armenians a lesson they will never forget.
They brag about having massacred us, and we brag about our survival. May I suggest the world would be a far better place if we, all of us, realize we have nothing to brag about and a great deal to be humble about. Besides, if we brag about our survival, what do we do about the millions who did not? Do we plead amnesia? Do we ignore them? Do we pretend, out of sight, out of mind?
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, October 31, 2004
************************************
BUGGERING ON.
FAITH, RELIGION, AND IDEOLOGY.
MASTERS OF THE BLAME GAME.
********************************************
Very early this morning I opened my eyes with the words: "Many have tried before me and failed. When they were not silenced, they gave up in despair. Why go on?"
And here I am again, "unwashed, unshaved, unshat" (Auden), "buggering on" (Churchill).
*
What matters about an idea is not whether it is positive or negative, or pro-this or anti-that, but how accurately it explains a situation. Which is why, whenever we approach reality with preconceived notions and prejudices, it blows in our face. Our recent history provides us with so many instances of this occurrence that we, or rather, our political parties, have become masters of the blame game in order to avoid all responsibility for their miscalculations.
*
An argument between a commissar without a license to kill and a writer without an audience is like a fight between two bald-headed men over a comb.
*
The difference between faith and religion is that faith unites and religion divides. Religion divides not only in relation to other religions but also within itself - Sunni and Shi'a, Catholic and Protestant, sometimes even Catholic and Catholic, and Protestant and Protestant. The same applies to ideologies, like Marxism or Communism (Stalinist and Trotskyites) and nationalism (Tashnak and Ramgavar).
*
When religions and ideologies divide, they declare their moral and political bankruptcy by ignoring the central message of their faith (love, compassion, tolerance and mercy) or the interests of the nation (strength in solidarity). Because without solidarity, a nation makes itself more vulnerable to the enemy or to social, political and economic forces "beyond its control" - or so the political leaders say in obedience to the rules of the blame game.
#
Monday, November 01, 2004
************************************
THE ALIENATED,
THE ASSIMILATED,
AND THE FORGOTTEN.
*********************************************
The Armenian critic or dissident may not be the rule, but neither is he the exception we may think he is. Just because we silence critics, it does not mean they cease to exist. And just because we alienate our fellow Armenians, it does not mean they cease being Armenian.
*
The alienated Armenian is not a second-class citizen. Rather, he is a reflection of our own cult of intolerance and hatred.
*
An alienated Armenian means what he says and he says it with his feet. And what he says is what I have been saying: our institutions are run by charlatans who legitimize Ottomanism in the name of Armenianism.
To forget, or to ignore, or to dismiss them as defective Armenians is to compound the felony. They are as much our victims as our parents were of Turkish atrocities, and like our victims of the massacres, they number in the million.
*
The alienated Armenian is our responsibility. Not to recognize this is nothing but an Armenian variation on a Turkish theme.
*
Let us not emulate our leaders who have become such masters of the blame game that they see themselves as infallible role models whose every word has the authority of Holy Writ.
*
Imams and bishops may pretend to speak in the name of God, but all politicians, regardless of nationality, will behave like pathological liars for the sake of expediency and whenever it is in their own interest.
#
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
************************************
A new idea will be a source of dread only to the man who is infatuated with his own ignorance.
*
The purpose of an Armenian argument is not thesis-antithesis-synthesis (or consensus) but "You are full of s***! that's who I am."
*
As perennial victims, our only chance to achieve top-dog status is in verbal vitriol.
*
Nothing illustrates our Ottoman heritage better than an exchange of views.
*
For every insecure Armenian who needs to assert superiority in argument, there will be another who has developed strategies to avoid confrontation.
When asked which church he goes to, a friend of mine is in the habit of replying: "I am with the good guys."
Another friend has trained himself never to say, "I disagree with you." Even when he disagrees with a fellow Armenian violently he says, "You may be right."
*
In an argument, our unstated aim in not consensus but the total destruction of the adversary.
*
If our bishops, who speak in the name of the Almighty (Who knows everything) cannot agree, why should we?
*
Two people disagree because neither knows the whole truth.
*
When we disagree, we cling to our partial knowledge the way a drowning man is said to cling to anything, including a venomous serpent.
*
To think to know everything is as bad as to know nothing.
*
The only reason some people think they know everything they need to know is that their standards are mighty low and their demands minimal to the point of non-existence.
*
He who cannot tell the difference between knowledge and information is a complete ignoramus even when he is well informed.
#
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
**************************************
To understand another you must walk a hundred miles in his moccasins. To know him, to really know him, you must share his beliefs, superstitions, prejudices and misconceptions.
*
I understand Armenians because I grew up in an Armenian ghetto; I had an Armenian education; and I have spent most of my life working for them. I could write a dictionary of Armenian fallacies, clichés, misconceptions, and prejudices, all of which have been mine at one time or another.
*
When we silence dissent, we cease to have a balanced view of ourselves, and an unbalanced view of ourselves might as well be the initial stage of insanity. To those who say, individuals may go insane, but not nations, may I remind them of what happened to the Italians under Mussolini, the Germans under Hitler, and the Soviets under Stalin. (And today, I am tempted to add: the Americans under Bush.)
*
What could be more ridiculous, not to say absurd, than to suggest that a nation that has endured six centuries of brutal oppression, a series of massacres, dispersion, and destitution in alien environments, can be threatened by the criticism of a single minor scribbler?
*
If you take things seriously, happiness for you is taking nothing seriously, not even death.
*
I love this sentence by Saint-Simon: "My self-esteem has always increased in direct proportion to the damage I was doing to my reputation."
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, November 04, 2004
***********************************
FOUR MORE YEARS
***************************
I feel like a xxx in 1933.
*
The Christian Right in America may stand for love, mercy, and compassion, but not for tolerance. It views tolerance as un-American, therefore, anti-Christian.
*
Dozens of books have been published by highly reputable scholars and investigative reporters in which Bush's lies, inconsistencies, contradictions, and dirty tricks are exhaustively exposed and documented, but Bush was re-elected because the average born-again hillbilly trusts televangelists more than intellectuals.
*
In 1933 Germans trusted Hitler more than Thomas Mann. Marx is right. History repeats itself, first time as tragedy, second time as farce.
*
A Nazi is also one who, after hanging a label on a fellow human being, sees only the label.
*
In 1915 we were the xxxs of the Turks. And today, I am the xxx of our own bosses, bishops, and benefactors.
*
All organized religions preach love, but after hanging a label on a fellow human being (heretic, anti-Christ, infidel, giaour, Untouchable) practice intolerance and hatred.
*
All power structures speak with a forked tongue. Where there is power, there will also be pathological liars and dupes.
*
We have all been xxxs and Nazis at one time or another. "xxx" and "Nazi" are labels, granted, but only in the sense that "victim" and victimizer" are labels. To label another is not the same as to assume to have a license to kill.
*
My ambition as an Armenian is to be able to criticize Armenians and to be perceived not as a good Armenian (that would be too much to ask), or even as an Armenian, but as a concerned fellow human being.
#
Friday, November 05, 2004
*********************************
VERSIONS OF THE PAST
*****************************
When it comes to the past, every major historian will have his own version of it. Which version do we teach our children? Not a difficult question to answer: the version that is most flattering to our collective ego, provided it bears the seal of approval of a regime or power structure, of course.
*
Elementary schoolteachers don't teach history, they recycle propaganda. This may explain Mark Twain's celebrated dictum: "I have never let schooling interfere with my education."
*
SELF-KNOWLEDGE
***************************
We are products of history. To understand history is to understand ourselves. Hence, Herder's description of history as the education of the human race.
*
THE REASON BEHIND THE REASON
*****************************************
What if the reason, the real reason, why we were massacred, was our ignorance of the world?
*
QUESTION
*********************
Was Napoleon a great man, a military genius, a spectacular loser, a hero, a tyrant, a bloodthirsty monster? Even French historians don't always agree. What if, by occupying Germany, he stimulated German nationalism, which resulted in Hitler?
*
THE STERILITY OF LITERATURE
***************************************
After Shaw wrote, "One fashionably dressed woman may cost the life of ten babies," did the number of fashionably dressed women go down?
*
IN PRAISE OF SOLIDARITY
***********************************
Chinese proverb: "To hunt tigers one must have a brother's help."
*
WAR AND PEACE
*************************
"Islam is a religion of peace," according to an imam quoted in our paper today, "but like all religions, it is open to misinterpretations." Which may be why Socrates, Buddha and Jesus did not write a single line. But then, Marx, who wrote copiously and in exhaustive detail in order to avoid misunderstanding, created the nightmare of Stalinism.
#
Saturday, November 06, 2004
***********************************
THE TAO TE CHING ON NATIONS
****************************************
"A great nation is like a great man,
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
As his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
As the shadow that he himself casts."
(A lesson that the Chinese are in the process of relearning and we have yet to learn.)
*
VOLTAIRE ON THE ORIGIN OF RELIGIONS
***********************************************
"…From the meeting of the earliest scoundrel with the very first fool."
*
PAUL VALERY ON EDUCATION
*************************************
"Education in depth consists in undoing one's first education."
(In other words, if you want to understand the world, forget what you were taught by your elementary schoolteachers and learn to think for yourself.)
*
PANAIT ISTRATI ON ARMENIANS
***************************************
In his book of Armenian travel impression, Denis Donikian quotes the following passage from Panait Istrati: "The Armenian is a fellow I know as well as I know the Greek and the xxx. I like all three a lot, notwithstanding their defects, the most obvious being their conviction that, if the sun were to set forever, they would be the first to adapt to the new reality."
*
CLAUDE IMBERT ON BUSH
************************************
"A president that consults God before breakfast will always enjoy the support of a good half of his fellow Americans."
*
"America under Roosevelt defeated fascism. America under Reagan defeated communism. Two planetary triumphs that confirm America's mission to fight evil [i.e. jihadist Islam]."
*
WITTGENSTEIN ON THE ART OF TEACHING
*************************************************
"My aim is to teach you to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent nonsense." (Or, from charlatanism, whose sole aim is to deceive and mislead you by flattering your vanity, to transparent nonsense that cannot obstruct your understanding of the world and arrest your mental development.)
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, November 07, 2004
************************************
We are addicted to bragging and lamenting. But whereas what we brag about (such as Dikran's ephemeral empire) is known, as a rule, only to ourselves, what we lament about (the massacres) is more widely known. Another peculiarity of ours: what we brag about we credit to ourselves, but what we lament about we debit to foreign accounts, i.e. the hypocrisy of the West and the barbarism of bloodthirsty Turkish fanatics.
*
As a child I too was brainwashed to brag until it dawned on me that most people didn't give a damn about us, or they cared about us as much as we cared about the triumphs and tragedies of countless other nations and tribes throughout history.
*
As a child I was taught about the fact that at a time when the French and the English lived in caves and forests like wild beasts, we enjoyed a Golden Age, our translation of the Bible was called "the queen of translations," and our literary works were universally acknowledge masterpieces; until I realized that the overwhelming majority of Armenians couldn't even name a single one of these so-called literary masterpieces.
*
The question that I was never taught to ask is, if we were civilized fifteen centuries ago, why is it that we have today the political awareness of children, that is to say, barbarians living in caves and forests? So much so that, the average Armenian considers anyone who fails to flatter his vanity by recycling chauvinist crapola is a hostile witness and an enemy who should be silenced.
*
To Armenians addicted to bragging, I suggest the following: Brag all you want, provided you do so in the privacy of your own homes and within the confines of your own club of mutual admiration, of which we have many more than a dog has fleas. But if you insist on bragging in public, do so in such a manner as not to be a source of embarrassment to decent Armenians.
*
I define a decent Armenian anyone who is aware of our collective failings, has acquired a more or less objective view of our past, and is thus in a position to decipher the writing on the wall. This type of Armenian may be rare, but he exists. As a matter of fact, I happen to be personally acquainted with some of them myself.
*
Finally, a warning: One of the worst mistakes an Armenian can make is to view our past through the eyes of our own historians. Imagine, if you can, a law that says, when it comes to character witnesses in a court of law, only mothers are qualified to testify for their sons.
#
Monday, November 08, 2004
***********************************
FROM A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
*****************************************
"Bush and bin Laden need each other to stay in power."
*
THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE
COMPLEXITIES OF REALITY
***********************************************
Reality keeps combining factors (of which there may well be an infinite number) constantly. It is impossible to catch up with it or to guess the next permutation.
*
TWO WELL-KNOWN MYSTERIES
**************************************
Why did God, who could have created a perfect world, create an imperfect one?
*
Why do smart people submit their destiny into the hands of dumb leaders?
*
WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?
*************************************
As a rule, this question is asked by men, who neither know nor understand themselves, when they are in pursuit of women, who know and understand themselves even less.
In this context, what could be more reductionist (to the point of contradiction) than the Biblical expression "to know"?
*
WHAT ABOUT MEN?
WHAT DO THEY WANT?
************************************************** *
Writes La Bruyere: "Women have no moral sense, they depend for their behavior upon the men they love."
As for men: they lose whatever sense they may have had at the sight of a well-filled pair of nylons on high heels.
*
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE
************************************
In an environment where everyone lies at the top of his lungs, those who whisper the truth will be ignored.
*
MORE ON WOMEN
***************************
According to Chamfort: "Elles son faites pour commercer avec no faiblesses, avec notre follie, mais non avec notre raison. Il existe entre elles et les hommes des sympathies d'epiderme et tres peu de sympathies d'esprit, d'ame et de character."
(They are made to deal with our weaknesses and stupidity, but not with our reason. Between them and men there exist epidermic sympathies but hardly any spiritual or intellectual interaction.)
#
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
**********************************
IN A FOOL'S PARADISE
******************************
It has been said that men of faith can reconcile themselves to life because they have chosen to live not in reality but in illusion. But illusions being ephemeral, Americans are bound to wake up and realize that they have been bamboozled, hoodwinked and flimflammed by an administration of baloney artists. That's when the excrement will hit the ventilator.
*
RUMORS
*****************
While in Armenia, writes Denis Donikian in his book of travel impressions, he heard the following rumors:
*
"In ten years Armenia lost a million Armenians."
*
The first president [Levon Der Bedrossian] built a villa near Valence, France, with stones exclusively from Armenia."
*
"The population of Armenia today is less than 1,500,000."
*
"The same president had a subterranean tunnel dug beneath his residence to serve as an escape route in case the street demonstrations against him became too hostile."
*
"The sudden death of his brother was actually an assassination."
*
"Whenever a politician is killed, the president gets the blame."
*
"The last catholicos died suddenly of cancer. He was caught trying to smuggle abroad the treasures of the Church. It was this that killed him."
*
"The present catholicos has also been diagnosed with cancer."
*
"In Karabagh, where he comes from, Kocharian was nicknamed the Cobra."
*
"The total population of Armenia today is no more than 1,200,000."
*
"Half of the casualties in Karabagh were killed by a bullet in the back."
*
LINES FROM VOZNI
*****************************
Donikian also quotes the following witticisms from the satirical magazine VOZNI:
*
"In Armenia today, 5% of the population owns everything, 95% owns the rest."
*
"The number of bureaucrats goes up as the number of people goes down."
*
"If some day you dream that you are both rich and in good health, you will better off if you don't wake up."
*
CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
*****************************
In my old age I don't mind admitting that I have been wrong about many things most of my life. Am I right about anything today? Only one thing: even when wrong, I know better - not in relation to others but in relation to my younger self.
#
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
***********************************
FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
*********************************
What we reveal when we brag about survival:
According to Emerson: "There is this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal." Namely, survival at all cost, even if it means practicing opportunism, hypocrisy, treason and betrayal.
*
Whenever I quote someone, I acquire a new enemy. People don't like to be quoted, only praised for their wisdom.
*
If you assess yourself as smart (hubris),
you are sure to act dumb (nemesis).
*
Denis Donikian: "The honors conferred on poets by politicians are the dishonor of poetry."
*
Here is Raymond Aron's explanation of how ideologies are implemented: "Well-supported facts are used to bolster up an ideology simply by omission of other facts, which are equally well established."
*
To have an approximate view of how far we have fallen, all you need to do is compare the writers slaughtered by Talaat and Stalin with today's faceless and nameless scribblers.
*
If you plan to go out hunting tigers, make sure your brother is not working with them.
*
The more patriotic an Armenian, the more Ottoman his vocabulary, style and conduct.
*
It is not necessary to hate your brother in order to assert your love of your homeland.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, November 11, 2004
***********************************
In whatever I write, my aim is not to assert the superiority of my ideas, but to suggest that there is nothing wrong in once in a while questioning the validity of our fundamental assumptions, in order to separate that which is ours (therefore authentic) from that which is someone else's (therefore alien).
Cases in point:
What if hating a fellow Armenian is more Ottoman and less Armenian? What if the status quo we support is more authoritarian and less democratic? - that is to say, more Ottoman and less human?
What if inflexibility is not love of principle but infatuation with the self?
And what if, since in an authoritarian environment, yes-men have a far better chance to survive and succeed than honest men, we have been educated, manipulated and brainwashed by charlatans?
*
Chinese proverb: "Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come."
*
Generosity is a virtue praised by the poor, and avarice is a vice practiced by the wealthy.
*
Longevity does not guarantee wisdom, only senility.
*
Stolen apples taste better because only the very hungry steal.
#
Friday, November 12, 2004
************************************
Our intellectuals today do not aspire to expose the charlatans and overthrow the oppressors half as much as they do to join their ranks.
*
We are all dissidents, if not against the state, then against the dissenters.
*
It is not easy writing for readers who know better. It is even more difficult writing for readers who know everything and are never wrong. Hercules had it easy: his labors were only twelve in number.
*
An old Catholic once told me: "When I go to confession, I tell the priest: 'Father, you know me, it's the usual.' And he understands because he has been my confessor for many years." Now, imagine if you can this old man to be an Armenian confessing to an Armenian priest. Not only the priest would insist on hearing every single sordid sin but also, at the end, after accusing the old man of covering up, he would refuse absolution.
*
What's the difference between an Ottomanized Armenian and a Turk? The Turk does not pretend to be the opposite of what he is.
*
When honest men keep silent, only the loudmouth charlatans are heard.
#
Saturday, November 13, 2004
************************************
FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
*********************************
One does not kill in the name of God but in the name of an idol. Pascal is right: "The worship of truth without charity is idolatry."
*
What would happen to him if he were to convert to Hinduism, asks Toynbee, and he answers: "In the hierarchy of castes I should rank below the sweepers."
*
In his book of travel impressions, Denis Donikian quotes a woman in Yerevan as saying: "Today no one gives a damn about the people. If they want to build a church they go right ahead and build it. Speaking for myself, I have lost all faith. Believe in what, may I ask? And what's the use of buying a newspaper? I am not illiterate. I wouldn't mind reading a newspaper. But I can't afford one."
*
Elsewhere: "Once upon a time there was a country in which everyone spoke the same language and no one understood what the other was saying."
*
When criticized, Donikian writes, our politicians have a pat answer: "Our present problems are the gradual accumulation of many past problems."
*
Why is it that the very same readers, who accuse me of dipping my pen in arsenic, dip theirs in cobra venom?
*
Knowledge advances, propaganda stays the same. If you say, "Tomorrow I will think what I thought yesterday and what I think today," the questions you should ask yourself are: "What if my thoughts are not mine but someone else's? And what if someone else's thoughts are the thoughts of an ignoramus?"
*
Trash my kind of ideas
and alienate all those who think as I do.
Alienate those who do not parrot your sentiments and thoughts
and surround yourself only with like-minded men.
In the company of exclusively like-minded men,
entertain the illusion that most people think as you do.
Live in that misconception long enough
and blur the line that separates reality from illusion.
And is not confusing illusion with reality
the first stage of insanity?
*
Like Captain Boycott and Judge Lynch, Bush has enriched the English language with a new word: Bushism, meaning any incoherent and nonsensical sentence.
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, November 14, 2004
*************************************
In Turkey, preachers are licensed and their sermons pre-approved by the state. Some would call this censorship, others, the only way to curb fanaticism, hatred, and war.
*
If, to be fallible is human, to consider oneself infallible must be inhuman. As for readers who write as if this thought has never penetrated their skulls: my only explanation is that their ego must be so swollen that it has smothered their reason and rendered it inoperative.
*
Graffiti are like postage stamps: expressive of a nation's character, style, and concerns at a given time. Some day I would like to compile a chronological anthology titled THE WIT OF A NATION. A few samples follow:
-Aunt Jemima is an Uncle Tom.
-No Easter this year, they found the body.
-Hugh Hefner is a virgin.
-If you liked Hitler, you'll love Lyndon.
-Half the way with LBJ.
-James Baldwin eats watermelon.
-Where is Oswald now that we need him?
*
A bully's unspoken motto: "There is more wisdom in my ignorance
than in your knowledge."
*
My favorite ism is skepticism because it questions the validity of all isms,
including its own.
*
Some people use the truth like a club with which to clobber their adversaries; and whenever truth is not on their side, they use lies the same way. Their primary concern is neither truth nor lies but to assert their own superiority. There it is, the root of all autocratic regimes. To speak of democracy or human rights to this species is like speaking of animal rights to wolves and hyenas.
#
Monday, November 15, 2004
************************************
SOME NOTES ON FEAR, DEATH,
AND IMMORTALITY
*******************************************
In almost every branch of knowledge or field of endeavor there will invariably be two schools of thought one of which will contradict the other. And where there are two schools of thought, the chances are, there will also be two sub-schools and so on...
*
Faced with two or more contradictory systems of thought, the layman will tend to choose that which comes easy or is not against his own interests. In that sense, all laymen are dupes of specialists, by they politicians, philosophers, theologians, lawyers, and elites in general.
*
What do we mean when we speak of immortality or resurrection? As a layman, I thought I knew, but then, when I read Karl Barth, one of the greatest Christian theologians of the 20th century, I realized that my understanding of the word had been based on a fallacy.
*
"Resurrection," writes Barth, "means not the continuation of life, but life's completion." He goes on to explain: "The Christian hope is the conquest of death, not flight into the Beyond."
*
By "conquest of death," I assume he means the fear of death. That's because one resists, defeats, and conquers only an adversary one fears.
*
"The Kingdom of God is within you," also means, all knowledge and understanding begin and end in the convolutions of our cortex.
*
Paul Valery: "Our most important thoughts are those which contradict our emotions."
*
Lichtenberg: "One can live in this world on soothsaying but not on truth-saying."
*
Martin Luther: "God uses fear to impel men to faith."
#
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
***********************************
ON FAIRY TALES
*****************************
In his THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT, Bruno Bettelheim writes, the way a person transcends "feeling neglected, rejected, degraded" is by the "repeated hearing of a fairy story." One could say that, chauvinist propaganda, religious rituals and prayers are to adults what fairy tales are to children.
*
Fear of the unknown is the source of all faith. We use certainties or dogmas as shields with which to protect ourselves from our own doubts, uncertainties, and anxiety -- or, if you prefer, feelings of rejection and degradation.
*
It could be said of anxiety, what has been said of God: "You may let go of God but God does not let go of you." Or, we may convince ourselves that our faith will abolish anxiety of the unknown, but anxiety is destined to remain at the very roots of our being. That's because "we may believe that we believe, but we don't believe" (Sartre).
*
When the eminent Catholic philosopher, Jacques Maritain, says our choice is between "God or radical absurdity," he, in a way, also implies that, reality is dependent on our definition or understanding of it. But since reality follows its own inflexible laws independent of man and the choices he makes, this must be a patently false assumption. And it is this very false assumption that has led (or rather misled) man (who cannot create a single worm) to create ten thousand gods. For which transgression, mankind has paid, and continues to pay, a heavy price.
*
To those who accuse me of being against religion, morality, patriotism, and the very foundations of Western civilization, I say: On the contrary. All I have been trying to do is to understand and explain why is it that man behaves like a wolf to other men in the name of a higher principle. Why is it necessary for man to kill his fellow man in order to assert the validity of his faith and the superiority of his god?
*
Arthur Koestler on Zen Buddhism:
"Inarticulateness is not a monopoly of Zen; but it is the only school which made a philosophy out of it, whose exponents burst into verbal diarrhea to prove constipation."
And even more to the point:
"Zen always held a fascination for a category of people in whom brutishness combines with pseudomysticism, from Samurai to Kamikaze to Beatnik."
#
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
*****************************************
It is easy to speak in the name of God, much more difficult to act with His wisdom.
*
Fanatics in one religion or ideology will spawn counter-fanatics in another. The dominant voices in both the Middle East and America today are those of fundamentalists: imams and televangelists -- charlatans who promise salvation in the next world by making a hell of this one.
*
What is anxiety? According to Rollo May, "anxiety comes from not being able to know the world you are in, not being able to orient yourself in your own existence."
Religions and ideologies are popular because they provide us with a compass. But since the north in one compass is the south in another, the result has been not harmony and peace but more confusion, anxiety and conflict.
*
In an enlightened world what will be abolished is not religion but its dogmas.
*
Separation of church and state is a phony concept. Instead, we should speak of separation of church and its false claim of infallibility.
*
If, in five or ten years, a weapon of mass destruction kills a million Americans, and Americans retaliate by killing ten million Arabs, (assuming the weapon is traced back to them), then all past massacres will become ancient history and no one will want to read about them because everyone will live in fear of being the next victim of a holocaust.
*
What the Turks did to us at the turn of the last century should concern us. But what we have been doing to ourselves should concern us even more.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, November 18, 2004
****************************************
Politicians are adept at making you think you are thinking when in fact you are parroting slogans of their own contrivance.
*
The unspoken aim of an elite is the systematic moronization of the masses.
*
We are all victims of politicians, if not the enemy's than our own. People of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your charlatans.
*
According to the Turkish version of the story, it was Bulgarians, Greeks and Armenians who provoked Ottoman massacres by killing Turkish civilians. If true, the question we should ask is: "Why did law-abiding subjects of the Empire suddenly behave like bloodthirsty savages?"
It can be said of massacres, what Merleau-Ponty says of torture:
"It is said, and it is true, that torture is the answer to terrorism. This does not justify torture. We ought to have acted in such a way that terrorism would not have arisen."
*
Democracy may also be defined as fascism modified by anti-fascist checks and balances, which sometimes fail to check and balance.
*
Thomas Mann: "The intellectual man is almost as much interested in painful truths as the fool is in those which flatter him."
#
Friday, November 19, 2004
************************************
We cannot change history, but we can try to understand it, beginning with the fact that political decisions are not acts of God (like earthquakes and volcanoes) but acts of men, with their own set of prejudices, loyalties, interests, blind spots, limitations, idiosyncrasies, fears, doubts, and anxieties. In short, politicians are people like us, totally disqualified to assert infallibility.
*
History may be summed up as a slow-motion avalanche of blunders and miscalculations by men of power whose central concern is to either maintain or increase their powers.
*
Talleyrand is right: sometimes errors of judgment can be far worse than crimes.
*
It has been said, and it is true, that we see things not as they are, but as we are. Our understanding is therefore enhanced whenever we think against ourselves, or we view reality as a succession of traps and ambushes.
*
A version of the past that supports a specific political agenda cannot be right. Also, between a version that flatters our vanity and one that does not, the chances are the unflattering version will be closer to the truth.
*
A Sudanese general on the genocide in Darfur: "It is not genocide; it is war, and in war bad things happen."
Sounds familiar?
*
We have many kinds of literary awards except a Freedom of Speech Award. Can you guess why?
*
Because I dare to question the judgment and wisdom of our political leadership, I am sometimes accused of "self-hatred." Figure that one out, if you can.
#
Saturday, November 20, 2004
*********************************
It is a mistake to identify the people with the regime, especially if the regime is non-representative, and all regimes are to some extent non-representative, including democracies. Consider the case of the Bush Administration today. Roughly speaking it represents only the interests and values of only 25% of the people, since 50% don't vote and the remaining 25% voted against him. And of the 25% that voted for him, one is justifying in wondering how many of them did so on the basis of deceptive slogans that exploited their prejudices and fears. For more on this subject, see GAG RULE: ON THE SUPPRESSION OF DISSENT AND THE STIFLING OF DEMOCRACY by Lewis H. Lapham (New York, Penguin Press, 2004).
*
Speaking of the unpopularity of democracies and the ease with which they slide into fascism, Lapham writes: "Nobody ever said that democratic government was easy, which is why, during the twenty years between the last century's two world wars, it failed and was abandoned by the people of Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Albania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, and Germany."
*
And finally, here is Spengler on the undemocratic nature of democracies: "A small number of superior heads, whose names are very likely not the best known, settle everything, while below them are the great mass of second-rate politicians selected through a provincially-conceived franchise to keep alive the illusion of popular self-determination."
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, November 21, 2004
*************************************
"He who knows does not speak"?
Some truth in that.
Socrates spoke a great deal but his central message was: "The only thing I know is that I don't know."
*
For every slogan there will be a counter-slogan, for the same reasons that the self-interest of one will conflict with the self-interest of another.
*
To approach history with a slogan or thesis or agenda and to defend it at all cost is to act like a lawyer who is hired to plead "not guilty" for a client he knows to be a serial killer. (Hence, the popular joke: "Please, don't tell my mother I am a lawyer. She thinks I am a pimp.")
*
To say that Turks are bloodthirsty savages is as racist as to imply that Armenians are compassionate because they were the first nation to convert to Christianity.
*
Perhaps what I have been trying to do is to expose the charlatanism and lies of elites or men at the top of the food chain (political and religion leaders) who pretend to know better but whose knowledge is disguised self-interest.
*
The American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, believed that sin is social, not just individual. The same could be said of prejudices, intolerance, and hatred.
*
Religion is one thing, imams and bishops another.
#
Monday, November 22, 2004
**********************************
Jean Rostand: "Language common to all men: mathematics and erotics."
*
Jean Rostand: "My Godlessness is no less mysterious than your God."
*
It is said: "Do not judge a man by his own opinion of himself," or a nation's history by its own historians.
*
The human brain is the seat of reason as well as unreason, and unreason has played a far more decisive role in human history than reason.
*
The reason why we don't understand God is that He does not want us to understand Him.
*
Polish proverb: "A guest sees more in an hour that the host in a year."
*
Alexander Chase: "Memory is the thing you forget with."
*
Latin proverb: "Hay is more acceptable to an ass than gold."
*
Abbie Hoffman: "The idea that the media is there to educate us, or to inform us, is ridiculous because that's about tenth or eleventh on their list. The first purpose of the media is to sell us xxxx."
*
Shavarsh Missakian: "I see charlatanism and cheap chauvinism everywhere, but not a single trace of self-sacrifice and dedication to principles and ideals."
*
Gostan Zarian: "The Armenian nation is like a family whose members devour each other because of conflicting interests."
#
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
*************************************
Burmese proverb: "Futility: playing a harp before a buffalo."
*
William Hazlitt: "Everyone in a crowd has the power to throw dirt: nine out of ten have the inclination."
*
Samuel Johnson: "A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still."
*
In his book of travel impressions, UN NOTRE PAYS (TROIS VOYAGES EN TROISIEME ARMENIE), Denis Donikian quotes an old lady in Yerevan as saying: "Our political leaders are engaged in a policy of national devastation. Things are happening today that did not happen under the Soviets. Which means we are being slaughtered not with ordinary blades but with dull ones. And we are told to shut up about it."
*
Elsewhere: "I give a hundred drams to a panhandler. He says nothing - neither a thank-you nor a blessing. Nothing. Complete silence. 'Tell me, my good man, I just gave you a hundred-dram note and you said nothing, not even a simple thanks. How come?' 'What's the use of saying thank you to hundred drams? I say thank you only to those who give me a thousand or more.'"
*
To readers who complain that I repeat myself, I say: "You and I share one thing in common: a dislike of repetition. I too dream to live as an Armenian among Armenians and not to be exposed to the same old clichés ad nauseam. I too would like to read a commentary by one of our dime-a-dozen pundits that does not blame all our misfortunes on others - if not Turks then the corrupt West. I too would like to read a letter from one of our philanthropic organizations that does not end with the Panchoonie punch line: "Mi kich pogh oughargetsek" [Send us a little money], with a footnote informing me that my contribution is tax deductible. I too would like to meet an Armenian who does not just brag about Armenians being the first nation to convert to Christianity but whose words and actions are animated by love and compassion as opposed to venom and intolerance. Will I live long enough to see these dreams realized?
Did I say dreams? Make it, daydreams based on illusions, born of wishful thinking and chauvinist propaganda.
Did I say daydreams? Make it, snowballs in hell."
*
There is no God.
At last I can prove it:
Bush's reelection.
But the Devil exists.
I can prove that too:
xxxx Cheney's reelection.
*
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
*************************************
Puzant Granian is dead. I wonder how many of my readers will recognize his name. He was a teacher, a poet, and a prolific author of fiction, essays, and criticism; also a community leader and a gifted orator.
*
I reread an interview published in 1980, where he speaks of Levon Shant (his teacher), Hamo Ohanjanian ("an undeniable moral force"), Roupen Der Minassian ("a man of immense power, spiritual as well as physical"), Gostan Zarian ("a daring explorer of the Armenian psyche"), and Nikol Aghbalian ("a writer of undeniable genius" with an "intense commitment to ideals"), and what comes to mind is the prince, in Giuseppe di Lampedusa's LEOPARD, who at one point says: "We were the leopards, the lions; those who will take our place will be little jackals, hyenas."
Our situation in a nutshell.
Jackals and hyenas.
Scorpions and frogs.
*
Hindu proverb: "When an elephant is in trouble, even a frog will kick him."
Exactly! Our frogs have kicked our elephants to death.
*
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction."
*
After an exchange of insults, disguised as views, with one of my gentle readers: "Now that you know me and I know you, let us do our utmost to avoid each other."
*
Between a philosopher and a slave, the state will invariably choose the slave.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, November 25, 2004
*************************************
André Gluckmann is a contemporary French philosopher and the author of over twenty books, the most recent being A TREATISE ON HATRED. The following three quotations are from an interview dealing with this book.
*
"It is said that hatred is born of oppression, destitution, and humiliation, as if everyone living in deplorable conditions were ravaged by hatred. What could be more offensive to the poor and the disadvantaged of this world!"
*
"The terrorist is not a robot manipulated by material conditions. The terrorist is an assassin who takes pleasure in indiscriminate killing…."
*
"The great writer is a prophet of doom. He exposes that which has gone wrong and that which is evil."
*
Portuguese proverb: "Better a red face than a black heart."
*
Stephen Leaxxxx: "A half truth in argument, like a half brick, carries better."
*
Bulgarian proverb: "Other people's eggs have two yolks."
*
Speechifiers and sermonizers are like men who praise vegetarianism while dining on shish kebab.
*
When it comes to thinking, real thinking, asking questions and raising doubts are more important than making dogmatic assertions and relying on authority.
*
I am an Armenian, which means when I think of my fellow Armenians, I lose both sleep and appetite.
#
Friday, November 26, 2004
************************************
Whenever I question Zarian's contemporaries, I notice again and again that they refuse to discuss the work and prefer to gossip about the man, and more specifically the insults he apparently inflicted on them.
A minor novelist: "We organized a picnic in his honor and instead of thanking us he complained about the food."
A third-rate versifier who considers himself a first rate poet: "He was an arrogant name-dropper. Unamuno told me this, Verhaeren told me that, Picasso told me, me, me, me!"
An academic in Yerevan: "He was unbearably self-centered. No one liked him."
An occasional journalist: "Once, when I was a boy, I carried two of his atrociously heavy bags to the top of a mountain in Cyprus and he didn't even thank me."
*
Of Zarian we can truly say that he was too good for his people, including our so-called intellectual elite. To those who say, "But there must be some truth in all that anecdotal evidence. The man must have been inconsiderate, perhaps even rude, in his dealings with his fellow Armenians." I say, yes, certainly, I agree. Rudeness is unforgivable in any man, including writers, especially writers. But then, Charents was an attempted murderer: that doesn't seem to stop our academics from studying his works and the public from idolizing him.
*
More from André Gluckmann's interview:
"Anti-Semitism antedates any encounter or dealing with a real xxx."
*
"Hatred is directed at imaginary objects of a certain type: reflections of oneself that one refuses to recognize."
*
Simone Weil: "It is impossible to forgive whoever has done us harm if that harm has lowered us. We have to think that it has not lowered us but revealed our true level."
*
Writes Olivier Messiaen: "Among birds most fights are settled by tournaments of song."
Imagine, if you can, American marines and Iraqi insurgents today (or, for that matter, Armenians and Turks, or even Armenians and Armenians), settling their differences by bursting into song. And to think that homo sapiens thinks he has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.
*
My favorite three funeral marches: the slow movement from Beethoven Eroica Symphony, the first movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony, and Siegfried's orchestral threnody from the final act of Wagner's GOTTERDAMMERUNG (which was also Hitler's favorite).
#
Saturday, November 27, 2004
************************************
There are those who think by writing one or more articles in our weeklies they have made a valuable contribution to the solution of our problems. There are even those who think if they succeed in solving all our problems, the nation will be grateful to them. I thought so too when I was young, naïve and inexperienced - in short, a dumb jerk. The truth is (and historic evidence is clear on this point) no power on earth, not even a messiah, can solve the problems of a nation that does not want to solve its problems. And if you are ever successful in solving all our problems, consider yourself lucky if they let you live.

It was Maimonides, a medieval xxxish philosopher, who said that for every wise man you meet, be prepared to deal with ten thousand fools, or words to that effect. He also said: "Astrology is a disease, not a science."
A thousand years of progress and what do we have? For every astronomer today there are probably ten thousand astrologers and a hundred thousand fools who believe in them.
*
It is the same in politics. Think of the millions of dupes who were taken in by the likes of Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini and completely ignored the voices of such dissidents as Thomas Mann, Gramsci, Solzhenitsyn and our own Zarian.
If this be progress then it must be the progress of a disease.
*
Denis Donikian: "Being Armenian means to have a license to exploit fellow Armenians in the name of Armenianism."
*
Russian proverb: "Dwell on the past and you will lose an eye. Ignore the past and you will lose both of them."
*
With enough checks and balances even a mediocrity may behave like a statesman. Without checks and balance even the greatest statesman may behave like a serial killer.
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, November 28, 2004
*****************************************
The positive or optimistic view of history emphasizes progress, the negative or pessimistic view emphasizes moral decline, and the objective view tells us it is wrong to blur the line that separates technological from moral progress.
*
Two things an Armenian will never forget: the massacres in the Ottoman Empire and the fact that Armenians are smart, and so smart that it takes seven xxxs to fool an Armenian. It follows, as night follows day, that as an Armenian he too qualifies. Hence the embarrassing spectacle of a loud-mouth imbecile with a negative IQ who, after assessing himself as a genius and an authority on any given subject, will accuse you of hating Armenians if you fail to look up to him, as if it were the patriotic duty of every Armenian to love and cherish white trash.
*
Anyone who considers himself infallible inhabits a realm that is not open to reason.
*
The easiest way to deal with an unpleasant truth is to call the speaker a liar.
*
Only those who think of themselves as indestructible attempt to destroy an idea and they are invariably destroyed by the idea.
*
I say what I think not because I am paid a regular salary or hope to enhance my power and prestige, but because I have had enough of lies and charlatans and I have no affection for bloodsuckers and gravediggers.
#
Monday, November 29, 2004
**********************************
About Baruch Spinoza I read the following:
"At the age of six he lost his mother. That's when he questioned the existence of God. At the age of twenty he fell in love with Clara Maria Van den Enden, his mentor's daughter. She rejected him. That's when he completely lost his belief in the existence of God. In 1656 a xxxish fanatic tried to kill him. On July 27 of the same year he was excommunicated (Spinoza was, not the fanatic) by the Synagogue of Amsterdam."
*
From an interview with the eminent contemporary French philosopher Edgar Morin:
"The principles of love and compassion within both Christianity and Islam have now been replaced with hatred… The world is cursed with an excess of love for idols and abstractions. I maintain we should love the transitory and the perishable more than the eternal. That which is more deserving of our love is also most fragile: conscience, beauty, tenderness… And by understanding I mean understanding others as well as ourselves."
*
Understanding reality means understanding our fellow men and, through them, ourselves.
*
Jules Renard: "There is no paradise; even so, one must do one's best to deserve it".
*
In a democracy, the function of an editor is to separate fact from propaganda and to print the fact.
In an authoritarian regime, the function of an editor is to separate fact from fiction and to print the fiction.
Among Armenians, the function of an editor is to print the trash.
#
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
**********************************
I have heard many Armenians say that Naregatsi is our Shakespeare. But I have heard only one Armenian quote a line from his Book of Lamentations not as proof of literary excellence but of perversity. The line in question? All about our sins, when added, exceeding in volume that of Mount Ararat.
*
Armenian identity begins with the massacres in the Ottoman Empire and ends with hatred of Turks. Any deviation from this line is seen as loss of identity, even betrayal.
*
The oppressed yearn for freedom. The oppressor demands subservience, which he calls loyalty. And when the oppressed acquire freedom, what do they do with it? They oppress -- what else? -- because like their former masters they confuse free speech with disloyalty. In the eyes of our bosses, bishops and benefactors (and their flunkies) I am an enemy because I yearn for free speech. You may now guess the identity of our role models.
*
I am tempted to introduce every sentence I write with the words: "I have said this before…" or even better, "This has been said before, but it bears repeating."
*
It is a mistake to identify a political party, an ideology, or a regime with the nation and, by extension, with patriotism. Parties, ideologies, regimes are ephemeral things, here today, gone tomorrow. But the nation endures, provided of course it values freedom above subservience.
*
It is the destiny of all oppressors to bite the dust. History is very clear on this point and it recognizes no exceptions to this rule. What remains in dispute is when. The Ottoman Empire lasted 600 years, the Soviet Empire a little over 60. As for our own oppressors: judging by the rate of assimilation in the Diaspora and exodus in the Homeland, the when is not sometime in the near or distant future but it might as well be, in modern parlance, "history."
#
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
**************************************
Some agree, others disagree, still others tell me it's a waste of time - writing for Armenians, that is. I am beginning to think so too, and I look forward to the day when I will grow the skin of a crocodile, say "A plague on all your houses!" give up writing, live happily ever after, and die in peace.
*
We remember our massacres and lament our victims even as we verbally massacre one another and would prefer to remember our adversaries as corpses.
*
"Being an Armenian," a friend tells me, "is enough to give an insomniac nightmares."
*
To reason, to negotiate, and to compromise is better than to fight. Good advice. It makes sense. I am all for it. But can you negotiate with an adversary who is in a position to silence you? Can a poet negotiate with a commissar? Can a rabbit reason with a wolf? Can a sardine and a shark reach a consensus?
*
What is it that has made of us perennial losers and victims? Everyone who has been brainwashed by a master of the blame game will advance his own historical, demographic, or geopolitical theory. My own explanation: We have been at the mercy of dividers who have at no time mastered the difficult art of thinking against themselves and questioning their own judgment. In other words, individuals who understand neither the world in which they live, nor the consequences of their actions and fundamental beliefs. Charlatans who operate on the assumption that the best way to deal with critics and dissenters is to starve or silence them - all in the name of patriotism, of course.
#

[angelik22]

may i ask what these notes are from? for?.. no bad intentions here- jsut curious :D

[arabaliozian]

i am sharing my thoughts...

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, December 02, 2004
***********************************
AUTHENTIC AND INAUTHENTIC IDEAS
*******************************************
How to define an authentic idea?
After you eliminate all phony or inauthentic ideas, what remains (if anything) qualifies as authentic.
*
How to identify an inauthentic idea?
Easy. Any idea that is based on hearsay, which means words uttered by sermonizers and speechifiers, or anyone in a position of power, be he pope, bishop, imam, king or president, cannot be authentic. That's because the primary concern of all power is to preserve or enhance its authority and prestige and not to advance on the endless road whose destination is truth. In that sense, power and truth might as well be mutually exclusive concepts.
*
An authentic idea is based on insight based on experience, provided one remembers that experiences too are necessarily partial or personal, hence limited and lacking in universal application and acceptance.
*
To be authentic an idea cannot be dogmatic or infallible. On the contrary, it must have a margin of error, doubt, and uncertainty. There is nothing new in what I am saying. Philosophers from Socrates and Plato to Hegel, Marx and Sartre believed truth (or understanding reality) is a goal that can be reached only by means of dialectic or dialogue - the triad of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, or assertion, contradiction, and compromise/consensus.
*
Truth is God's realm not man's, and no one is qualified to speak in His name, because "of the gods we know nothing" (Socrates). Therefore all talk of gods and religion is charlatanism because "only matter exists, consciousness being a manifestation of motion in brain cells" (Marx).
#
Friday, December 03, 2004
************************************
GETTING WISDOM
*************************************
Ever since I read the words "man's primitive belief in explanations" (Paul Valéry), I find most explanations suspect, especially explanations that are flattering to my ego.
*
It is not easy being objective. One way to achieve objectivity is by acquiring the difficult habit of "thinking against oneself" (Sartre), or, in Gandhi's words: "I have always held that it is only when one sees one's own mistakes with a convex lens [or with a magnifying glass], and does just the opposite in the case of others, that one is able to arrive at a just relative estimate of the two."
I dare anyone to play the blame game with an easy conscience after reading these lines.
*
For a long time I could not understand why our academics insist on producing books on the Genocide and the Middle Ages and totally ignoring our present situation, thus implying we are in good hands, when we are, in fact, at the mercy of charlatans whose number one concern is number one. Then I read Brecht's four-word formula, "grub first, then ethics," and saw the light.
*
Whenever I am misunderstood, I console myself by remembering Hegel's famous last words, "No one understood me, except one, and even he did not understand me." I am not implying here that my ideas are as complex as Hegel's, but I am suggesting that only readers, who are clear-cut cases of arrested development, and whose understanding of our past and present never ventures beyond partisan slogans, find my ideas easy to misunderstand.
*
Whenever one of my outraged readers engages in verbal massacre in order to assert his superior brand of Armenianism, I am reminded of Zarian's dictum, "Armenians survive by cannibalizing one another."
*
Whenever one of our partisan editors rejects my commentaries, I remember Zarian's letter written in the 1930s to a fellow writer, in which the following lines occur: "Our political parties have been of no political use to us. Their greatest enemy is free speech." And if you think, as an anti-establishment writer, Zarian's judgment cannot be trusted, consider the words of a pro-establishment writer, Hagop Garabents (Jack Karapetian), who wrote mostly harmless fiction and was on friendly terms with all our bosses, bishops and benefactors: "Once upon a time, we fought and died for freedom. We are now afraid of free speech."
*
The words I have quoted above are to me what booze is to an alcoholic. Reading them for the first time was like acquiring a golden key to a door that until then had remained locked. I know now that understanding reality is an endless process, and one of the worst mistakes one can make is to rely on the words of sermonizers and speechifiers, whose conception of being positive or constructive is based on the false assumption that a friendly lie is better than a hostile truth.
#
Saturday, December 04, 2004
*************************************
ON GOD
**********************
Sartre was an atheist. And yet, he concludes his memoirs by saying, "I depend only on men who depend on god, and I don't believe in god. Figure that one out, if you can."
Elsewhere he describes himself as an atheist whose aim in life was to find salvation not only for himself but also for his fellow men.
*
Gandhi identified himself as a Hindu but he at no time dismissed atheists as infidels or blasphemers. On the contrary. If we define god as truth, he said, even atheists become believers because they believe in the non-existence of god.
*
When Jesus said, "The kingdom of god is within you," did he mean "Don't search for anything that is out there somewhere in a physical, abstract or imaginary dimension, because everything begins and ends in the convolutions of your brain"? Tolstoy thought so, and for saying as much, he was excommunicated by Orthodox bureaucrats on grounds of atheism.
*
When Toynbee concluded his 12-volume STUDY OF HISTORY by attempting to reconcile all religions into a single universal belief system, wasn't he, in a way, expressing tacit agreement with Gandhi? Because by reconciling, say, Buddhism (an atheist religion) with Islam or Christianity, also meant reconciling a belief in the existence of god with a belief in his non-existence.
*
Like Gandhi, Toynbee clearly saw that when religion legitimizes intolerance, hatred, and violence, it becomes the instrument (and thus asserts the existence) not of god but of the devil.
*
When kings and sultans claimed to represent god on earth, did they believe it? When bishops and imams speak in the name of god, do they mean it? Italians are fond of saying that even the pope doubts his faith seven times every day. As for bureaucrats (be they secular or religious): they will say anything to maintain and enhance their powers, privileges, and prestige.
*
Does god exist? We don't know. No one does. And it makes no difference whether he exists or not as long as we live as though he did, provided we don't pretend to speak in his name, because to do so is to lie.
#

[sleuth]

[QUOTE=arabaliozian]Thursday, December 02, 2004
***********************************
AUTHENTIC AND INAUTHENTIC IDEAS
*******************************************

When Jesus said, "The kingdom of god is within you," did he mean "Don't search for anything that is out there somewhere in a physical, abstract or imaginary dimension, because everything begins and ends in the convolutions of your brain"? Tolstoy thought so, and for saying as much, he was excommunicated by Orthodox bureaucrats on grounds of atheism.
*
The kingdom of god is within you:This is probably the most confusing statament about the kingdom of god.And I disagree with Tolstoy.
Jesus often compared the kingdom of God to seed planted to the hearts of men and women.Each of us has the seeds of kingdom within us but it will grow only when we give it proper care and feeding.
Now, I beg you to define The heart. :).

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, December 05, 2004
*************************************
After Bach, the Beatles; after Socrates, Stalin; after Elgar, Elvis; after Sibelius, Sinatra; after Hegel, Hitler; after Vermeer, Warhol; after Gostan Zarian, Nairi Zarian…I could go on. The human race does not seem to be open to reason or esthetic and moral values.
*
No matter what your field, you will have competitors who will be more successful by prostituting its integrity.
*
After Jesus Christ, televangelists, who amass vast fortunes by perverting his message of love and compassion to greed, intolerance, and hatred.
*
Speaking of man's primitive faith in explanations: we are fond of saying that what made of us perennial losers is our geography, thus implying that we have been enslaved by our mountains, rivers, lakes, and valleys; or we have allowed our longitudes and latitudes to be masters of our destiny. If true, emigration would mean liberation. But consider our academics in America, our crème de la crème, who are in no position to plead not guilty on grounds of ignorance or unawareness: not only are they subservient to our mini-sultans and pseudo-imams but also to their flunkies.
*
To assert their independence of mind, courage, and daring, some readers insult a defenseless and harmless scribbler anonymously and from a safe distance, all in the name of patriotism, of course, which means allegiance to the Homeland, namely Mount Ararat, Mount Aragats, Lake Sevan, Dilijan and Hraztan.
#
Monday, December 06, 2004
************************************
When Schopenhauer called Hegel an "arch-charlatan," his unspoken intent was to replace Hegel's philosophical system with his own; or, to propound an antithesis to Hegel's thesis. Which means, in his rejection of Hegel, he was being a Hegelian.
*
When your average layman calls an intellectual giant like Marx, Freud, or Sartre a charlatan without having read their works, he only succeeds in exposing his prejudice and arrogance.
*
I define an intellectual giant as one who unveils something that has been hidden from view, and having done so, he changes our understanding of reality. He may be proven wrong and corrected by future thinkers, but only in the sense that Einstein corrected Newton.
*
Pope Pius XI (1857-1939) publicly condemned communism. But when he declared in one of his encyclicals, "Dead matter leaves the factory ennobled and transformed, whereas man are corrupted and degraded," he might as well have been speaking as a Marxist. And this indeed is an unmistakable mark of an intellectual giant: it becomes impossible to speak about anything that matters without in some way quoting or paraphrasing him.
*
Sartre put it best when he said: "An anti-Marxist argument is only the apparent rejuvenation of a pre-Marxist idea." Which also means, you cannot contradict a new thesis with an obsolete anti-thesis; or again, any effort to arrest the advance of human thought is destined to fail.
#
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
***********************************
ON INTERMARRIAGE
***************************
In the Armenian ghetto where I was born, raised, and brainwashed, I was led to believe intermarriage meant sleeping with the enemy. I know better now because I appreciate the positive aspects of mixed marriages, namely, racial and religious tolerance. And sure enough, some of our ablest and most progressive intellectuals, from Abovian to Zarian, and from Arlen to Saroyan, married odars.
*
How to explain the popularity of intermarriage? -- (about 80% in the U.S., I am told). A man is a man, a woman is a woman, and when the two meet, everything else - moral and esthetic values, political orientation, financial status, religious and ethnic affiliation - fly out the window. What remain are a man, a woman and the instinct to be fruitful and multiply.
*
ON BEST-SELLERS
***************************
In the U.S. best-selling books are as a rule either ignored or torn to shreds by critics. What makes them best sellers are average readers and word of mouth. We Armenians don't have best-selling books because we don't have average readers. Every Armenian who knows how to read considers himself not only a distinguished literary critic with impeccable esthetic criteria but also an expert on any given subject.
*
ON GENTLE READERS
************************
Whenever I am described by some of these distinguished scholars and gentlemen as a purveyor of b.s. I am reminded of a popular saying in Hollywood, which brought a smile, when I first read it: "It may be xxxx, but it has integrity."
*
I once called one of my abusive readers an "inbred moron," and ever since then he has done his utmost to prove me right.
#
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
*************************************
ON FUNDAMENTALISTS
*************************************
A fundamentalist is one who uses (make it, abuses) the scriptures to camouflage his carnivorous instincts and cannibalistic disposition.
*
"A bourgeois is a bourgeois regardless of national origin," Lenin said. So is a fundamentalist -- regardless of belief system.
*
Lawyers, theologians, politicians, sophists and charlatans in general have at one time or another proved that a man may behave like swine and portray himself as a noble specimen of humanity. History is very clear on this point.
*
A fundamentalist believes being virtuous, superior, or one of the "chosen," consists in basing one's conduct on the scriptures, and by cunningly isolating certain lines and completely ignoring the spirit of many other lines, he can prove to be (to his own satisfaction, at any rate) a man of compassion even as he engages in the massacre of innocent civilians.
*
Those who commit massacres don't like that word. They prefer the word war, and in war sometimes "bad things happen."
*
Fundamentalism in both the West and the Middle East might as well be reflections of one another. One reason Kerry lost is that as a moderate he could not see this, he thus underestimated the evil in both camps.
*
How can any reasonable man change a message of love and compassion to one of hatred and murder? Easy. Listen to Richelieu: "If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him."
#

[arabaliozian]

The kingdom of god is within you:This is probably the most confusing statament about the kingdom of god.And I disagree with Tolstoy.
Jesus often compared the kingdom of God to seed planted to the hearts of men and women.Each of us has the seeds of kingdom within us but it will grow only when we give it proper care and feeding.
Now, I beg you to define The heart. :).[/QUOTE]

=================
my reply:
you say you disagree with tolstoy but you paraphrase him.
as for the heart: only in the old days it was thought to be the seat of feelings. it is now thought of as only a pump.
we feel and think only with our brain or cortex. / ara

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, December 09, 2004
************************************
A DISGRACE TO THE NATION
*************************************
Because I speak of tolerance and the brotherhood of all men, some of my readers accuse me of all kinds of nefarious and un-Armenian sentiments, as if tolerance and brotherhood were incompatible with Armenianism.
*
"You are a disgrace to the Armenian nation," a gentle reader writes, as if our nation had been a role model among nations.
*
"Unlike you," writes another, "some of us refuse to forget 3000 years of history." What's 3000 years of history to millions of years of evolution? And what if our history has been a catalogue of dynastic rivalries, tribal divisions, internecine feuds, defeats, subservience to foreign tyrants, collaboration with enemies, treason, betrayal, and the persecution of our ablest men?
*
What about the voice of the people? Why is it that it has been an absent factor in our history? Why is it that the only time we hear about them is when they are victimized by the thousand and the million?
*
Who speaks for the alienated, the unemployed and the hungry who prefer to emigrate to Turkey and to engage in prostitution in foreign lands in order to make ends meet?
*
These questions must be raised because fear of confronting reality and fear of free speech are the worst kind of cowardice.
*
What about our masters of the blame game who assert all our problems must be ascribed to the bloodthirsty disposition of Asiatic barbarians, the double-talk of the so-called civilized West, our geography, and to the obvious fact that we are a peace-loving people? May I remind these holier-than-thou charlatans that during the 20th century alone we fought both for Stalin and Hitler, and some of the most warlike emperors and generals of the Byzantine Empire were Armenian.
*
Speaking of forked tongues: what if the version of history we are taught in our schools is not history but propaganda whose aim is to soothe bruised egos?
*
Where are our intellectuals? Do we have them? Are they too busy writing books about the Middle Ages and the massacres to have any time left to raise their voices against the kleptocracy in the Homeland and the tyranny of mini-sultans and pseudo-imams in the Diaspora? What happened to their kind after they were systematically exterminated by Talaat and Stalin? Did they stay exterminated or were they followed by successive generations of brown-nosers, sleazy liars, and a proliferation of phony pundits and commissars of culture?
#
Friday, December 10, 2004
**********************************
IN TODAY'S PAPER
************************************
According to an international watchdog group, political parties and the media are two of the most corrupt institutions in the world. To put it more bluntly: our "betters" are the worst scum on earth and anyone who defends them is either a brown-nosing dupe or a brainwashed pervert.
*
ON GOD
**********************
At age 81, a British philosopher and confirmed atheist by the name of Antony Flew, has seen the light and he now believes in the existence of god. But his god, he tells us, has nothing to do with the god of bishops, televangelists, and imams, who depict him as an "omnipotent Oriental despot," or a "cosmic Saddam Hussein." His proof of god's existence? The complexities of the DNA (the material in the nucleus of a living cell that determines heredity) which must be the creation of a highly developed intelligence. Flew may now believe in god, we are further informed, but "he does not believe in an afterlife."
*
ON THE DEADLY SERIOUS BUSINESS OF ARMENIAN HUMOR
************************************************** ***************
Some of my readers have a sense of humor so delicately tuned and balanced, it seems, that whenever I fail to amuse them they call me a sick racist and a disgrace to the nation.
In a movie today I heard Woody Allen deliver the following line: "My grandmother left me nothing: she was too busy being raped by Cossacks."
If an Armenian comedian were to say as much (changing Cossacks to Turks or Kurds) I suspect, he would be lynched by his audience. I have myself received death threats for far lesser transgressions.
No wonder Armenian comedians, like Armenian writers, are on the list of endangered (perhaps even extinct) species.
*
UNDERSTANDING REALITY
**********************************
Reality is not pretty; neither is it fair. Reality supports the mighty and allows the massacre of the weak. I don't support reality; but I want to understand its secret intentions. I want to know its schedule and where it will strike next. Organized religions and closed systems of thought are popular because they promise a better reality, sometimes even a utopian heaven on earth, thus legitimizing our wishful thinking. The weak shall inherit the earth, they tell us, the oppressed shall be liberated, and the lamb shall lie down with the lion. Maybe so. But for the time being, I have no desire to make friends with carnivorous beasts, unless their teeth and claws are pulled out or they are converted to vegetarianism. And if I cannot be a dragon in a world of lions, then I want to know all I can about his territory, feeding habits so that I may avoid being his lunch.
#
Saturday, December 11, 2004
*************************************
BLIND SPOTS
************************
We all have them, and they are called blind because we can't see them. The blind spot of a self-assessed genius: his mediocrity.
*
MY POLLYANNA LIST
*******************************
Captains go down with the ship,
kings and presidents are assassinated,
femmes fatales and sexy stars grow old,
New Yorkers and cab drivers are mugged,
businessmen go bankrupts,
chief executive officers go to jail,
televangelists are exposed as fornicators
and clergymen as pedophiles,
and writers are insulted by hoodlums
parading as self-assessed role models.
It all comes with the territory.
*
AS I SEE IT
******************
There are intelligent and semi-intelligent readers, but they are in the minority. There are also self-assessed geniuses and role models. After reading one of my critical comments dealing with the Homeland, one such specimen writes: "Anyone who does not love his country does not deserve to live," or words to that effect.
My questions to him: "Do you also love the charlatans, bloodsuckers and gravediggers in your country? What about the pimps and the assassins? Is it conceivable for anyone who is neither a pimp nor an assassin to be on their side?"
*
The problem with assessing oneself is that one is bound to stress the ass in assessing.
*
Traitors have also assessed themselves as patriots.
*
JULES RENARD TO ONE OF HIS CRITICS
********************************************
"Yes, yes, you may be right, but it seems to me, you are tougher on me than on yourself."
#

[Hayq]

well ill be a son of a turk, its ARABolizian. Now, what would have made me think to look in the "intelectual lounge" to find you here?

[sleuth]

The kingdom of god is within you:This is probably the most confusing statament about the kingdom of god.And I disagree with Tolstoy.
Jesus often compared the kingdom of God to seed planted to the hearts of men and women.Each of us has the seeds of kingdom within us but it will grow only when we give it proper care and feeding.
Now, I beg you to define The heart. :).

=================
my reply:
you say you disagree with tolstoy but you paraphrase him.
as for the heart: only in the old days it was thought to be the seat of feelings. it is now thought of as only a pump.
we feel and think only with our brain or cortex. / ara[/QUOTE]


I did not paraphrase Talstoy.You just failed to define The heart.

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, December 12, 2004
************************************
QUOTATIONS FROM RAFFI (1835-1888)
************************************************
"Self-satisfied people are, as a rule, unaware of their failings. Progressive and enlightened people are far more critical of themselves. As for us: we live in a world of lies and illusions."
*
"Our values are rotten and our traditions have been obliterated. From the West we have appropriated not the best but the worst. Our literature is less than mediocre and our people intellectually starved. We want them to read but we don't give them books. Our schools have become toys in the hands of mediocrities and pedants. Our churches have lost their ancestral integrity and have degenerated into commercial enterprises of unbelief. Its hierarchy is dominated by venal speculators. The deserving are shunned and the undeserving promoted."
*
TRANSLATIONS FROM JULES RENARD (1887-1910)
************************************************** ******
"There are friends; there are no true friends."
*
"To be clear is a writer's way of being polite."
*
"As a man, Christ is admirable. But as God, one can't help thinking that he could have done much better!"
*
"The sleep of the just? But who says the just can sleep?"
*
THREE PROVERBS
***************************
Arab proverb: "There are no faults in a thing we want badly."

Estonian proverb: "What you are afraid of overtakes you."

German proverb: "Luck sometimes visits a fool, but never sits down with him."
#
December 13, 2004
***********************************
ABOUT SOLUTIONS
************************************
One of the worst obstacles in finding a solution to our problems are people who think there exists somewhere between heaven and earth a realm that contains solutions and all we have to do is pluck the right one for us. These individuals refuse to accept the fact that you cannot change bad men to good men by means of a verbal formula.
Socrates tried to reason with them and was arrested, tried, found guilty, and condemned to death.
Jesus tried to preach to them and he was crucified.
More recently Gandhi tried it and he was assassinated.
Closer to home, Khachatur Abovian did his utmost to enlighten them and he disappeared without a trace.
More recently, Gostan Zarian, a truly messianic figure, was silenced, ignored, and buried alive.
*
If far better men than myself have failed, what are my own chances of success?
None!
Why do I go on?
Or rather, what are my options?
To fall silent and accept defeat?
To entertain the bourgeoisie by writing fiction about "the mutual torments of love" (Sartre)?
*
Perhaps I go on writing not to change things but to make friends.
What if in the process I make enemies?
One can always hope that they will see the light on the grounds that "no man is beyond redemption" (Gandhi).
*
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
***********************************
In his Dec. 13 Insight article, "Europe divided over letting Turkey into club," H.D.S. Greenway fails to mention that one of the major obstacles for membership is Turkey's refusal to acknowledge the genocide of the Armenians before, during and after World War I (1894-1922). Eminent historians and scholars like Arnold J. Toynbee and Elie Wiesel, a Nobel Prize winner, have asserted the reality of the Genocide with no uncertain terms, but Turkish politicians continue to maintain it was not genocide but war and in war "bad things happen." Which is an absurd claim in view of the fact that (one) Armenians were a minority within Turkey, (two) they were not allowed to bear arms and (three) the majority of the two million victims were women, children, and old men.
#
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
***********************************
TRANSLATION FROM RAFFI
***********************************
"Vartan didn't know how to lie. He spoke the truth to everyone. He was even incapable of covering up his own blunders. Generally speaking, this type of individual is thought of as eccentric by ordinary folk, who are used to dealing with people who say one thing and mean another, and they hate anyone who insists on speaking the truth."
*
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE STATE
******************************************
It is against the law for individuals to steal and kill. But throughout history states have behaved as though they had a license to plunder and massacre with impunity.
*
I MAY HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE
****************************************
I have never been as wrong as when the possibility of being wrong did not even enter my head, or when I trusted the judgment of others only because they were older or in a position of power.
*
Holier-than-thou is a mindset suitable only for those who have taken permanent residence in the gutter.
*
ARMENIAN HAIKU
***************************
Sacred cows
make delicious
shish kebab.
*
MY FAVORITE HOJA STORY
***********************************
It was common knowledge that in his youth Nasreddin Hoja made a comfortable living as a smuggler. So that whenever he crossed the border with his donkey (and he did so frequently) he was searched thoroughly by border guards, who found nothing. Years later, when one of these guards met the Hoja, he wanted to know what was it that he was smuggling. "Donkeys," replied the Hoja.
*
A LOSE/LOSE SITUATION
*******************************
Edward Dahlberg: "It is hideous and coarse to assume that we can do something for others - it is vile not to endeavor to do it."
#
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
************************************
UNSEEN PHOTOS AND UNWRITTEN BOOKS
*************************************************
When asked in his old age whether he had stopped taking pictures, the celebrated French photographer, Cartier Bresson, is said to have replied: "Oh no, I'm still taking them, I just don't need a camera any more."
I wouldn't be surprised if some writers do their best "writing" after they stop publishing.
*
SUBLIMATION
************************
Revenge is the only thing that will settle the score between Armenians and Turks, a reader writes. Apologies, reparations and territorial concessions will not do it. Only an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And as he waits for the showdown, this Armenian takes it out on his fellow Armenians by engaging in verbal massacre.
*
PERSEVERANCE
*********************************************
I would have given up writing long ago were it not for the fact that those of my readers who despise me are also my most faithful readers, which may suggest that I must have something going for me. What is even more curious is that even readers who complain that I bore the hell out of them keep on reading everything I write - judging by the frequency of their insults. As for those who would like to see me silenced: it is they who eventually give up and fall silent.
*
FREUD, SPENGLER, TOYNBEE
*************************************
All major thinkers have had their share of critics who have called them irrelevant pedants or even frauds and charlatans. And then there are lazy laymen who think they are justified in accepting the judgment of these critics as irrevocable verdicts. Speaking for myself and as a layman, may I confess that I have found in the works of all major thinkers many pearls of wisdom and unforgettable lines that are totally absent from the writings of their critics. Consider the following quotations as cases in point:
*
Freud: "Repression proceeds from the ego; we might say with greater precision: from the self-respect of the ego."
*
Spengler: "All genuine historical work is philosophy, unless it is mere ant-industry."
*
Toynbee: "The xxxs, the Japanese, the British 'sahibs', the Nazis…all seem to me to have been chosen by no one except themselves."
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, December 19, 2004
*********************************
TRANSLATION FROM ARPIAR ARPIARIAN
***********************************************
"We sent our representatives all the way to Berlin to liberate us from the yoke of Kurdish and Turkish bloodsuckers, as if our own bloodsuckers were not worse than any Kurd or Turk."
*
There are two things on which our turn-of-the century writers agree: the detestable nature of our bourgeoisie in Istanbul and the suffocating influence of the clergy in the provinces. To which I can only add: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
*
FOR OR AGAINST
**************************
Others may speak of their silent majority; we can speak only of an indifferent one.
*
Agreement and disagreement in our context might as well be meaningless. For everyone who agrees with you, there may be 2 or even 22 who may disagree, and 222 who will not give a damn one way or the other.
*
But when two schmucks agree, they assume they have achieved national consensus.
*
IMAGINARY INTERVIEW
*******************************
-Your greatest mistake?
-Being born an Armenian.
-Your second greatest mistake?
-Writing for Armenians.
-Why is that a mistake?
-It's like writing for an army of Napoleons?
-Why Napoleons?
-Make it, lunatics who think they are Napoleons.
#
Monday, December 20, 2004
************************************
The central concern of all intellectual labor is human nature. "Scientific experience," writes Spengler, "is spiritual self-knowledge."
*
By devising extensions of the human body, technology reveals the secret direction of our desires.
*
To say that psychology, historiography, mythology, philosophy, sociology and the writing of fiction share in common an interest in human nature is to say the obvious.
*
Consider the following thought by Freud as a case in point: "It is not our hatred of our enemies that harms us: it is our hatred for the people we really love that destroys us." What better key to our own history or status as perennial losers and victims!
*
The following passage by a historian (Toynbee), that explains many aspects of universal history, including - and especially - our own, could have been written by Jung or Freud: "The egocentric illusion…this most fantastic of all freaks of Maya… has always beset every living organism in which an ego has ever asserted itself."
*
When our own turn-of-the-century novelists like Arpiarian, Gamsaragan, Nar-Dos, and Zohrab wrote about the repulsive nature of our bourgeoisie in Istanbul, they might as well have been echoing Spengler's sentiments in the following passage from THE DECLINE OF THE WEST: "The parasitical city dweller, traditionless, utterly matter-of-fact, religionless, clever, unfruitful, deeply contemptuous of the countryman…."
*
And speaking of religion:
All social movements are conceived by underdogs and confiscated by top dogs. Which amounts to saying, eventually, Marx will be followed by Stalin, and Christ by anti-Christ (Renaissance popes and American televangelists).
#
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
***************************************
A history of late 19th- and early 20th-century Armenian literature reads today like a work of science fiction of another nation, from a different planet, in a distant galaxy.
*
Whenever I read biographies of Abovian, Raffi, Baronian, Arpiarian, Gamsaragan, Voskanian, and many, many others, I marvel at their fearless dedication and stubborn refusal to compromise or to cushion their blows. And the question I keep asking myself is: What the hell happened to our literature? The only answer I can come up with is also the most obvious: our bosses, bishops, benefactors and their parasitical panchoonies finished the job begun by Talaat and Stalin.
*
Unlike Odian's Panchoonie, today's Panchoonie is as smooth, well fed, and soft-spoken as any American Chief Executive Officer. He sports a blue suit, red tie, a laptop and a salary of over a hundred thousand dollars (according to an insider in New York, whose word I have no reason to doubt).
*
If a writer like Baronian or Odian were to appear among us today, he would be silenced and starved before anyone can say Jack S. Avanakian.
*
I don't write to change things - my megalomania has its limits. I write to remind our midgets and their dupes that once upon a time, giants walked among us - giants whose shadow would be enough to pulverize their bones.
*
What will a history of 21st Century Armenian literature written a hundred years hence read like? Imagine, if you can, the description by a blind man of a non-existent black hat in a dark room.
#
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
***************************************
IMAGINARY INTERVIEW (II)
*********************************
-What's your racket?
-I am in the business of being misunderstood.
-Any money in that?
-Only insults.
-What kind of insults?
-Being called all kinds of names.
-Such as?
-Son of a xxxxx, disgrace to the nation.
-What nation?
-Armenian.
-Romanian?
-No, Armenian.
-Aramaean?
-No, no. Armenian.
-What's the difference?
-Aramaeans are extinct.
-And Armenians aren't?
-Only the real ones.
-You mean, the phonies aren't?
-Right.
-So, why write for them?
-To defend the honor of the real ones who can no longer defend themselves.
-But since they are dead and buried, they are in no position to express their appreciation: am I summing up the situation correctly?
-I couldn't have said it better myself.
-In that case, your situation is xxxxuation.
-You took the words right out of my mouth.
-As a matter of fact I did: I read some of your things on the Internet.
-So, tell me. What do you think?
-About what?
-My things.
-You really want to know?
-I do.
-You are wasting your time.
-I agree.
-So, why go on?
-I was hoping you would tell me.
-Sorry, friend. I can't help you there. Unless, of course, you believe in an afterlife.
-I don't.
-Then I ask you again: if the living insult you and the dead will not thank you, why go on?
-How about, to balance the score.
-But who will know - if the living don't give a damn and the dead can't speak?
-I will…and now, you will too.
-Is that enough?
-No, but it may be a step in the right direction.
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, December 23, 2004
************************************
ON DOGMA
******************
Where there is a dogma there is sure to be another that will contradict it.
*
Where there are conflicting dogmas, intolerance will be legitimized.
*
Legitimizing intolerance is the first step on a road that leads to violations of human rights and, ultimately, to torture, murder, war and massacre.
*
Insecure people need dogmas the way cripples need crutches.
*
A dogma allows men to dehumanize their fellow men without any sense of responsibility and guilt.
*
QUOTATION FROM ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE
************************************************
"Every human being now alive has links, however tenuous, not only with every one of his contemporaries, but also with every other human being that has ever lived. In this sense, human history is one single seamless web, and any dissection of it is an arbitrary misrepresentation of Reality."
*
MASSALS
************************
Ours is a story of such labyrinthine complexities, with so many unexpected twists and turns, dark corners and underground passages, dead ends and blunders - yes, above all blunders and miscalculations, not to say treason and betrayal - that to reduce it to a narrative of 20 or 200 or even 2000 pages (less than a page for every 365 days) amounts to engaging in magic realism in the manner of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. Which is exactly where our history texts stand today. I know what I am talking about having concocted such a massal myself: my only best seller (over 10,000 copies sold so far). And now you may draw your own conclusion…
Three apples fell from heaven and all three were rotten!
#
Friday, December 24, 2004
************************************
THREE KINDS OF WRITERS
************************************
Some writers write to achieve fame and fortune; others write to achieve personal immortality; still others write to preserve the immortality of ideals and principles without which a lawless rabble cannot rise to the status of civilized society.
*
Whenever we forget or ignore the achievements of our writers who dedicated their lives to maintaining these principles and ideals, we, in a way, collaborate with the likes of Talaat and Stalin in killing and burying them for the second time; and of the two deaths, that which is inflicted by us is the more deserving of universal contempt and condemnation.
*
A nation that forgets the memory of its greatest minds might as well be brain dead.
*
TRANSLATION FROM RAFFI
**************************************
"I am against elitism. Even so, I can't help wishing that we had an elite. That's because the masses lack political awareness and they need an elite to express their discontent, especially if members of the elite are themselves oppressed and thus share their suffering."
*
TOYNBEE ON NATIONALISM
**************************************
"To believe that one's own tribe is God's Chosen People is the error of nationalism."
*
"Self-idolization is most flagrantly in evidence, not as self-adjudicated reward for success, but as self-exculpating compensation for failure."
*
QUOTATION FROM HEGEL
*********************************
"Man can never overestimate the greatness and power of his spirit."
*
SUFFERING AND WISDOM
*********************************
According to Aeschylus: "The gods have so ordained it that man gains wisdom only by suffering." I see the suffering in our past, but I see very little wisdom in our conduct and character as a nation. We have historians who specialize in documenting our suffering but I see no one actively engaged in preserving the wisdom gained by our ablest thinkers, perhaps because this wisdom would expose the charlatanism of our pseudo-elite or crème de la scum.
#
Saturday, December 25, 2004
***********************************
When you try to do something that has not been done before, everyone will tell you it can't be done, until you do it, and afterwards they will pretend you have not done it.
*
The Nazis legitimized barbarism in the name of civilization and progress - their conception of civilization of progress. Likewise, organized religions legitimize intolerance in the name of a merciful God - their conception of mercy and God.
*
Ottoman anti-Armenianism, Nazi anti-Semitism, Muslim anti-Americanism: subtle minds may see differences in kind and degree here, but I don't.
*
Foreign scholars have praised our art, architecture, and music, even our mountains, rivers, and valleys. But, as far as I know, none of them has ever said anything remotely kind about our statesmanship. When Avedik Issahakian said: "We have been cursed with natural disasters, bloodthirsty neighbors, and brainless leaders," he was saying something very similar.
*
I see my countrymen as a tiny fraction of mankind, and I am on the side of the exploited and oppressed. Between a hungry man and a fat-bellied slob, my sympathies will always be with the hungry even if he happens to be a Turk and the fat one an Armenian bishop. When General Antranik declared: "I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed," he meant something very similar too.
#
Sunday, December 26, 2004
****************************************
THE ARMENIAN COMPLEX
*******************************
To overestimate friends and underestimate enemies: I call this the Armenian complex. It is indicative of weakness and wishful thinking. I speak from personal experience.
*
At the turn of the last century our revolutionaries overestimated the verbal commitment of the Great Powers and underestimated Turkish savagery, and for that innocent miscalculation the people paid a disproportionately heavy price. That's what they mean when they speak of life being unfair.
*
Some get away with murder, others get killed for deviating a fraction of an inch on the highway. Moral: Always behave as though somebody up there did not much care about you.
*
To put the same thought more succinctly: There is a difference between smart and smart-ass, and smart-ass is closer to ass than to smart.
*
A self-assessed smart Armenian is sure to be a smart-ass.
*
Having said this I am reminded of Talleyrand's celebrated dictum: "It's worse than a crime, it's a blunder."
*
If we had had a Talleyrand among our revolutionaries, the following would have been his comment on the verbal commitment of the Great Powers: "Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts."
*
Talleyrand on non-intervention: "Mot metaphyisque et politique qui signifie a peu pres la meme chose qu'intervention." In other words, when politicians speak of non-intervention they mean intervention and vice versa.
*
20/20 vision or diplomatic experience (which we did not have)?
*
Another question: What if our political parties brainwash us to believe we are smart because they want to cover up their own stupidity?
*
And if you were to ask: "Why such depressing thoughts on this joyful season?" I say, what could be more thrilling than self-knowledge or (which is the same thing) understanding something about reality that you did not understand before? And what could be more depressing (with tragic consequences) than failing to learn from past experience?
#
Monday, December 27, 2004
*************************************
ON CULTURE SHOCK
************************************
A culture shock can be painful as well as degrading, and I have experienced four of them: first time when I ventured outside the Armenian ghetto in Greece; second time when I went to Italy for my secondary education; third time when we moved to Canada; and fourth time when I started writing for Armenians. I have since discovered that an Armenian from Syria and an Armenian from Italy can be as different as an Arab and an Italian.
*
In today's paper I read the following: "Motorists leaving Istanbul's Ataturk Airport encounter a billboard that says, in Turkish, 'Control the Traffic Monster Inside You.'" And I say to my Armenian readers, in English, "Control the Turkish gypsy inside you."
*
Why is it that I don't experience culture shock when I read Chekhov, Sartre, Kazantzakis, Thomas Mann, Pavese or Toynbee, and many other writers from all four corners of the world? On the contrary, what I experience is a sense of kinship and liberation. I conclude, therefore, what's shocking about the encounter of cultures has nothing to do with values and everything to do with intolerance. And sure enough, all the writers I mentioned above were torn to shreds by critics and sometimes even imprisoned, exiled and excommunicated by their own compatriots. Which may suggest that labels may change but man is the same everywhere, and it is up to each individual to choose between being on the side of the victimizer or the victim. All the rest is academic nonsense and propaganda.
#
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
***********************************
MISLEADING LABELS, BAD SEMANTICS
*************************************************
To be beyond criticism is an ambition we all share and a status we can never attain because everything that is human is also imperfect and a product of contradictions.
*
If you are an underdog you have no choice but to say "Yes, sir!" even when they kick you in the ass. But if you are a top dog you can always label the criticism as unfair, negative or destructive, and to silence the critic (if he is an underdog).
*
A negative critic is one who dares to question the qualifications or competence of those in power. A positive critic is one who says the fault lies not with the men at the top (who are beyond criticism) but some of their underlings - the lower the underlings, the more positive the criticism.
*
To identify people by their religion is at the root of all religious intolerance. The faith or religion of the overwhelming majority of people is a result not of choice but of accident - the accident of birth. In that sense, Napoleon was right when he remarked: "Geography is destiny." Most Christians are Christian because they were born in a Christian country. For such a Christian to label Muslims infidels and vice versa - for Muslims born and raised in a predominantly Muslim environment to call Christians giaours or infidels - is to legitimize intolerance and ultimately hatred, war, and the murder of the innocent.
*
A Christian fundamentalist and a Muslim fundamentalist share one thing in common which is much more important than their religion, namely, their claim to be God's Chosen or Favorite People. This claim of privileged status has nothing to do with compassion and mercy (the central tenets of both Islam and Christianity) but with arrogance, ignorance, and stupidity.
*
When I say God is perfect and infallible, I also imply that by believing in Him I share some of his perfection and infallibility. So that even when I victimize the innocent I do so as an instrument of God's Will. If this is not the most dangerous form of insanity, I should like to know what is.
#
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
**************************************
LIARS AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES
*********************************************
Our editors operate on the assumption that, so long as they adopt an anti-Turkish editorial policy, they are on safe ground.
One reason they are unanimous in their refusal to publish me is that, before they print anything, they ask themselves: "Will this displease in any way any one of our bosses, bishops, and benefactors?"
*
In order to survive, our press has no choice but to recycle the propaganda line of our establishment and to silence our critics. To those who ask, "Do we have them?" - meaning critics, I say: Judging by our turn-of-the-century literature in Istanbul and later in Soviet Armenia, all our writers were also anti-establishment critics. If they had not been, neither Talaat nor Stalin would have adopted a policy of systematic extermination. And when I say, our writers were also critics, I don't just mean critics of Ottoman and Soviet oppression, but also and above, critics of Armenian greed and corruption in high places.
*
The Ottoman and Soviet tyrants have been swept into the dustbin of history, but Armenian greed and corruption continue to be covered up on the grounds that it is bad policy to expose our dirty linen in public.
*
But once in a while, this corruption stings a member of our establishment. Immediately lawyers are hired, appeals are sent to congressmen and ambassadors, letters to the editor, commentaries and editorials are published in our weeklies, and a great deal of dirty linen is exposed.
*
My question to our editors and self-righteous ladies and gentlemen who can afford to spend thousands of dollars on lawyers and endless litigation on several fronts is: "Is this the only time you have become aware of corruption in high places? If you were aware of what goes on but preferred to adopt no-skin-of-my-nose stance, in what way are you not as guilty as those you now accuse of deception and fraud?"
*
"The man who does not bawl out the truth when he knows the truth," writes Péguy, "becomes the accomplice of liars."
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, January 09, 2005
********************************
LITERATURE
************************
Literature as high-class entertainment? Nonsense.
Literature as biopsy. That's more like it.
*
JOURNALISM
***********************
In Armenian journalism we have no one remotely comparable to Ben Bagdikian, whose central concern as an investigative reporter has been to expose American incompetence and corruption. And what has been the central concern of our own pundits and journalists? To reform the rest of the world by exposing its shortcomings, blunders, and crimes. In other words, they have become past masters of the blame game. In their eyes, there is nothing wrong with our own leadership and our problems must be ascribed to outsiders. Which means, their main function is to enlighten and educate the world. If that's not megalomania run amok, I should like to know what is.
*
THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE
****************************************
We emphasize the positive in order to cover up the negative. We brag about our adaptability and cover up our high assimilation rate. In the ghetto near Athens, where I grew up, we (the white trash) spoke Greek with an Armenian accent, but professional Armenians (lawyers, businessmen, doctors) who lived in classier suburbs, spoke Armenian with a Greek accent. It is an undeniable historic fact that the assimilation rate among able and successful Armenians has been much higher than among lower-class Armenians. From Byzantine emperors of Armenian descent to Loris-Melikov, Mikoyan, and Deukmejian, the standard of our leadership among odars has been incomparably higher than among us. It is no exaggeration to say that, when it comes to political leadership and elites in general, ours within our own communities fully qualifies as white trash.
*
INTELLECTUALS
*************************
A final word on our intellectuals: I have every reason to suspect that a bishop today makes more money in a single year than all our intellectuals put together throughout their lives. There you have the reason why we have dozens of well-nourished bishops and not even a single lean intellectual. I have heard of many writers who were employed by bosses, bishops, and benefactors, but I have never heard of a single boss, bishop or benefactor working for an intellectual.
#
Monday, January 10, 2005
*********************************
MURDER OR SUICIDE?
****************************
In his book, COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED," Jared Diamond echoes Toynbee when he maintains, "societies aren't murdered, they commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death." He could have added: "…and whenever someone comes along and describes what's happening, they call him a pessimist, an alarmist, and their first instinct is to silence and ignore him."
*
READERS
*******************
Last week alone one reader identified me as a capitalist and another as a communist. Which may suggest that, what defines the meaning of a text is not what is stated there in black and white by the writer, but the phobias, complexes, blind spots, and limitations a reader project on what he reads.
*
REALITY AND THE MIND OF GOD
***************************************
The greatest thinkers in the world contradict one another not because some are right and others wrong but because reality is an equation with an infinite number of unknown quantities or irrational numbers, and to understand it amounts to reading the mind of god.
#
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
************************************
RECAPITULATION / PART 2
************************************
People are more or less the same everywhere. Left to their own devices they are more than willing to live in peace with one another, as they have been doing in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It is the men at the top who transform average, law-abiding citizens into killers in the name of a phony abstraction.
*
When it comes to criminal conduct, the French are fond of saying "Cherchez la femme." But when it comes to mass hysteria, war and massacre, it is "Cherchez le leadership." The people are guilty only in so far as they allow themselves to be brainwashed by a charlatan in whose eyes they are only a means to an end, the end being his power and prestige.
*
In ancient times emperors declared themselves to be gods. More recently, kings and sultans ruled with the authority invested on them by Almighty God Himself. In our own days dictators ruled as if they were gods. This may suggest that leadership and megalomania might as well be twins. And if you think we are immune to this aberration, may I remind you that we too have been at the mercy of individuals who speak in the name of god, capital, or ideology.
*
"What we need is not criticism but solutions," I am told again and again by dupes who think our writers have been no better than nightingales serenading the moon or daydreamers contemplating the eternal snows of Mount Ararat. And this misconception is widespread because our literature, as subsidized by our bosses, bishops, and benefactors, has been distorted, misrepresented, and perverted beyond recognition.
*
Anyone who has read our writers from Khorenatsi in the 5th century to our own days (Zarian, Shahnour, Massikian) knows that their central concern has been our problems and their solutions. My guess is, we have more solutions than problems, but these solutions have been buried and forgotten as effectively as our writers, most of whom were either butchered by our enemies or silenced by our own commissars of culture.
*
Censorship has been and continues to be a constant in our literature and press. We have an entire army of speechifiers and sermonizers who speak in the name of god, capital, and ideology, but we have no one who speaks in defense of human rights and free speech, because human rights and free speech are incompatible with authoritarian, that is to say, anti-democratic power structures.
#
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
***********************************
RANDOM THOUGHTS
ON NATIONALISM, RELIGION,
AND RELATED ATROCITIES
**********************************************
"LET SUDAN KNOW THAT GENOCIDE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED," reads a headline in our paper today. This means that so far genocide has been tolerated; which also means that we live in a world where pickpockets are arrested but serial killers are allowed to roam free, to rape, plunder and slaughter with the blessings of church and state.
*
No one is in a better position to appreciate the value of moderation, tolerance and doubt than one who has suffered in the hands of a fanatic.
*
One way to explain an Armenian fanatic is to say that he is what he is because he has adopted the Turk as his role model.
*
An Armenian fanatic is like a sheep that has suddenly acquired the teeth and appetite of a wolf.
*
Why is it that I feel closer to humanity when I am alone?
*
At the beginning was the word. Which means, we become what we say.
*
Have you ever tried to shake hands with someone who is kicking your ass?
*
Every ideology has its commissars and every religion its inquisitors.
*
Nice guys can be nasty, but good men, never!
*
Our religion tells us to love our enemies, and our patriotism teaches us to hate the Turk. It follows; a patriotic Armenian cannot be a good Christian and vice versa.
*
The defeated Azeri is my brother, the victorious Turks is the enemy of mankind.
*
Plato: "Only the dead have seen an end to war."
*
St. Augustine: "Never fight evil as if it were something that arose totally outside of yourself."
*
Pablo Casals: "Love of country is a wonderful thing, but why should love stop at the border?"
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, January 13, 2005
********************************
I have said this before but it bears repeating if only to remind myself that, since beggars can't be choosers, I cherish the very few readers that I have, including those who become unhinged when they read me. If I knew how to pray I would ask the Good Lord that some day in the near or distant future these readers will acquire that minimum degree of inner balance and common sense without which understanding oneself, let alone others, becomes an impossibly complex and an almost insurmountable challenge.
*
xxxISH SAYINGS
************************
"If you can't bite, don't show your teeth."
*
"You can't fill a sack that's full of holes."
*
"Don't offer pearls to men who deal in onions."
*
"Once upon a time angels walked the earth; today, they are not found even in heaven."
*
"Anger is a fool."
*
"Whoever is consumed by rage hears no thunder and sees no lightning."
*
"He who seeks the truth must listen to his opponent."
*
"A brother turned enemy is an enemy for life."
*
ON xxxS
********************
So much wisdom, and so much suffering in the hands of barbarians and fanatics!
*
ABOUT MYSELF
************************************
I will never be a popular writer because I write about our present mores and morons to an audience that prefers recycled crapola.
#
Friday, January 14, 2005
********************************
MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS
**********************************
To insult someone anonymously is to add cowardice to bad manners.
*
If you are afraid of writers, don't read; if you are afraid of losing an argument, don't contradict.
*
The wife of a wealthy fool will be prettier than the wife of a poor philosopher.
*
Every dupe operates on the assumption that he cannot be duped.
*
Don't assume, but if you must, assume against yourself - you will be on safer ground that way.
*
When it comes to the failings of other nations, we have 20/20 vision, but when it comes to our own, we are blind, deaf, and dumb.
*
When two fools agree, they think they have achieved wisdom.
*
If you criticize or insult someone without understanding or reading him, you expose your own shortcomings more than his.
*
Dialogue has very few friends but many enemies, among them: ignorance, prejudice, power, dogma, arrogance, ego, barbarism, and in general, anything that is connected with ideology and religion.
*
On the subject of horizons, dwarfs will never agree with giants.
*
All fools can plead not guilty on grounds of ignorance.
*
xxxISH WISDOM
****************************
"When a crook kisses you, count your teeth."
*
"A friend you have to buy; enemies you get for nothing."
*
"Some academics are no better than jackasses because all they carry is a lot of books."
*
"A deaf man heard a mute tell him how a blind man saw a cripple run - on water."
#
Saturday, January 15, 2005
************************************
LET US NOW PRAISE HONEST MEN
****************************************
Some day I will fall silent -- no doubt about that. But that should not be cause for celebration to anyone, because if what I have been saying contains even a single particle of truth, it will not be forgotten or ignored. In saying this, I don't think I am being sentimental about truth. I happen to know that there are a thousand lies for every truth and they too will be repeated and recycled to the end of time. Even so, truth will continue to be a source of dread to all tyrants and their henchmen, who operate on the assumption that if they silence or starve one, or even a thousand honest men, that will be the end of honesty.
*
Have I said this before? I may have. I don't remember. But if you do, allow me to thank you. All writers cherish faithful readers with good memories, because they are the ones who elevate the status of what they have written to "It is written."
*
ON GOD
**************
To believe in God is the greatest of luxuries because it means to have at your disposal an inexhaustible source of forgiveness.
*
MORE xxxISH SAYINGS
*******************************
"Two dogs can kill a lion."
*
"Henchmen are worse than their masters."
*
"When men quarrel, even God's anger does not frighten them."
*
"Bad men do well in this world, saints in the next."
*
"The one-eyed need sleep, too."
*
"We anger God with our sins, and men with our virtues."
*
"Where love is, no room is too small."
*
"It is easier to know ten countries than one man."
*
"The heaviest weight in the world is an empty pocket."
#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, January 16, 2005
**********************************
NOTES / COMMENTS
***************************
If fools outnumber the wise, they will choose a fool as a leader.
*
Some of my critics pretend to know better, but instead of sharing their wisdom, they prefer to share their venom.
*
Because three readers disagreed with me, a fourth reader writes: "If one man calls you a fool, you may not have a problem. If two men call you a fool, you may have a problem. If three men call you a fool, you might as well resign yourself to the fact that you are a damn fool."
*
Maybe so, but it is also written: "Not everyone who identifies himself as a man is one."
*
It is also written: "You cannot contradict the braying of an ass. Neither can you contradict the braying of three, or, for that matter, four asses."
*
Let it be said, if this is not written, it shall be.
*
I knew we were in deep trouble on the day one of our elder statesmen wrote me a letter saying he could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was spelling my name wrong.
*
"May you go to hell!" might as well be synonymous with "May you spend the rest of your life working for an Armenian." I know what I am saying; I have been in both places.
*
A tolerant atheist is closer to god than an intolerant Christian.
*
I wish someone had warned me that in the first thousand days of every important undertaking, you will make a thousand mistakes; and the worst mistake you can make is to assume that in the second thousand years, you will make only 999 mistakes.
#
Monday, January 17, 2005
***********************************
In the December 16, 2004 issue of LE POINT, a Paris-based French-language illustrated weekly, there are a number of articles, commentaries and a long interview about Turkey in which Armenians are inevitably mentioned and discussed.
*
"There is a Christian - a Bulgarian or an Armenian - in the family tree of every Turk [alive today]," states Levent Yilmaz, identified as a young Turkish intellectual.
*
To the question, "Why is it that there is a law that prohibits all mention of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1916?" Yilmaz replies: "No, that is not true. The law does not mention this or any other event specifically. It speaks only of blasphemy against the integrity and unity of the Republic - a judge is free to interpret the law in many ways."
*
To the question whether or not Turkey is in denial of the Armenian genocide, Yilmas is willing to admit that the Armenian genocide is the last great national taboo, and it must be openly discussed, which is being done by a number of Turkish historians, among them Taner Akcam and Tayyip Erdogan. He goes on to say that Vahakn Dadrian's book was published recently without cuts. The debate, he adds, is whether or not the word genocide, "which was coined in 1948 in reference to the xxxish genocide," can be applied to the Armenian experience.
*
In the concluding remarks of the editorial on page 3 by Claude Imbert, we read: "Turkey's ambition is to be part of the West, but its interests lie in the East with the Turkish-speaking peoples of the Caucasus and by the Caspian Sea. Turkey also comes with a heavy freight of controversies (Cyprus, Armenia, Kurdistan)…."
*
A subtitle in an essay titled "Europe: The Battle of Turkey," reads: "The Non-Recognition of the Armenian Genocide: Is It an Obstacle to
Its Membership?" It goes on to say that it will be a point of contention during the next ten years of negotiations.
*
Far from being "forgotten," it looks like our genocide is very much alive and kicking.
*
Elsewhere, in the same issue, and on the occasion of the sale of one of his paintings at Christie's in London, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900) is identified as a Russian. It seems, an anonymous buyer paid 2.1 million euros for it - "a record so far for a 19th-century Russian painting."
#
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
***********************************
The internet is a useful medium in so far as it allows hoodlums and cowards to expose themselves.
*
There should be an unspoken law that says, if you are going to attack or insult someone on the internet, you should identify yourself, because to do so anonymously is a sure symptom of cowardice.
*
We are insensitive to human rights issues. We don't even like to mention free speech. After all, who among us can plead not guilty to the charge of not having violated the free speech of a fellow Armenian by means of insults masquerading as criticism?
*
And since literature is inconceivable without free speech, it follows, we are all guilty of implementing a policy of systematic extermination of our intellectual class. But perhaps what I am talking about here is not free speech but civilized conduct.
*
When was the last time any one of our academics spoke up in defense of free speech? As for our bosses, bishops, and benefactors (our axis of evil): what can I say about them that has not already been said by Raffi, Baronian, Odian, Voskanian, Shahnour, Massikian, and Zarian, among many others?
#
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
**************************************
When I first met an assimilated Armenian in Italy, I remember, he looked down at me as an odd curiosity, and I looked at him as a brazen renegade. I was wrong and he may have been right. Because, as a teenager, I might as well have been a walking encyclopedia of chauvinist clichés and a dupe who believed my elders knew better and they had done whatever was humanly possible to save and preserve the nation. I know better today.
*
In a commentary, I read the following: "The inhabitants in many of the hardest hit areas [by the tsunami] are amongst the poorest in the world. One reason they live in squalor is that the governments in their countries rule by force, keeping everything for the ruling class. Long before the tsunami hit, peasant populations had been excluded from aid programs intended to benefit them."
My first thought: our homeland too has been hit by an invisible and slow-motion tsunami of bureaucratic corruption and incompetence. We, in the Diaspora, may be better off financially, but are we really better of morally?
*
A headline in our paper reads: "Pope wants more dialogue between xxxs and Catholics." I can't help wondering what were they doing during the last 2000 years? - except perhaps calling one another blasphemers. And what will they call one another after 2000 years of dialogue? Brothers? Maybe. But perhaps the real question should be: Will they ever stop thinking of one another as blasphemers? Can they, without sacrificing a central tenet of their faith?
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, January 20, 2005
***********************************
LABELS
***************
When I write about Armenians, I don't think of them as Armenians but as human beings. The same applies to Turks. I am not implying Turks are not guilty of genocide. What I am saying is that many other nations, among them Greeks, Germans, Americans, and Russians, would have behaved the same way only because they too have been guilty in the past of many unspeakable crimes against humanity. And given the same conditions, and if the roles had been reversed, who is to say we wouldn't have done to the Turks what they did to us?
*
Speaking of conditions: the Turks were confronting external enemies (Russians, Greeks, the Great Powers, including Australians) as well as internal insurgents (Greeks, Kurds, Armenians). Their very survival as a nation was at stake.
*
My question is, who is threatening our present leadership today? How to explain their mistreatment of their fellow Armenians -- a mistreatment that forces them to be homeless, to emigrate, or to engage in prostitution in order to survive? How to explain their total indifference for the future of the nation?
*
Indifference, it has been said, is worse than hatred, because in hatred we involved the other in our feelings; that is to say, we do not cease to think of him as fellow human beings. Whereas in indifference, we reduce him to an object whose extinction would not even register on our consciousness.
#
Friday, January 21, 2005
*********************************
THE HUMAN CONDITION
***********************************
The world is a mess because leaders play chess with the masses who can play only checkers. As for reality: it plays a game whose rules are known only to god, and so far he has refused to share them with mortals.
*
Religious leaders contradict one another because they speak in the name of a being that they don't understand.
*
The problem with liars is that they can't believe in the existence of the truth.
*
As for history: if it's not the propaganda of the victor, it's the consolation of the loser.
*
Two of the greatest historians of the 20th century (Spengler and Toynbee) disagree with each other, and their fellow historians have dismissed both as charlatans.
*
Where fools are in charge, the wise are sure to be persecuted.
*
We are like blind men advancing towards the precipice with the certainty that, since we cannot see it, it is not there.
*
It was Graham Greene, I think, who once said something to the effect that a writer is a capitalist among communists, and a communist among capitalists, because his main function is to challenge, disturb, and provoke.
*
Let us worship god, if we must, but let us not pretend to understand him.
*
It is written: "When a wise man talks to a fool, two fools are conversing."
#
Saturday, January 22, 2005
************************************
NATIONAL TABOOS
***************************
In Turkey, it's the Armenian Genocide; among us, it's all mention of Turkish humanity. But if we refuse to think of Turks as human beings worthy of our understanding, we shall have to think of them as bloodthirsty savages worse than vermin - which is the mistake they made when they tried to exterminate us. Even assuming Turks are no better than Asiatic barbarians: it would be poor diplomacy to address them as such, if only because barbarians are not in the habit of compromising or making concession or engaging in dialogue.
*
THEM AND US
***********************
A headline in our paper this morning reads: "We're OK, It's Everyone Else Who Needs to Change." Perhaps the function of a writer is to point out the fact that this happens to be a universal illusion and none of us is in a position to plead immunity.
*
THE BRAIN AND THE GUT
********************************
This much said, I am willing to concede that my thoughts run much faster than my gut feelings, and very probably I will continue to think of Turks as bloodthirsty savages and Asiatic barbarians until the day I die.
*
OUR AXIS OF EVIL
****************************
Our bishops are accountable only to god; our benefactors are accountable only to capital; and our political bosses continue to think of themselves as the brains of the people, thus feeling no need to be accountable to the brainless. The massacre continues…
#

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, January 27, 2005
************************************
The aim of politics is power, not truth. Where there are political parties there will be propaganda. And where there is propaganda, education will be subservient to it. Which means, between the whole truth and a fraction of it (which is how propaganda is defined: a fraction of the truth), propaganda will be given priority. It is this and nothing else that allows the armies of two nations to go to war and kill with the conviction that they are performing their sacred patriotic duty and they deserve universal admiration for their sacrifice.
*
Wars are not encounters between a truth and a lie, but between two lies.
*
Some day if mankind enters a Golden Age of Universal Enlightenment, there will be only one history text book taught in the schools of all nations and tribes. That's because the past of mankind is one and the moment you start slicing it, it ceases being history and it becomes propaganda, that is to say, baloney. It follows, so-called nationalist historians are not historians but baloney artists.
*
Today, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, our local paper has published a series of illustrated articles, commentaries and reminiscences by survivors. In none of them is the Armenian genocide mentioned, though several other more recent genocides are. Ours, I suppose, might as well be ancient history.
*
Our genocide may be "ancient history," but World War I is not. In Canada, where I live, World War I is remembered every year on November 11 - veterans march, bands play, speeches are delivered, government employees are given the day off, and at 11:00 AM a moment of silence is observed.
*
What about us? How many of us have been taught to remember the anniversary of any other genocide? I have even met Armenians who deny the reality of the Holocaust. After all is said and done, who among us is in a position to plead not guilty to the charge of having been at one time or another the dupe of a baloney artist?
#
Friday, January 28, 2005
*********************************
IN THE NAME OF PATRIOTISM
*****************************************
If you are for honesty, the dishonest will gang up against you, but they will never say, "We are against honesty because we have been dishonest all our lives and we have no intention of changing." What they will do instead is invent other reasons, and needless to add, these reasons will be dishonest ones.
*
The greatest temptation is not sex but wishful thinking, and wishful thinking has a way of insinuating itself in our most cherished convictions.
*
Once, after verbally abusing me almost daily for a number of years, one of my gentle readers telephoned to apologize, and he apologized so profusely that I believed him. Shortly thereafter he went back to abusing me again, all in the name of patriotism, of course.
*
It is written: "If you hear a mountain has moved, believe it. But if you hear a man has changed, believe it not."
*
One could also say that 600 years of Ottoman oppression on their part, and Ottoman brown-nosing on ours, cannot be obliterated from our collective subconscious by an act of will.
*
During the Soviet era, whenever I published a critical commentary about the regime, I would get abusive calls and letters from our fellow travellers. Nothing evil ever dies. Some of my readers today engage in verbal hooliganism in defense of patriotism, and it doesn't even occur to them that massacres too have been committed and covered up in the name of patriotism.
*
Some of our phony superpatriots operate on the assumption that patriotism and civilized conduct are mutually exclusive concepts.
*
It is written: "Patriotism is a very convenient refuge of rascals, ruffians, and riffraff." And so it is.
#
Saturday, January 29, 2005
************************************
The function of an Armenian writer today is similar to that of a composer of music for the movies - to provide background noise, and at best, to emphasize the action on the screen: in our case, the clichés of our speechifiers and sermonizers.
*
They warned me about the starving part, but nobody ever said, "You will be writing for an audience with a marked preference for recycled chauvinist crapola."
*
If a writer does not go beyond the known and the familiar, he might as well go into the recycling business too.
*
The more ignorant the man, the more satisfied with his ignorance.
*
Shame on female interrogators at the Guantanamo Detention Center who used sex and such shocking devices as menstrual blood (red ink, actually) to break down the resistance of Muslim prisoners. It would have been much more humane and compatible with their religious beliefs and practices if the poor bastards had been beheaded. Beheaded, they would now be in paradise making whoopee in their private harem of 73 virgins.
#

[Thai-Samurai]

Some day if mankind enters a Golden Age of Universal Enlightenment, there will be only one history text book taught in the schools of all nations and tribes. That's because the past of mankind is one and the moment you start slicing it, it ceases being history and it becomes propaganda, that is to say, baloney. It follows, so-called nationalist historians are not historians but baloney artists.


Is that your personnel opinion? Do you write these every day? Why would we want to have only one history book. The past of mankind isn't one. The past of mankind is very different. The history of the Native Americans is a lot different from the history of the Chinese.

[Thai-Samurai]

I also want to add that I agree to this one:

"When two fools agree, they think they have achieved wisdom."

[Thai-Samurai]

Never mind, carry on.

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, February 06, 2005
********************************
If you are an honest man, you will make many enemies but very few friends.
*
My patriotism is as necessary to me as air and water. My enemy's patriotism might as well be carbon monoxide and arsenic.
*
In my salad days I wrote a number of dishonest books. When I wrote them I did not think of myself as being dishonest but as being patriotic. And I was outraged when a Canadian critic accused me of racism for my uncompromising pro-Armenian and anti-Turkish stance. It took me twenty years to realize that he was right and I was wrong. It may take me another twenty years to realize that when I write an honest line today I should not expect to have the agreement and support of our chauvinist charlatans.
*
Patriotism, we are taught to believe, is a far more important attribute than honesty. Unfortunately for us and for mankind in general, our enemies are similarly brainwashed. Result? Millions of innocent victims. It may take not twenty but two thousand more years for humanity to realize the obvious fact that patriotism is not a virtue but an integral part of our killer instinct.
*
History is clear on this point: territoriality and terrorism might as well be synonymous.
*
Pablo Neruda: "I only know the skin of the earth, / And that it has no name."
#
Monday, February 07, 2005
*********************************
ON MORAL SUPERIORITY
**********************************
I was brought up to believe in the moral superiority of Armenians. Since then I have been disappointed so many times that I no longer believe in the moral superiority of any race, nation or tribe; neither do I believe in their moral inferiority. We all swim in the same soup. Germans as well as Russians, Americans as well as Africans - they have all produced their share of swine, and Armenians as well as Turks are no exception to this rule.
*
It is not the best among us who assert moral superiority, but the worst. Anyone who believes otherwise should take a good look at himself in the mirror and question his readiness to accept racist propaganda as the final arbiter of morality.
#
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
****************************************
BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS
***********************************
In the second half of this wonderful historical novel by Louis de Bernieres, we read the following:
"The Armenians and the Kurds have loathed each other for centuries, and, owing to the fact that there are many Armenian units and commanders in the Russian army, the same banal atrocities have been committed against the Kurds that the latter have always enjoyed committing against Armenians."
*
Further down there is a similar passage dealing with Adana.
*
May I confess that I read similar passages in foreign books with a sense of relief and malicious pleasure. I for one am tired of seeing Armenians portrayed as perennial victims of bloodthirsty savages.
*
Perhaps we owe our survival not to our religious faith or superior intelligence or degree of civilization (probably all myths created by our propagandists), but to the fact that, in human affairs, past conduct is not always an infallible index of future conduct and appearances can be misleading. So much so that, only the naïve and the ignorant are perplexed when sheep behave like wolves.
#
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
*************************************
OUR GREATEST ENEMY
**************************************
Gostan Zarian (20th-century author): "Our political p