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our betters

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  • our betters

    ON OUR “BETTERS”
    *******************************************
    Churchill’s contempt for Mahatma Gandhi
    knew no bounds.
    *
    Beethoven was shocked when informed
    Mozart had written an opera
    whose central character was a womanizer.
    *
    Tchaikovsky hated Brahms
    and Schopenhauer dismissed Hegel as a charlatan.
    In Sartre’s eyes both Thomas Mann
    and Nabokov were failures.
    *
    Closer to home:
    In the eyes of Mekhitarist scholars,
    Alishan was a giant in the history of our literature;
    in the eyes of a less prejudiced
    and more objective critic,
    he was a “notorious mental masturbator.”
    *
    Our “betters” may pretend to understand everything
    even when they understand nothing.
    In that sense, not only they do not qualify
    as our “betters” but they may even be our worst.
    #

  • #2
    Re: our betters

    .

    I have no doubt what you are highlighting is true.

    Wouldn’t you agree that this phenomenon is widespread throughout life and in every discipline.
    In higher echelon as well as among minnows.
    As a minnow myself, I have encountered many nobodies doing their outmost for me to fail in my professional endeavours.

    The victims in your description ultimately succeed in deserving a few pages in history.
    This tells me about the futility of such prejudice.
    Also reminds me of the saying “he who cannot destroy me makes me stronger”.

    We are frequently reminded that rising through the ranks is like climbing a greasy pole.
    Nobody tells us who put the grease on the pole.

    Life shows us success is not only about winning the beauty contest but playing the game right and to win.

    PS. I have started to spend some time on two interesting works.
    “The Prince” by Machiavelli and http://48laws-of-power.blogspot.co.uk/
    I sent these links to my kids to have look at.
    My daughter replied, this goes in the “spam_from_dad” folder.
    There has to be a message there.
    Happy New Year.

    .
    Politics is not about the pursuit of morality nor what's right or wrong
    Its about self interest at personal and national level often at odds with the above.
    Great politicians pursue the National interest and small politicians personal interests

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: our betters

      OUR “BETTERS” (II)
      *******************************
      Mozart in a letter to his father:
      “That godless archvillain Voltaire
      has died like a dog,
      like an animal – that’s his reward.”
      Which goes to show you that
      even the noblest mind and most sensitive heart
      can be easily duped and brainwashed by propaganda.
      *
      Voltaire was not “godless.”
      He was a theist: he believed in the existence of god,
      but a god who does no get involved in human affairs.
      *
      Also to be noted: to many composers of Mozart’s time
      the Church was their main source of income –
      as it was mine when I was employed as an organist.
      *
      “Grub first, then ethics.”
      *
      If I am tough on our commissars and charlatans
      it may be because I know
      I will never have the power to stop them.
      I don’t hate them as much as I hate
      my own powerlessness.
      *
      Voltaire on religion:
      “Since it was a religious war,
      there were no survivors.”
      #

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: our betters

        Sunday, January 18, 2015
        *****************************************
        SUNDAY BLUES
        ****************************
        Have you ever been tempted to think
        “If I speak in the name of patriotism,
        I can't be wrong!” May I remind you that
        Hitler and Stalin spoke in the name of patriotism too.
        *
        If you think you are on safer ground
        if you speak in the name of God,
        may I remind you that so do jihadists.
        *
        If you say I have killed no one,
        nor do I advocate war and terror!
        I say, you may not
        but members of your audience may.
        *
        If you say, “What’s wrong with speaking
        in the name of the majority?”
        May I remind you that so did the Greek jury
        that condemned Socrates to death.
        *
        Remember: if your aim is to assert infallibility,
        you can’t be right even when you are right.
        Asserting infallibility is the same
        as issuing a license to kill.
        If you don’t believe me,
        make a list of atrocities committed
        in the name of the Pope and the Prophet.
        *
        And if you ask, “If we can’t speak
        in the name of God and Country, what’s left?”
        If I knew the answer to that one
        I would not be a minor scribbler
        who can’t make ends meet
        but a prophet or a televangelist.
        *
        Final question: “How about speaking
        in the name of democracy and human rights?”
        May I remind you that Americans do that!
        To be a dupe is bad enough;
        to be an American dupe: I can’t imagine worst fate,
        with the possible exception of being a Russian dupe.
        #

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: our betters

          HOW LONG?
          *********************************
          To write what you think,
          what you really think, is important.
          But even more important is to write
          what everybody else thinks.
          *
          We are all for free speech
          but who among us dares to say
          what must be said?
          *
          What stands in our way is less ignorance
          and more a conscious decision
          not to antagonize our sources of income.
          *
          It took mankind centuries to say
          the only good king is a headless king.
          *
          It took many more centuries to say
          to work for a living is to be in chains,
          *
          When will we dare to say
          if it’s not Abdulhamid it’s Talaat.
          if it’s not Talaat it’s Stalin,
          and if it’s not Stalin
          it’s our bosses, bishops and benefactors?
          #

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: our betters

            When a Ramgavar editor promised to pay me a goodly sum if I undertook the task of writing profiles of prominent Ramgavar leaders, I informed him I didn’t even know who they were, neither was I interested to know.

            Comment

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