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Thursday, May 13, 2004
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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."
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Friday, May 14, 2004
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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the important role double-talk plays in human affairs, perhaps because the rules they themselves had been taught were no longer valid and they, as adults, were as confused as I was.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.
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Saturday, May 15, 2004
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
#
, "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. 
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