comment

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

ARMENIAN DNA?
****************************
No such thing.
A nation that has been conquered, colonized,
and bastardized by a succession
of ruthless, warlike, bloodthirsty barbarians
cannot have an identifiable DNA.
*
WHAT WE SHARE WITH JEWS
*****************************************
They look forward to a messiah
and we look forward to a leader
who will solve all our problems.
*
A SOLUTION
************************
Say no to Stalinism without Stalin.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

ON POWER
***************************
There is a sultan and a commissar
in all of us.
If we ever undertake the task
of de-Ottomanizing and
de-Stalinizing ourselves,
how many of those
who are in power today
would remain in power?
*
ON LITERATURE
***********************
It has been said that an artist creates without destroying;
and I reflect that if a writer cannot expose and destroy
lies and liars what is he good for?
*
ON BENEFACTORS
**************************
It is written: “A man who gives charity in secret is greater than Moses.”
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

THE MASSACRE CONTINUES…
******************************************
It was the late Peniamin Noorigian
who first pointed out to me that
unlike writers, schoolteachers and priests
can always rely on community support.
In his own words:
“Writers are destined to remain orphans.”
*
That maybe because, unlike writers,
teachers and priests engage in recycling propaganda,
which means covering up the corruption
and incompetence of our bosses, bishops, and benefactors
whose number one concern is number one
and to hell with the welfare of the community
and the nation.
*
If I have said this before it may be because
if lies are spoken every day,
truth deserves to be mentioned at least once a month.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

BARBARIANS
***********************
Even the most civilized and advanced nations on earth
are run by barbarians, also identified as bureaucrats.
*
It’s unbelievable what respectable men
are capable of doing in exchange of a regular salary.
*
Churchill was personally acquainted
with Michael (GREEN HAT) Arlen
and had a low opinion of him;
but he had an even lower opinion
of Mahatma Gandhi.
*
Most of our wars and revolutions
have been internecine, which means
even when one side won, the nation lost.
*
In the Diaspora our favorite political system
is Ottomanism without the Sultan
and in the Homeland it’s Stalinism without Stalin.
Progress cannot be said to be
our most important product.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

ON UNDERSTANDING
**********************************
There are three invincible weapons of self-defense
the first of which is understanding
and the other two I don’t remember.
*
The truth we may never know;
but sooner or later all lies are exposed.
*
Everybody quotes Charents’s final message
of solidarity but nobody bothers to ask
any one of our bosses, bishops and benefactors,
during the last ten or twenty years
what exactly has he done in that direction?
*
I repeat myself?
Never as often as the men at the top.
*
What is literature?
I will tell you what it isn’t:
the eternal snows of Mt. Ararat,
the mutual torments of love,
and nightingales serenading the moon.
*
When the men at the top speak, they lie.
The Russians were never our brothers,
Talaat was never our friend,
and far from being the smartest people on earth,
we are very probably the dumbest.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

THE SCUM OF THE EARTH
*********************************************
If some day DNA analysis exposes the fact that
no one who identifies himself as an Armenian
could possibly be an Armenian,
I for one will not be surprised.
*
Why is it that the American presidency
and politics in general attracts so many rascals?
According to Plato, the more a man wants power,
the less qualified he is to handle it.
*
Belief systems and ideologies run in the family.
The chances are the son of a Catholic will be a Catholic,
the son of a Muslim will be a Muslim,
and the son of a capitalist will not apply for a job
in a factory.
*
Neither my father nor I were members
of an organized group or political party.
As a refugee from the Ottoman Empire
and survivor of World War II,
we could however qualify as members
of what Arthur Koestler called
“the scum of the earth.”
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

ON GOD
***************************
When I think of wars and massacres
I reflect that God cannot be proud of His work.
*
MEMO TO MY CRITICS
*********************************
Until very recently I was you
and part of me is still you.
*
ON REPETITION
******************************
You say I repeat myself
only because I speak your silent thoughts.
*
ON POWER
**********************
History teaches us,
with power you can get away
not only with murder
but also with genocide.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

NOTES / COMMENTS
******************************
When the interviewer made a short list
of Iran’s political problems,
the Iranian diplomat replied:
“Yes, we have problems – who doesn’t?”
Thus proving once more that
offense is the best defense.
*
Man is at this most creative
when he tries to explain and justify
his side of the story.
*
We never made history;
history unmade us.
*
The 99% are dupes of their 1%,
and the 1% are dupes of their own lies.
*
I have been deceived so many times
by so many seemingly honest men
that I no longer trust my judgment.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
***************************************
Don’t tell me how wise you are.
Tell me how many blunders you have a committed.
*
Where truth is a capital offense,
deception will be a profitable enterprise.
*
I doubt if I have ever said anything
that hasn’t been said and repeated before
by far better men than myself.
*
When it comes to understanding reality,
most of us might as well be Neanderthals.
*
All organized religions are Big Lies.
The word of god is based on hearsay.
*
You want to enhance your credibility,
teach yourself to say and repeat
“it is written!”
*
How do we even begin to calculate
the psychological damage of 600 years
under the Turks?
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: comment

STORIES
*******************************
I once had the following exchange
with one of our editors:
“We need poetry and fiction,” said he.
“What about essays?” I asked.
“You can do your preaching elsewhere,”
was his reply.
*
My guess is, this editor
would have rejected Naregatsi
on the grounds that his writings
did not qualify as vodanavors and massals.
*
Speaking of massals and grandmother stories:
Once when I asked another one of our editors
why he published so many grandmother stories,
he explained:
“Because grandmothers have played
an important role in our lives.”
Have they?
That was news to me.
Has any one of our nationalist historians
included a chapter on grandmothers in his texts?
*
Speaking of my own grandmothers:
I never knew one of them
because she died long before I was born.
The other one lived in another town
and I saw her once or twice a year.
She never told me a single story.
#