politics

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

PROBLEMS
******************************
We have problems.
Many problems.
Serious problems.
But those in a position to solve them
prefer to write their memoirs.
Their fathers and grandfathers wrote memoirs.
Now it’s their turn.
*
Why memoirs?
The obvious answer must be,
to misrepresent and explain their failures
as triumphs of creative thinking.
To convince themselves and their readers
they are not to blame.
They did their utmost.
They did what was expected of them
as selfless servants of the community
and as men of vision.
*
And if you believe that,
you will believe anything!
*
When self-assessed smart operators
are defeated in battle,
they call it moral victory.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

Since neither of us is stupid or arrogant enough to assert infallibility, let us proceed from the assumption we may both be wrong.#

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

If you lose a friend on account of political differences, it maybe because he wasn't a good friend to begin with. I speak from experience. I have lost several friends because in their view I was on the wrong side of a political issue and their side happened to be infallible. To them I say, “Good riddance!”

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

In the same way that every simple object
is composed of an infinite number
of atomic and subatomic particles
or bundles of energy, every occurrence
is a result of countless actions and reactions
some of which are destined to remain
beyond our perception of reality.

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

AGAINST ‘OPTIMISM
***************************************
If I am a pessimist it may be because so far
no one has proved beyond a shadow if a doubt
that optimism is a morally or politically superior stance.
*
For 600 years we lived as optimists
and completely ignored the warnings
of more objective observers.
*
Zohrab behaved like an optimist
when he thought he was invulnerable
because he enjoyed Talaat’s friendship.
Same with Mikoyan who, however, was
smart enough to sleep with a revolver
under his pillow.
*
I too behave like an optimist
when I operate on the assumption
the written word is a useful tool
of communication and completely ignore
the fact that throughout our millennial history
we have consistently ignored those among us
who spoke up against fragmentation,
intolerance and tribalism.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

ON GENOCIDE
**************************
Why do Turks and Americans
find it difficult to speak the word
“genocide”?
The answer must be obvious by now.
The perpetrators were not Turks
and their victims were not Armenians.
They – or we – were all half-Turks,
or if you prefer, half-Armenians.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

In dialectic or dialogue there are no final answers, only a step in the right direction.

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

NOTES / COMMENT
*********************
No one likes to speak
of half-Armenians and half-Turks
because no one wants to be accused
of bastardizing a nation.
*
Before you adopt a belief system or ideology,
study its history and count the number of its victims;
and remember, it was in the name of patriotism
that we were massacred.
*
Like all leaders ours too
speak with a forked tongue.
They speak “united we stand,”
but practice “divided we fall.”
They exploit our complexes
and contradictions as opposed
to exposing them.
With Armenians like these,
who needs Turks?
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

Some of my readers think I say strange, unorthodox, unpatriotic things because they have not read our writers. It is almost as if they were equating Armenianism with total ignorance of Armenian literature. They remind me of Catholics who are not encouraged to read the Bible lest they misunderstand it.
*

[arabaliozian]

Re: politics

Patriotic historiography has as much validity as patriotic chemistry, physics, or mathematics.