status quo

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

DR NOOBAR JANOIAN SPEAKS******************************************** ******** In his TRAVELS IN TIME AND SPACE Dr Janoian speaks of a conversation he once had with a Vietnamese patient. When asked what was it exactly that made North Vietnam resist and ultimately defeat a military Goliath like the United States, his patient explains that Vietnam has always resisted and defeated all occupiers, among them the Chinese, the Japanese, and the French. The difference between the South and the North, he goes on to explain, is that the leaders of the North were men of principle and ideals,unlike their counterparts in the South, who were no better than thieves and bandits. An honest and dedicated leadership inspires solidarity and heroism in the people, he adds, and a corrupt leadership promotes divisions, disloyalty, opportunism, and treason.#armenians

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

Sunday, August 21, 2016
**********************************
NOTES / COMMENTS
*******************************
One reason we failed to see
the coming catastrophe is that
we operated on the false assumption that
our enemies were our friends,
perhaps even our brothers,
and we dismissed the parable of Cain and Abel
as stuff and nonsense.
*
If you are not moronized by the 1%
you are moronized by the herd.
*
Speaking of my former friends:
the question I ask myself again and again is:
“Did I have them?”
*
We don’t crucify our saviors
because we don’t have them.
*
If I talk too much about money
it’s because as an Armenian writer
I have always worked
for less than minimum wage.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

Saturday, August 20, 2016
************************************
AN AMERICAN MAXIM...
AMONG OTHER THINGS
*************************************
If an enterprise generates cash,
you don’t mess around with perfection.
*
Carlos Fuentes: “You can only live
by sticking your neck out,
dirtying your fingers,
exposing yourself.”
This may explain why our versifiers
prefer to write
about the eternal snows of Mt. Ararat
and nightingales serenading the moon.
*
Instead of identifying themselves as bullies,
Russians call us “cowards.”
This may suggest we look down on others
to avoid taking a second look at ourselves.
*
To cover up our status
as perennial losers, underdogs and dupes
we call Russians “Onion-heads.”
*
The challenge is not to be as clear
and as accessible as Socrates and Jesus
but more so; if only because
neither Socrates nor Jesus had much luck
with their contemporaries.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

Friday, August 19, 2016
**********************************
NOTES / COMMENTS
*****************************
We call our military defeats moral victories
because we see ourselves as members
of a morally superior nation.
Question: Has there ever been a single nation
in the history of mankind that saw itself
as morally inferior?
*
Why is it that nations find it necessary
to fabricate Big Lies?
*
Where there are Big Lies
there will also be Big Liars.
You may now guess the identity
of our Big Liars.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

Somewhere in his STUDY OF HISTORY Toynbee writes that
the uneducated or poorly educated masses
are no match for the educated bourgeoisie.
Elsewhere he explains that the aim of an educational system
is to maintain the status quo and to protect the privileges of the ruling class.
To put it more bluntly,
we are all brainwashed to believe
the political system within which we live
is fair and we should be satisfied with our lot.
*

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

NOTES / COMMENTS
*********************************
Both Turks and Armenians
are brainwashed to believe
they are Turks and Armenians.
*
Once upon a time we outnumbered Turks.
I have every reason to suspect we still do.
*
Can a man speak in the name of God and lie?
No, but it’s done all the time.
*
Our enemies did not defeat us
to improve our conditions of life.
*
We know our problems and their solutions.
To suggest that we don’t is to lie..
*
I no longer reread incomprehensible sentences
in the hope I will have better luck next time.
*
Key to happiness?
Minimize your contacts.
If you deal with more than one man,
one of them is sure to betray you.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

“After reading you I feel ashamed of being an Armenian,” writes a reader; and he feels ashamed not because he is exposed as a dupe, but because I dare say there is something rotten in the State of Denmark.
*
I don't write to promote shame. I write to challenge readers to confront the forces of darkness that have shaped and continue to shape our destiny as a nation.#armenians

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

Levon Pashalian on our bosses:
“A familiar figure in our collective existence is the wealthy 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.”
*

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

Shavarsh Missakian on our degeneration: “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 press thrives 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?”#

[arabaliozian]

Re: status quo

If we want to understand ourselves and the world in which we live, we must also try to understand the Turkish side of the story. And we must do this for purely selfish reason.