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Sunday, April 28, 2013
******************************************
KING AND COUNTRY
**********************************
Have you ever wondered how many men
who killed and died in the name of King and Country
ever stopped to ask: Whose King and whose Country?
Or for that matter, whose Sultan and whose Commissar?
*
The Brits who fought against German in World War II
had a German king.
Napoleon was Italian, Hitler Austrian, Stalin Georgian,
the Greek king too was a German;
most Byzantine emperors – the most warlike and bloodthirsty –
were either Armenian of half-Armenian;
the Ottoman sultans were bastards –
the last one’s mother was an Armenian.
*
Royalty, like so much else, is a big joke
played by the ruling classes
on the ignorant masses.
As for Country: at one time or another,
every piece of real estate, except the Garden of Eden,
has been contested.
*
What a book one could write
on the role of lies, illusions, and wishful thinking
in human affairs!
*
By the way, most Armenian kings,
including the last one, were odars.
As for our present leadership:
one of our elder statesmen once confided in me
that some of them are Turks who speak Armenian fluently.
I didn’t believe him then but I do now.
#
ON CONSENSUS
***************************
When I first read the words “consensus seeker”
I thought if I were a millionaire
the first thing I would do is
establish a university course on the subject.
If we don’t have such a course today
it may be because we are natural-born sh*t-disturbers
who thrive on conflict.
*
Think of society and its laws as a conspiracy
whose aim is to produce criminals.
*
You may have noticed that Armenians
who demand solutions
don’t like to think of themselves as the problem.
*
Honest Christians exist
as surely as honest Muslims,
Hindus, Buddhists and atheists
but they are not allowed to formulate
and implement policy.
#
KING AND COUNTRY (ii)
****************************************
It could be said of our leadership:
the higher they rise,
the lower they sink –
which is what happens in all criminal organization.
*
If I were to produce an autobiography
I would begin by warning the reader that
my life is so unreadable that
I would have to either invent it
or write the opposite of what really happened.
The same applies to an objective account of our past.
*
Power and lies are Siamese.
The greater the power,
the bigger the lies.
*
To legitimize their power,
popes assert infallibility
notwithstanding their countless blunders –
from the Crusades to
the persecution, torture and death of heretics.
*
Kings, we were told, got their power from God
via the Church. It is safe to assume that
men who speak in the name of god
are compulsive and habitual liars.
*
I repeat myself?
So do you whenever you say “Yes, sir!”
#
THAT WHICH WE SHARE
WITH YANKS
***********************************
Americans have trouble understanding why
someone who has enjoyed all the benefits and privileges
of being a citizen of the greatest democracy
in the history of mankind would freely choose
to be a terrorist.
They cannot imagine themselves to be so repulsive
that in the environment they have created
to kill and die become more desirable
than to live and prosper.
*
As for Armenians:
our arrogance and stupidity are such that
we cannot imagine ourselves to be targets of criticism
by fellow Armenians.
*
After Kazantzakis died and was buried in Crete,
the natives would xxxx on his grave.
My advice to our dissidents:
stipulate in your will to be buried in a grave
without a headstone.
*
When sheep get organized
they choose a wolf as their leader.
*
Dissidents are neither harlots nor pimps
but brothers and sisters who hear a different drummer.
Now then, go ahead and explain that
to our bosses, bishops, benefactors, and commissars.
#
******************************************
KING AND COUNTRY
**********************************
Have you ever wondered how many men
who killed and died in the name of King and Country
ever stopped to ask: Whose King and whose Country?
Or for that matter, whose Sultan and whose Commissar?
*
The Brits who fought against German in World War II
had a German king.
Napoleon was Italian, Hitler Austrian, Stalin Georgian,
the Greek king too was a German;
most Byzantine emperors – the most warlike and bloodthirsty –
were either Armenian of half-Armenian;
the Ottoman sultans were bastards –
the last one’s mother was an Armenian.
*
Royalty, like so much else, is a big joke
played by the ruling classes
on the ignorant masses.
As for Country: at one time or another,
every piece of real estate, except the Garden of Eden,
has been contested.
*
What a book one could write
on the role of lies, illusions, and wishful thinking
in human affairs!
*
By the way, most Armenian kings,
including the last one, were odars.
As for our present leadership:
one of our elder statesmen once confided in me
that some of them are Turks who speak Armenian fluently.
I didn’t believe him then but I do now.
#
ON CONSENSUS
***************************
When I first read the words “consensus seeker”
I thought if I were a millionaire
the first thing I would do is
establish a university course on the subject.
If we don’t have such a course today
it may be because we are natural-born sh*t-disturbers
who thrive on conflict.
*
Think of society and its laws as a conspiracy
whose aim is to produce criminals.
*
You may have noticed that Armenians
who demand solutions
don’t like to think of themselves as the problem.
*
Honest Christians exist
as surely as honest Muslims,
Hindus, Buddhists and atheists
but they are not allowed to formulate
and implement policy.
#
KING AND COUNTRY (ii)
****************************************
It could be said of our leadership:
the higher they rise,
the lower they sink –
which is what happens in all criminal organization.
*
If I were to produce an autobiography
I would begin by warning the reader that
my life is so unreadable that
I would have to either invent it
or write the opposite of what really happened.
The same applies to an objective account of our past.
*
Power and lies are Siamese.
The greater the power,
the bigger the lies.
*
To legitimize their power,
popes assert infallibility
notwithstanding their countless blunders –
from the Crusades to
the persecution, torture and death of heretics.
*
Kings, we were told, got their power from God
via the Church. It is safe to assume that
men who speak in the name of god
are compulsive and habitual liars.
*
I repeat myself?
So do you whenever you say “Yes, sir!”
#
THAT WHICH WE SHARE
WITH YANKS
***********************************
Americans have trouble understanding why
someone who has enjoyed all the benefits and privileges
of being a citizen of the greatest democracy
in the history of mankind would freely choose
to be a terrorist.
They cannot imagine themselves to be so repulsive
that in the environment they have created
to kill and die become more desirable
than to live and prosper.
*
As for Armenians:
our arrogance and stupidity are such that
we cannot imagine ourselves to be targets of criticism
by fellow Armenians.
*
After Kazantzakis died and was buried in Crete,
the natives would xxxx on his grave.
My advice to our dissidents:
stipulate in your will to be buried in a grave
without a headstone.
*
When sheep get organized
they choose a wolf as their leader.
*
Dissidents are neither harlots nor pimps
but brothers and sisters who hear a different drummer.
Now then, go ahead and explain that
to our bosses, bishops, benefactors, and commissars.
#