Screamers

[Kharpert]

As most of you probably already know Screamers was the recently aired documentary on genocide, with System of a Down as the host. It was played only in select theatres, but created quite a buzz. It also got rather good ratings on rottentomatoes.com

Did anyone else see it?

Personally, I liked it, but I thought that it could've been better, but nevertheless got its point across nicely. Sometimes they did a great job explaning the history and current situation of genocide, but sometimes I felt some of the footage was a little banal or uninformative.

My favorite part of the movie (and by far the most informative) was the interviews they had with several noteworthy people, such as Hrant Dink, Sibel Edmonds, etc. They obviously knew what they were talking about and contributed their own personal insights on genocide recognition. The home video of Serj's grandfather also reminded me a lot of my own grandfather's stories, and I thought that was a great example of the personal experience of the genocide itself.

I also liked how they described the politics behind Darfur, our genocide in progress today, and why so little is done to stop it. What really got me thinking was when they explained that the United States is reluctant to move against the Sudanese government because they sell the United States 'information' on terrorists.

I also really liked the footage of Souls 2005 but that's just memories talking.

What did everyone else think of it? (If you got a chance to see it)

[Joseph]

Voicing Their Outrage
System of a Down Has Plenty to Howl About in Genocide-Awareness Film
By Chris Richards
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 21, 2007; N01

Anyone familiar with Serj Tankian's larynx knows the System of a Down
singer can rock-and-roar with the best of them. He's a screamer.

Carla Garapedian is a screamer, too, but she doesn't front a nu-metal
band.

She's a former BBC World anchor and the director of "Screamers," a new
documentary about System of a Down's efforts to promote genocide
awareness. A "screamer" is someone who can "actually process what a
genocide is without defense, without guile," Pulitzer Prize-winning
author Samantha Power says at the beginning of the film. "And when you
do that . . . there's no other alternative but to go up to people and
to scream."

The film's release comes at a time when celebrities such as George
Clooney, Don Cheadle and the activist-hydra known as Brangelina are
preaching genocide awareness. But where Hollywood types aim to save
the world by putting their pretty faces before the cameras, System of
a Down confronts the issue with some of the most abrasive rock ever to
hit the airwaves.

After a decade together, they've sold more than 16 million albums that
favor throat-shredding vocals, schizophrenic guitar riffs and general
rhythmic anarchy. Their activism is much more focused: Their concerts
play host to grass-roots political organizations including Axis of
Justice, a nonprofit that Tankian founded with former Rage Against the
Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

Garapedian, in Washington to promote the film's opening Friday,
concurs with the band's approach. "We've all got to stand up and
scream and tell our politicians we've got to do something about this
now."

She's referring to the estimated 450,000 dead in Darfur, Sudan, which
her film depicts as the latest in a chain of atrocities dating back to
the Armenian genocide almost 100 years ago. A history refresher:
Between 1915 and 1917, Ottoman Turks systematically took the lives of
1.5 million Armenians. Turns out the grandparents of the four
musicians in System of a Down were among the survivors of this
tragedy. Turkey and the United States still do not recognize the
events as genocide.

"It was important for my grandfather and to all those that survived
the Armenian genocide to be remembered correctly," Tankian, 39, says
of his band's activism in an e-mail from his vacation in New
Zealand. "I didn't want their sacrifice to be further victimized by
geo-political expediency."

Like the band members, Garapedian, 45, is an Armenian American raised
in Los Angeles. She attended the London School of Economics and
Political Science, pursued a career in journalism with stops at the
BBC and NBC, and directed documentaries, including her 2002 film about
women in Afghanistan, "Lifting the Veil."

And while her work has always gravitated toward social injustice,
"Screamers" hits much closer to home. "I never thought, though, that I
would make a film like this," she says. "It seemed to me like it was
too personal. And as a journalist, one tries to be objective in the
best sense of the word."

Garapedian hopes the band's abrasive touch will prick viewers'
ears. "We've lost our connection to the debate about genocide, and
that music brings out the emotion and allows you to access it," says
the director, who speaks with the eloquence of a television anchor and
the passion of a campus activist.

She first approached the band in 2004, and followed them on tour last
summer.

"They didn't want it to be a concert documentary film. They wanted
the film I envisaged, which was a music-politics film where we use the
energy and passion of the music to tell the story of genocide in the
last century."

The result is seriocomic. System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian is
playing tour bus pranks one minute and talking about the extermination
of his bloodline the next.

"I did that purposefully because that's who they are," Garapedian says
of the scene. "For me, it's important to show humor and joy because
we are celebrating the fact that we've survived."

Ironically, there was one thing about the band Garapedian couldn't
abide: their screaming.

"I grew up with the Beatles and Elton John," she explains. "I thought,
'Oh my God, what am I going to do?' I have this mega-popular rock band
and they're all grandchildren of survivors, just like me. I have a way
to tell the story . . . and now I'm listening to the music and I
can't listen to it."

But after recognizing the political bent of some of the band's lyrics,
Garapedian realized that she had found the perfect score for her film.

"How could I use Coldplay or something that was easier on the ear when
you're talking about genocide? You need the rage and the anger."

Much like the band's music, the film makes some manic jumps --
heartbreaking testimony from Tankian's grandfather cuts to blaring
concert footage, to carnage in Rwanda, to a House International
Relations Committee debate in Congress.

In one scene, Tankian and System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan
confront then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert in the Capitol's rotunda
regarding a bill that would force the United States to recognize the
Armenian genocide. (The bill may come to the House in the coming
weeks, and while current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office says she
endorses the bill, there's no word on whether she'll introduce it.)

"Of course I was nervous," Tankian recalls in the e-mail. "Here was
the 3rd most powerful person in the country who can call the shots
about my government officially recognizing this historical tragedy
once and for all. . . In my heart I knew Dennis wouldn't do the right
thing, but I wanted to inspire him to do so anyway. I may have failed,
but hope that the story will inspire Nancy Pelosi, or other leaders in
Congress not to take the same route."

Garapedian hopes this film has an influence on Congress, but she's
also aiming to win the hearts of American youth. She describes her
audience as "younger people, but not exclusively. . . . You're sending
a message to Washington: The kids in America are going to see a film
about genocide."

[Kharpert]

With the most recent event I remembered the interview of Hrant Dink in the movie, and how he said that the Turks are a good people at heart. It's ironic this should happen. :|

[Hovik]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/28300D6E-AEF1-409A-9F16-6CD3F237E40C.htm

[ardakilic]

With the most recent event I remembered the interview of Hrant Dink in the movie, and how he said that the Turks are a good people at heart. It's ironic this should happen. :|

Dink told the truth, yes! Turks are good people at heart. Also Armenians and Kurds and Arabs and Chinese are good people at heart. All the nations of world are good people at heart. To claim the opposite is racism.

Genocide did not occur because of the Turkish people's evil. It occured, because Ittihadis are bloodthirsty, idiot and directed by the Great Powers.

When this "horror film" has started, i do not know definitely. İ think in 1908, when CUP organized a "coup d'état". They dragged the empire to a disaster, and also all nations of the empire with themselves. They were educated in Jewish schools, their adivsers are Sabbataists (like Dr. Nazim and Talat) and they are extremely in a selfishness and power greed.

600 000 or 1.5 million Armenian people were killed, i do not know the real number and the number doesnt matter for me. Even if one person was killed, it is enough pain-giving. But also Itthadist "tradition" (namely, Kemalism) killed more than 30 000 Kurds and many many Turks, especially intellectuals and religious leaders.

All the nations of Anatolia had suffered from Ittihadist-Kemalist "tradition". That much pain is enough for all us, i think. I am Turkish and Muslim, an also Islamist, but i want to live in peace with my Armenian neighbour and Kurdish, Arab brother.

I know one more thing: Turkish state's denial policy (not only Armenian Genocide denial, but also denial of Kurdish massacres like Dersim, Koçgiri and other massacres like Şeyh Said, Ali Şükrü Bey, Deli Halid Paşa etc.) will not change. Becuase, their ideology and state is based on denials and lies.

[1.5 million]

We appreciate the sentiments ardakilic...its too bad that you have no more Armenian neighbors to befriend. While I agree that the Ittiahdists are ultimatly the ones directly responsible for the Armenian genocide and that Kemilism is clearly a direct outgrowth of Unionism in every respect except for one (pan-Turanism) and that Islam per se was not the cause of the Genocide - I would caution you to not discount how Islamic predjudice was used to rally the people to hate ("us" versus "them" and "us" as inherrently superior to "them") and that the religion today (and its believers) are currently just as vunerable of such misuse/abuse as occured during the time of the Genocide. (Blind) faith is the enemy of reason and in one form or another ultimatly can be blamed for nearly all human sponsored calamities such as the AG.

[Gavur]

Dink told the truth, yes! Turks are good people at heart. Also Armenians and Kurds and Arabs and Chinese are good people at heart. All the nations of world are good people at heart. To claim the opposite is racism.

Genocide did not occur because of the Turkish people's evil. It occured, because Ittihadis are bloodthirsty, idiot and directed by the Great Powers.

When this "horror film" has started, i do not know definitely. İ think in 1908, when CUP organized a "coup d'état". They dragged the empire to a disaster, and also all nations of the empire with themselves. They were educated in Jewish schools, their adivsers are Sabbataists (like Dr. Nazim and Talat) and they are extremely in a selfishness and power greed.

600 000 or 1.5 million Armenian people were killed, i do not know the real number and the number doesnt matter for me. Even if one person was killed, it is enough pain-giving. But also Itthadist "tradition" (namely, Kemalism) killed more than 30 000 Kurds and many many Turks, especially intellectuals and religious leaders.

All the nations of Anatolia had suffered from Ittihadist-Kemalist "tradition". That much pain is enough for all us, i think. I am Turkish and Muslim, an also Islamist, but i want to live in peace with my Armenian neighbour and Kurdish, Arab brother.

I know one more thing: Turkish state's denial policy (not only Armenian Genocide denial, but also denial of Kurdish massacres like Dersim, Koçgiri and other massacres like Şeyh Said, Ali Şükrü Bey, Deli Halid Paşa etc.) will not change. Becuase, their ideology and state is based on denials and lies.

Welcome Arda,
Great first post with more to follow I hope .

[Gavur]

We appreciate the sentiments ardakilic...its too bad that you have no more Armenian neighbors to befriend. While I agree that the Ittiahdists are ultimatly the ones directly responsible for the Armenian genocide and that Kemilism is clearly a direct outgrowth of Unionism in every respect except for one (pan-Turanism) and that Islam per se was not the cause of the Genocide - I would caution you to not discount how Islamic predjudice was used to rally the people to hate ("us" versus "them" and "us" as inherrently superior to "them") and that the religion today (and its believers) are currently just as vunerable of such misuse/abuse as occured during the time of the Genocide. (Blind) faith is the enemy of reason and in one form or another ultimatly can be blamed for nearly all human sponsored calamities such as the AG.

Don't forget there's a "reason" people turn to faith and "reason" was used to drive people of faith (in limited circumstance's i think)to murder.
Faith is not blind unless you have an uncircumsized ear and a heart.
It is 'reason" that took action then and today!
Eliminating Armenian's from there homeland was more reasonable then Turks right?
Not recognising A.G. today of course is again reasonable thing to do.
Don't you think accepting other's reasons as your own is blind faith?
I don't believe in organized religion but that does't take away my faith in our saviour.I detest foreign missionary's that established themselves in Ottoman empire (by pressuring the padisah financially) to convert Turks and ended up converting Christian's ,that doesn't effect my faith just like killing in the name of Allah doesn't effect avarage muslim's faith.
People who misrepresent God only have to answer to him,those are the people who never had contact with God.Racist people misrepresented nationalism don't know the meaning of it either,the last Sultan was quoted as saying "The funny thing is these group that is (mis)representing Turks are not even Turk's themselves.
So your "reason" is limited by your eyes and ears
your "science" is limited by your ability to consume.
Your heart is not limited because thats where our true mind reside's,by the grace of God.

[1.5 million]

Don't forget there's a "reason" people turn to faith and "reason" was used to drive people of faith (in limited circumstance's i think)to murder.

The "reason" that people rely on faith for certain beliefs is that they are incapable of figuring out things via other means (often because technology and/or scientific underpinnings of such knowledge were not yet available). "Faith" is the same as making up the answer based on whatever thought or immagination comes to mind when lacking proper data to actually make more reasonable estimations/understandings of the truth. It persists in humans due to exploitation of the genetic mental and conditioning process that presupposes children to obey their parents without questioning why. (as those who do/have historically done so have survived in much greater numbers then those who have not). Thus those who are too (mentally/emotionally) weak to break from this condition of eternal (narrow minded) childhood are cursed to live forever infected by the disease we commonly know as/refer to as religion.

Faith is not blind unless you have an uncircumsized ear and a heart.

Faith is by definition accepting or inventing answers while under a (self imposed) condition of blindness/ignorance.

It is 'reason" that took action then and today!
Eliminating Armenian's from there homeland was more reasonable then Turks right?

No - reason clearly teaches us that killing others is wrong - at the very least allowing environments where people kill others without proper justification (clear self defense) and without punishment is condusive to situations where you the perpetrator of such are also subject to being killed without cause by someone else (who fears not being punished for doing such). Thus killing of this sort goes against reason (though in a religiously sanctified environment such as in the Armenian Genocide where the perpetratorss were continually extolled as to the religious virtues of performing such killings - well all bets are of aren't they?). The only explanation for the Armenian genocide is madness and deceit (again both of these are connected to "faith" in fanatically believing that the idealized ends justify the means and exploitation of such by those who are just ignorant of the causes of and reasons for these actions on a larger scale) - the questions that need to be asked/answered in regards to "why" - are why were the Turks/CUP etc driven mad...what were the circumstances, environmental and genetic factors that led to such and how was this virus of madness spread to the masses (answer to the latter is clearly and demonstradably - "religion")

Not recognising A.G. today of course is again reasonable thing to do.

I disagree. Turkey and Turks clearly suffer by non-recognition (even if they have been conditioned to thinkotherwise). Only certain Turkish elites who exploit the ignorance benefit (they used such to take power and now to maintain it). Everyone else suffers - including all those Turks who blindly and vociferously deny - at the very least it (denial) cause them to become accomplice to genocide and to be who they are (not the best they could hope to be certainly).

Don't you think accepting other's reasons as your own is blind faith?

Yes - I agree - one has to make up their own mind using self-reasoning based upon factual input and analysis based upon such and not by just believeing deceitful untruths (manipulated propoganda).

I don't believe in organized religion but that does't take away my faith in our saviour.I detest foreign missionary's that established themselves in Ottoman empire (by pressuring the padisah financially) to convert Turks and ended up converting Christian's ,that doesn't effect my faith just like killing in the name of Allah doesn't effect avarage muslim's faith.

All acts in the name of faith are an accurate reflection upon it. Saying that those who act poorly in the name of religion do not reflect the religion is another false belief. These people very much reflect the religion and reflect the (violent xenophobic) deficiencies that are inherrent in all religion b definition - by a priori genetic determination establishing the practice of religion in human beings. Faith (and religion in general) is a very dangerous tool that has been used throughout history for (evil) manipulation of humans. I also pity anyone who worships a god that they feel they need divine intervention to be "saved" from its wrath....clearly such a being - were it to exist - is an enemy of mankind and nothing more (and if we were to actually supose this being existed the historical facts would support my claim).

People who misrepresent God only have to answer to him,those are the people who never had contact with God.

This is only a belief that you hold with absolutly no basis (empiricle proof) for believing in such. There have been far too many who have acted dishonorably and worse in spite of proffesion of piety and often in the name of such for anyone to seriously hold this belief and think it has any real meaning in the world of men. Again it is far more plausable - based on the "evidence" that this being that you and millions of others (think you) worship is in fact the great deciever. Perhaps you will only be "saved" when you reach this conclusion by applying some rational thinking and examination of the matter and reject this evil being as the scourge of mankind.

Racist people misrepresented nationalism don't know the meaning of it either

Nationalism and racism are two aspects of the very same phenomonon.

,the last Sultan was quoted as saying "The funny thing is these group that is (mis)representing Turks are not even Turk's themselves.

The Sultan was a well practised liar.

So your "reason" is limited by your eyes and ears
your "science" is limited by your ability to consume.
Your heart is not limited because thats where our true mind reside's,by the grace of God.

Your above statement is meaningless and inacurate generalisation. Reason has everything to do with higher mental constructs not necissarily based upon the (observably) obvious. Science and reason have no direct relation to consumption (however one could easily argue based upon historic developments that Christianity was the key ingredient for spurring western culture toward one of unending greed and consumption). The key tenent (of science and of belief based upon reason) is falseability. Unless a belief can be proven false and can pass such a test it is not resonable to hold the belief as anything beyond speculation (such as your statement above). BTW - the belief that mental functions originate in the heart was pretty well disproven centuries ago. Clinging to fanciful beliefs contrary to empiracle evidence is generally not good for you. I'm sorry to be so harsh with my words to you here but I have really exheeded my patience with silly religion and its irrational impositions upon myself for my lifetime. And it certainly has done quite enough damage to humainty in general and to Armenians specifically throughout history. I'm surprised that more Armenians, intelligent as we are, haven't figured this out by now - few peoples have been more forsaken by god(s) as we have...(again, as with Turkish elites one must consider who benefits...) BTW I consider myself to now be in payback mode (for all the imposition of such sillyness I've had to deal with my whole life).

[Joseph]

We appreciate the sentiments ardakilic...its too bad that you have no more Armenian neighbors to befriend. While I agree that the Ittiahdists are ultimatly the ones directly responsible for the Armenian genocide and that Kemilism is clearly a direct outgrowth of Unionism in every respect except for one (pan-Turanism) and that Islam per se was not the cause of the Genocide - I would caution you to not discount how Islamic predjudice was used to rally the people to hate ("us" versus "them" and "us" as inherrently superior to "them") and that the religion today (and its believers) are currently just as vunerable of such misuse/abuse as occured during the time of the Genocide. (Blind) faith is the enemy of reason and in one form or another ultimatly can be blamed for nearly all human sponsored calamities such as the AG.

Amen to that (no pun intended). Abdul Hamid II was the one who really set the groundwork for religion being used a tool for destruction (not that things were perfect prior to his bloody reign). He was very paranoid about the Christian population and used agents to spread propaganda throughout Asia Minor that the Christians were secretly planning to kill the Umma (Much like both Czar Alexander in Russia used the "blood libel" against the Jews). By organizing the Hamidye units, he was able to emply Kurdish brigands and common criminals into officially sanctioned units to harrass the Christian population, so much so that the mostly pacifist dhimmis were often forced to defend themselves as a last resort which in turn would produce the "rebellion" that the Sultan needed to justify his continued slaughter.