Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Reflections of a Concerned Citizen
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Sometimes I am attacked on the grounds that I am neither a political pundit nor a philosopher, and that I quote others too frequently to be an original thinker and I repeat myself too much to be a creative writer. But whether or not what I am doing qualifies as literature, journalism, political commentary, criticism, polemic, or some other academic discipline is irrelevant to me. I don't feel the need to classify myself and I care even less how others choose to see me. I don't even mind being described as a derivative hack who doesn't deserve to be published and read. (This, by the way, is already what our partisan editors have decided to do anyway, so that my critics may have good reason to feel vindicated.)
I know one thing for certain: the questions I raise and discuss will have to be raised and discussed sooner or later by others, and if these others are more competent than I and if they carry out their task by means of an easily classifiable genre (drama, fiction, essay, political treatise, philosophical analysis) so much the better.

But it seems to me, in our context, it would be far more useful to introduce the concept of direction rather than literary genre: we either advance in the right direction by discussing our problems objectively or we ignore them in the name of this or that academic abstraction.

To our junkies of classification, I say: If it is classification you want, then classify me simply as a concerned citizen. I for one will be more than happy with that tag.

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Calm down Ara, there was no rage...remember, I wrote "soberly", as in "as-a-matter-of-fact", you are a "hateful malcontent and a son of a xxxxx". Moreover, there is nothing shocking or scandalous in this evident observation. You have been in this unhealthy human condition for decades now. Why would another stupid comment from you get my blood pressure up?

BTW Ara,I'm disappointed in your response (above). If I did not already know you are an old man, I would think you were 14 years old. Honestly Ara, couldn't you have come up with something better than a simple adolescent taunt.

Anyway, happy birthday

sooner or later you have to confront the fact that you come across as someone who is not only a coward but also dishonest enough not to admit it.

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Monday, January 28, 2008
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ON TURKISH LOVE & ARMENIAN HATRED
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If Turks love me and Armenians hate me (this according to one of my gentle anonymous readers on the Internet) it may be because Turks are not always wrong and Armenians not always right -- especially when it comes to judging their fellow Armenians.
To avoid recognizing the devil in us we demonize others –i.e. we project. In the same way that xxxs demonize anti-Semites, and some blacks demonize white men (“White man is the devil”), we demonize not only Turks and the Great Powers of the West, but also anyone who dares not to be on our side. On more than one occasion I have myself been demonized by fellow Armenians simply because I refuse to parrot their favorite brand of propaganda. Hence my skepticism of all blame-games.
Playing the blame-game might as well be synonymous with being infallible, and being infallible means an inability to learn from one’s mistakes, because in order to learn from them one must first admit them.
An addict of the blame-game is a morally bankrupt man because he’d rather lose his reason than give up his addiction.
As for Turks loving me: as far as I know, Turks don’t read me, and if they read me, they don’t comment on what I write. The only Turk who has written me agrees with me that Armeno-Turkish relations will have a better chance to improve on the day extremists on both sides are marginalized thus allowing the moderates the upper hand.
As for Armenians who hate me: I also have a good number of Armenian readers who agree with me, and others who are critical only because I don’t go far enough in my criticism. My comment on Armenians who hate me: their verbal abuse is such that it does not require any comment on my part.
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[Siamanto]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Siamanto, don't expect me to engage into systematic bashing of fellow armenians. You should really make an effort and stick to the field of ideas. Nobody prevents you from defending your positions.

I'm happy to hear that you feel that way, as nobody invited - or had plans to invite - you to such an exercise! *says with sarcasm* In case you failed to notice it, on a public forum a statement may trigger a reply when it seems of relevance to provide clarifications; as you have "invited" me - with your "bashing" comment, I had the "courtesy" to provide clarification.

In any case, I understand your choice to be politically correct, but, as I have already explained, don't expect me to call a hooligan otherwise.
Of course, I would not call HayotzAmrotz a "hooligan" - as I did not see him behave as one - but individuals like Dr. Junkestein, Virgil, crusader1492, Lernakan etc. are nothing more than narrow minded, bigoted, intolerant, obscurantist hooligans; they are as "nationalistic" and valuable/respectable as Russian skin heads, American redneck "trailer trashes" that post at stormfront, or...

I believe in Voltaire's "cultivate your garden," I also believe that it is unnecessary to take care and invest into fruitless and worthless plants; I consider those hooligans as worthless. My perception is that they behave as Jurks, and I value them as much as value Jurks.

You must realize that your current and past behaviour haven't improved matters in the direction you hoped for. So either your approach is not right or the cause is already lost. In both cases, there is no reason for you to continue with your present attitude.

We don't seem to have the same assessment of the situation. As I see it
1. More and more members of the forum are confronting them
2. The perception of the forum of what and who they are have changed - including yours???

I consider the above as a positive development because it forced some of them to slightly tone down their rhetoric; however, they still have a long way from ceasing to be hooligans.

[crusader1492]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

i can understand your rage.
it must be painful indeed
to praise heroism in others
but to choose cowardice for oneself.

Calm down Ara, there was no rage...remember, I wrote "soberly", as in "as-a-matter-of-fact", you are a "hateful malcontent and a son of a xxxxx". Moreover, there is nothing shocking or scandalous in this evident observation. You have been in this unhealthy human condition for decades now. Why would another stupid comment from you get my blood pressure up?

BTW Ara,I'm disappointed in your response (above). If I did not already know you are an old man, I would think you were 14 years old. Honestly Ara, couldn't you have come up with something better than a simple adolescent taunt.

Anyway, happy birthday

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

I realize you are calling me a coward because I won't post my identity online, but your contetion that I admire "anonymous cowards" after I just posted a video praising Armenian soldiers...well, for that all I can do is soberly say that not only are you a hateful malcontent, but you are a son-of-a-xxxxx as well.

i can understand your rage.
it must be painful indeed
to praise heroism in others
but to choose cowardice for oneself.

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Sunday, January 27, 2008
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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It would be useful for all Armenians to be reminded once in a while that we live in a world where wars and massacres are dime-a-dozen routine occurrences.
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Leaders, all leaders, even the most enlightened and progressive, share in common the conviction that the less the people know the better.
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Sooner or later every Armenian writer must resign himself to the fact that there isn’t much he can say to readers who know better and have all the answers.
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We like to say that xxxs go out of their way to support their own and that we go out of our way too but only in the opposite direction. But I am suspicious of all ethnic or racial generalizations. In my view, it is a fact of human nature that envious mediocrities will do their utmost to obstruct the path of anyone that threatens to expose their mediocrity.
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Reason alone is not enough, but reason is all we have in a world where faith, dogma, and subservience -- that is unreason -- are synonymous.
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Breakdowns occur because we cannot go on deceiving ourselves, others, and least of all, reality.
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When a man says God is on his side, he is sure to be closer to the Devil.
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[crusader1492]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

we all admire heroes; but i have every reason to suspect the only people who admire anonymous cowards are...anonymous cowards.

I realize you are calling me a coward because I won't post my identity online, but your contetion that I admire "anonymous cowards" after I just posted a video praising Armenian soldiers...well, for that all I can do is soberly say that not only are you a hateful malcontent, but you are a son-of-a-xxxxx as well.

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Saturday, January 26, 2008
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ALIEN TRASH
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You cannot tell people what to think and how to feel. You can only speak of your own thoughts and feelings and all the mud that is flung in your direction by dupes simply because you refuse to subscribe to their lies, which are not even theirs; or, as Zarian puts it: “even their trash is picked up from alien streets.”
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I cannot adapt. I cannot change colors like a chameleon. Call it an evolutionary failure. My kind may well be headed for extinction. That doesn’t mean I will exit in silence.
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To how many of my critics (if you will forgive the overstatement) I could say: When I was your age – and it makes no difference if you are nine or ninety – I too pretended to know and understand things that I didn’t, and succeeded only in making an ass of myself.
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No man can be said to be an authority on his fellow men, let alone himself, because most of our real self is buried in our subconscious. We can only speak of unverified and unverifiable theories and guesses.
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No need to contradict someone who lives in a world of illusions because reality will be his most effective and persistent contradictor.
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[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

we all admire heroes; but i have every reason to suspect the only people who admire anonymous cowards are...anonymous cowards.