our betters

[arabaliozian]

ON OUR “BETTERS”
*******************************************
Churchill’s contempt for Mahatma Gandhi
knew no bounds.
*
Beethoven was shocked when informed
Mozart had written an opera
whose central character was a womanizer.
*
Tchaikovsky hated Brahms
and Schopenhauer dismissed Hegel as a charlatan.
In Sartre’s eyes both Thomas Mann
and Nabokov were failures.
*
Closer to home:
In the eyes of Mekhitarist scholars,
Alishan was a giant in the history of our literature;
in the eyes of a less prejudiced
and more objective critic,
he was a “notorious mental masturbator.”
*
Our “betters” may pretend to understand everything
even when they understand nothing.
In that sense, not only they do not qualify
as our “betters” but they may even be our worst.
#

[londontsi]

Re: our betters

.

I have no doubt what you are highlighting is true.

Wouldn’t you agree that this phenomenon is widespread throughout life and in every discipline.
In higher echelon as well as among minnows.
As a minnow myself, I have encountered many nobodies doing their outmost for me to fail in my professional endeavours.

The victims in your description ultimately succeed in deserving a few pages in history.
This tells me about the futility of such prejudice.
Also reminds me of the saying “he who cannot destroy me makes me stronger”.

We are frequently reminded that rising through the ranks is like climbing a greasy pole.
Nobody tells us who put the grease on the pole.

Life shows us success is not only about winning the beauty contest but playing the game right and to win.

PS. I have started to spend some time on two interesting works.
“The Prince” by Machiavelli and http://48laws-of-power.blogspot.co.uk/
I sent these links to my kids to have look at.
My daughter replied, this goes in the “spam_from_dad” folder.
There has to be a message there.
Happy New Year.

.

[arabaliozian]

Re: our betters

OUR “BETTERS” (II)
*******************************
Mozart in a letter to his father:
“That godless archvillain Voltaire
has died like a dog,
like an animal – that’s his reward.”
Which goes to show you that
even the noblest mind and most sensitive heart
can be easily duped and brainwashed by propaganda.
*
Voltaire was not “godless.”
He was a theist: he believed in the existence of god,
but a god who does no get involved in human affairs.
*
Also to be noted: to many composers of Mozart’s time
the Church was their main source of income –
as it was mine when I was employed as an organist.
*
“Grub first, then ethics.”
*
If I am tough on our commissars and charlatans
it may be because I know
I will never have the power to stop them.
I don’t hate them as much as I hate
my own powerlessness.
*
Voltaire on religion:
“Since it was a religious war,
there were no survivors.”
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: our betters

Sunday, January 18, 2015
*****************************************
SUNDAY BLUES
****************************
Have you ever been tempted to think
“If I speak in the name of patriotism,
I can't be wrong!” May I remind you that
Hitler and Stalin spoke in the name of patriotism too.
*
If you think you are on safer ground
if you speak in the name of God,
may I remind you that so do jihadists.
*
If you say I have killed no one,
nor do I advocate war and terror!
I say, you may not
but members of your audience may.
*
If you say, “What’s wrong with speaking
in the name of the majority?”
May I remind you that so did the Greek jury
that condemned Socrates to death.
*
Remember: if your aim is to assert infallibility,
you can’t be right even when you are right.
Asserting infallibility is the same
as issuing a license to kill.
If you don’t believe me,
make a list of atrocities committed
in the name of the Pope and the Prophet.
*
And if you ask, “If we can’t speak
in the name of God and Country, what’s left?”
If I knew the answer to that one
I would not be a minor scribbler
who can’t make ends meet
but a prophet or a televangelist.
*
Final question: “How about speaking
in the name of democracy and human rights?”
May I remind you that Americans do that!
To be a dupe is bad enough;
to be an American dupe: I can’t imagine worst fate,
with the possible exception of being a Russian dupe.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: our betters

HOW LONG?
*********************************
To write what you think,
what you really think, is important.
But even more important is to write
what everybody else thinks.
*
We are all for free speech
but who among us dares to say
what must be said?
*
What stands in our way is less ignorance
and more a conscious decision
not to antagonize our sources of income.
*
It took mankind centuries to say
the only good king is a headless king.
*
It took many more centuries to say
to work for a living is to be in chains,
*
When will we dare to say
if it’s not Abdulhamid it’s Talaat.
if it’s not Talaat it’s Stalin,
and if it’s not Stalin
it’s our bosses, bishops and benefactors?
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: our betters

When a Ramgavar editor promised to pay me a goodly sum if I undertook the task of writing profiles of prominent Ramgavar leaders, I informed him I didn’t even know who they were, neither was I interested to know.