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Sunday, December 7, 2008
****************************************
ON EDITORS AND MODERATORS
**************************************************
When I am told there are divisions even in the best and most progressive nations, all I can say is that they can afford them.
*
Diasporan Armenians, who have not solved a single minor problem in their own community, think they are fully qualified to solve problems in Armenia on the grounds that the farther away a problem is, the easier it is to solve it.
*
A nation whose mullahs and priests outnumber its intellectuals is a nation on its way to the devil.
*
If we have more money we would have fewer problems, or so we like to think. This may explain why there are thousands of crooks on the Internet who are eager to share their wealth with us. Problems attract charlatans the way carrion attracts vultures.
*
I have readers who review my writings the way pigeons review statues.
*
What our editors and moderators share in common is fear of free speech, and of all fears, fear of free speech is the most cowardly.
*
To violate human rights is to support those who plot the destruction of the nation.
*
When it comes to free speech, our editors and moderators have made even of America another USSR.
*
Only fascist regimes violate human rights with impunity.
Only fascist regimes commit genocide.
All genocides begin with the violation of the human right of a single individual.
#
Monday, December 8, 2008
****************************************
FREEDOMLAND
**************************************************
My guess is, I would have been a better Christian had I been given the opportunity to choose being one. Likewise, I would have been a better human being, perhaps even a better Armenian, had I not been programmed to identify myself as one.
As a teenager in Italy I would wonder why successful Italian-Americans would choose to share their existence with foreigners when they could afford to live with their brothers and sister in their own lovely homeland. It never occurred to me to think that an Italian, any Italian, would prefer to identify himself as an American.
Brought up in an authoritarian environment, I was brainwashed to value patriotism above freedom.
*
No one ever proved the existence of Zeus, Venus, or Mars. And yet, Greeks believed in them. Which may suggest that a god doesn't have to exist in order to be worshiped.
*
Albert Einstein: “I am a deeply religious nonbeliever.” I wonder how many religious propagandists quote this line minus the last word.
*
I don't think God and Allah are one and the same Being. The same word, maybe. The same Being, no! I think God is God, and Allah only a pretender to the throne. That's how deep childhood indoctrination goes.
*
If you are disposed to believe in something, you will believe it regardless of the quality of the evidence. The words “I believe” are invariably followed by an assertion based on hearsay.
*
It is to be noted that in our context, when I speak of freedom, I don't just mean such unheard of and un-Armenian luxuries as free speech, but the freedom to work and provide for one's family.
*
If you were to ask a faithful card-carrying member of the Party, he will tell you we enjoy free speech and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. One such specimen once said to me: “I contribute articles for our Weekly and so far none of them has been rejected or edited.” And it is this type of fool who asserts Armenians are smart.
#
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
****************************************
DEBUNKING AN ARMENIAN MYTH
**************************************************
When Lincoln said, “You can't fool all the people all the time,” he should have added, like all rules, this one too has its exceptions. Consider the case of the Armenians who were successfully fooled for 600 years by the Turks.
*
In the Ottoman Empire we were told, if you are loyal to the Sultan, and by loyal we mean, if you let us fornicate with your most beautiful daughters and brainwash your healthiest and strongest sons to fight in our wars, and if your best and brightest talents serve the Empire with their Allah-given gifts, we will take good care of you.
And they kept their word. They took good care of us all right, but only in the way in which American gangsters use that expression.
*
The idea that we are smart is so deeply ingrained in us that I have met Armenians who don't even qualify as inbred morons but who think of themselves as great intellects, men of vision, and defenders of the faith. Figure that one out if you can.
*
We like to say Turks are dumb, and we forget that they ran a mighty empire for 600 years and we can't even run a small community without creating a thousand and one irreconcilable differences and internecine conflicts. How smart is that?
*
Gulbenkian was smart. That's why he left most of his fortune to the Portuguese. Now that's what I call being really smart.
*
Consider what's happening in our discussion forums today. Calling them forums is a misnomer. They are either clubs of mutual admiration or cesspools of verbal abuse.
*
I am told I am consistently negative. Do you know what does being positive really mean in our context? It means to blind oneself in one eye in order not to see that which may not be flattering to our collective vanity. And whenever one of us refuses to mutilate himself in order to adopt that mode of observation, we label him a defeatist, a pessimist, an enemy, a Turk in disguise.
Result? Honesty is out, charlatanism is in.
*
“Yes im anoush Hayastani.” He wrote that when he was young, brainwashed and very probably drunk.
“Yes im aboosh hayrenagitsneri.” Very probably his last unspoken words as he was banging his head against the wall of his cell in a Yerevan jail.
Now, let us pray.
#
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
****************************************
REFLECTIONS
**************************************************
Some day Armenians and Turks may break bread together. But Armenians and Armenians?...
*
If we blame others for all our misfortunes, we must then ask ourselves: What has been our contributions to our history? If nothing, what right do we have to complain? If something, what exactly?
*
My critics hate my honesty more than I hate their dishonesty.
*
Damaged egos are the biggest.
*
Armenians read me for two reasons: (one) I write about them; and (two) to be ignored is the greatest insult.
*
In a world where underdogs believe they shall inherit the earth and top dogs are convinced their position of eminence is a blessing from God, we will have self-satisfied cowards and guiltless bloodsuckers.
*
Explaining things to someone who has no desire to understand is like trying to reason with the unreasonable.
*
After they silence dissenters, brainwash children, and surround themselves with yes-men, tyrants assume God and the silent majority to be on their side.
#
****************************************
ON EDITORS AND MODERATORS
**************************************************
When I am told there are divisions even in the best and most progressive nations, all I can say is that they can afford them.
*
Diasporan Armenians, who have not solved a single minor problem in their own community, think they are fully qualified to solve problems in Armenia on the grounds that the farther away a problem is, the easier it is to solve it.
*
A nation whose mullahs and priests outnumber its intellectuals is a nation on its way to the devil.
*
If we have more money we would have fewer problems, or so we like to think. This may explain why there are thousands of crooks on the Internet who are eager to share their wealth with us. Problems attract charlatans the way carrion attracts vultures.
*
I have readers who review my writings the way pigeons review statues.
*
What our editors and moderators share in common is fear of free speech, and of all fears, fear of free speech is the most cowardly.
*
To violate human rights is to support those who plot the destruction of the nation.
*
When it comes to free speech, our editors and moderators have made even of America another USSR.
*
Only fascist regimes violate human rights with impunity.
Only fascist regimes commit genocide.
All genocides begin with the violation of the human right of a single individual.
#
Monday, December 8, 2008
****************************************
FREEDOMLAND
**************************************************
My guess is, I would have been a better Christian had I been given the opportunity to choose being one. Likewise, I would have been a better human being, perhaps even a better Armenian, had I not been programmed to identify myself as one.
As a teenager in Italy I would wonder why successful Italian-Americans would choose to share their existence with foreigners when they could afford to live with their brothers and sister in their own lovely homeland. It never occurred to me to think that an Italian, any Italian, would prefer to identify himself as an American.
Brought up in an authoritarian environment, I was brainwashed to value patriotism above freedom.
*
No one ever proved the existence of Zeus, Venus, or Mars. And yet, Greeks believed in them. Which may suggest that a god doesn't have to exist in order to be worshiped.
*
Albert Einstein: “I am a deeply religious nonbeliever.” I wonder how many religious propagandists quote this line minus the last word.
*
I don't think God and Allah are one and the same Being. The same word, maybe. The same Being, no! I think God is God, and Allah only a pretender to the throne. That's how deep childhood indoctrination goes.
*
If you are disposed to believe in something, you will believe it regardless of the quality of the evidence. The words “I believe” are invariably followed by an assertion based on hearsay.
*
It is to be noted that in our context, when I speak of freedom, I don't just mean such unheard of and un-Armenian luxuries as free speech, but the freedom to work and provide for one's family.
*
If you were to ask a faithful card-carrying member of the Party, he will tell you we enjoy free speech and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. One such specimen once said to me: “I contribute articles for our Weekly and so far none of them has been rejected or edited.” And it is this type of fool who asserts Armenians are smart.
#
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
****************************************
DEBUNKING AN ARMENIAN MYTH
**************************************************
When Lincoln said, “You can't fool all the people all the time,” he should have added, like all rules, this one too has its exceptions. Consider the case of the Armenians who were successfully fooled for 600 years by the Turks.
*
In the Ottoman Empire we were told, if you are loyal to the Sultan, and by loyal we mean, if you let us fornicate with your most beautiful daughters and brainwash your healthiest and strongest sons to fight in our wars, and if your best and brightest talents serve the Empire with their Allah-given gifts, we will take good care of you.
And they kept their word. They took good care of us all right, but only in the way in which American gangsters use that expression.
*
The idea that we are smart is so deeply ingrained in us that I have met Armenians who don't even qualify as inbred morons but who think of themselves as great intellects, men of vision, and defenders of the faith. Figure that one out if you can.
*
We like to say Turks are dumb, and we forget that they ran a mighty empire for 600 years and we can't even run a small community without creating a thousand and one irreconcilable differences and internecine conflicts. How smart is that?
*
Gulbenkian was smart. That's why he left most of his fortune to the Portuguese. Now that's what I call being really smart.
*
Consider what's happening in our discussion forums today. Calling them forums is a misnomer. They are either clubs of mutual admiration or cesspools of verbal abuse.
*
I am told I am consistently negative. Do you know what does being positive really mean in our context? It means to blind oneself in one eye in order not to see that which may not be flattering to our collective vanity. And whenever one of us refuses to mutilate himself in order to adopt that mode of observation, we label him a defeatist, a pessimist, an enemy, a Turk in disguise.
Result? Honesty is out, charlatanism is in.
*
“Yes im anoush Hayastani.” He wrote that when he was young, brainwashed and very probably drunk.
“Yes im aboosh hayrenagitsneri.” Very probably his last unspoken words as he was banging his head against the wall of his cell in a Yerevan jail.
Now, let us pray.
#
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
****************************************
REFLECTIONS
**************************************************
Some day Armenians and Turks may break bread together. But Armenians and Armenians?...
*
If we blame others for all our misfortunes, we must then ask ourselves: What has been our contributions to our history? If nothing, what right do we have to complain? If something, what exactly?
*
My critics hate my honesty more than I hate their dishonesty.
*
Damaged egos are the biggest.
*
Armenians read me for two reasons: (one) I write about them; and (two) to be ignored is the greatest insult.
*
In a world where underdogs believe they shall inherit the earth and top dogs are convinced their position of eminence is a blessing from God, we will have self-satisfied cowards and guiltless bloodsuckers.
*
Explaining things to someone who has no desire to understand is like trying to reason with the unreasonable.
*
After they silence dissenters, brainwash children, and surround themselves with yes-men, tyrants assume God and the silent majority to be on their side.
#