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  • Re: elegy

    Originally posted by gkv View Post
    Hello Ara



    If I may add to Kanada's inquiry, how about jews? let's take one prominent figure... Rav Steinsaltz




    Would you say he is not equipped to think for himself or is your statement to be circumscribed (i was tempted to write another word) to christians & muslims only?
    sorry, never heard of Rav. / ara

    Comment


    • Re: elegy

      Originally posted by arabaliozian View Post
      sorry, never heard of Rav. / ara
      how disappointing.

      Comment


      • Re: elegy

        Originally posted by arabaliozian View Post
        And if you think I write as I do
        because I am driven by self-hatred,
        please don’t tell me you are one of those
        narcissistic Armenians who have been brainwashed to believe
        since we are beyond criticism we can do no wrong.
        #
        Ara

        self-criticism is essential if an individual or nation is to develop

        there have been too few Armenian critics

        Comment


        • Re: elegy

          Originally posted by lampron View Post
          self-criticism is essential
          yes. first and foremost on an individual basis. but saying it does not change much. we can agree on that fact yet fail to change our own behaviour.
          ara can whine about it but he himself does not set a good example.

          Comment


          • Re: elegy

            Originally posted by gkv View Post
            yes. first and foremost on an individual basis. but saying it does not change much. we can agree on that fact yet fail to change our own behaviour.
            change can only come after acknowledgement of what is wrong

            in a society where criticism is not encouraged, how can there be progress?

            Comment


            • Re: elegy

              Originally posted by lampron View Post
              change can only come after acknowledgement of what is wrong

              in a society where criticism is not encouraged, how can there be progress?
              most of the time, people already know what is wrong.
              the reason why things do not change lies in lack of will rather than lack of lucidity. selfishness and cowardice.

              Comment


              • Re: elegy

                Sunday, April 10, 2011
                *******************************************
                HOW TO JUDGE
                A POLITICAL LEADER
                ***********************************************
                In John Buchan’s GREENMANTLE (1916)
                the Young Turks are described as
                “a collection of xxxs and gypsies.”
                True or false?
                I don’t know and I don’t care.
                What matters here is not their family tree
                but the fact that some of our greatest intellectual
                and political leaders trusted them.
                *
                It is not my intention to convince anyone
                to think as I do, but only to show that
                (one) recycling enemy propaganda
                is not the only way to think, and
                (two) just because someone speaks in the name of
                patriotism, nationalism or some other noble cause,
                it doesn’t necessarily follow he is right.
                *
                All enemies of democracy
                speak in the name of an ideology.
                No fascist has ever declared himself
                to be anti-nationalist or anti-patriotic.
                On the contrary,
                *
                some of the most celebrated proponents of patriotism
                have been foreign intruders and outsiders.
                Napoleon was not a Frenchman,
                Stalin was not a Russian,
                Hitler was not a German,
                and one of our greatest symbols
                of patriotism and heroism,
                Vartan Mamigonian,
                was not an Armenian.
                *
                Moral of the story:
                what matters about a political leader
                is not his dedication to a noble cause
                but his respect for human rights, free speech, and democracy.
                The rest is enemy propaganda.
                #
                Monday, April 11, 2011
                *******************************************
                IN AN UNDEMOCRATIC ENVIRONMENT
                THE SCUM RISES TO THE TOP
                ***********************************************
                “If you speak
                you are kesh.
                If you don’t speak
                you are esh.”
                *
                I came across this charming haiku
                in an Armenian website the other day.
                I have been called both kesh and esh by readers
                Who have somehow managed to convince themselves
                they are better and wiser.
                *
                With age comes wisdom,
                except when your aim is power,
                in which case with age
                comes more greed, prejudice,
                ignorance, and intolerance.
                *
                We tend to look up to our bosses, bishops, and benefactors
                on the grounds that they have more money and power.
                In this context we consistently avoid asking the question,
                What have these gentlemen done for us so far
                except to divide, deceive, and lead us
                to massacre, exile, and subservience?
                *
                Now then, I ask you ladies and gentlemen
                (if you will forgive the overstatements)
                what have our dissidents done
                except trying to enhance our solidarity
                and share their understanding with us.
                Why should solidarity, tolerance, and understanding
                be treated as failings or vices
                and divisiveness, dogmatism, and intolerance
                as desirable patriotic duties and virtues?
                *
                What makes you think your bishop
                knows better than someone else’s pope, imam, or rabbi?
                *
                God is with us?
                That was one of Hitler’s favorite slogans too.
                Why is it that where God enters
                intolerance follows, and with intolerance,
                heresies, persecution, and death? –
                the death of the spirit if not the body.
                *
                The scum rises to the top
                even in democratic environments.
                That’s because, as Plato explains somewhere:
                honest men will use only honest means
                to achieve their goals,
                unlike crooks
                who will use both honest and dishonest means.
                #
                Tuesday, April 12, 2011
                *******************************************
                SYSTEMS
                ***********************************************
                We are brought up to think
                all belief systems are wrong except our own.
                All politicians are crooks except our own.
                All historians lie except our own.
                Terrorists?
                We never had them.
                Ours were freedom fighters.
                All our wars were defensive wars.
                All our defeats were moral victories.
                This may suggest that
                the aim of propaganda is not to inform
                but to brainwash,
                and the aim of educational systems
                is not to educate but to moronize.
                #
                Wednesday, April 13, 2011
                *******************************************
                MEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS
                ***********************************************
                As a child I thought of war, starvation, and homelessness
                (all of which I experienced)
                as inevitable facts of life.
                I was brought up to believe in God
                who in His infinite wisdom had a plan for me.
                What exactly had been His plan
                for those who did not survive?
                That was a question I did not ask.
                In my infantile eyes Almighty God made the decisions
                and men had no choice but to say “Thank you, Lord!”
                *
                When as a teenager I met an adult
                who spoke as I write today,
                my initial impression was that he must be nuts.
                How dare he question God’s wisdom?
                I know now that what he was questioning
                was not God’s wisdom or even His existence
                but the judgment of those who speak in His name –
                popes, imams, and rabbis
                who in another era would condemn one another to death
                as frauds, heretics, and blasphemers.
                #

                Comment


                • Re: elegy

                  Thursday, April 14, 2011
                  *******************************************
                  FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
                  ***********************************************
                  If we define friends as those who agree with us,
                  and enemies as those who disagree,
                  we shall have to conclude that
                  some of our best friends are Turks,
                  and some of our worst enemies are Armenians.
                  *
                  Our greatest enemy is not the Turk
                  but free speech.
                  *
                  Where free speech is the enemy
                  there will always be men at the top
                  who pretend to know better.
                  They may not be historians, economists, or philosophers,
                  but they will pretend their understanding
                  of history, economy, and philosophy to be superior
                  to anyone else’s, and there will always be others
                  willing to agree with them.
                  *
                  Even mighty empires are afraid of words.
                  *
                  Tyrants rule by inspiring fear in others
                  but they are themselves afraid of words.
                  *
                  In undemocratic environments
                  men are ruled by cowardly fools.
                  #
                  Friday, April 15, 2011
                  *******************************************
                  THREE QUESTIONS,
                  THREE ANSWERS,
                  & TWO MORALS
                  ***********************************************
                  If the Americans refuse to recognize the reality of our genocide,
                  what are our chances of some day convincing the Turks to do so?
                  My guess is:
                  1 in 1,5 million.
                  *
                  If Americans who like to identify themselves
                  as champions of democracy, free speech and human rights
                  are afraid to use the “g” word,
                  what are our chances that some day
                  in the near or distant future
                  the Turks will include that word
                  in their dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks?
                  This time I will let you do the guessing.
                  *
                  Third question:
                  What do Americans stand to lose in this context?
                  A friend in the Middle East?
                  What about Turks themselves?
                  What do they stand to lose?
                  The obvious answer is:
                  billions in reparations (money they don’t have)
                  and an important fraction of their real estate
                  which they stole from us 600 years ago
                  as, more recently,
                  Yanks stole America from the Indians,
                  “fair and square.”
                  *
                  At the turn of the last century,
                  our revolutionaries promised freedom and historic Armenia
                  but delivered death and pestilence.
                  *
                  Moral I:
                  If you make a promise you can’t deliver
                  your credibility is bound to sink lower
                  than a snake’s belly full of buckshot.
                  *
                  Moral II:
                  You fooled me once, shame on you.
                  You fooled me twice, shame on me.
                  *
                  You find what I say depressing?
                  Don’t blame me.
                  Blame reality.
                  I deal in facts, not fiction.
                  If you prefer fiction,
                  read romances with happy endings.
                  #
                  Saturday, April 16, 2011
                  *******************************************
                  IS GOD A FASCIST?
                  ***********************************************
                  Who hates writers?
                  Fascists.
                  Where fascists enter
                  writers are silenced.
                  If you don’t believe me
                  it may be because you suffer from amnesia.
                  I suggest you refresh your memory
                  by reading a book on fascism
                  or a history of our literature.
                  *
                  In both the Ottoman Empire under Talaat
                  and the USSR under Stalin
                  our writers were the first victims.
                  And if you say,
                  “So you dare to think of yourself as a writer?”
                  I will reply:
                  “I don’t speak as a writer.
                  I speak as a witness
                  who refuses to be a dupe
                  and to recycle the propaganda
                  of our bosses, bishops, and benefactors
                  who speak in the name of God and capital
                  (make it, Capital and god);
                  and I speak as I do
                  because I refuse to believe God is a fascist.
                  Fascists are afraid of free speech
                  because they want everyone to believe
                  they are infallible and
                  they hate to be exposed as frauds.
                  God, by contrast, is afraid of nothing.
                  This may suggest that God,
                  unlike the god of popes, imams, and rabbis,
                  is neither a fascist nor a fraud,
                  and because I say so
                  it doesn’t necessarily follow
                  that I am in league with the Devil.
                  #

                  Comment


                  • Re: elegy

                    Sunday, April 17, 2011
                    *******************************************
                    TRUST
                    ***********************************************
                    True patriotism consists in being honest
                    with oneself and one’s fellow countrymen,
                    not in saying “Yes, sir!” to those who pretend to know better
                    but who have been consistently wrong in the past.
                    A citizen is not a soldier.
                    But after World War II even soldiers
                    are not compelled to say “Yes, sir!” to all orders.
                    *
                    Politics is not an exact science.
                    In a democracy, everything a politician says
                    is open to criticism and contradiction.
                    That is why for every politician who says one thing
                    there will be another who will say the opposite.
                    *
                    Readers who accuse me of hating
                    my fellow Armenians and myself
                    never mention the deep contempt they themselves have
                    for anyone who dares to disagree with them.
                    Do they speak of hatred because they feel unloved?
                    And if they are unloved,
                    do they ever ask whether or not
                    they deserve anyone’s love?
                    *
                    All our misfortunes may be traced to misplaced trust.
                    We trusted the Turks as our masters for 600 years.
                    We trusted them so much that
                    they called us their “most faithful millet [ethnic minority]”
                    That “most faithful” bothers the hell out of me.
                    Why couldn’t we have been like all the others –
                    Greeks, Arabs, xxxs, Assyrians, Bulgarians,
                    Albanians, and Kurds – among others?
                    Why did we have to be their “most faithful” xxxxx?
                    We trusted Talaat, Stalin, and Hitler.
                    We trusted the Great Powers of the West
                    as we trusted our own leaders
                    who were not there when we needed them most.
                    They had a plan B only for themselves.
                    *
                    In America today we trust any presidential candidate
                    who promises to recognize the reality of our genocide
                    even when after they are elected they refuse to use the “g” word.
                    And now, our leaders expect us to trust them again
                    when they rewrite history and represent themselves
                    as statesmen of vision who can do no wrong.
                    #
                    Monday, April 18, 2011
                    *******************************************
                    A COMEDY OF ERRORS
                    ***********************************************
                    When the USSR collapsed
                    Stalinists were unanimous in blaming it on Solzhenitsyn,
                    as if a single or, for that matter,
                    a thousand unarmed civilians
                    could challenge and defeat a military colossus.
                    *
                    The USSR collapsed because
                    the lies of the Kremlin were exposed;
                    and when lies are exposed,
                    the reality principle asserts itself.
                    *
                    If so far we have survived
                    it’s because the lies of our enemies
                    are bigger than our own.
                    We have nothing to brag about.
                    God is not on our side.
                    We are not as smart as we think we are.
                    Our history is a disaster area and
                    our leadership is a farce.
                    #
                    Tuesday, April 19, 2011
                    *******************************************
                    ANOTHER WITNESS
                    ***********************************************
                    If you think I am an eccentric with whose opinions
                    very few responsible Armenians would agree,
                    allow me to quote a witness that may well be
                    less vulnerable to similar charges.
                    “Our teachers are self-satisfied ignoramuses.
                    Our clergy love commerce more than learning.
                    Our leaders behave more like wolves than shepherds.”
                    I am paraphrasing from memory
                    a few lines from the “Lamentation” of Khorenatsi,
                    a historian of the 5th century
                    when Armenia was at the apex of its Golden Age
                    as opposed to the nadir of its decline and disintegration.
                    *
                    More recently, a friend writes:
                    “Our community is dying.
                    It’s a case of cold-blooded murder
                    and the killers are the very same individuals
                    who parade as our saviors.”
                    *
                    Another correspondent informs me:
                    “Ours is a case of terminal cancer.”
                    *
                    If you say, “We survived Khorenatsi
                    and we will survive you and your
                    gloom-and-doom friends and correspondents,”
                    all I can say is:
                    Yes, in the Ottoman Empire we survived as slaves
                    for 600 years; and we are surviving today as dupes.
                    I call that kind of survival worse than death.
                    #
                    Wednesday, April 20, 2011
                    *******************************************
                    BEING POSITIVE
                    ***********************************************
                    Turks and Armenians disagree on many things
                    but they agree on one thing – that the other
                    is an infidel dog.
                    We could build on that!
                    #

                    Comment


                    • Re: elegy

                      Originally posted by arabaliozian View Post
                      In John Buchan’s GREENMANTLE (1916)
                      the Young Turks are described as
                      “a collection of xxxs and gypsies.”
                      True or false?
                      I don’t know and I don’t care.
                      What matters here is not their family tree
                      but the fact that some of our greatest intellectual
                      and political leaders trusted them.
                      *
                      #
                      Ara

                      a very important point!

                      did the greatest Armenian minds prefer the promises
                      of Young Turk leaders instead of looking at the anti-Armenian
                      campaigns of lower ranking party activists ?

                      in the same way that Armenian media today likes to
                      publish pro-Armenian resolutions but ignores statements
                      or actions sympathetic to adversaries?

                      Comment

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