notes and comments

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Hello Ara



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

http://www.steinsaltz.org/learning.php?pg=Essays&articleId=2086

http://www.steinsaltz.org/learning.php?pg=Essays&articleId=1890

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

[gkv]

Re: elegy

sorry, never heard of Rav. / ara

how disappointing.

[lampron]

Re: elegy

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

[gkv]

Re: elegy

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.

[lampron]

Re: elegy

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?

[gkv]

Re: elegy

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.

[arabaliozian]

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.
#

[arabaliozian]

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.
#

[arabaliozian]

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!
#

[lampron]

Re: elegy

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?