notes and comments

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Sunday, August 12, 2012
************************************
SATURDAY NIGHT AND
SUNDAY MORNING
REFLECTIONS
**********************************
After visiting the Homeland during the Soviet era
a friend reported the following exchange:
“Why all the fuss about Watergate?”
“The President lied.”
“So what? – they lie to us all the time.”
*
We are a nation of a thousand and one Watergates
but so far not a single book on the subject,
not a single public hearing, impeachments, trial,
guilty verdict and incarceration.
I am now talking about both the Homeland and the Diaspora.
Result?
Our “Nixons” and their gangs of co-conspirators
continue to be in charge of our destiny as a nation.
*
Faith and superstition,
knowledge and ignorance,
lies and truth:
they might as well be Siamese twins.
*
I don’t spin theories.
I speak of historic reality.
*
If you elevate your intellectual superiority to a dogma
you condemn yourself to learn nothing.
*
Every transgression comes with its own inbuilt punishment.
God is too big, mighty, and important
to sit in judgment over all your petty little disgusting sins.
He neither judges nor punishes.
He relegates all that to you.
#
Monday, August 13, 2012
******************************************
ON CERTAINTIES
******************************
Whenever we say “I believe”
we should teach ourselves to add
“I could be wrong.”
Certainties are the source of all evil.
*
Honesty is an unwelcome intruder
because it exposes cowardly charlatans
who love to project the image
of fearless men of integrity.
I could be wrong…
*
To be popular means to be harmless –
to pretend to love everybody
even when you can’t stand the buggers.
*
Am I right or wrong?
I am not sure.
At best I may suspect I am moving in the right direction
if only because I am in the company of far better men than myself –
from Socrates to Solzhenitsyn.
#
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
*******************************************
BARBARIANS
****************************
You cannot civilize the civilized
(also called the syphilized).
You have a better chance with barbarians.
*
Financial bankruptcy is invariably preceded by moral bankruptcy.
History provides us with so many examples –
from the Roman Empire to the USSR and the USA;
and closer to home, the Mekhitarist order.
*
Tyrants from Hitler to Assad
would rather see their country reduced to rubble
than give up power.
(How to explain the quiet exit of Sultan Abdulhamid II? –
a bloodthirsty tyrant if there ever was one.)
*
An alcoholic odar academic in need of cash
once wrote a book titled ARMENIA: CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION
with the financial support of an Armenian foundation --
the wealthiest foundation on earth, it has been said;
and to this day there are Armenians who take the title literally.
*
There are two kinds of phonies:
those who try to expose the phony in themselves and in others,
and those who identify it with patriotism.
#
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
***************************************
IT BEARS REPEATING
******************************
To write for Armenians means
to write for readers who know better.
*
As an Armenian I try to understand my fellow Armenians
beginning with myself.
As an Armenian writer I do my utmost to be objective
and to say what I think.
*
To say what you think may not be a crime against humanity
but it is treated as one.
*
To be an Armenian writer means
to be exploited by the 1%
and oppressed by the 99%.
*
As a nation that has lived in oppression
for most of its collective existence
we assume oppression to be
an integral part of the human condition.
*
Nothing comes easier to a nation
that has experienced a series of massacres
than to engage in verbal massacre --
all in the name of patriotism of course.
*
I don’t write in the name of patriotism.
I write in the name if common sense and decency
which recognize no cultural and political boundaries.
*
Smoking is bad for you.
Everyone knows that including smokers.
Divisions are bad for a nation.
Everyone knows that,
including our dividers.
#

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

I appreciate you saying "I could be wrong".
Blaise Pascal said something like this --- Everything I say is by way of discourse, nothing by way of advice.
If it were my due to be believed I would not speak so boldly.

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Q/A**************************** Q: “Every Armenian writer I have read has something positive to say about us, except you. Why do you want to be so different?”A: “Why do you insist on a unanimous decision?”*For 600 years they were our role models. That indeed is our real tragedy!*In the ghetto where I was born and raised nobody ever quoted Naregatsi or Raffi, but everyone quoted Turkish sayings, like “Damla damla gueul olur,” (Drop by drop a lake is made), and “Chok ghareshterma, bokhou chekar” (Don’t stir things up too much, you may expose the crap). To which charge I am more than willing to plead guilty.*If you want a dealer in rose-jam, listen to our sermonizers and speechifiers. They are better at moronizing the nation in the name of patriotism.#Friday, August 17, 2012*********************************** TOO MANY CHIEFS NO INDIANS********************************** Wolves, lions, zebras, and ants: they know instinctively they have a better chance to survive as a group than as individuals. That’s because they have studied biology and they know all there is to know about the law of the jungle. Compared to them we might as well be functional illiterates and inbred morons; or jackasses destined to carry someone else’s load.*Civilized people execute their traitors and collaborators. How many of them have we executed so far?*In their own narratives our bosses, bishops, and benefactors are our saviors. We have been blessed with more saviors than traitors – or is it the other way around?*We swim in a sea of uncertainties. We have many narratives but not a single definition.*I don’t spin theories. I speak of historic reality.#Saturday, August 18, 2012************************************** OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN******************************************** * Sartre is right: to believe that you believe doesn’t make you a believer. Likewise, to believe that you don’t believe doesn’t make you an atheist. The true atheist is he who, after saying God is merciful, engages in cannibalism; and I challenge you to name a single organized religion that has not persecuted heretics.*I don’t believe in believers or, for that matter, in non-believers. Even the most fanatic atheist is fully aware of the fact that he is and he has always been at the mercy of an invisible and incomprehensible power against which or Whom he is himself powerless.*I have given up arguing with believers. Protestants are better equipped to deal with Catholics, and Muslims are better equipped to deal with both. I don’t have a dog in their fight. And when it comes to God I have more questions than answers. *If God is great why did he create men whose most noteworthy contribution to civilization has been the slaughter of defenseless civilians?#

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

Q/A**************************** Q: �Every Armenian writer I have read has something positive to say about us, except you. Why do you want to be so different?�A: �Why do you insist on a unanimous decision?�*For 600 years they were our role models. That indeed is our real tragedy!*In the ghetto where I was born and raised nobody ever quoted Naregatsi or Raffi, but everyone quoted Turkish sayings, like �Damla damla gueul olur,� (Drop by drop a lake is made), and �Chok ghareshterma, bokhou chekar� (Don�t stir things up too much, you may expose the crap). To which charge I am more than willing to plead guilty.*If you want a dealer in rose-jam, listen to our sermonizers and speechifiers. They are better at moronizing the nation in the name of patriotism.#Friday, August 17, 2012*********************************** TOO MANY CHIEFS NO INDIANS********************************** Wolves, lions, zebras, and ants: they know instinctively they have a better chance to survive as a group than as individuals. That�s because they have studied biology and they know all there is to know about the law of the jungle. Compared to them we might as well be functional illiterates and inbred morons; or jackasses destined to carry someone else�s load.*Civilized people execute their traitors and collaborators. How many of them have we executed so far?*In their own narratives our bosses, bishops, and benefactors are our saviors. We have been blessed with more saviors than traitors � or is it the other way around?*We swim in a sea of uncertainties. We have many narratives but not a single definition.*I don�t spin theories. I speak of historic reality.#Saturday, August 18, 2012************************************** OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN******************************************** * Sartre is right: to believe that you believe doesn�t make you a believer. Likewise, to believe that you don�t believe doesn�t make you an atheist. The true atheist is he who, after saying God is merciful, engages in cannibalism; and I challenge you to name a single organized religion that has not persecuted heretics.*I don�t believe in believers or, for that matter, in non-believers. Even the most fanatic atheist is fully aware of the fact that he is and he has always been at the mercy of an invisible and incomprehensible power against which or Whom he is himself powerless.*I have given up arguing with believers. Protestants are better equipped to deal with Catholics, and Muslims are better equipped to deal with both. I don�t have a dog in their fight. And when it comes to God I have more questions than answers. *If God is great why did he create men whose most noteworthy contribution to civilization has been the slaughter of defenseless civilians?#

--- For 600 yrs. they where our role models --- Wrong. For 600 yrs. they were our subjucators. They did not teach us how to be industrious. They did not set examples for us in decency, honesty, compassion, a sense of fair play or the educating of our young.
They as role models?
I agree it was a tragedy to be subjugated by them and watch them strut.
Yes we are both guilty about stirring things up.
They on the other hand hope no one perceives the crap that they are attempting to cover up by using the tactic of minute by minute, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, and century by century the consistent drop of a lie shall form a lake called lies.
--- If you want a dealer in rose jam --- If you were addressing me I can only ask: whatever gave you the idea I was looking for rose jam?
If you are talking about our people looking for hope where none seems to exist, I will tell you what I would tell my people.
If your hand is empty do not give up hope. Keep working, keep your empty hands clean, we are Armenians.
--- wolves, lions, zebras, and ants, they they know instinctively etc -- because they have " studied biology" and "know all there is etc". ---
Utter nonsense. You are clutching at straws to make your point. I repeat -- utter nonsense.
--- Compared to them etc --- When you compare them to us, if that is your conclusion, you and me have a sharp difference in conclusions drawn on that.
--- We swim in a sea of uncertainties --- I agree.
--- I don't spin --- a lot of the stuff you spin doesn't/couldn't qualify as theory, but I think it qualifies as crap.
--- I speak of historicle reality --- If you think historic reality is they were our role models for 600 yrs., I completely disagree, that's crap.
--- If GOD is great why etc? --- good question. A question for GOD. If one wants to know why someone did something, generally they would ask that someone and not someone else.
If you decide to take that path(direct path) make sure no one is around that you can see. Ask with as much sincerity as you can muster. Then wait. How much does that cost or weigh?
Artashes

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Sunday, August 19, 2012
**************************************
CONFESSIONS OF A PLAGIARIST
*********************************************
If no one writes as I do it’s not because
I am an original writer, far from it.
As a matter of fact, everything I say
is a paraphrase, a quotation, or a variation on a theme
stated by far better men than myself.
Case in point: many years ago, I remember,
speaking of a national benefactor
one of our elder statesmen said to me:
“As a product of the Ottoman Empire
he is no better than a frustrated sultan.”
*
A few years later when I had to deal with the hirelings
of this benefactor I remembered my elder statesman’s words
and saw the truth in his theory.
Once, again many years ago, when
in the presence of an Armenian academic --
an honest man for a change --
when I said Armenians are smart,
he came very close to losing his temper.
*
It took me a while to realize that
far from being smart, most Armenians are damn fools.
If Armenians like to assess themselves as smart
it may be because no fool will ever identify himself as a fool,
or a dupe as a dupe, or an idiot as an idiot.
I will go further and say that when it comes to politics
we fully qualify as inbred morons
for the simple reason that
for most of our collective existence
we have allowed ourselves to be divided, oppressed,
and occasionally massacred by relative morons.
And for saying that I have been described
as an ignoramus who hates himself
and projects his hatred onto his fellow countrymen.
There is some truth in that.
*
All analysis begins with self-analysis,
in the same way that all propaganda is carefully tailored
to flatter the ego of dupes.
History provides us with so many examples!
Even when they behaved like bloodthirsty barbarians
Germans were brainwashed to believe
they belonged to a superior race.
The Soviets were brainwashed to believe
they were the most progressive,
and anyone who dared to question that absurd assertion
was either shot in the neck or ended in the Gulag.
The only reason I am still alive today is that,
as a Canadian citizen I am beyond the jurisdiction
of our pseudo-sultans and neo-commissars.
#
Monday, August 20, 2012
************************************
PARAPHRASES
**************************
Not everyone who speaks in the name of God
is a messenger of God,
and he who speaks in the name of Capital
is a messenger of the Devil
even when he builds cathedrals.
*
It is not at all unusual for a very smart Armenian
to say some very dumb things.
*
Our spirit of contradiction is so highly developed that
when a Turk disagrees with me
I ascribe it to a distant Armenian in his family tree.
*
If you paraphrase Socrates
be prepared to be judged by individuals
who will behave like members of the jury
that condemned him to death.
*
Christ is recrucified every day by Christians.
(In case you haven’t guessed already,
I am now paraphrasing Dostoevsky and Kazantzakis.)
#
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
**************************************
DECEIVERS
********************
The Pope may doubt his faith seven times a day
(according to an old Italian proverb)
but he will never admit it.
He will go further and assert,
in matter of faith he is never wrong.
No one will ever say he is the proud offspring
of former commissars or KGB agents
for the same reason that no king
will ever admit to being the offspring
of ruthless killers and rapists,
no priest will ever admit to being a child molester,
and no democratically elected head of state
will ever admit to being better at making promises
than delivering them.
The 1% has ruled by deception
and continues to do so to this day
because it can always count
on the ignorance, stupidity, and cowardice of the 99% --
in case you thought I had a dog in that fight.
#
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
**************************************
WHAT IS RIGHT
AND WHAT IS WRONG?
*******************************************
When I was young
I too had an opinion on every conceivable subject
including subjects I knew nothing about.
*
As a child I thought,
or rather was brought up to think,
if the Pope of Rome,
all his cardinals and bishops,
and billions of Catholics
believe in the existence of God,
who am I to deny it?
*
As a teenager I thought
if great leaders like Stalin and Mikoyan,
and millions of Russians
and great intellectuals like George Bernard Shaw
are communists, who am I to side with blood-sucking capitalists?
Besides, what have capitalists done for me,
a slum-dweller, that I should side with them?
*
I know now that we live in a world where
everybody is wrong and
there is no such thing as an infallible belief system.
It is the quintessence of evil to say
I am right and everyone who thinks otherwise is wrong
therefore my enemy,
and it is my duty to be against him
and when necessary to kill him
because to kill in the name of God and Country
is not a crime but a sacred duty.
*
I know now that if God exists
He does not take sides.
If He stood by and did nothing
when His only son was crucified,
why should He side with a nonentity like me?
If God did not lift a finger to stop the massacre
of millions of innocent civilians by bloodthirsty barbarians,
can we really say He is always right?
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

an armenian disagrees with me? so what else is new?

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

Sunday, August 19, 2012
**************************************
CONFESSIONS OF A PLAGIARIST
*********************************************
If no one writes as I do it�s not because
I am an original writer, far from it.
As a matter of fact, everything I say
is a paraphrase, a quotation, or a variation on a theme
stated by far better men than myself.
Case in point: many years ago, I remember,
speaking of a national benefactor
one of our elder statesmen said to me:
�As a product of the Ottoman Empire
he is no better than a frustrated sultan.�
*
A few years later when I had to deal with the hirelings
of this benefactor I remembered my elder statesman�s words
and saw the truth in his theory.
Once, again many years ago, when
in the presence of an Armenian academic --
an honest man for a change --
when I said Armenians are smart,
he came very close to losing his temper.
*
It took me a while to realize that
far from being smart, most Armenians are damn fools.
If Armenians like to assess themselves as smart
it may be because no fool will ever identify himself as a fool,
or a dupe as a dupe, or an idiot as an idiot.
I will go further and say that when it comes to politics
we fully qualify as inbred morons
for the simple reason that
for most of our collective existence
we have allowed ourselves to be divided, oppressed,
and occasionally massacred by relative morons.
And for saying that I have been described
as an ignoramus who hates himself
and projects his hatred onto his fellow countrymen.
There is some truth in that.
*
All analysis begins with self-analysis,
in the same way that all propaganda is carefully tailored
to flatter the ego of dupes.
History provides us with so many examples!
Even when they behaved like bloodthirsty barbarians
Germans were brainwashed to believe
they belonged to a superior race.
The Soviets were brainwashed to believe
they were the most progressive,
and anyone who dared to question that absurd assertion
was either shot in the neck or ended in the Gulag.
The only reason I am still alive today is that,
as a Canadian citizen I am beyond the jurisdiction
of our pseudo-sultans and neo-commissars.
#
Monday, August 20, 2012
************************************
PARAPHRASES
**************************
Not everyone who speaks in the name of God
is a messenger of God,
and he who speaks in the name of Capital
is a messenger of the Devil
even when he builds cathedrals.
*
It is not at all unusual for a very smart Armenian
to say some very dumb things.
*
Our spirit of contradiction is so highly developed that
when a Turk disagrees with me
I ascribe it to a distant Armenian in his family tree.
*
If you paraphrase Socrates
be prepared to be judged by individuals
who will behave like members of the jury
that condemned him to death.
*
Christ is recrucified every day by Christians.
(In case you haven�t guessed already,
I am now paraphrasing Dostoevsky and Kazantzakis.)
#
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
**************************************
DECEIVERS
********************
The Pope may doubt his faith seven times a day
(according to an old Italian proverb)
but he will never admit it.
He will go further and assert,
in matter of faith he is never wrong.
No one will ever say he is the proud offspring
of former commissars or KGB agents
for the same reason that no king
will ever admit to being the offspring
of ruthless killers and rapists,
no priest will ever admit to being a child molester,
and no democratically elected head of state
will ever admit to being better at making promises
than delivering them.
The 1% has ruled by deception
and continues to do so to this day
because it can always count
on the ignorance, stupidity, and cowardice of the 99% --
in case you thought I had a dog in that fight.
#
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
**************************************
WHAT IS RIGHT
AND WHAT IS WRONG?
*******************************************
When I was young
I too had an opinion on every conceivable subject
including subjects I knew nothing about.
*
As a child I thought,
or rather was brought up to think,
if the Pope of Rome,
all his cardinals and bishops,
and billions of Catholics
believe in the existence of God,
who am I to deny it?
*
As a teenager I thought
if great leaders like Stalin and Mikoyan,
and millions of Russians
and great intellectuals like George Bernard Shaw
are communists, who am I to side with blood-sucking capitalists?
Besides, what have capitalists done for me,
a slum-dweller, that I should side with them?
*
I know now that we live in a world where
everybody is wrong and
there is no such thing as an infallible belief system.
It is the quintessence of evil to say
I am right and everyone who thinks otherwise is wrong
therefore my enemy,
and it is my duty to be against him
and when necessary to kill him
because to kill in the name of God and Country
is not a crime but a sacred duty.
*
I know now that if God exists
He does not take sides.
If He stood by and did nothing
when His only son was crucified,
why should He side with a nonentity like me?
If God did not lift a finger to stop the massacre
of millions of innocent civilians by bloodthirsty barbarians,
can we really say He is always right?
#

You say --- most Armenians are damn fools etc.
I say --- you have not met most, your words here are poorly chosen.
You said --- Armenians are smart etc.
I say --- to have been blessed with a wonderful intellectual capacity is not the same as being smart.
No wonder the honest man got hot. For you to vacillate from "they are smart" to "they are damn fools" ,
going from one extreme to another - no intellect required to do that. It's also the definition that defines a damn fool or idiot.
You say --- if Armenians like to asses themselves as smart etc.
I say --- the people of my family(Genocide survivors & first generation) were humble people. If they assessed themselves as capable they then proved that beyond a shadow of a dought. Their assessment on that account was nothing more than an honest evaluation.
You say --- for most of our collective existence we have allowed etc.
I say --- 1st off 600 years or for that matter the last 3 mellinia is not even 50% of our collective existence --- we are not known as the High from Hay for nothin, or by accident. Ever heard of Kara Hunge(the talking stones) or a guy named Noah. 2nd off -- you say we allowed ourselves to be massacred etc.
I say --- we did not allow ourselves to be massacred. Many brave and fearless men and women went down fighting for all they were worth(their lives). A person cannot give more than that. They gave it ALL.
Your mistaken confusion(inability to differentiate) of HORDES overwhelming us is quite turkish of you.(have you been taking your medication lately.)
Damn have to go

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

You say --- most Armenians are damn fools etc.
I say --- you have not met most, your words here are poorly chosen.
You said --- Armenians are smart etc.
I say --- to have been blessed with a wonderful intellectual capacity is not the same as being smart.
No wonder the honest man got hot. For you to vacillate from "they are smart" to "they are damn fools" ,
going from one extreme to another - no intellect required to do that. It's also the definition that defines a damn fool or idiot.
You say --- if Armenians like to asses themselves as smart etc.
I say --- the people of my family(Genocide survivors & first generation) were humble people. If they assessed themselves as capable they then proved that beyond a shadow of a dought. Their assessment on that account was nothing more than an honest evaluation.
You say --- for most of our collective existence we have allowed etc.
I say --- 1st off 600 years or for that matter the last 3 mellinia is not even 50% of our collective existence --- we are not known as the High from Hay for nothin, or by accident. Ever heard of Kara Hunge(the talking stones) or a guy named Noah. 2nd off -- you say we allowed ourselves to be massacred etc.
I say --- we did not allow ourselves to be massacred. Many brave and fearless men and women went down fighting for all they were worth(their lives). A person cannot give more than that. They gave it ALL.
Your mistaken confusion(inability to differentiate) of HORDES overwhelming us is quite turkish of you.(have you been taking your medication lately.)
Damn have to go

I'm sorry you hate yourself. Projecting that onto your is a disservice to them and disheartening. Our family does not need that. Your words are devisive rather than helpful. We can use all the help we can get(honest, well meaning help). The rest of the world is already trying to divide us, please don't help them.
You say --- not everyone who speaks in the name of GOD etc.
I say --- that is very true. One needs to listen for the "ring of truth". I can tell by some of the things you say that you have trouble distinguishing crap from gold but you could at least try a little harder in that area.
You say --- he who speaks in the name of capital etc.
I say --- I agree 100%.
You say --- it is not unusual for for smart Armenians to say some very dumb things.
I say --- I think we both have worn those shoes.
You say --- you question weather GOD is always right.
I say --- GODS ways are greater than our ways such that the distance between the souls of our feet and the furthest star is as if we are standing upon them. Your are judging what you can't understand. HE is always right(the only one),
Artashes

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

Ara, just posted a pm to you but misstated one thing but could not figure out how to correct error so am so am blasting past inadequate web cute act and restating one part of pm here.
Meant to say I spent two years getting through the 12th grade not through high school.
Art ashes

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

Some things I have been pondering ---
Is it ok to be critical and even sharply critical and use words like " idiot & moron " to a people at large?
Is it mean spirited to be critical and even sharply critical and use words like " idiot & moron " to an individual in particular?
Is there a difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism?
Is there a way to tell the difference between the two?
Is constructive criticism toward an individual or group the same as belittleing an individual or group?
Artashes