Announcement

Collapse

Forum Rules (Everyone Must Read!!!)

1] What you CAN NOT post.

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is:
- abusive
- vulgar
- hateful
- harassing
- personal attacks
- obscene

You also may not:
- post images that are too large (max is 500*500px)
- post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or cited properly.
- post in UPPER CASE, which is considered yelling
- post messages which insult the Armenians, Armenian culture, traditions, etc
- post racist or other intentionally insensitive material that insults or attacks another culture (including Turks)

The Ankap thread is excluded from the strict rules because that place is more relaxed and you can vent and engage in light insults and humor. Notice it's not a blank ticket, but just a place to vent. If you go into the Ankap thread, you enter at your own risk of being clowned on.
What you PROBABLY SHOULD NOT post...
Do not post information that you will regret putting out in public. This site comes up on Google, is cached, and all of that, so be aware of that as you post. Do not ask the staff to go through and delete things that you regret making available on the web for all to see because we will not do it. Think before you post!


2] Use descriptive subject lines & research your post. This means use the SEARCH.

This reduces the chances of double-posting and it also makes it easier for people to see what they do/don't want to read. Using the search function will identify existing threads on the topic so we do not have multiple threads on the same topic.

3] Keep the focus.

Each forum has a focus on a certain topic. Questions outside the scope of a certain forum will either be moved to the appropriate forum, closed, or simply be deleted. Please post your topic in the most appropriate forum. Users that keep doing this will be warned, then banned.

4] Behave as you would in a public location.

This forum is no different than a public place. Behave yourself and act like a decent human being (i.e. be respectful). If you're unable to do so, you're not welcome here and will be made to leave.

5] Respect the authority of moderators/admins.

Public discussions of moderator/admin actions are not allowed on the forum. It is also prohibited to protest moderator actions in titles, avatars, and signatures. If you don't like something that a moderator did, PM or email the moderator and try your best to resolve the problem or difference in private.

6] Promotion of sites or products is not permitted.

Advertisements are not allowed in this venue. No blatant advertising or solicitations of or for business is prohibited.
This includes, but not limited to, personal resumes and links to products or
services with which the poster is affiliated, whether or not a fee is charged
for the product or service. Spamming, in which a user posts the same message repeatedly, is also prohibited.

7] We retain the right to remove any posts and/or Members for any reason, without prior notice.


- PLEASE READ -

Members are welcome to read posts and though we encourage your active participation in the forum, it is not required. If you do participate by posting, however, we expect that on the whole you contribute something to the forum. This means that the bulk of your posts should not be in "fun" threads (e.g. Ankap, Keep & Kill, This or That, etc.). Further, while occasionally it is appropriate to simply voice your agreement or approval, not all of your posts should be of this variety: "LOL Member213!" "I agree."
If it is evident that a member is simply posting for the sake of posting, they will be removed.


8] These Rules & Guidelines may be amended at any time. (last update September 17, 2009)

If you believe an individual is repeatedly breaking the rules, please report to admin/moderator.
See more
See less

notes and comments

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Re: elegy

    Thursday, January 24, 2013
    **************************************
    WHY DO I GO ON WRITING?
    ************************************
    That’s a question I ask myself again and again
    and I always come up with an answer
    that may make sense to me
    but no one else.
    *
    I write to settle a score, beginning with myself.
    I feel partly responsible for our leadership.
    I supported it for a number of years.
    I kissed its ass when I should have kicked it.
    *
    Our divisions go so far back in history
    that they have become invulnerable to dissent and criticism.
    It is also true that if a system is rotten
    it will fall if not tomorrow than the day after.
    Isn’t that what happened to monarchy, fascism, and Stalinism?
    *
    The reason our divisions have survived is that
    we have lived on the margins of history;
    and they have not so much survived as they have become,
    in Toynbee’s classification, fossilized.
    They are dead men walking.
    Case in point: by failing to unite the Armenian vote in America,
    our leadership has condemned itself to be a silent scream.
    No American presidential candidate will ever take us seriously
    so long as we divide our vote evenly
    between Republicans and Democrats.
    *
    As for our Turcocentric ghazetajis
    who pretend to be defenders of the Cause:
    so far all they have succeeded in doing
    is drive the Cause to a dead end.
    Their unspoken or real aim is not to get justice
    but to cover up the incompetence
    of the empty suits they work for.
    *
    A final note on Turks:
    they are not all butchers and murderers;
    they have their share of both as surely as
    we have our share of traitors, collaborators,
    and cover-up artists,
    #
    Friday, January 25, 2013
    *****************************************
    PARADOX
    ***********************
    We think with someone else’s thoughts
    and we believe by adopting someone else’s belief system.
    When it comes to the two most important things in life –
    thinking and believing,
    or that which makes us human --
    we are more like apes than men.
    I think therefore I am not.
    *
    Our disagreements and conflicts are not ours
    but someone else’s.
    Neither are our wars.
    Only our victims may be said to be ours.
    *
    Absurdity is not a philosophical abstraction;
    it is embedded in our daily existence.
    *
    Question all certainties.
    Reject all dogmatic assertions.
    And never forget that what you borrow
    is not yours.
    #
    Saturday, January 26, 2013
    ***************************************
    AS I SEE IT
    ***************************
    Our most popular school of criticism
    consists in slinging mud (such as pro-Turkish)
    hoping some of it will stick.
    *
    Identifying blunders in others can be useful
    only if it may help us identify our own.
    *
    Thirst for fame is the surest symptom of mediocrity.
    *
    Only pathological liars with political ambitions
    rewrite history in order to project a positive image.
    *
    A book is called bad or dangerous if it proves
    what you believe to be true is a lie.
    #

    Comment


    • Re: elegy

      Wednesday, January 30, 2013
      *****************************************
      SMART ARMENIANS
      **********************************
      A smart Armenian is first and foremost
      a self-assessed Armenian and in all self-assessments
      propaganda speaks louder than reality.
      *
      Whenever I speak of reality
      I am accused of being pro-Turkish probably because
      for 600 years our reality was not ours but theirs.
      When it came to the most important decisions in life,
      it was they who made them.
      We had no choice but to say “Yes, sir!”
      They dished it out and we took it.
      And when our revolutionaries decided to change that,
      we all know what happened next: reality turned against us.
      *
      How long before we create our own reality?
      My only tentative answer: I may not live long enough to see it.
      *
      I have dealt with many self-assessed smart Armenians
      and they were all idiots.
      So was I for most of my life.
      Everything I say about Armenians is based on self-analysis.
      *
      Gentle reader: If you think what I say does not apply to you
      because you are different, I am more than willing to apologize.
      Every rule has its exceptions.
      I have even heard it said that it is exceptions
      that certify the legitimacy of a rule.
      My hope is that really smart Armenians
      will decide to step forward and get involved
      in our community affairs instead of conducting
      an underground existence.
      *
      Did I say really smart Armenians?
      Strike that. Make it honest Armenians.
      Because it doesn’t take a high IQ to see that
      we are on the wrong path and on our way to the devil.
      *
      A warning: If you are an honest Armenian
      and decide to be pro-active, don’t be surprised
      if accusations of pro-Turkish sympathies are hurled against you
      by moronized self-assessed Armenians.
      #
      Monday, January 28, 2013
      ****************************************
      FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
      **************************************
      Propaganda is as addictive as nicotine, alcohol, and opium.
      *
      The hidden message in all propaganda is,
      what you think is right
      and anyone who dares to disagree with you
      is an enemy agent.
      *
      Now Barabbas was a publisher
      and Cain a fascist.
      *
      Speechifiers and sermonizers end up believing
      in their own speeches and sermons.
      Arguing with them is like trying to enlighten a source of light.
      *
      There are times when I get so depressed
      by my fellow countrymen that
      the thought of death cheers me up.
      *
      Dissent means questioning the integrity of individuals
      who believe in their own infallibility.
      *
      Propaganda sticks to children like crazy glue.
      #
      Tuesday, January 29, 2013
      ************************************
      IRRELEVANCE
      ********************************
      Even in a land of the brave and the free
      there will be cowards and slaves;
      and if not slaves to human masters
      than slaves to ignorance, prejudice, and lies.
      *
      Our men at the top know that
      the best way to avoid international scrutiny
      is by achieving irrelevance,
      and irrelevance is thrust on some
      as greatness is thrust on others.
      *
      Who after all gives a damn about Armenia?
      Not even Armenians.
      Who gives a damn about our 1,500,000?
      Not even Obama.
      Who gives a damn about our ongoing “white genocide”
      (exodus from the Homeland and assimilation in the Diaspora)?
      Not even our superpatriots
      who prefer to speechify about the eternal snows of Mt. Ararat.
      *
      God’s existence is as great a mystery to me
      as the Devil’s?
      #
      Wednesday, January 30, 2013
      *****************************************
      JESUS, MARX, FREUD
      ********************************
      All of Freud may be said to be an expansion
      of the Biblical dictum:
      “The Kingdom of God is within you.”
      Or, the resolution of all your inner conflicts and contradictions
      are in your unconscious.
      *
      When Marx said “I am not a Marxist,”
      he was in a way questioning the legitimacy of all ideologies
      or closed systems of thought.
      *
      Einstein proved that all our fundamental assumptions
      about time and space are wrong;
      nothing is what it seems;
      a great deal of reality may be comprehensible
      but not everything.
      There are things we may never understand and explain.
      *
      What has been the most important contribution
      America has made to the world?
      Double-talk.
      To assert “All men are created equal,”
      and with the full cooperation of the Church
      to legitimize slavery.
      *
      What about Armenian contributions?
      Inbred morons pretending to be smart.
      *
      If the Kingdom of God is within you,
      so is the Empire of the Devil.
      #

      Comment


      • Re: elegy

        Wednesday, January 30, 2013
        *****************************************
        SMART ARMENIANS
        **********************************
        A smart Armenian is first and foremost
        a self-assessed Armenian and in all self-assessments
        propaganda speaks louder than reality.
        *
        Whenever I speak of reality
        I am accused of being pro-Turkish probably because
        for 600 years our reality was not ours but theirs.
        When it came to the most important decisions in life,
        it was they who made them.
        We had no choice but to say “Yes, sir!”
        They dished it out and we took it.
        And when our revolutionaries decided to change that,
        we all know what happened next: reality turned against us.
        *
        How long before we create our own reality?
        My only tentative answer: I may not live long enough to see it.
        *
        I have dealt with many self-assessed smart Armenians
        and they were all idiots.
        So was I for most of my life.
        Everything I say about Armenians is based on self-analysis.
        *
        Gentle reader: If you think what I say does not apply to you
        because you are different, I am more than willing to apologize.
        Every rule has its exceptions.
        I have even heard it said that it is exceptions
        that certify the legitimacy of a rule.
        My hope is that really smart Armenians
        will decide to step forward and get involved
        in our community affairs instead of conducting
        an underground existence.
        *
        Did I say really smart Armenians?
        Strike that. Make it honest Armenians.
        Because it doesn’t take a high IQ to see that
        we are on the wrong path and on our way to the devil.
        *
        A warning: If you are an honest Armenian
        and decide to be pro-active, don’t be surprised
        if accusations of pro-Turkish sympathies are hurled against you
        by moronized self-assessed Armenians.
        #
        Monday, January 28, 2013
        ****************************************
        FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
        **************************************
        Propaganda is as addictive as nicotine, alcohol, and opium.
        *
        The hidden message in all propaganda is,
        what you think is right
        and anyone who dares to disagree with you
        is an enemy agent.
        *
        Now Barabbas was a publisher
        and Cain a fascist.
        *
        Speechifiers and sermonizers end up believing
        in their own speeches and sermons.
        Arguing with them is like trying to enlighten a source of light.
        *
        There are times when I get so depressed
        by my fellow countrymen that
        the thought of death cheers me up.
        *
        Dissent means questioning the integrity of individuals
        who believe in their own infallibility.
        *
        Propaganda sticks to children like crazy glue.
        #
        Tuesday, January 29, 2013
        ************************************
        IRRELEVANCE
        ********************************
        Even in a land of the brave and the free
        there will be cowards and slaves;
        and if not slaves to human masters
        than slaves to ignorance, prejudice, and lies.
        *
        Our men at the top know that
        the best way to avoid international scrutiny
        is by achieving irrelevance,
        and irrelevance is thrust on some
        as greatness is thrust on others.
        *
        Who after all gives a damn about Armenia?
        Not even Armenians.
        Who gives a damn about our 1,500,000?
        Not even Obama.
        Who gives a damn about our ongoing “white genocide”
        (exodus from the Homeland and assimilation in the Diaspora)?
        Not even our superpatriots
        who prefer to speechify about the eternal snows of Mt. Ararat.
        *
        God’s existence is as great a mystery to me
        as the Devil’s?
        #
        Wednesday, January 30, 2013
        *****************************************
        JESUS, MARX, FREUD
        ********************************
        All of Freud may be said to be an expansion
        of the Biblical dictum:
        “The Kingdom of God is within you.”
        Or, the resolution of all your inner conflicts and contradictions
        are in your unconscious.
        *
        When Marx said “I am not a Marxist,”
        he was in a way questioning the legitimacy of all ideologies
        or closed systems of thought.
        *
        Einstein proved that all our fundamental assumptions
        about time and space are wrong;
        nothing is what it seems;
        a great deal of reality may be comprehensible
        but not everything.
        There are things we may never understand and explain.
        *
        What has been the most important contribution
        America has made to the world?
        Double-talk.
        To assert “All men are created equal,”
        and with the full cooperation of the Church
        to legitimize slavery.
        *
        What about Armenian contributions?
        Inbred morons pretending to be smart.
        *
        If the Kingdom of God is within you,
        so is the Empire of the Devil.
        #

        Comment


        • Re: elegy

          Thursday, January 31, 2013
          **********
          …AND SO IT GOES
          **********
          The aim of politics is power.
          The aim of literature is understanding reality.
          When the two meet, literature loses.
          And when literature loses,
          murder, war, and massacre become inevitable.
          *
          Writers are dreamers?
          Yes, but only in so far as they think
          they can survive in a fascist environment.
          *
          The attitude of the average dupe towards literature?
          “He is a writer? An Armenian writer?
          He must be a daydreamer.
          Let’s have some fun with him.”
          *
          Armenians are different from Turks?
          In their treatment of dissent
          they might as well be identical twins.
          *
          Dupes rate the lies of propaganda
          above the truths of literature.
          *
          One reason why our dividers are more popular
          than our dissidents is that
          the IQ of the average Armenian is a negative digit;
          which is why he is constantly reminded he is smart.
          *
          One of my most dedicated readers is a
          Second-Amendment gun nut and racist
          who thinks he fully qualifies as a commissar culture
          and based on that assumption
          he issues daily memoranda
          reminding me that unless I follow instructions
          I will never amount to anything.
          *
          When reason meets prejudice,
          reason is bound to lose.
          So what else is new?
          Mart bidi ch’ellank.
          #
          Friday, February 01, 2013
          **********
          AS I SEE IT
          **********
          Some lies are so transparent that
          they might as well be confessions.
          *
          There are no more deep truths,
          only platitudes in fancy uniforms.
          *
          There are Armenians today who are pro-Assad.
          I have met some of them myself.
          What’s next?– being pro-Talaat?
          *
          To those who demand that I explain my explanations,
          I say: I have already done so in the past
          and I will again in the future.
          *
          Toynbee:“Comprehension sometimes consists
          in just a correct understanding of questions
          that are unanswerable."
          #
          Saturday, February 02, 2013
          **********
          ON OUR 1%
          **********
          Why did Raffi say “we are sheep without a shepherd”?
          Why did Avedik Issahakian call our leaders “brainless”?
          And why did Zarian call them “useless”?
          Were all three wrong or dupes of enemy propaganda?
          *
          Baruir Massikian, a successful lawyer in Egypt
          in addition to being a brilliant writer:
          as he lay dying in hospital he was approached
          by a delegation community leaders
          who suggested he leave his considerable wealth
          (he was a bachelor) to an Armenian educational foundation.
          His reply:“I’d much rather leave it to a Cairo bordello.”
          Was he anti-Armenian or pro-Turkish?– two charges
          that are leveled against anyone
          who dares to refuse being a dupe.
          *
          Why do our academics prefer to write
          about the Middle Ages and the Genocide?
          And why is it that whenever someone tries to expose
          the corruption and incompetence of our 1%
          he is insulted by our superpatriots
          and experts on any given subject?
          *
          Please note that I am only asking questions.
          I am not making dogmatic assertions whose sole intent is
          to divide the community into members of the club
          and alienated degenerates.
          *
          I repeat myself and the 1% does not?
          *
          In the opinion page of my local morning paper
          a pundit begins his commentary with the following words:
          “We live, breathe and exist in an age of apocalyptic uncertainty.”
          If you were to ask one of our pro-establishment propagandists,
          my guess is he would say:
          “We never had it so good
          because we are in the best of hands.”
          #

          Comment


          • Re: elegy

            Sunday, February 03, 2013

            ******************************************

            DEAD END

            *********************

            If I criticize the 1%

            it’s because I am on the side of the 99%.

            If I don’t enjoy the support of the 99%

            it may be because the secret ambition of most of them

            is to join the 1%.

            *

            Freedom of religion also means

            the freedom to brainwash children.

            If we don’t see the harm in that

            it’s because we live in a world

            in which subservience is valued more than freedom,

            intolerance more than tolerance,

            revenge more than justice,

            and ultimately war and massacre

            more than peace and coexistence.

            *

            On the day we learn to think for ourselves

            we may have a better chance to achieve solidarity

            not only with our brothers

            but also with our enemies.

            *

            Always treat today’s enemy

            as if he were tomorrow’s friend.

            *

            If I am different it’s only because I rely

            more on my own thinking than on the thinking of

            empty suits and bearded charlatans

            who make a comfortable living by deceiving

            the defenceless and the ignorant.

            #

            Monday, February 04, 2013

            *****************************************

            SOUND BITES

            ********************************

            If Christianity has legitimized

            intolerance, persecution, torture, war and massacre,

            can we really say “There are good religions?”

            *

            I don’t believe in optimism.

            Hell, I don’t even believe in pessimism.

            In pessimism we construct a narrative that makes sense.

            But evil is incomprehensible.

            So is reality. That’s why every historian

            creates his own version of the past.

            *

            Does it make sense to say what’s theirs is bad

            and what’s ours is good

            when that’s exactly what they say too?

            *

            If you make a list of writers who preferred exile

            to life in their own homeland,

            you may end up with a who’s who is contemporary literature.

            *

            Our reality is so unbearable that my objectivity

            is sometimes confused with self-hatred.

            *

            “When we kill them it’s good;

            when they kills us it’s bad.”

            What’s the difference between this mindset

            and the one expressed by an African tribal chieftain

            quoted by C.G. Jung in his memoirs:

            “When my enemy steals my wives, it’s bad;

            when I steal his it’s good.”

            *

            To those who say “I don’t agree with you.

            Human beings are better than that; so is life.”

            All I can say is: “Enjoy your innocence (or is it ignorance?)

            while you can. It won’t last.”

            *

            How often do I find myself saying:

            “I would have agreed with you thirty years ago.”

            #

            Tuesday, February 05, 2013

            **************************************

            COMMISSARS OF CULTURE

            ***************************************

            Q: Who are they? Could we have a definition?

            A: They are Armenians who know what must be said and done

            but who want someone else to do it for them.

            Q: Why?

            A: The obvious answer is, they don’t know.

            They only pretend to know. They are bluffing.

            Just like their role models in the USSR who trusted Stalin

            more than Solzhenitsyn. Our commissars today trust more

            our bosses, bishops, and benefactors than our writers.

            Q: Why do they?

            A: My guess is they believe literature to be a dead end.

            No money in it. No power. No future.

            Our history is clear on this point:

            To write for Armenians is a waste of time.

            Q: Knowing this you go on writing, why?

            A: A good question, but I have a better one for you:

            Why do Armenians who are brought up to believe

            they are smart, progressive and civilized

            choose to behave like inbred morons

            when it comes to politics and collective action?

            More precisely, why do they support our dividers

            and grave-diggers?

            Q: You must have an answer to that question.

            A: I don’t! Unless of course we say they behave like morons

            because they are in fact morons.

            Q: I wouldn’t describe that as a diplomatic explanation.

            A: Literature is not diplomacy. Neither is it a profitable enterprise

            unless of course you decide to write

            about the Middle Ages and the massacres.

            But that’s a subject for another conversation.

            #

            Wednesday, February 06, 2013

            *******************************************

            ON BEING AN ARMENIAN WRITER

            ********************************************

            Q: What are some of the positives and negatives

            in being an Armenian writer?

            A: Positives? None! Negatives? To begin with

            you work for nothing;

            you are treated like an unemployed and unemployable misfit,

            a mental masturbator;

            morons take it upon themselves to tell you

            what to write and how to write it;

            and worst of all, you are dependent on the charity of swine.

            A: Aren’t you afraid that by using angry words

            you may run the risk of undermining your own objectivity?

            A: I am more than willing to take that chance.

            Those who are against me will be against me

            even if I were to speak like an angel.

            And I have every reason to suspect

            if so far Armenian writers have been ignored

            it’s because they were afraid to go down into the gutter

            where our self-appointed “betters” and their dupes live.

            Some day if these gentlemen are unmasked,

            they will be exposed as bottom-of-the-barrel

            egomaniacal sociopaths and bullies

            who operate on the assumption that

            they know better and our only option is to say “Yes sir!”

            Q: "The Sultan is dead, long live the Sultan?"

            A: That’s true for Ottomanized Armenians.

            For Sovietized Armenians it’s “Stalin is dead,

            long live our commissars!”

            Q: Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel?

            A: For me, no! For those who may follow me, maybe.

            You never know…anything is possible.

            And they say I am a pessimist.

            What the hell do they know?

            #

            Comment


            • Re: elegy

              Thursday, February 07, 2013
              ***************************************
              NAMING NAMES
              *****************************
              Q: You never name names. Why?
              A: In our environment naming names doesn’t work.
              Q: What do you mean it doesn’t work?
              A: Last time someone named names he was taken to court,
              his sources evaporated, he was found guilty, he suffered a stroke,
              and shortly thereafter he died.
              Q: His sources evaporated, how?
              A: They refused to testify in court.
              Q: Why?
              A: Obviously they didn’t want to lose their only source
              of financial support.
              Q: I see.
              A: That’s the way it has always been in our environment:
              those in power and the establishment in general
              have been invulnerable. This was true
              even in the Ottoman Empire and the Soviet Union.
              Even on the eve of the Genocide there were
              Armenians – and I don’t mean dupes --
              who worked for the Ottoman and Soviet administrations,
              which means they supported the Sultan and the Young Turks.
              Krikor Zohrab, an eminent lawyer, diplomat,
              and intellectual leader was one of them –
              he was a close friend and supporter of Talaat
              who had him murdered in cold blood.
              I am myself personally acquainted with writers
              who make a comfortable living as secretaries of bishops.
              Do you think they will even consider testifying
              against their only source of income
              and start looking for another job?
              Who would hire them?
              Armenian writers are not exactly in great demand
              in today’s marketplace. But all that is theory.
              In reality it has never happened.
              We don’t have a system or cultural environment
              that supports individuals who place truth or principle
              above self-interest. And we have always had
              ruthless manipulators willing to take advantage of this situation.
              #
              Friday, February 08, 2013
              ***************************************
              ON READING
              **************************
              Q: What are some of the books you have reread more than twice?
              A: Lesley Blanch’s SABRES OF PARADISE,
              Toynbee’s RECONSIDERATIONS (volume xii of his STUDY OF HISTORY),
              and Sartre’s WORDS.
              Q: A strange trio.
              A: I forgot Nabokov’s LOLITA, and of course Zarian
              whom I have translated into English,
              and to translate a book is equivalent to rereading
              it ten times if not more. There may be others
              but these are the ones that come readily to mind at the moment.
              Q: What is it about Zarian that fascinates you?
              A: His daring and uncanny ability to say
              what you almost think…and his unique grasp of reality.
              Q: What about books that have changed your worldview?
              A: Dostoevsky’s IDIOT, Turgenev’s FATHERS AND SONS,
              and Suzuki’s INTRODUCTION TO ZEN BUDDHISM,
              all of which I read as a teenager --
              and Plato’s DIALOGUES. Also Shaw’s plays,
              or rather their prefaces which are longer than the plays themselves.
              And Thomas Mann’s MAGIC MOUNTAIN.
              Q: Do you have a favorite genre?
              A: All of them – fiction, essays, biographies, memoirs, diaries,
              conversations, crime novels, encyclopedias…
              everything but poetry. I don’t remember to have ever read
              a collection of verse from beginning to end.
              Isolated poems now and then, here and there,
              but Milton, Dante, and T.S. Eliot, no!
              As for Pushkin: I might as well be deaf, dumb, and blind.
              I have always suspected that in poetry
              manner is more important than substance.
              Q: Do you think Armenians read enough?
              A: Somewhere Zarian says that what Armenians preferred to read
              at the turn of the century in Istanbul were best-sellers
              like Zevaco and Eugene Sue – whom no one reads these days.
              I know Armenians who love books for purely cosmetic reasons,
              to make an impression on visitors.
              I am beginning to suspect an Armenians’ greatest enemy
              is neither the Turk nor his fellow Armenian
              but the written word.
              #
              Saturday, February 09, 2013
              **************************************
              FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE
              **********************************
              Gandhi once said you can evaluate a civilization
              by the manner in which it treats its animals –
              and, I would add, its writers.
              If you make a list of our writers
              you will be astonished to discover
              an astonishing number of them
              were either silenced, ignored and exiled or
              betrayed to the authorities,
              murdered and committed suicide.
              *
              Armenia has been called “the cradle of civilization”
              by an Irish academic who enjoyed the financial support
              of the Gulbenkian Foundation,
              the wealthiest foundation in the world, it has been said.
              But it would be even more accurate to call it its grave.
              *
              And speaking of Gulbenkian:
              Why did he leave only 7% of his wealth to Armenians?
              Did he know something we don’t know?
              Did he guess that if he were to leave
              all his wealth to Armenians,
              93% of it would end up in the wrong pockets?
              I am not casting aspersions,
              just asking question and searching for answers.
              #

              Comment


              • Re: elegy

                Sunday, February 10, 2013
                ******************************************
                HOLY BOOKS
                **********************
                We all have our own.
                To some it’s the Bible,
                To others the Koran,
                to still others the UPANISHAD.
                In my twenties my holy book was
                Thomas Mann’s THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN
                in which there are endless arguments
                about all the important issues in life.
                The two fictional characters who engage in these arguments
                are Naphta (authoritarian, mystical, fascist)
                and Settembrini (a liberal humanist).
                The arguments are so convincingly done that
                at the end you cannot tell who is right and who wrong.
                *
                In my thirties my other holy book was
                Toynbee’s RECONSIDERATIONS
                (volume xii of his STUDY OF HISTORY)
                in which ideas about the past, that is to say life,
                are carefully analyzed and discussed at considerable length.
                *
                It is to be noted that Mann’s character of Naphta
                is based on the famous communist critic and philosopher Lukacz
                with whom he was personally acquainted
                (Lukacz was later to write a book on Mann);
                and in RECONSIDERATIONS Toynbee quotes
                many of his critics except Hugh Trevor-Roper
                whose attack on him was so ruthless and rude
                that its intent was not to question Toynbee’s ideas
                but to destroy him personally.
                *
                Also to be noted, both Mann and Toynbee
                were great readers of the Bible.
                Mann even wrote his longest book,
                the tetralogy JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS,
                based on an episode in GENESIS.
                *
                When told the Bible was written by the Holy Ghost,
                Shaw is said to have replied,
                “All books are written by the Holy Ghost.”
                What about LOLITA, one is tempted to ask.
                LOLITA too, Shaw would have replied
                (the book was published after his death)
                because THE SONG OF SONGS in the Old Testament
                fully qualifies as an erotic rhapsody in which,
                Hebrew scholars tell us,
                there is even talk of oral sex – obviously lost in translation.
                #
                Monday, February 11, 2013
                *************************************
                SOUND BITES
                ***************************
                *
                COMMON KNOWLEDGE
                *********************************
                “The small state, racked by internal dissension,
                invites the foreign conqueror.”
                This is a line that occurs in a short story by Mary McCarthy.
                I quote it to point out the fact that far from being
                the best and the brightest, we are a cliché known by all except us.
                That’s how cunningly and thoroughly we have been brainwashed.
                *
                SUICIDE
                ****************
                Instead of blabbering endlessly about murder,
                we should speak of suicide by a thousand self-inflicted cuts.
                *
                THE ENEMY
                ***********************
                He who is his own worst enemy
                does not need an enemy.
                *
                THE WAY OF THE COMMISSAR
                ****************************************
                You don’t like what he says?
                Shoot him.
                You can't shoot him?
                Silence him.
                You can’t silence him?
                Call him “son of a Turkish xxxxx.”
                *
                TRANSLATION
                ***********************
                “A government by the people for the people.”
                Translation:
                “A government by the mafia for the mafia.”
                *
                WORDS
                ********************
                Instead of analyzing my words
                teach yourself to analyze your actions.
                Unawareness, according to Freud and Jung,
                is the source of all evil
                *
                PROPAGANDA
                **************************
                The real aim of propaganda is not to misrepresent lies as truths
                but to moronize the people,
                and the most effective way to moronize the people
                is to call them seven times smarter than Greeks and xxxs.
                #
                Tuesday, February 12, 2013
                ***************************************
                CONTROL FREAKS
                ****************************
                The Pope telling Galileo what to think
                and imams telling women how to dress
                spring from the same source:
                ignorance, arrogance, and greed for power.
                *
                Unmask religion and expose the primitive in man.
                *
                If you cannot deal with reality,
                invent your own fiction.
                *
                A man of faith believes his faith to be infallible
                and with God on his side he can do no wrong.
                This fallacy has claimed more innocent lives than any other.
                *
                There are as many paths to God or Truth
                as there are human beings.
                To say otherwise is to legitimize intolerance
                and ultimately war and massacre.
                This is not theory but reality,
                that is to say, history.
                *
                The same applies to patriotism.
                There are as many variants of patriotism
                as there are patriots.
                To say, suggest, or imply that your kind of patriotism
                is better than mine or anyone else’s is to justify
                all kinds of aberrations, including crimes against humanity.
                *
                To say my faith, my God, my Truth and no other
                is to be on a path that leads not to God but to the Devil.
                #
                Wednesday, February 13, 2013
                *******************************************
                NOTES & COMMENTS
                *********************************
                The phoniest Armenians are those
                who never miss an opportunity
                to assert their superior brand of patriotism.
                *
                As children we are taught big lies
                and forbidden to speak little ones.
                *
                Because I expose contradictions
                I am told I hate myself.
                *
                The biggest lies are fractions of the truth.
                *
                In a trial by jury,
                the function of the jury is not to separate
                the guilty from the innocent
                but to decide which side
                has the more competent lawyer.
                *
                Nationalist historians are not liars;
                they only emphasize the positive
                and cover up the negative.
                I know how that’s done because I have done it myself.
                See my ARMENIANS: THEIR HISTORY & CULTURE.
                #

                Comment


                • Re: elegy

                  Thursday, February 14, 2013
                  ***************************************
                  WHO LOVES ARMENIANS?
                  ****************************************
                  In his youth Zarian loved Armenians
                  because he saw himself as a messianic figure
                  and his fellow Armenians as a crucified nation.
                  In his old age he saw himself as a victim
                  of intolerance and envy,
                  and he died with the conviction that
                  he had been murdered.
                  *
                  Saroyan loved the whole world including Armenians
                  but he couldn’t stand his own family
                  including his half-Armenian son and daughter.
                  *
                  Michael (GREEN HAT) Arlen loved his fellow Armenians too
                  but he warned his half-Armenian son to stay away from them.
                  The son followed his father’s advice
                  with only one interruption
                  that lasted long enough for him to write
                  PASSAGE TO ARARAT that became a best-seller.
                  *
                  Because I hate myself, some of my critics tell me,
                  I am in no position to love or understand my fellow Armenians,
                  and armed with that conviction
                  they feel justified in calling me “son of a Turkish xxxxx,”
                  among other abusive terms.
                  *
                  I have noticed that Armenians who speak endlessly of love
                  are the least lovable specimens
                  and though I have tried very hard to love them
                  I have failed.
                  But that’s my fault rather than theirs.
                  #
                  Saturday, February 16, 2013
                  *****************************************
                  LIES, BIG LIES, AND
                  CONTRADICTIONS
                  ************************************************** ***
                  In politics don’t judge the man,
                  judge the men behind the man.
                  *
                  The same Leonardo who said war is
                  “pazzia bestialissima” (the most beastly madness)
                  also designed war machines.
                  *
                  Even Jesus failed to unmask Judas
                  until it was too late.
                  *
                  If Zohrab was Talaat’s dupe,
                  who among us will dare to say
                  he is nobody’s dupe?
                  *
                  One reason I keep coming back to dupes is that
                  I have been one most of my life…
                  with no end in sight.
                  *
                  If I were to make a list of Big Lies we believed in,
                  I would begin with
                  “The Turks would not dare to massacre us,” and end with
                  “Russians are our Big Brothers.”
                  *
                  To preach love and legitimize hatred is a contradiction,
                  and yet most religious leaders appear to be unaware of this fact.
                  *
                  Love of God (religion) and love of homeland (patriotism)
                  have justified more crimes against humanity
                  than hatred of the Devil.
                  #
                  Saturday, February 16, 2013
                  ******************************************
                  WHO LOVES ARMENIANS? (II)
                  **************************************
                  There are systems of ignorance as surely
                  as there are systems of knowledge
                  and we choose both by the degree of flattery they contain.
                  *
                  Christians believe they are worthy of the Crucifixion,
                  xxxs believe they are the Chosen,
                  and Muslim believe non-Muslims to be “infidel dogs.”
                  *
                  What about Armenians?
                  To begin with we don’t much care
                  about Turks, Kurds, Azeris, Georgians,
                  “onion-head” Russians, and the so-called “civilized West”
                  which fought its lousy World War I
                  instead of coming to our aid.
                  Neither are we fond of Protestants and Catholics
                  even when they happen to be fellow Armenians.
                  Native-born Armenians look down at Diasporans (“aghber”) --
                  I have myself been called “a piece of xxxx” by a fellow Armenian
                  born and raised in the shadow of Mt. Ararat.
                  *
                  Who loves Armenians?
                  Not even Armenians.
                  As the popular refrain has it:
                  “Mart bidi ch’ellank!”
                  Literally: “We will never acquire the status of human beings.”
                  #

                  Comment


                  • Re: elegy

                    Sunday, February 17, 2013
                    *****************************************
                    US/THEM
                    ****************************
                    As a child I was told many things
                    that as an adult I rejected.
                    As a Catholic I was brought up to believe
                    the only reason Martin Luther had divided the Church
                    was to fornicate with a nun.
                    *
                    More often than not the hidden aim
                    of all categories, differences, and labels
                    is to assert some kind of phony superiority.
                    *
                    Shaw once said that the reason why
                    he was successful in creating believable female characters
                    is that he did not think of women as different from men.
                    When the French say “Vive la difference!”
                    I have every reason to suspect
                    they have in mind only anatomical differences.
                    *
                    An old lady from Kharpert once told me
                    they viewed women from Izmir (Smyrna) as xxxxs
                    because they (Izmirtsis) used make-up;
                    and a woman from Izmir once told me
                    they view Kharpertsis as Kurds.
                    For every label there will be a counter-label.
                    *
                    Native-born Armenians versus Diasporans
                    (or aghber = white trash).
                    As a non-native Armenian I suspect native-born Armenians
                    to be former Bolsheviks, even Stalinists.
                    *
                    We are all brought up to look down on our fellow men
                    for reasons that on closer inspection reveal themselves to be
                    based on ignorance, prejudice, fear, and fallacies.
                    I feel therefore justified to formulate
                    the following categories of my own:
                    human beings who view their fellow men and women as equals
                    and dupes who suffer from a psychological aberration
                    known as infantilism which consists
                    in clinging to illusions, lies, and prejudices instilled in them
                    when they could not yet think for themselves and
                    whose hidden aim is to make them feel superior or privileged.
                    #
                    Monday, February 18, 2013
                    *******************************************
                    FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
                    *******************************
                    Why is it that people who view abortion as murder
                    don’t see war as murder?
                    *
                    The Enlightenment did not put an end to the Dark Ages;
                    neither did Christianity expose false gods.
                    *
                    Whenever a reader calls me pro-Turkish
                    I know he has run out of arguments.
                    If memory serves, it was Goebbels who said:
                    “Making noise is an effective means of opposition.”
                    *
                    As a pessimist I hate to be right.
                    *
                    Because I make Armenianism
                    (its cheap, loathsome variant) look hateful,
                    I am accused of hating myself.
                    *
                    Be a dupe, join a group.
                    *
                    The contempt of idiots and fanatics
                    is as valuable an asset as the affection of good men.
                    *
                    When Jesus said “The Kingdom of God is within you,”
                    the rabbis thought, there goes my bread and butter.
                    *
                    Among us success is harder to survive than failure.
                    *
                    In real life all stories have an unhappy ending
                    if only because at the end everyone dies.
                    #
                    Tuesday, February 19, 2013
                    *****************************************
                    ON PATRIOTISM
                    *************************************
                    The most patriotic Armenian is neither
                    the devout church-goer nor
                    the dedicated partisan
                    but an honest man.
                    *
                    If you can’t think of me as a critic
                    (someone who exposes contradictions)
                    think of me as the devil’s advocate.
                    As far as I know no one has ever identified
                    a devil’s advocate with the devil.
                    *
                    Where there is money there will be prostitution
                    in one form or another;
                    and where there is patriotism, there will be treason,
                    and more often than not it will the real traitors
                    who will accuse the real patriots of treason.
                    *
                    Armenians who criticize no one and nothing
                    (except perhaps Turks and Kurds)
                    will criticize critics and their favorite mode of criticism
                    will be slinging mud in the hope that some of it may stick.
                    *
                    Our critics – and we have had our share of them –
                    have made no difference in our collective existence
                    probably because our idiots outnumber the rest 99 to 1.
                    I may be wrong in this.
                    The correct ratio may well be 98 to 2.
                    #
                    Wednesday, February 20, 2013
                    ******************************************
                    WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING
                    **************************************
                    “In their place I would have done a better job.”
                    That’s not what I have been saying.
                    What I have been saying is
                    having committed blunders
                    I would not spend the rest of my life
                    trying to cover them up
                    in an effort to project a positive image.
                    Neither would I declare myself to have been
                    a proud member of the Communist Party
                    (as Sylva Kaputikian is said to have done).
                    or any other party, for that matter.
                    Or having divided the community
                    I would not portray myself as a statesman of vision
                    whose number one concern is the welfare of the nation.
                    Neither would I judge a regime or a power structure
                    by the number of privileges and powers it bestows on me
                    and to hell with everyone else.
                    As for brainwashing children into believing
                    we never had it so good because we are in the best of hands:
                    I would consider that adding insult to injury
                    and raising another generation of brainwashed idiots.
                    Now then, go ahead and accuse me
                    of making too many demands on our “betters”
                    who may not be perfect but are doing their best
                    under difficult conditions:
                    and if you believe that you will believe anything!
                    #

                    Comment


                    • comments

                      Monday, March 25, 2013

                      *************************************

                      NOTES & COMMENTS

                      *******************************

                      If both sides believe Truth to be on their side

                      it must be a Big Lie.

                      If both sides believe God to be on their side,

                      it must be the Devil.

                      In a historic context Homo sapiens may be defined as

                      a being who cannot tell the difference

                      between God and the Devil.

                      *

                      Q: Is it true that you are more critical of Armenians

                      than of Turks?

                      A: As an Armenian I criticize Armenians.

                      I leave to Turkish critics the task of criticizing their own.

                      *

                      When tyrants silence writers,

                      they invariably target the best.

                      *

                      The reason I am a pessimist or see the dark side of things

                      is that I refuse to be moronized by the 1%.

                      *

                      In murder it may be “cherchez la femme.”

                      But in war and crimes against humanity

                      it’s cherchez moral and intellectual hoodlums

                      parading as statesmen.

                      *

                      The 99% don’t make history;

                      they only suffer it.

                      #

                      *****************************************

                      NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS

                      OR GENOCIDE BY OTHER MEANS

                      **************************************************

                      Learning also means unlearning

                      what you were taught as a child.

                      Loving your people also means hating their enemies.

                      The average dupe loves to brag about the lies

                      he has been taught as a child

                      and to ignore the evidence to the contrary.

                      *

                      We in Canada are brought up to brag about

                      our multiculturalism and to forget that

                      there was multiculturalism in the Ottoman Empire too;

                      so much so that after 600 years of “brutal oppression”

                      we produced literary giants like

                      Baronian, Odian, Zabel Yessayan, and Zohrab.

                      *

                      Now then, name a single Canadian-born Armenian

                      who is capable of writing a single decent line

                      in his mother tongue.

                      *

                      I have heard smart Canadians define multiculturalism

                      as “let them dance.” Obviously because

                      they can read between the lines of their state propaganda

                      better than outsiders like us.

                      *

                      In the obituary of the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe,

                      I read the following this morning:

                      “He spent much of his adult life in the United States

                      but resisted literary honors from a government

                      he refused to accept.”

                      In other words, he refused to be taken in

                      by a policy of genocide by other means.

                      *

                      If you want to read more about the many ways

                      the 1% has of misleading, deceiving, confusing, bamboozling, flimflamming, exploiting, and hoodwinking the 99%

                      read MYTHOLOGIES by Roland Barthes.

                      #

                      IDIOTS

                      ***********************

                      Armenians who say there are divisions everywhere

                      are simply parroting the words of an idiot

                      whose sole aim is to explain and justify

                      his own powers and privileges.

                      *

                      There are divisions even in the most advanced democracies?

                      It is equally true that, unlike us,

                      advanced democracies have a centralized power structure

                      because they have been successful

                      in overcoming their tribalism,

                      namely the misconception that

                      my political party, my church, my backyard

                      and my chickens matter more than all others.

                      *

                      There are divisions everywhere?

                      There are also rapists and murderers everywhere.

                      Should we therefore accept them

                      as inevitable facts of life

                      and adopt a live and let live stance

                      in the name of compassion, tolerance and patriotism?

                      *

                      There are divisions everywhere?

                      There are also crooks and idiots everywhere.

                      Does that mean we should allow them

                      to be in charge of our collective destiny?

                      #

                      Wednesday, March 27, 2013

                      ***************************************

                      MEMOS TO MYSELF

                      **********************************

                      Political leaders prefer dupes to dissidents.

                      *

                      The plea of not guilty may be available to dupes

                      but not to their deceivers.

                      *

                      Power corrupts, weakness castrates.

                      *

                      On the art of writing: the less art the better.

                      *

                      To write too much is not a sin;

                      to discard too little is.

                      #

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X