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

    Saturday, June 26, 2009
    *****************************************
    INTELLECTUALS AND ACADEMICS
    ************************************************** ****
    An intellectual is someone who dedicates his life to ideas.
    An academic is someone who dedicates his life to his career.
    Once upon a time we had intellectuals but no academics.
    Today we have no intellectuals but over a thousand academics.
    Which may explain why in literature even the Turks are ahead of us.
    *
    Likewise we have many nationalist historians but not a single historian.
    A nationalism historian is one who places the interests of the nation above the interests of mankind. In other words, he makes of history a branch of political propaganda.
    *
    In the following two quotations, a 19th-century German philosopher and a 20th-century British historian reflect on historians.
    Arthur Schopenhauer: “Clio, the muse of history, is as thoroughly infected with lies as a street xxxxx with syphilis.”
    A.J.P. Taylor: “Human blunders, usually, do more to shape history than human wickedness.”
    *
    There is an old saying: “Historia magistra vitae” (The past is our great teacher).
    There is another, even older, saying: “Omnis homo mendax” (All men are liars).
    *
    I have two kinds of hostile readers: those who say they don't understand me, and those who understand me too well. As for the brainwashed: they are like parrots, disposed to understand only other parrots.
    #

    Comment


    • Re: elegy

      Sunday, June 27, 2009
      *****************************************
      BARE-FACED BIG LIES
      ************************************************** ****
      “God's chosen people.”
      “Superior race.”
      “The Cradle of Civilization.”
      Do you know who popularized the idea of Armenia being the cradle of civilization? A hard-up odar alcoholic academic who got himself a fat check from an Armenian foundation and hoped to get another.
      “God's chosen people”?
      Chosen for what, may I ask? To be scattered, insulted, abused, and periodically slaughtered by, among others, the self-assessed “superior race” of Aryans?
      *
      Flattery, especially self-flattery, needs no proof. And if you tell a dumb person he is smart, he will not ask you to prove it.
      “It is written”?
      All that means is that some megalomaniacal idiot confused his illusions with the voice of God. It happens all the time. The inspired loud-mouth charismatic charlatan is a routine occurrence in history and its latest manifestation is the televangelist in the “Land of Liberty,” where one of the bloodiest civil wars in the history of mankind was fought in defense of slavery.
      *
      What I find incomprehensible is not that some readers disagree with what I say but that they don't disagree with the state and direction of our collective existence. They are eager to question the words of a scribbler but not the actions and policies of those who are in charge of our communities and the nation. Figure that one out, if you can.
      #

      Comment


      • Re: elegy

        Originally posted by arabaliozian View Post
        Sunday, June 27, 2009
        *****************************************
        BARE-FACED BIG LIES
        ************************************************** ****
        “God's chosen people.”
        “Superior race.”
        “The Cradle of Civilization.”
        Do you know who popularized the idea of Armenia being the cradle of civilization? A hard-up odar alcoholic academic who got himself a fat check from an Armenian foundation and hoped to get another.
        “God's chosen people”?
        Chosen for what, may I ask? To be scattered, insulted, abused, and periodically slaughtered by, among others, the self-assessed “superior race” of Aryans?
        *
        Flattery, especially self-flattery, needs no proof. And if you tell a dumb person he is smart, he will not ask you to prove it.
        “It is written”?
        All that means is that some megalomaniacal idiot confused his illusions with the voice of God. It happens all the time. The inspired loud-mouth charismatic charlatan is a routine occurrence in history and its latest manifestation is the televangelist in the “Land of Liberty,” where one of the bloodiest civil wars in the history of mankind was fought in defense of slavery.
        *
        What I find incomprehensible is not that some readers disagree with what I say but that they don't disagree with the state and direction of our collective existence. They are eager to question the words of a scribbler but not the actions and policies of those who are in charge of our communities and the nation. Figure that one out, if you can.
        #
        It's like you put into words what I can't because it wouldn't be politically correct if I did, lol.
        "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

        Comment


        • Re: elegy

          Monday, June 29, 2009
          *****************************************
          ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER
          ************************************************** ****
          In their efforts to advance a new thesis, some odar academics – those we like to quote – have made such extravagant claims on our behalf that even some Armenian scholars (among them Sirarpie der Nersessian) have rejected them as unjustified, unverified, and erroneous.
          *
          Our bruised egos are so hungry for flattery that sometimes we take a disguised insult as a compliment. Case in point: “It takes seven xxxs to fool an Armenian.” Translated into ordinary parlance, this simply means: “If you think xxxs are bad, I've got some news for you: Armenians are seven times worse!”
          *
          There is a big difference between being God's children and being the dupes of charlatans who speak in the name of God.
          *
          If history is “an unending dialogue between the present and the past” (E.H. Carr, WHAT IS HISTORY?), what has been our contribution to this dialogue beside victims?
          *
          Everything that I say today stands in direct contradiction to an early conviction which was instilled in me by individuals with a narrow and dogmatic agenda that distorted reality and perverted my judgment.
          *
          We like to brag about our genius for survival. The irony here is that those who did the actual surviving did not brag about it. I know because I grew up surrounded by them.
          *
          The sad truth is, those who do more harm on their fellow men are the least aware of it.
          *
          If there is a god, he must be a thirsty one.
          #

          Comment


          • Re: elegy

            Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
            It's like you put into words what I can't because it wouldn't be politically correct if I did, lol.
            speak your mind, my friend.
            don't be intimidated by politically correct fascists.

            Comment


            • Re: elegy

              Tuesday, June 30, 2009
              *****************************************
              REFLECTIONS
              ************************************************** ****
              Man is at his most creative in his invention of lies.
              *
              The biggest lies are half-truths.
              *
              If you speak against those who speak in the name of God,
              they will accuse you of speaking in the name of the Devil.
              *
              To be brainwashed means not to question the honesty and wisdom of your abusers.
              *
              A nationalist historian writes about his nation and its enemies.
              A historian writes about the past and the conflicting interests of nations.
              *
              Nothing offends me more than being insulted by a fool who has been brainwashed to believe he is smart.
              *
              If you don't have an agenda, everyone with an agenda will be against you.
              *
              Self-esteem is not a reliable index of worth, in the same way that dogmatism is not an index of certainty.
              *
              It is a universally shared human weakness to prefer flattery to criticism, but it is a dangerous addiction to prefer lies to truth.
              *
              To those who accuse me of having a very low opinion of my fellow Armenians, I can only say, nobody really gives a damn what I or anyone else thinks. What matters, what really matters, is whether or not I can tell the difference between fact and fiction.
              #

              Comment


              • Re: elegy

                Wednesday, July 1, 2009
                *****************************************
                ARMENIANS SPEAK WITH A FORKED TONGUE
                ************************************************** ****************
                I don't believe everything I am told.
                Neither do I believe everything I read in the papers,
                especially if it's favorable to someone;
                in which case what I want to know is:
                How much is he being paid for saying these things?
                People lie.
                People lie all the time, not only because they don't know the truth
                or if they know it, it happens to be against them,
                but because they feel more comfortable when they lie.
                *
                We all lie when it comes to our problems,
                and the greatest liar is he who says,
                “We need solutions.”
                Because that's the last thing we want.
                Have you ever met a bishop willing to resign his position
                or vacate his cathedral for the sake of solidarity?
                Have you ever met a national benefactor
                who is willing to utter a single word
                against the worship of money?
                Have you ever met a boss
                who was not a loud-mouth megalomaniacal narcissist
                all sound and fury signifying nothing?
                *
                I doubt if there is a single Armenian today
                who doesn't know what our problems and their solutions are.
                Even a child knows where divisions are the problems,
                solidarity is the solution.
                Where worship of money is the problem,
                respect for ideas is the solution.
                *
                Our greatest intellectual of recent times was no doubt Gostan Zarian,
                whose life and work prove that we have no use for intellectuals and their ideas. What we need is a messianic figure willing to be crucified.
                But even then there is no guarantee that will be the end of our problems. Remember the brief life and career of another messiah who was accused of blasphemy by his own people, and continues to be rejected by them even today, after they have had two thousand years to reconsider their position as God's chosen people.
                #

                Comment


                • Re: elegy

                  Thursday, July 2, 2009
                  *****************************************
                  PLATO, OSHAGAN, AND ZARIAN
                  ************************************************** ****
                  Everything I write is a paraphrase. I am as original as a cook who combines ingredients available in all supermarkets. If the result is edible or if what I say make sense, I am satisfied. I leave originality to my betters.
                  *
                  Plato was a great philosopher, and according to some, the greatest. A 20th-century English philosopher (may have been Whitehead) once said that all of philosophy is nothing but footnotes to Plato. Was Plato an original thinker? We know that most of his DIALOGUES are based on the conversations of his teacher, Socrates. As for Socrates, very probably most of his ideas came from predecessors, who, like himself, never wrote a single line. To say otherwise is to imply that for almost a thousand years Greeks did not think, speak, discuss, and contradict one another.
                  *
                  According to the Oshagans (pere et fils) Zarian was a plagiarist. What was their intention in saying that? To warn the nation not to be taken in by a charlatan or to establish themselves as the alpha males of 20th-century Armenian literature? If Zarian was a charlatan, what about the bosses, bishops, and benefactors whose support they (the Oshagans) enjoyed?
                  *
                  An academic by the name of Stern (I forget his first name) once wrote a detailed study with copious footnotes and a bibliography, in which (unlike the Oshagans) he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything Sartre wrote can be traced to an illustrious predecessor. Result? Who speaks of Stern today?
                  *
                  If you want originality, read the Oshagans (whose works are being translated into English, I am told). But if you want to understand what's happening to us today, read Zarian.
                  #

                  Comment


                  • Re: elegy

                    Elegy


                    I am writing now in preconceptions

                    Those of sex and ropes

                    Many frantic cruelties occur to the flesh of the

                    imagination

                    And the imagination does have flesh to destroy

                    And the flesh has imagination to sever

                    The mouth is just a body filled with imagination

                    Can you imagine its contents

                    The dripping into a bucket

                    And its acts

                    The ellipses and chaining apart

                    The feather

                    The observer

                    The imagination, bare, has nothing to confirm it

                    There's just the singing of the birds

                    The sounds of the natural scream

                    A strange example

                    The imagination wishes to be embraced by freedom

                    It is laid bare in order to be desired

                    But the imagination must keep track of the flesh

                    responding—its increments of awareness—a

                    slow progression

                    It must be beautiful and it can't be free

                    -for John Zorn, after his "Elegy"

                    -- Lyn Hejinian
                    Between childhood, boyhood,
                    adolescence
                    & manhood (maturity) there
                    should be sharp lines drawn w/
                    Tests, deaths, feats, rites
                    stories, songs & judgements

                    - Morrison, Jim. Wilderness, vol. 1, p. 22

                    Comment


                    • Re: elegy

                      Friday, July 3, 2009
                      *****************************************
                      ON ARMENIANS
                      ************************************************** ****
                      There is a brown-noser and a bastard in all of us – the brown-noser is reserved for odars, the bastard for our fellow Armenians. Somewhere between the two there is a human being, but he is well-hidden.
                      *
                      We will think twice before contradicting an odar, but we will contradict, insult, and crap on a fellow Armenian as if it were our patriotic duty.
                      *
                      An Armenian is never as smart as he thinks he is. But that's not his real problem. His real problem is that he is incapable of imagining how unspeakably stupid he can be.
                      *
                      Nikol Aghbalian is right, we are a tribal people; or, in the words of Gostan Zarian, our concept of nation begins and ends with our mountain, our valley, our village, our church, and our chickens.
                      *
                      Dissatisfied with what you have just read? Your refund is in the mail.
                      #

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X