notes and comments

[arabaliozian]

confession

CONFESSION
*****************************
Two reasons why I am an authentic Armenian:
(1) My most lethal wounds were self-inflicted and
(2) I inflicted them because I thought
I could do no wrong.
*
There you have: our history in a nutshell.
*
TWO QUESTIONS
*****************************
Has anyone ever divided a nation
with the consent of the people?
*
Where would wars and massacres be
without the brainwashed?
*
WARNING
***********************
In the eyes of the 1%
the 99% are white trash.
*
At one point in their history
the French decided
the only good king
was a headless king.
*
SILENCE
***************************
There comes a time in every music-lover’s life
when silence becomes the most desirable sound.
#

[arabaliozian]

comments

NOTES / COMMENTS
*****************************
To say to a writer
“We will support you if you adopt our ideology,”
is to adopt Stalin as a role model.
*
Raymond Chandler:
“I was listening to Khachaturian
working in a tractor factory.
He called it a violin concerto.
I called it a loose fan belt
and the hell with it.”
*
You cannot argue with someone
who is in a position to silence you.
He has much more to lose
than an argument.
He stands to lose his infallibility.
And no one can make an ass of himself
as surely as he who thinks himself
to be infallible.
#

[arabaliozian]

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Chinese Proverb: "Those who seek revenge must remember to dig two graves."

[arabaliozian]

status

STATUS QUO
*******************************
There are two kinds of people:
the swine and those who are dependent on them.
*
Some of the most repellent, sinister,
and dangerous swine in the history of mankind
enjoyed majority support:
Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Mao,
Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Talaat…
*
Democracies are pseudo-democracies.
*
Propaganda flatters, truth repels.
I don’t write to be popular.
I consider the alternative more to my taste.
*
The secret ambition of the 99% is join the 1%
in the same way that the secret ambition of all victims
is to be victimizers.
*
There is nothing new in what I am saying.
The Romans used to say
“Man is wolf to other men.”
In time of war, yes.
In time of peace, they are swine.
#

[arabaliozian]

on popularity

POPULAR IDEAS
********************************
Three ideas that are popular
with children and retarded adults:
(1) Taking one’s own assessment of oneself
seriously;
(2) Thinking nationalist propaganda
was formulated by honest men; and
(3) Our political leadership is morally
and intellectually superior
to that of our enemies.
*
We owe the popularity of belief systems
and ideologies to a small army
of hidden persuaders and hirelings
who operate anonymously
and under cover of darkness.
*
Let’s give the devil his due:
I owe my survival to my mediocrity.
Had a been a better writer,
I would have been buried by men
who are on better terms
with God and capital --
make it Capital and god –
than I am.
#

[arabaliozian]

as i see it

AS I SEE IT
***********************************
Our leadership played a central role
in our history by following a script
written by our enemies
and false friends.
*
If I am predictable
it may be because I write
what you think.
*
Our 1% pretend I don’t exist
and I pretend they don’t read me.
*
They tell me I don’t qualify
as an Armenian writer
because I write in English.
My question: Who in his right mind
would freely choose to be an Armenian writer?
My answer: Only a total ignoramus
who has not read the biography
of a single Armenian writer.
*
Hired assassins would be busier
if they were within the income bracket
of the middle and lower classes.
#

[arabaliozian]

comments

FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
**********************************
One reason why we remain divided is that
we have been taught to believe
the survival of our leadership
is more important than
the survival of the nation.
*
To believe in politicians and theologians
is to trust the judgment of compulsive
and habitual liars.
*
The Turkish political machine
has created as many lies
as its Armenian counterpart.
*
A few months ago one of our bishops
was posthumously exposed as a KGB agent.
I was not surprised.
Man is capable of doing anything
for a second regular salary.
*
When lawyers enter, justice exits.
*
My blunders have been my best teachers,
*
Reality is unpredictable
because it has more legs than a millipede.
#

[arabaliozian]

as i see it

AS I SEE IT
*****************************
Most of my life I was on the wrong path.
Today I am in a better position to hope
that someday I may be in a better position
not to be taken by false prophets and messiahs.
*
Believers are dupes.
That doesn’t mean non-believers are
closer to the truth.
*
We all share the same enemy
and his name is truth.
*
Losers speak more than winners
and their unspoken aim is to cover up
the reality of their status as losers.
*
I don’t take myself as seriously
as my critics do.
#

[arabaliozian]

wolves

Monday, March 23, 2015
***************************************
WOLVES
***********************
Anonymous: “A man is another man’s wolf.”
*
Once when I said Baronian had been betrayed
to the Ottoman police by some of his readers,
an angry reader commented:
“What did he expect
after making cruel fun of them?”
This reader never asked himself:
What if Baronian was right
and those he ridiculed wrong?
*
Another question:
Is the function of literature
to flatter the ego of swine?
*
To paraphrase another popular saying:
“You may take an Armenian
out of the Ottoman Empire but
you cannot take the Ottoman Empire
out of an Armenian.”
*
Sometimes it’s pointed out to me that
I too go too far. Things are bad enough,
why make them look worse?
No one wonders:
What if things are in fact worse?
In what way a “white” massacre
is morally superior to a “red” one?
What if an Armenian is really
a Turk to another Armenian?
What if they didn’t see
the Writing on the Wall
because they were morally blind?
*
What about us today?
Do we have 20/20 vision?
#

[arabaliozian]

manifesto

MANIFESTO
******************************
The function of literature is to understand reality.
The function of criticism is to expose contradictions.
The function of politics is to do what must be done.
The function of a reader is that of a consumer,
and as a consumer his most important priority
is not to be taken in by advertisements and
propaganda. When readers fail
and behave like dupes the result will be
not Bach and Mozart but Elvis and the Beatles;
and I for one cannot imagine a worst nightmare.
#