notes and comments

[arabaliozian]

tyrants

ON TYRANTS
*******************************
A prejudiced person is convinced
his prejudice, far from being a liability,
is a valuable asset and a key
that will unlock doors of perception.
*
A tyrant becomes a tyrant
because he hates the prospect
of being subservient to another tyrant.
What’s uppermost in his mind
is not the welfare of the people
but his own survival.
*
The only way to survive
in a dog-eat-dog world
is to be a big bad wolf.
*
Stalin operated on the assumption
that if he didn’t do what he did,
he would be the victim
of another “stalin.”
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: on infallibility

Do I know better?
I am not sure.
But I do know that it makes good sense
to reject everything that flatters my ego.
#

[arabaliozian]

on infallibility

The easiest thing in the world: to make mistakes.
The hardest: to admit them even to oneself.
It took the popes of Rome several centuries
to admit they had made a mistake in persecuting Galileo.
It may take them several more centuries
to admit they are not infallible.
#

[arabaliozian]

on faith

ON FAITH
*********************
Faith may move mountains
but it is also at the very source
of countless crimes against humanity.
*
It is not at all unusual
for a speechifier or sermonizer
to end up believing in his own lies,
especially if these lies
have also been his main source
of income and prestige.
*
If they were successful
in brainwashing Mozart,
they will brainwash anybody!
*
To say “my faith is the only true one,”
is at the source of all intolerance
and countless atrocities.
*
Not only we refused to learn from our blunders,
we also teach our children to brag about them.
*
What you don’t know
may play a much more important role in your life
than what you know.
#

[arabaliozian]

propaganda

THE REST IS PROPAGANDA
************************************
Like every Armenian dead or alive
I too have experienced on my own skin
the inhumanity and contempt that an Armenian has
for another Armenian.
No one can convince me that
we are civilized, intelligent, and compassionate.
It took history a thousand years to shape our identity
and it may take another thousand for us
to be born again as human beings.
What matters, however, is not our destination
but the road on which we choose to travel.
In the meantime it is important that we keep in mind
some facts about ourselves:
We are our own worst enemies.
There is more fiction than fact in our history books.
The higher an Armenian rises
the deeper his contempt for his fellow Armenians.
We are a Christian nation in name only:
unmask an Armenian and expose the Turk
or the atheist for whom democracy and human rights
are alien and degenerate verbiage.
The rest is propaganda.
#

[arabaliozian]

sunday blues

Sunday, January 18, 2015
*****************************************
SUNDAY BLUES
****************************
Have you ever been tempted to think
“If I speak in the name of patriotism,
I can't be wrong!” May I remind you that
Hitler and Stalin spoke in the name of patriotism too.
*
If you think you are on safer ground
if you speak in the name of God,
may I remind you that so do jihadists.
*
If you say I have killed no one,
nor do I advocate war and terror!
I say, you may not
but members of your audience may.
*
If you say, “What’s wrong with speaking
in the name of the majority?”
May I remind you that so did the Greek jury
that condemned Socrates to death.
*
Remember: if your aim is to assert infallibility,
you can’t be right even when you are right.
Asserting infallibility is the same
as issuing a license to kill.
If you don’t believe me,
make a list of atrocities committed
in the name of the Pope and the Prophet.
*
And if you ask, “If we can’t speak
in the name of God and Country, what’s left?”
If I knew the answer to that one
I would not be a minor scribbler
who can’t make ends meet
but a prophet or a televangelist.
*
Final question: “How about speaking
in the name of democracy and human rights?”
May I remind you that Americans do that!
To be a dupe is bad enough;
to be an American dupe: I can’t imagine worst fate,
with the possible exception of being a Russian dupe.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: monkeys

SUCCESS
*************************
One of the most important ingredients of success,
according to Einstein, is knowing
“when to keep your mouth shut.”
Hence my status as a perennial failure.
*
When I first met Mischa Kudian,
our foremost English translator,
he warned me not to get involved
in Armenian literature; and to this day
I don’t know if he was giving me useful advice
or trying to eliminate the competition.
*
As a boy I forced myself to read books
that bored me stiff because I was led to believe
the book was a masterpiece.
Nabokov taught me that a masterpiece
in the eyes of some may be
unreadable trash in the eyes of another.
*
Like all brainwashed Armenians
I was brought up to be
a compulsive and habitual liar,
which means I recycled propaganda
only after convincing myself
I was speak the truth.
*
I write a hundred lines
in the hope at least one of them
will be readable.
*
The world will be a better place
if critics criticize their own people
and less “the enemy” as defined by politicians.
#

[Haykakan]

Re: as i see it

those who enjoy the good life or more or less live comfortably have come to the
strange conclusion that genocide has made us stronger

One Armenian Patriarch from Beirut even compared the genocide experience
with that of metal ore that acquires purity after coming out of the furnace

Religious leaders are experts at saying the stupidest things ever said. It is their specialty.

[lampron]

Re: as i see it

AS I SEE IT
**********************************
It has been said
we can learn more from failure
than from success.
What have we learned from our failures?
I hope you have an answer because I don’t.
*

#

those who enjoy the good life or more or less live comfortably have come to the
strange conclusion that genocide has made us stronger

One Armenian Patriarch from Beirut even compared the genocide experience
with that of metal ore that acquires purity after coming out of the furnace

[arabaliozian]

as i see it

AS I SEE IT
**********************************
It has been said
we can learn more from failure
than from success.
What have we learned from our failures?
I hope you have an answer because I don’t.
*
If I were to reorganized our educational system,
my first step would be to teach our children
the aim of conversation or dialogue is not
the clash of two egos and unsettled scores,
or the assertion of a superior brand of patriotism
but a step in the direction of compromise
and consensus.
*
Political leadership is a gradually acquired skill
like playing a musical instrument,
with one difference: there are no prodigies,
and failure may lead to defeat, massacre,
and subservience to the scum of the earth.
*
If Raffi is to be believed,
our leaders have been less like sheep-dogs
and more like wolves.
#