notes and comments

[hrai]

Re: elegy

armenians are survivors, yes,
provided we agree that
their best have perished
and only their worst have survived.

Dear Ara,

I enjoy your thoughts and ramblings very much.....but sometimes your self-reflection becomes self-criticism and then we see hints of self-loathing. Not all the best perished and surely not all the worst survived.
Most people, if not all, however successful in any aspect of their life, can reflect upon their failures and mistakes. We should do this as a habit, to temper our development as a person but to avoid the downward spiral of depression and self-loathing, we should spend time reflecting on our successes and personal victories, no matter how small.

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Monday, August 3, 2009
*****************************************
THE SOUND AND THE FURY
***************************************
“If he writes for Armenians, he must be a loser.”
That's what the average Armenian reader thinks of me, and for once I agree with him. The offspring of a failed nation, I am a loser who writes for losers.
“If you want to succeed, write for odars.”
When it comes to offering unsolicited advice, an Armenian's generosity knows no bounds.
Write for odars! Isn't that what Arlen and Saroyan did?
Zarian didn't (a greater writer than both) and he was ignored, neglected, and died in Yerevan (he believed he was murdered) a lonely, bitter old man. But he was luckier than most of his contemporaries who were betrayed and murdered at a much younger age.
*
We have been at the mercy of losers who have promoted a phony image of ourselves to cover up their own incompetence. If you don't agree with me, that's your business. My business is to be objective, because I believe only when we realize how low we have fallen may we hope to rise again.
*
A few years ago Leo Hamalian (may he rest in peace) published a book titled AS OTHERS SEE US. Around the same time (1979) I too published an anthology titled ARMENIA OBSERVED, travel impressions of Armenia by famous odar writers. Both books were published by Ararat Press in New York with AGBU money. Which means, the contents were carefully selected and edited to promote a positive image of Armenia and Armenians.
More recently, when I published a balanced and objective assessment titled DICTIONARY OF ARMENIAN QUOTATIONS, I received many hostile comments because I had dared to include unflattering opinions by, among others, Raffi, Baronian, Odian, Zohrab, Siamanto, Varoujan, Aghbalian, Shahnour, Zarian, and Massikian.
*
At one time our writers were not afraid to see things as they are to say what they think. The Genocide appears to have changed all that. Objectivity has now been replaced with compassion, compassion with pity, and pity with self-pity. Result? Writers have been replaced with brown-nosers, literature with propaganda, and patriotism with borodakhos and unpardavan verbiage signifying nothing.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

927 libraries and 22 museums.

Pre-war population of Shushi - maybe 17,000. That makes one library for every 18 people - including babies of course, since in such a literate town, even babies could read! If you are going to make controversial points, and don't want to laughed at, try not to include ridiculous quotes like the above.

houses can be museums in the USSR.
And the writer i quote does not speak of public libraries only.
the word public is not there.

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Dear Ara,

I enjoy your thoughts and ramblings very much.....but sometimes your self-reflection becomes self-criticism and then we see hints of self-loathing. Not all the best perished and surely not all the worst survived.
Most people, if not all, however successful in any aspect of their life, can reflect upon their failures and mistakes. We should do this as a habit, to temper our development as a person but to avoid the downward spiral of depression and self-loathing, we should spend time reflecting on our successes and personal victories, no matter how small.

when i speak of the worse, i have our elites, leaders, and intellectuals in mind.
i stand by what i say.
nothing would give me more pleasure than to realize i am wrong and you are right. but i need more than your words for it.

[hrai]

Re: elegy

when i speak of the worse, i have our elites, leaders, and intellectuals in mind.
i stand by what i say.
nothing would give me more pleasure than to realize i am wrong and you are right. but i need more than your words for it.

elites, leaders and intellectuals are rightly where you place them. but they are, by nature, a minority. remember that it's both the xxxx and the cream which rise to the top.

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
*****************************************
MAXIMS & REFLECTIONS
***************************************
For every wise man who says “I know nothing,”
there are a hundred fools who know everything.
*
No one hates his fellow countrymen more than a superpatriot.
*
We assess ourselves in the hope others will agree with us.
*
When a man cannot come to terms with his reality,
he kills himself.
That doesn't mean everyone who is alive today
deserves to live.
*
My friends come in singles,
my enemies in bunches – fools, fanatics,
dupes, dividers, partisans, and in general
anyone who deals in more certainties than doubts.
*
When they praise us,
we don't ask for proof or documentation.
*
When in doubt, make dogmatic assertions.
Dupes are a dime a dozen.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

elites, leaders and intellectuals are rightly where you place them. but they are, by nature, a minority. remember that it's both the xxxx and the cream which rise to the top.

we have been at their mercy.
they have shaped our destiny.
they continue to shape it.
the only thing we the people have contributed are victims.
as a nation we are nothing but a bunch of dupes.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: elegy

houses can be museums in the USSR.
And the writer i quote does not speak of public libraries only.
the word public is not there.

Ahh ... so in Baliozianspeak, every Azeri with a phonebook on his shelf can be said to have a library.

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
*****************************************
ON BARBARISM
***************************************
When primitive men engaged in cannibalism, they behaved like a pride of lions that kills and devours a zebra. We don't call that barbarism. We call it survival of the fittest.
The authentic barbarian was the Nazi during World War II: he was fully aware of what he was doing. He developed the consensus, the organization, the will, and the philosophy (that of Hegel's Master and Slave, for instance, and Nietzsche's Superman).
By contrast, when we burned a million books and slaughtered (according to Baez) a thousand defenseless women and children in Karabagh, out conduct may not have been that of officers and gentlemen but neither was it barbarism. It was closer to that of primitive men and hungry predators in the jungle.
We are not authentic barbarians because we lack the cold-blooded premeditation, the ability to develop a consensus and to organize, and the will to carry out our political agenda.
We are not barbarians.
We are worse than barbarians.
We are slaves of barbarians.
For 600 years the Turks were our masters.
Our boys fought their wars.
Our women satisfied their lust.
Our businessmen took care of their interests.
And our artists provided the entertained.
It is the same today.
Mikoyan, Gulbenkian, Khachaturian, Saroyan, Mamoulian...
They all served alien interests and entertained alien audiences.
By contrast, those who chose to serve our people and our homeland were invariably betrayed and slaughtered.
Barbarians? Hell no! We have a long way to go to qualify. We are only slaves and cowards. We can behave like bloodthirsty savages only towards the defenseless and the weak, namely, ourselves.
Why am I saying these things?
Two reasons:
(one) The truth shall set you free, and
(two) Nobody is paying me to lie.
#

[hrai]

Re: elegy

I'm no turkish slave.