notes and comments

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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CONFESSION
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We have spent millions on Genocide recognition,
but not a single penny on Genocide prevention.
And when I speak of genocide
I speak not only of what happened in the Ottoman Empire
nearly a hundred years ago,
(and thus belongs to the irrevocable
and irreversible past)
but also of what is happening today even as I write
(that is, alienation and assimilation in the Diaspora
and exodus from the Homeland).
When it comes to the “red” Genocide,
not only we pin the responsibility on the Turks,
we also paint them all black
(Asiatic barbarians, bloodthirsty savages, jungle predators),
and ourselves all white.
But when it comes to our own “spitak chart” (white slaughter)
we plead not guilty
by reason of historic, political, social, and cultural conditions
beyond our control.
I submit that to be a big lie!
I could make a long list of indictments
that may suggest otherwise, among them,
useless internecine conflicts, divisions, incompetence,
corruption, dogmatism, intolerance, double talk,
waste of valuable resources, mismanagement,
misrepresentation, contempt for free speech,
violations of human rights,
the need for a free press,
absence of vision
(remember, “where there is no vision, the people perish”),
and charlatanism.
Conditions beyond our control?
Not guilty?
Not responsible?
Bare-faced lies and worse.
Much worse!
Lies told by idiots and believed by dupes with negative IQs.
But this is not so much an indictment as a confession.
Until very recently I too spoke like an idiot
and believed everything I was told by my “betters,”
whom I now believe to be our worst!
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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DIARY
(Parental guidance is advised)
********************************************
A quiet day. On the Internet, only three hostile comments which make me think of Koestler's remark – “Nothing can be as sad as the loss of an illusion.” To grow up might as well be synonymous with to lose illusions. What is life if not a cemetery of buried illusions? If the first act of a play is about an illusion, the final act is bound to be tragic.
How to explain the fact that even after a century, Armenians continue to cling to the illusion that they are as white as snow and it is the rest of the world that is rotten? My only explanation: what J.S. Bach is to music, what Paganini was to the violin, what Casanova was to women, what Casals was to the cello, what Bobby Fisher was to chess, and what Tiger Woods is to golf, we are to the blame-game.
*
Reading a big biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I still cannot connect his life to his work. Where did ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE come from? A paragraph from Balzac married to a plot by Faulkner written with a touch of Kafka?
Also reading Richard Price's LUSH LIFE. His fast-moving dialogue fascinates me even when there are times when I cannot follow its logical progression and slang.
*
Helene Mercier: “Music opens before us a realm in which it is emotions that give meaning to life.”
*
A headline in my morning paper: “Turkey, Armenia to set up diplomatic ties.” Let others see progress here. I see nothing but the prescription of a placebo to a patient suffering from terminal cancer.
#

[KanadaHye]

Re: elegy

How to explain the fact that even after a century, Armenians continue to cling to the illusion that they are as white as snow and it is the rest of the world that is rotten?

I would like to hear your explanation

My only explanation: what J.S. Bach is to music, what Paganini was to the violin, what Casanova was to women, what Casals was to the cello, what Bobby Fisher was to chess, and what Tiger Woods is to golf, we are to the blame-game.

It only takes one rotten apple to spoil the rest. We have our share of rotten apples.

A headline in my morning paper: “Turkey, Armenia to set up diplomatic ties.” Let others see progress here. I see nothing but the prescription of a placebo to a patient suffering from terminal cancer.

Armenia wants land, Turkey is going to allow Armenians to visit their land. It's like the wealthy relative inviting you to their mansion just to show off and then kicking you out at the end of the day.

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Thursday, September 3, 2009
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AUTOCRACY VERSUS DEMOCRACY
(Parental guidance is advised)
********************************************
If nothing else, our Ottoman and Soviet experiences should have taught us the dangers of autocratic rule and the values of free speech, an independent press, and respect for human rights. Instead it seems to have done the exact opposite. In other words, it has reinforced and legitimized our Ottomanism and Sovietism.
*
It is not the function of a writer to serve the interests of a political leader and his supporters. Neither is it his responsibility to encourage or exploit the animal instinct of the unthinking or traumatized masses. Rather, his role is to share what he has learned not only from life but also from the experiences and ideas of the best intellects in world literature.
Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that he decides to give up his freedom and support the leadership. The question that must be raised at this point is: Which leader? When was the last time our leaders agreed on anything? If he supports one side against the other, he will be labeled an enemy by the opposition. And if the opposition assumes power, he may end up as an exile at best, and at worst, arrested, tried, and in the absence of an independent judiciary, found guilty.
*
Don't call me a writer or even a scribbler. Call me – if you insist on calling me anything – a face in the crowd who has been doing his utmost to be an honest witness. Prone to error? Certainly! But honest. (Such a pity that we don't have a word for honesty in Armenian.)
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Friday, September 4, 2009
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IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME
(Parental guidance is advised)
********************************************
When Comrade Panchoonie dies it is not Odian who pens the obituary but a faithful member of the Party. And when Jack S. Avanakian, Panchoonie's Armenian-American counterpart, dies the eulogy is delivered by who else but a fellow avanak. And when one avanak eulogizes another, every other sentence will contain such expressions as “a dedicated patriot,” “a role model to our youth,” “a man of vision,” “a Renaissance man,” “a source of inspiration to all of us,” “a man of contemplation as well as action,” “under his leadership our community life experienced a golden age,” and “we shall not see his like again!”
If only that were true!
Odian couldn't have been more wrong. Had he known the truth, he would have written a lamentation rather than a satirical novel, a tragedy rather than a farce.
Did you know that all of Odian's works were published in the Homeland during the Soviet era, except COMRADE PANCHOONIE? That to me is as clear an admission of guilt as a signed confession that says “We are all Panchoonies.”
Who would have thought a hundred years ago that our Panchoonies and Jack S. Avanakians would conspire and successfully exterminate our Odians on the grounds that they (our avanaks) are builders and our Odians are destroyers?
Sartre is right. Literature saves nothing and no one. We are all condemned to be at the mercy of meddlers who are at it 24/7 speechifying, proselytizing, brainwashing, organizing, fund-raising, starving and silencing. They may speechify about life but their real business is death.
#

[arabaliozian]

ponzi

Saturday, September 5, 2009
***********************************************
PONZI SCHEMES
(Parental guidance is advised)
********************************************
Because they cannot convince the opposition,
they brainwash children.
*
Some of the worst liars I have met
were honest men who believed they were speaking the truth.
*
I believe in doubt,
therefore I am not easily taken in
by popes, presidents, kings
and their assorted hirelings and flunkies,
especially when they contradict one another
in defense of what's mine is mine.
*
What's mine is mine
is a bad argument because sooner or later
it morphs into what's yours is mine too.
*
To speak louder,
to have more money,
or to carry a bigger stick
are not arguments that prove anything.
And yet mankind has always been at the mercy
of philistines, frauds, and bullies
who use them as self-evident and irrefutable truths
and they are believed.
*
Millions have killed and died for a belief system
that has as much merit as
the shadow of a non-existent black hat in a dark room.
*
A belief system is a Ponzi scheme.
#

[Crimson Glow]

Re: elegy

I would like to hear your explanation

You'll be waiting to hear it indefinitely. You see, Mr. Baliozian is basically a spammer. Like a bot, he spams this site with this thoughts, views and opinions, and never responds to anyone to further explain, or defend those thoughts, views and opinions. I have said on several occasions that Ara should be banned for this, as spamming/bots are against the rules. This is not your personal website, Ara. Want to post your thoughts without having to reply to anyone's inquires and retorts? GET A BLOG!

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Sunday, September 6, 2009
***********************************************
A VIPERS' NEST
(Parental guidance is advised)
********************************************
We now have a new definition of patriotism: “To make the Homeland a better place to visit.” To that end, we spend millions building new villages, highways, churches, museums, hotels, and schools on the assumption that new schools will bring forth new Armenians, and better classrooms will generate greater intellects.
*
I am myself a product of an Armenian education, that is to say, an authoritarian educational system in which the emphasis was respect for and obedience to authority. I don't remember a single mention of human rights, the right to dissent, and the value of free speech.
*
When during the Soviet era a politician from Ottawa visited one of our schools and discovered that some of the textbooks used there were of Soviet provenance, he was outraged and demanded an immediate end to that practice.
Our philistines don't mind spending millions on new walls as long as their name is emblazoned on them, but they wouldn't even spend a penny on textbooks.
*
And now, allow me to recount in my own words a story that I first heard when I was three or four.
A man once said to his servant: “Go to the bathhouse and see if it's crowded.” The servant does as he is told and sees a long line at the gate of the bathhouse, but he also observes on the path leading to the gate a rock to which everyone bumps and hurts his foot, until one man takes it upon himself to clear the path. Upon his return to his master, the servant says: “I saw only one man by the gate of the bathhouse, sir.”
End of story.
*
I once asked the lawyer of a national benefactor why do they support a regime that is a vipers' nest?
His reply: “If we don't support the regime, we will not be allowed to help the people.”
“You mean to tell me they will let the people starve and freeze? You mean you are supporting a bunch of blackmailers?”
I got no answer to my question, only a curt: “I am not talking to you!”
*
Moral I: When our Panchoonies and Jack S. Avanakians build schools, the chances are the teaching will be done by lesser Panchoonies and Avanaks.
*
Moral II: In a crowd of Panchoonies and Avanaks, you cannot always count on a single human being to do what must be done.
*
Moral III: From a vipers' nest, all you will get is more vipers.
#

[Crimson Glow]

Re: elegy

^^ I rest my case.

[Gavur]

Re: elegy

Sunday, September 6, 2009
***********************************************
A VIPERS' NEST
(Parental guidance is advised)
********************************************
We now have a new definition of patriotism: “To make the Homeland a better place to visit.” To that end, we spend millions building new villages, highways, churches, museums, hotels, and schools on the assumption that new schools will bring forth new Armenians, and better classrooms will generate greater intellects.
*
I am myself a product of an Armenian education, that is to say, an authoritarian educational system in which the emphasis was respect for and obedience to authority. I don't remember a single mention of human rights, the right to dissent, and the value of free speech.
*
When during the Soviet era a politician from Ottawa visited one of our schools and discovered that some of the textbooks used there were of Soviet provenance, he was outraged and demanded an immediate end to that practice.
Our philistines don't mind spending millions on new walls as long as their name is emblazoned on them, but they wouldn't even spend a penny on textbooks.
*
And now, allow me to recount in my own words a story that I first heard when I was three or four.
A man once said to his servant: “Go to the bathhouse and see if it's crowded.” The servant does as he is told and sees a long line at the gate of the bathhouse, but he also observes on the path leading to the gate a rock to which everyone bumps and hurts his foot, until one man takes it upon himself to clear the path. Upon his return to his master, the servant says: “I saw only one man by the gate of the bathhouse, sir.”
End of story.
*
I once asked the lawyer of a national benefactor why do they support a regime that is a vipers' nest?
His reply: “If we don't support the regime, we will not be allowed to help the people.”
“You mean to tell me they will let the people starve and freeze? You mean you are supporting a bunch of blackmailers?”
I got no answer to my question, only a curt: “I am not talking to you!”
*
Moral I: When our Panchoonies and Jack S. Avanakians build schools, the chances are the teaching will be done by lesser Panchoonies and Avanaks.
*
Moral II: In a crowd of Panchoonies and Avanaks, you cannot always count on a single human being to do what must be done.
*
Moral III: From a vipers' nest, all you will get is more vipers.
#

I like this alot