notes / comments

[Lucin]

Re: notes / comments

Lucin,

I am Armenian.

I'm sorry freaky but in a different thread you said that you are an Ethiopian who speaks makur Hayeren.

You are from Iran correct, Lucin? Please identify the most accomplished Armenian male ballet dancer. No, Baryshnikov is not Armenian.

So what? If someone born after the Revolution cannot identify a ballet male dancer, what does that make her?
Besides, Armenian culture is not represented by one single individual.

Do you really think Armenians in Armenia know about contemporary Armenian figures in our diaspora communities?

If the famous Diasporan Armenian figure you are talking about, be it a ballet dancer, a footballer or an actor- has not contributed in one way or another to Armenia, if he is representing another country in the international arena and bringing fame and pride to the country where he lives and not Armenia, then why the hell Armenians in Armenia should know him or care?

We, Armenian, as a group, do not know about ourselves and the whole of our accomplishments within the last century.

You are being an ara baliozian here, freaky. It's not that we Armenians do not know but our world is like that; it applies to all people and specifically to the hasarak khav which constitutes the majority everywhere.

But again, it's not the case in Armenia yet. So let's seperate Hayastantsis living in Armenia from Diasporan Armenians living in foreign lands. An average Armenian from Armenia is much more literate, intelligent and cultured than an average Diasporan Armenian. And it's them who are representing our culture neither Arab Armenians nor American Armenians... And I assure you that their celebrities are not wedding singers...

[freakyfreaky]

Re: notes / comments

I don't see Shimon Peres meeting with any Armenian archbishops. But, Madonna... that's another matter.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/15/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Madonna.php

http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/15/people/main3263983.shtml?source=RSSattr=Entertainment_3263983

As for Khrimian Hayrig, there is a book published and written in Armenian that states that he sought counsel with my maternal-great grandfather.

Do you really think Armenians in Armenia know about contemporary Armenian figures in our diaspora communities?

That's why you a proud Armenian are unable to identify Armenian male ballet dancers.

Heck, you probably didn't know the concept existed or that Armenians could excel in such an artistic discipline.

My position was and is that we Armenians are unable to impress upon others of our identity because we are unable to relay it as our base of knowledge of ourselves is fragmented with geographical and chronological gaps.

Do you dispute that?

We, Armenian, as a group, do not know about ourselves and the whole of our accomplishments within the last century.

As for my identity, save the psychoanalysis for yourself.

As for Ara, if he is the same person who is mentioned at http://www.molorakfilms.com/web/inde...d=50&Itemid=30

Then, apparently he runs with some pretty prominent colleagues. For instance, Mr. Guzelian, Ms. Armani, Mr. Gasparyan, etc.

[Armenian]

Re: notes / comments

Here, in the U.S., I can tell you that my impression having lived here in the community is that Armenians hold their priests and wedding singers in high regard and they are considered our 'celebrities'.

Stop your BS, freaky. And who do the "Americans" hold in high regard? Micheal Jackson? Puff Daddy? Madonna? Sean Penn? Britney Spears? Howard Stern?

Besides, the Armenian diaspora is hardly a litmus test for "Armenian" culture. I suggest you bring examples from the Armenian Republic instead. Of all the many-many-many famous Armenians that get celebrated in Armenia only a few are clergy - Khrimian Hayrik, Gomidas and Vazgen Catoghikos. And non of ethnocentric literature there has anything to do with Turks or the Armenian Genocide.

I suggest you learn something about Armenians before opening your mouth...

Do you think these congressional members were really impressed by the Archbishop??

Yeah, why not? They seem to be impressed by bible pounding Bible Belt Rednecks, Buddhist Gurus and Rabbis - why not be impressed by real Christan Archbishops?

Who is this guy and how is he the representative for thousands of Armenians in the Western U.S?

How can a "Ballet Dancer" be our representative? The Armenian-American representatives in the United States reflect the character of the Armenian-American community. You also obviously have some serious emotional issues regarding your identity. However, you are in the right place, perhaps the resident "writer/intellectual" Ara can help you.

[freakyfreaky]

Re: notes / comments

Lucin,

I am Armenian.

My father was a prominent artist in Iran.

My uncle was a prominent artist in Iran.

I live in California.

Here, in the U.S., I can tell you that my impression having lived here in the community is that Armenians hold their priests and wedding singers in high regard and they are considered our 'celebrities'.

You are from Iran correct, Lucin? Please identify the most accomplished Armenian male ballet dancer. No, Baryshnikov is not Armenian.

Lucin, you don't even know about famous or accomplished Armenians from your own country.

Here, ANCA advertises that an Armenian archbishop meets with Congressional members on Capitol Hill. http://www.anca.org/press_releases/p....php?prid=1318

Do you think these congressional members were really impressed by the Archbishop??

Who is this guy and how is he the representative for thousands of Armenians in the Western U.S?

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Sunday, November 18, 2007
********************************************
SCHOOLS OF CRITICISM
*************************************
We have three popular schools of criticism: (i) the verbal-abuse or hoodlum school; (ii) the censorship or shut-up-he-explained school; and (iii) the commissar school. All three schools are based on the assumption of self-assessed superiority in wisdom, morality, and patriotism.
*
If I were to paint myself all white and my adversaries all black, who would believe me? My guess is, not even my friends. If I were to say I am always right and those who disagree with me always wrong, who would agree with me? Not even myself, for I know better than anyone else my limitations, prejudices, and blind spots. Why is it that some of us find it so difficult coming to terms with the fact that we are more or less like everyone else, including our enemies?
*
For six centuries they shaped our destiny, which also means our worldview and character. During six long centuries they re-created us in their own image -- not as masters but as subjects. And our subservience was so total that they declared us to be their most loyal subjects. I once asked one of our pundits, who like all self-appointed pundits is convinced just because he is Armenian he knows all there is to know about them and us, why would they massacre their most loyal subjects at a time when their very existence was in peril? He gave no answer and shortly thereafter accused me of refusing to answer my critics.
*
My critics: do I have them? What is a commissar if not a master whose word is law? And his word is law because a master is never wrong.
*
At least two readers have taken me to task recently for quoting too many dead writers, the implication being that it would be better if I were to rely on the wisdom, patriotism, morality, and authority of living charlatans.
#

[Lucin]

Re: notes / comments

I suspect Armenians don't know enough about themselves to write about it and share it with others.

No, freakyfreaky. I suspect some Armenians have nothing to do, no life but to go around and "criticize" everything Armenian.
I know you are not Armenian and have probably not familiarized yourself with the Armenian literature but needless to say, that we have such a harust and hnamya literature which is not "turcocentric" so I suggest you not take seriously such absurd comments made by our 'Ara Baliozians'.

What's more, if you take a close look at different literatures; almost all of them be it Armenian, Persian, French or Russian, at some point are influenced, to a degree by their country's history, ups and downs. This is quite natural. So I don't get his point.
By stating such absurd comments, he just proves his sense of "objectivity", his ignorance of literary works and literature in general.

(And ironically, Turks and their primitive barbarian attitudes have 'inspired' more, the non-Armenian writers ( such as French, English, Persian, etc.) to picture them in some of their works.)

[Armenian]

Re: notes / comments

I suspect Armenians don't know enough about themselves to write about it and share it with others. That's why you have those that are not famous or celebrities claiming to be so without any resistance from the public. As for us, our wedding singers and priests are our celebrities. Such a pity.

I don't think so freak, speak for yourself. Wedding singers and priests? WTF are you talking about? There is a lot written about Armenians by Armenians, it's just that self-hating vermin in our society tend to disregard and/or belittle such literature as "ethnocentric." And a lot of the material written is printed in Armenia and it's in Armenian. When was the last time to sought after such materials to read? Some of you seem to readily absorb anything and everything that happens to be written by non-Armenians as gospel. So, in life you find what you seek and you attract people that tend to be of your kind. If you are surrounded by low lives, or if the only thing you see around you are low lives, its time to take a close look at yourself...

[freakyfreaky]

Re: notes / comments

I suspect Armenians don't know enough about themselves to write about it and share it with others. That's why you have those that are not famous or celebrities claiming to be so without any resistance from the public. As for us, our wedding singers and priests are our celebrities. Such a pity.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Saturday, November 17, 2007
**********************************************
IDIOSYNCRASIES
***********************************
Americans love to write about Americans – American history, politics, wars, presidents, American music, art, theater, movies, American cities, American wildlife, and so on. The favorite subject of the French is of course the French – what else? The Germans write mostly about Germans, Italians about Italians, and Greeks about Greeks. But Armenians prefer to write about Turks. On the day we develop a school of group psychology, I suspect our Turcocentrism will be their first topic of study and analysis.
*
To reject one of my arguments a reader once wrote: “In this context history, reality, and facts are irrelevant,” thus exposing another one of our idiosyncrasies – namely, our preference to operate within a realm of fantasy and wishful thinking. Since reality is beyond our reach, we prefer manipulating abstractions.
*
We produce more artists, writers, pundits, historians, political leaders, bishops, chiefs, vodanavorjis and mdavoragans than we have any use for. And yet, we wallow in a sea of mediocrity. How to explain this idiosyncrasy? I suspect there are as many explanations as there are Armenians – so what else is new? My own take is an American cliché: Too many chiefs, no Indians. Too many commissars of culture, no culture.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Friday, November 16, 2007
*****************************************
REFLECTIONS ON PROPAGANDA
************************************************** ******
About Orizio’s book on dictators (mentioned above): without exception, all of them, including the most psychopathic, homicidal megalomaniacs, like Idi Amin Dada, portray themselves as selfless superpatriots dedicated to the welfare of the nation. Such are the dangers of self-assessment.
*
“Realism implies seeing ourselves as we really are and the world as it actually is,” I read in the Op-Ed page of our paper this morning. One could say that the aim of self-assessment and propaganda consists in making us see ourselves as we are not and the world as it is not.
*
The beauty of propaganda is that it is invariably positive, hence its popularity. The offensiveness of criticism is that sometimes it is right.
*
One of the big lies in all propaganda is its refusal to identify itself as propaganda.
*
Propaganda makes two false claims as if they were self-evident truths: (one) you are morally superior, and (two) those who disagree with you are wrong. Both claims are false because the morally superior do not as a rule assert any kind of superiority; and disagreement or dissent, or contradiction, is an essential ingredient in all dialogue.
*
To silence dissent in the hope that it will fade away is an empty illusion. All dictators silence dissenters until they are themselves silenced by events over which they have no control. Churchill put it best when he said a dictator is like a man riding a tiger, and the tiger is getting hungry.
*
The best and most effective way to silence a writer is to stop reading him. All other ways belong to fascists and fanatics who are afraid to be exposed as bullies and cowards.
*
TURCOCENTRISM & OTTOMANISM
*********************************************
Our Turcocentric pundits are incapable of writing a single line about us without mentioning Turks or without making us sound as if we were a passive extension of their will, thus depriving us of all power to shape our own destiny as free agents. It is almost as if after six centuries of subjection, we continue to think of them as our lords and masters.
#



"Our political parties have been of no political use to us.
Their greatest enemy is free speech"
Gostan Zarian