notes / comments

[jgk3]

Re: notes / comments

I'm curious... What differences were there between ours writers from 1500, 1000, 500 and 100-present years ago respectively? I've never read much Armenian litterature.

[Anonymouse]

Re: notes / comments

*
All undemocratic ideologies and power structures value conformism, obedience, and subservience above freedom and creativity. All totalitarian regimes tacitly subscribe to the Orwellian slogan “Slavery is Freedom.”
#

Actually, that is untrue. Democracies are just as much promoters of conformism, obedience, subservience and a destruction of the will to life and power. In fact, democracies are nothing more than gateways to the totalitarian regimes you are so against. People are all too quick to jump on the democracy bandwagon. Conformism!

And seriously, what isn't conformism? Those who are not conformists and "rebel" end up being conformists of their own. They only end up conforming to non-conformism, a paradox if there ever was one.

[jgk3]

Re: notes / comments

About the conformism part:

It's just like the paradox of a nihilist... Should he really doubt everything, he will doubt the very philosophy he labels himself with. The realm of logic in this case is not sound.

I see no use in pointing out such paradoxes. Let conformism and non-conformism be allowed to describe different things.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

I'm curious... What differences were there between ours writers from 1500, 1000, 500 and 100-present years ago respectively? I've never read much Armenian litterature.

common sense and honesty are constant in all ages.
so is lust for power...and when the two meet, there will always be voices against it. / ara

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Actually, that is untrue. Democracies are just as much promoters of conformism, obedience, subservience and a destruction of the will to life and power. In fact, democracies are nothing more than gateways to the totalitarian regimes you are so against. People are all too quick to jump on the democracy bandwagon. Conformism!

And seriously, what isn't conformism? Those who are not conformists and "rebel" end up being conformists of their own. They only end up conforming to non-conformism, a paradox if there ever was one.

in a democracy you will not be sent to siberia or a concentration camp if you are different -- provided you are of no harm to anyone. in time of peace, that is. in time of war, things may change, as it did for the japenese and italians in america during world war ii...perhaps because democracy is a work in progress and a constant battle against totalitarianism.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Actually, that is untrue. Democracies are just as much promoters of conformism, obedience, subservience and a destruction of the will to life and power. In fact, democracies are nothing more than gateways to the totalitarian regimes you are so against. People are all too quick to jump on the democracy bandwagon. Conformism!

And seriously, what isn't conformism? Those who are not conformists and "rebel" end up being conformists of their own. They only end up conforming to non-conformism, a paradox if there ever was one.

in a democracy you will not be sent to siberia or a concentration camp if you are different -- provided you are of no harm to anyone. in time of peace, that is.

in time of war, things may change, as it did for the japenese and italians in america during world war ii...perhaps because democracy is a work in progress and a constant/endless battle against totalitarianism.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Thursday, July 20, 2006
********************************************
Dante is to Italians what Shakespeare is to the English, Cervantes to the Spaniards, and Goethe to the Germans, and like these writers he has had more than his share of biographers, the latest being Barbara Reynolds, who writes that in his INFERNO this celebrated Florentine portrayed his fellow Florentines “as thieves, usurers, sycophants and sodomites.” As far as I know, no Armenian writer has ever dared to say as much about his fellow Armenians. It is true that near the end of his life Zarian called them “cannibals” but then he was speaking only metaphorically.
*
Nina Berberova (1901-1993) was a prolific Russian writer of Armenian descent who like all wise Armenians (Henri Troyat comes to mind, also Arthur Adamov, and Shahan Shahnour in his Armen Lubin phase) kept a safe distance between herself and her fellow Armenians. The only time she discusses her Armenian ancestors is in her autobiography, THE ITALICS ARE MINE (available in English) where we learn that Goncharov modeled his most famous fictional character, Oblomov, on her great-grandfather. Many of her books (short stories, novels, essays, biographies) are available in a number of languages and continue to be translated today, the latest being MOURA: THE DANGEROUS LIFE OF THE BARONESS BUDBERG, a shadowy character who became notorious as a spy and as the mistress of, among others, Maxim Gorky and H.G. Wells.
*
I am willing to plead guilty to the charge that sometimes I tend to underestimate my fellow men, but only in the sense that I don’t underestimate them enough.
*
Those who violate someone’s freedom of speech do so on the grounds that they know best what’s good for the people, which is what all criminal regimes say.
*
Some of my Armenian critics belong to a school of thought that says, “If I cannot slaughter you, I shall do my utmost to massacre your self-esteem” – all in the name of Armenianism of course, that is to say, Ottomanism.
#
Friday, July 21, 2006
*****************************************
Many years ago I remember to have read an old Mohammedan prayer that goes something like this: “O God, if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; or if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.” Is it conceivable that as a non-practicing Catholic I know more Mohammedan prayers than the mullahs who promise 73 virgins to sex-starved gullible teenagers?
*
It is true that some of the most important questions will forever remain beyond our reach, but we must keep raising them all the same lest we come to terms with falsehoods.
*
Born-again fanatics remind me of the xxxish proverb that says: “Men occasionally find a new truth, but never an old button” – the implication being that sometimes an old button may be worth more than any number of new truths.
*
On more than one occasion I have been verbally abused by born-again readers. To them and to all ayatollahs and mullahs I would like to quote the following passage from Pascal: “The worship of truth without charity is idolatry.”
*
“From good books I learn how to write; from bad books I learn how not to write,” I once read in an interview with a writer. One of our elder statesmen once said to me: “The problem with us is that we don’t have role models.” But where there are no positive role models, there will be negative ones, and from them we can learn how not to behave. In other words, if you are disposed to learn, you will learn; but if you are of the opposite disposition, you are destined to remain an ignoramus.
#
Saturday, July 22, 2006
**************************************
ON OUR HISTORY, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY
************************************************** *********
If you want to understand the history of your people and the cultural forces that went into shaping your identity, forget everything you were taught as a child. I would say this not only to Armenian boys and girls but also to boys and girls of all nations.
*
Individuals may learn to be honest and objective, but not nations, perhaps because there is more fiction than fact in the concepts of nationality and nationhood.
*
Almost everyone who identifies himself as an Armenian today or, for that matter, as a Greek, Turk, Russian, xxx, or Palestinian, comes with a political and ideological baggage that is incompatible with objectivity. Take away objectivity from history and the result is bound to be propaganda.
*
The history of Armenia and the history of the Armenian people, moreover, are not one and the same. Until the Communist takeover the two centers of Armenian cultural life were Istanbul and Tiflis, not Yerevan, which was only a small single-factory town of no importance.
*
Even more to the point: Armenians played a much more prominent role in the Byzantine Empire than in Armenia, and more often than not they adopted an anti-Armenian foreign policy; that is to say, they were more loyal to the Greek Empire than to the Armenian nation. This pattern of conduct followed within the Ottoman Empire and more recently within the USSR.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Thursday, July 20, 2006
********************************************
Dante is to Italians what Shakespeare is to the English, Cervantes to the Spaniards, and Goethe to the Germans, and like these writers he has had more than his share of biographers, the latest being Barbara Reynolds, who writes that in his INFERNO this celebrated Florentine portrayed his fellow Florentines “as thieves, usurers, sycophants and sodomites.” As far as I know, no Armenian writer has ever dared to say as much about his fellow Armenians. It is true that near the end of his life Zarian called them “cannibals” but then he was speaking only metaphorically.
*
Nina Berberova (1901-1993) was a prolific Russian writer of Armenian descent who like all wise Armenians (Henri Troyat comes to mind, also Arthur Adamov, and Shahan Shahnour in his Armen Lubin phase) kept a safe distance between herself and her fellow Armenians. The only time she discusses her Armenian ancestors is in her autobiography, THE ITALICS ARE MINE (available in English) where we learn that Goncharov modeled his most famous fictional character, Oblomov, on her great-grandfather. Many of her books (short stories, novels, essays, biographies) are available in a number of languages and continue to be translated today, the latest being MOURA: THE DANGEROUS LIFE OF THE BARONESS BUDBERG, a shadowy character who became notorious as a spy and as the mistress of, among others, Maxim Gorky and H.G. Wells.
*
I am willing to plead guilty to the charge that sometimes I tend to underestimate my fellow men, but only in the sense that I don’t underestimate them enough.
*
Those who violate someone’s freedom of speech do so on the grounds that they know best what’s good for the people, which is what all criminal regimes say.
*
Some of my Armenian critics belong to a school of thought that says, “If I cannot slaughter you, I shall do my utmost to massacre your self-esteem” – all in the name of Armenianism of course, that is to say, Ottomanism.
#
Friday, July 21, 2006
*****************************************
Many years ago I remember to have read an old Mohammedan prayer that goes something like this: “O God, if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; or if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.” Is it conceivable that as a non-practicing Catholic I know more Mohammedan prayers than the mullahs who promise 73 virgins to sex-starved gullible teenagers?
*
It is true that some of the most important questions will forever remain beyond our reach, but we must keep raising them all the same lest we come to terms with falsehoods.
*
Born-again fanatics remind me of the xxxish proverb that says: “Men occasionally find a new truth, but never an old button” – the implication being that sometimes an old button may be worth more than any number of new truths.
*
On more than one occasion I have been verbally abused by born-again readers. To them and to all ayatollahs and mullahs I would like to quote the following passage from Pascal: “The worship of truth without charity is idolatry.”
*
“From good books I learn how to write; from bad books I learn how not to write,” I once read in an interview with a writer. One of our elder statesmen once said to me: “The problem with us is that we don’t have role models.” But where there are no positive role models, there will be negative ones, and from them we can learn how not to behave. In other words, if you are disposed to learn, you will learn; but if you are of the opposite disposition, you are destined to remain an ignoramus.
#
Saturday, July 22, 2006
**************************************
ON OUR HISTORY, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY
************************************************** *********
If you want to understand the history of your people and the cultural forces that went into shaping your identity, forget everything you were taught as a child. I would say this not only to Armenian boys and girls but also to boys and girls of all nations.
*
Individuals may learn to be honest and objective, but not nations, perhaps because there is more fiction than fact in the concepts of nationality and nationhood.
*
Almost everyone who identifies himself as an Armenian today or, for that matter, as a Greek, Turk, Russian, xxx, or Palestinian, comes with a political and ideological baggage that is incompatible with objectivity. Take away objectivity from history and the result is bound to be propaganda.
*
The history of Armenia and the history of the Armenian people, moreover, are not one and the same. Until the Communist takeover the two centers of Armenian cultural life were Istanbul and Tiflis, not Yerevan, which was only a small single-factory town of no importance.
*
Even more to the point: Armenians played a much more prominent role in the Byzantine Empire than in Armenia, and more often than not they adopted an anti-Armenian foreign policy; that is to say, they were more loyal to the Greek Empire than to the Armenian nation. This pattern of conduct followed within the Ottoman Empire and more recently within the USSR.
#

[jgk3]

Re: notes / comments

looks like you really really repeated yourself this time :P (I made a quick glance, maybe I'm wrong?)

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Thursday, July 27, 2006
***************************************
WHAT I KNOW ABOUT FASCISTS
*********************************************
Under fascism to call a spade a spade and to suggest that two plus two make four may be construed as dissent, that is to say, a capital offense.
*
Under fascism the only way to play it safe is to say what they want to hear and to pretend they know better what’s good for you even if they know nothing about you and they care even less.
*
Fascists will identify you as an enemy not because you are wrong and they are right, but because you dared to disagree with them.
*
Under fascism if you refuse to be systematically moronized you will be called an enemy of the people by enemies of the nation.
*
Fascists preach patriotism, practice the destruction of the nation, after which they blame the rest of mankind.
*
And now a question: knowing what I know about fascists, if you had a choice between living in a fascist Armenia and a democratic Turkey, where would you live?
*
I am willing to concede that people like me improve nothing. But sometimes I am tempted to believe that they may make a tiny -- even if tiny to the point of being invisible -- contribution towards preventing things from getting worse.
#
Friday, July 28, 2006
***************************************
If I were to name the three most incomprehensible things in the world they would be (one) why things exist; (two) why propaganda works; and (three) why do we obstinately refuse to see any inconsistency in preaching Armenianism and practicing Ottomanism.
*
A systematically moronized generation will moronized the next generation with a clear conscience and total unawareness of what it is doing.
*
Russian proverb: “Right is on the side of those who have more rights.”
*
Extremism: a frequently used word these days and to me one of the most annoying, not only for what it stands, which is repulsive enough, but also for what it looks like – excrementalism.
*
“Consciousness cannot go through the same state twice,” Bergson tells us. It follows, whe I say “I haven’t changed my mind” I also admit that I am not in the habit of allowing my consciousness to make a contribution to my thinking, which is a contradiction because objective judgment and logic are operations of the conscious mind.
*
“Loving a human being amounts to killing all others,” Camus writes in his NOTEBOOKS. Patriotism may not amount to killing or hating all other nations, but it may make us less receptive to their humanity.
*
An Armenian who dares to think for himself will make many enemies and very few friends. The same could be said of Turks and in general of all people who view tolerance as a state of mind that may lead to treason.
#
Saturday, July 29, 2006
*****************************************
Saroyan once said that he felt sorry for the Turks. For a long time I couldn’t understand that. But I do now. Saroyan could have added that he felt sorrier for his fellow Armenians for their lack of awareness, for what they have become, and for the way they treat one another.
*
A Turk once said to me, “What about the innocent Turks massacred by the Armenians?” In my reply I said that I have always been on the side of victims and against victimizers regardless of race, color, and creed.
*
I feel sorry for the Palestinians today, but I feel sorrier for the xxxs. If the Palestinian have known oppression for fifty years, the xxxs have known it for five thousand years. When I speak of Palestinians I don’t have in mind their “freedom fighters” or “terrorists,” but the innocent civilians who are double victims – victims of Israelis as well as their incompetent and corrupt leadership; and I have every reason to believe that Palestinians will be better off in a democratic Israel than in their own theocracy.
*
In Chekhov’s NOTEBOOKS we read: “Love, friendship, respect do not unite people as much as common hatred for something.” That indeed is the true tragedy of all defeated and massacred people – the emphasis on hatred in their collective existence and the absence of friendship, respect, and ultimately common sense and decency.
*
Elsewhere, Chekhov writes: “It is better to be the victim than the executioner.” There you have another reason why Saroyan felt sorry for the Turks.
*
It has been said that only the very wise and the very stupid don’t change. No matter how hard I try I see very little wisdom in our past blunders and present conduct. You may now draw your own conclusions.
*
I am not a man of faith and I have every reason to suspect that organized religions have done more harm than good. And yet (the two saddest words in the English language, it has been said), and yet, sometimes I feel an irresistible urge to go down on my knees and pray: “Our Father, Who art in Heaven…”
#