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  • Re: notes / comments

    Thursday, March 29, 2007
    *******************************************
    Victor Hugo: “The smallest animals are the greatest vermin, and the smallest minds have the greatest number of prejudices.”
    *
    Keith Duckworth: “It is better to be un-informed than ill-informed.”
    *
    We like to forget that the Armenian elite at the turn of the last century in the Ottoman Empire was divided between the optimists and the realists. The optimists (i.e. the revolutionaries) prevailed and survived to write their version of the story. What happened to the realists? I suspect they became so disgusted with their adversaries and their campaign of deception that they went underground where they or their offspring continue to live, unlike the offspring of our “heroes” and “statesmen” who carry on their campaign of deception. In this connection it is worth mentioning that General Antranik shared the disgust of the realists and at one point he went as far as declaring the revolutionaries to be war criminals who deserved to be hanged.
    *
    For more on this subject see Pars Tuglaci, THE ROLE OF THE DADIAN FAMILY IN OTTOMAN, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL LIFE (Istanbul, 1993); and the second volume of Gourgen Mahari’s memoirs titled MANGOUTIUN (Childhood), (Yerevan, 1967, page 228).
    *
    For a more panoramic view of events under discussion see also Philip Mansel’s CONSTANTINOPLE: CITY OF THE WORLD’S DESIRE, 1453-1924 (London, 1995).
    *
    A typical passage in Mansel’s book reads: “In 1914 some Armenians helped Russian troops in Anatolia against Ottoman Forces. There was an Armenian rising in Van. In Constantinople itself some Armenians were seen gloating over the first Russian victories. The Committee [of the Young Turks] decided on a policy of extermination. In Anatolia, between sex and eight hundred thousand Armenian men, women and children died during deportations, epidemics and massacres (many thousands of Turks and Kurds also died in the same region during the war). From Constantinople itself 2,432 men, the elite of the Armenian community, were deported. Among them Krikor Zohrab, deputy for Constantinople, who had given shelter to Talaat during the counter-revolution in April 1909. Few were seen again.”
    Elsewhere we read: “Some Armenians hoped for a massacre in the belief that it would provoke the intervention of the great powers.”
    And: “In 1895-6 both the Sultan and the Armenian revolutionaries treated the Armenians of Constantinople as pawns, without regard for human life.”
    #

    Comment


    • Re: notes / comments

      Friday, March 30, 2007
      ***************************************
      NOTES AND COMMENTS
      ************************************
      It is the emotionally involved more than anyone else who are in need of impersonal and objective advice, and they are the least appreciative of it.
      *
      Idiotic arguments can be contradicted even by an idiot.
      *
      Mirna Douzjian: “PATRIOTISM. A justification for racism. 2. A sentiment that is inborn in all exemplary Armenians.”
      *
      Socrates was silenced because he insulted the gods. Solzhenitsyn was silenced because he insulted Stalin. It’s always the same story. Just because they are on top, they think they dwell on Olympus.
      *
      Henry de Montherlant: “Blessed are my enemies for they will not betray me.”
      *
      Jean Daniel: “Even in the best of cases, power degrades those who exercise it.”
      #

      Comment


      • Re: notes / comments

        Saturday, March 31, 2007
        *******************************************
        PERSISTENT BUGGERS
        *******************************
        A politician’s most valuable possession in his image, and his central concern is his power. But he will never tell you that. That’s why everything he says is as distant from reality as propaganda is from truth. This applies not only to their politicians but also to our own, and in general to all politicians regardless of race, color, creed, tribe, and ideology.
        *
        We shouldn’t believe everything we read in the papers. Neither should we believe anything politicians tell us. As when their side expects us to believe they acted in self-defense even when they massacred unarmed civilians; and when our side tells us they did whatever they did in the interest of the people, even when they were too busy saving their own skins to defend a single victim. These musings occur to me while reading Antonia Arslan’s SKYLARK FARM, translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock (New York, 2006).
        *
        THE VOICE OF TWO ARMENIAN POETS
        ***********************************************
        Narine Avedian:
        “I have not yet written
        A single poem
        On the heroic past
        Of my nation.
        Neither do I feel like writing
        On what’s going on today.”
        *
        Armen Shegoyan:
        ”The past: what is it to me?
        Meaningless lines,
        Infinite sorrow,
        Not much faith.
        *
        A FRENCH THINKER SPEAKS
        ***************************************
        Nicolas de Chamfort: “In France they leave alone those who set fires and persecute those who sound the alarm.”
        #

        Comment


        • Re: notes / comments

          Sunday, April 01, 2007
          ********************************************
          MADAME BOVARY AND STALIN,
          OR IMAGINATION AND REALITY
          ********************************************
          Krikor Zohrab: “My code of ethics: Between the real and the imaginary, choose the real; between truth and falsehood, choose truth – at all times, everywhere.” And yet, (the two saddest words in the English language, it has been said) he imagined Talaat (his future assassin) to be his friend. So much so that, at one point he went as far endangering his own life to save him from the secret police of the Sultan.
          *
          Aristophanes ridiculed Socrates, Aristotle contradicted Plato, and Churchill insulted Gandhi. Only fascists believe themselves to be beyond criticism; and only the fascist in us sees no merit in any comment or observation that may be remotely critical of our limitations, prejudices, misconceptions, and fallacies.
          *
          We are products of oppression and victims of tyrannical regimes, and “oppression corrupts everything it touches, even the highest moral virtues” (Zohrab).
          *
          Some of the greatest blunders in the history of mankind were committed because tribes, nations, and empires, very much like Don Quixote and Madame Bovary, confused imagination with reality, or propaganda with truth.
          *
          Any piece of writing that demands our full agreement or assumes to be beyond criticism is fascist. A writer ought to know better than to demand subservience from his readers.
          *
          The emotionally involved cannot discriminate right from wrong. They can only think in terms of you are either with me or against me.
          *
          So far it’s been our propaganda against theirs, and as long as propagandists are in charge, nothing will change. That’s because propaganda and progress are mutually exclusive concepts.
          *
          The recently deceased Henri Troyat (real name Tarassov, some say Torossian) explaining why he never visited Moscow, where he was born: “In my dreams, the snow is always whiter.”
          #

          Comment


          • Re: notes / comments

            Monday, April 02, 2007
            ************************************
            IN DEFENSE OF GOD AND COUNTRY
            ************************************************** *******
            Shortly before he died, one of our elder statesmen called from Los Angeles to inform me that Gostan Zarian had been his neighbor and that he had not bothered to make his acquaintance because he had been warned by fellow partisans that he (Zarian) “khentin megn eh” (he is a nutcase); and like all partisans who divide mankind into them and us – “them” being aliens, and “us” being trustworthy sources of knowledge – he had trusted the judgment of his fellow partisans more than his own. If I am not mistaken, it was Thoreau who once compared this type of mentality to that of swine in a barn on a cold day.
            *
            The Turks massacred unarmed civilians in defense of god and country; and our partisans today silence dissidents and massacre ideas for the same reason. What Armenians and Turks share in common with the rest of mankind is the certainty that they will never be exposed as brainwashed idiots, and if exposed they will not plead guilty as charged, because if they are guilty, so is the overwhelming majority of mankind; because at one time or another every nation on earth has slaughtered civilians and silenced critics in defense of god and country. Or, in the words of a Turkish political leader in the White House, as quoted in one of our weeklies: “Armenians are our Indians,” meaning, you (Yanks) massacred Indians, we massacred Armenians. If we are guilty, so are you.
            *
            Every country is someone’s homeland; every idol is someone’s god; and everyone’s god is the only true god. It follows, as long as idiots are in the majority, the world will have no peace.
            #

            Comment


            • Re: notes / comments

              Tuesday, April 03, 2007
              ***************************************
              WHO IS MINDING THE STORE?
              ***********************************************
              One of the nicest Armenians I know is half-Azeri.
              Some of the most ardent Armenian nationalists, from Abovian to Zarian, married odars.
              One of our elder statesmen once told me there are men in key positions within our organizations who are not Armenians but Turks – they speak fluent Armenian, they deliver patriotic speeches, they write fiery anti-Turkish commentaries and editorials, but they are Turks.
              In his memoirs, a former KGB agent now living in America writes, there are several KGB plants within the higher echelons of the ARF.
              Fact or fiction? I don’t know and I have no way of knowing. On several occasions I have myself been accused of being a member of several nefarious anti-Armenian outfits by readers who may only pretend to be Armenian because they bear such surnames as Mamikonian (of Chinese descent) or Bagratuni (xxxish).
              After reading Khorenatsi, an odar friend expresses astonishment at the fact that most Armenian kings, queens, princes, princelings, and princesslings were not Armenians but Persians and Assyrians.
              There is a well-known French writer of children’s books whose name is Mamikonian, but as far as I know she doesn’t write about Armenians and she is not involved in Armenian affairs.
              Henri Troyat (real name Tarassov or Torossian), prolific French novelist and biographer, is identified as a Russian in all French reference works. I remember to have read an interview with him in which he denies his Armenian identity -- I am informed by a fellow Armenian that more recently he had denied his denial. But the fact remains that he had no interest in his Armenian identity or in Armenian history and culture, and throughout his life he did his utmost to stay away from Armenian affairs.
              And then there are our bosses, bishops, and benefactors.
              Zarian on bosses: “They have been of no political use to us. Their greatest enemy is free speech.”
              Baronian on bishops: “Do you want to dine and wine to your heart’s content every day? Be a bishop.”
              Raffi on benefactors: “Our capitalists are the most corrupt and degenerate members of the community. Nothing good can come out of them. These people worship only money. They are men without a country. They belong to no nation on earth. Profit is their only homeland.”
              Were Raffi, Baronian, and Zarian Armenians? I don’t know and I don’t care. I only know they were honest men, and I am more than willing to embrace an honest man as my brother even if he happens to be a Turk.
              #

              Comment


              • Re: notes / comments

                Wednesday, April 04, 2007
                *********************************************
                THEN AND NOW
                ****************************************
                Levon Pashalian (1868-1943): “A familiar figure in our collective existence is the prosperous and arrogant community leader who, by obstructing the path of all those who wish to reform and improve our conditions, perpetuates a status quo whose sole aim is his own personal profit and aggrandizement.”
                *
                Shirvanzadeh (real name Alexander Movsessian: 1858-1935): “The narrow partisan line that is espoused by our press is the enemy of all literature.”
                *
                Until very recently our writers analyzed us. We now have a generation of academics, pundits, and self-appointed defenders of the faith who do nothing but analyze Turks.
                *
                Anyone can be a victim, no merit in that. Getting over it, that’s different.
                *
                There is a type of mediocrity who resents anyone who is not a lesser mediocrity.
                *
                Praise heard a thousand times is not enough. Criticism heard only once is already more than enough.
                #

                Comment


                • Re: notes / comments

                  Thursday, April 05, 2007
                  **********************************************
                  VICTIMS AS VICTIMIZERS
                  ************************************
                  Armenians as victims: I will let more competent and qualified men than myself to deal with that aspect of our history and identity. Armenians as victimizers: that’s what I propose to explore here.
                  If you are one of those brainwashed dupes who believe, since Armenians can do no wrong, they cannot victimize anyone, allow me to quote two well-known and highly respected sources who cannot be said to be dissidents or anti-establishment critics because, in addition to being members of a political party, they were on friendly terms with a good number of establishment figures in both the Homeland and the Diaspora, among them several bosses, bishops, and benefactors.
                  Antranik Zaroukian (1912-1989), poet, novelist, critic, editor: “They speak of the cross and nail us to it again as they speak.”
                  Hagop Garabents (1925-1996), novelist, short story writer, essayist, and Voice of America broadcaster: “Once upon a time we fought and shed our blood for freedom. We are now afraid of free speech.”
                  In our context, to be afraid of free speech means, anyone who dares to deal honestly and objectively with facts is ruthlessly silenced and alienated on grounds of anti-Armenianism.
                  To those who say, at least we don’t victimize others, only ourselves, I say, that’s because the weak cannot victimize the mighty; the weak can victimize only those who are weaker; in the same way that capitalists do not exploit fellow capitalists, only workers.
                  Before I rest my case, allow me to quote Zaroukian again: “What kind of people are we? What kind of leadership is this? Instead of compassion, mutual contempt; instead of reason, blind instinct; instead of common sense, fanaticism.”
                  Contempt, blind instinct, fanaticism: that sounds to me less like Armenianism and more like Ottomanism.
                  And now, listen to one of those silenced and alienated writers speaking:
                  Stepan Voskanian (1825-1901): “For thirty-five years I did not write a single line in Armenian. I was treated so shabbily by my fellow Armenians that I could not help hating everything that I held dear as a young man; and since I was starved by my own countrymen, I had to write in French in order to survive.”
                  Next time you lament our victims, I suggest you remember all our victims, not just a fraction of them.
                  #

                  Comment


                  • Re: notes / comments

                    Friday, April 06, 2007
                    ****************************************
                    ON OPTIMISM
                    *******************************
                    After contributing an optimistic commentary to one of our weeklies, a friend writes: “I wonder, was I deceiving myself and my readers?”
                    *
                    ON INTELLECTUALS
                    **********************************
                    Our intellectuals (so-called), whose function is to expose the lies of propaganda, the double-talk of speechifiers and sermonizers, and the shenanigans of those in power, now allow themselves to be feted by bishops, awarded grants by benefactors, and hired by bosses, all the while shedding crocodile tears over our martyrs. “Danger, danger, danger!” (Zarian).
                    *
                    ARMENIAN ETIQUETTE
                    ***********************************
                    I have spent a lifetime trying to understand my fellow Armenians. After reading a line or two, a Jack S. Avanakian thinks he has me all figured out as an enemy agent. No one can combine loudmouth stupidity with ignorance and arrogance to the same degree than a phony patriot or a brainwashed dupe “whose tongue is sharper than a Turk’s yataghan.”(Zarian again.)
                    We have an expression: “We are all Armenians here!” meaning, “Why bother with conventional rules of etiquette when we can revert to our Ottoman ways?” Or, “Why stand on ceremony and say ‘I disagree’ when you can kick him in the groin?”
                    *
                    ON REVOLUTIONARIES
                    **********************************
                    Our revolutionaries (so-called) are now bourgeois reactionaries whose number one concern is keeping up with the Joneses. The only revolutionary thing about them is their fiery speeches. We have another expression, “chartel, peshrel!” -- literally, “slaughter and smash!” -- that describes the daring of a speechifying revolutionary.
                    #

                    Comment


                    • Re: notes / comments

                      #
                      Saturday, April 07, 2007
                      ***************************************
                      ON THE STUDY OF HISTORY
                      *******************************************
                      There are people who study history to prove themselves right and everyone else wrong, and there are others whose purpose is to learn what happened and to understand why it happened. What have we learned from our history? That we are the first nation to convert to Christianity, and the first nation in the 20th Century to be subjected to ethnic cleansing. Which proves that (one) we are better than anyone else, (two) everyone around us is either a bloodthirsty barbarian or a conniving bastard, and (three) everyone who disagrees with us is anti-Armenian.
                      *
                      Once in a while I too am called anti-Armenian. If true, then I have some bad news to impart: there are a great many of us out there. So many in fact that all resistance is futile and unconditional surrender is the only option. But I believe the true anti-Armenian is he who thinks his understanding of the past is right because he is infallible. If you are one of them, I say:" You want to understand Turks? Begin with yourself.
                      *
                      In movies, a happy ending is a happy ending. In life, it’s more likely to be an unhappy beginning.
                      *
                      Paul Eluard: “The inspiration in a poem is nothing; its power to inspire others is everything.”
                      *
                      André Malraux: “Being a king is idiotic; making a kingdom – that is what counts.”
                      *
                      Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “Name a gentleman and there will be at least twenty people who will tell you he is the son of a scoundrel.”
                      #

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