more....
Sunday, November 07, 2004
************************************
We are addicted to bragging and lamenting. But whereas what we brag about (such as Dikran's ephemeral empire) is known, as a rule, only to ourselves, what we lament about (the massacres) is more widely known. Another peculiarity of ours: what we brag about we credit to ourselves, but what we lament about we debit to foreign accounts, i.e. the hypocrisy of the West and the barbarism of bloodthirsty Turkish fanatics.
*
As a child I too was brainwashed to brag until it dawned on me that most people didn't give a damn about us, or they cared about us as much as we cared about the triumphs and tragedies of countless other nations and tribes throughout history.
*
As a child I was taught about the fact that at a time when the French and the English lived in caves and forests like wild beasts, we enjoyed a Golden Age, our translation of the Bible was called "the queen of translations," and our literary works were universally acknowledge masterpieces; until I realized that the overwhelming majority of Armenians couldn't even name a single one of these so-called literary masterpieces.
*
The question that I was never taught to ask is, if we were civilized fifteen centuries ago, why is it that we have today the political awareness of children, that is to say, barbarians living in caves and forests? So much so that, the average Armenian considers anyone who fails to flatter his vanity by recycling chauvinist crapola is a hostile witness and an enemy who should be silenced.
*
To Armenians addicted to bragging, I suggest the following: Brag all you want, provided you do so in the privacy of your own homes and within the confines of your own club of mutual admiration, of which we have many more than a dog has fleas. But if you insist on bragging in public, do so in such a manner as not to be a source of embarrassment to decent Armenians.
*
I define a decent Armenian anyone who is aware of our collective failings, has acquired a more or less objective view of our past, and is thus in a position to decipher the writing on the wall. This type of Armenian may be rare, but he exists. As a matter of fact, I happen to be personally acquainted with some of them myself.
*
Finally, a warning: One of the worst mistakes an Armenian can make is to view our past through the eyes of our own historians. Imagine, if you can, a law that says, when it comes to character witnesses in a court of law, only mothers are qualified to testify for their sons.
#
Monday, November 08, 2004
***********************************
FROM A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
*****************************************
"Bush and bin Laden need each other to stay in power."
*
THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE
COMPLEXITIES OF REALITY
***********************************************
Reality keeps combining factors (of which there may well be an infinite number) constantly. It is impossible to catch up with it or to guess the next permutation.
*
TWO WELL-KNOWN MYSTERIES
**************************************
Why did God, who could have created a perfect world, create an imperfect one?
*
Why do smart people submit their destiny into the hands of dumb leaders?
*
WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?
*************************************
As a rule, this question is asked by men, who neither know nor understand themselves, when they are in pursuit of women, who know and understand themselves even less.
In this context, what could be more reductionist (to the point of contradiction) than the Biblical expression "to know"?
*
WHAT ABOUT MEN?
WHAT DO THEY WANT?
************************************************** *
Writes La Bruyere: "Women have no moral sense, they depend for their behavior upon the men they love."
As for men: they lose whatever sense they may have had at the sight of a well-filled pair of nylons on high heels.
*
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE
************************************
In an environment where everyone lies at the top of his lungs, those who whisper the truth will be ignored.
*
MORE ON WOMEN
***************************
According to Chamfort: "Elles son faites pour commercer avec no faiblesses, avec notre follie, mais non avec notre raison. Il existe entre elles et les hommes des sympathies d'epiderme et tres peu de sympathies d'esprit, d'ame et de character."
(They are made to deal with our weaknesses and stupidity, but not with our reason. Between them and men there exist epidermic sympathies but hardly any spiritual or intellectual interaction.)
#
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
**********************************
IN A FOOL'S PARADISE
******************************
It has been said that men of faith can reconcile themselves to life because they have chosen to live not in reality but in illusion. But illusions being ephemeral, Americans are bound to wake up and realize that they have been bamboozled, hoodwinked and flimflammed by an administration of baloney artists. That's when the excrement will hit the ventilator.
*
RUMORS
*****************
While in Armenia, writes Denis Donikian in his book of travel impressions, he heard the following rumors:
*
"In ten years Armenia lost a million Armenians."
*
The first president [Levon Der Bedrossian] built a villa near Valence, France, with stones exclusively from Armenia."
*
"The population of Armenia today is less than 1,500,000."
*
"The same president had a subterranean tunnel dug beneath his residence to serve as an escape route in case the street demonstrations against him became too hostile."
*
"The sudden death of his brother was actually an assassination."
*
"Whenever a politician is killed, the president gets the blame."
*
"The last catholicos died suddenly of cancer. He was caught trying to smuggle abroad the treasures of the Church. It was this that killed him."
*
"The present catholicos has also been diagnosed with cancer."
*
"In Karabagh, where he comes from, Kocharian was nicknamed the Cobra."
*
"The total population of Armenia today is no more than 1,200,000."
*
"Half of the casualties in Karabagh were killed by a bullet in the back."
*
LINES FROM VOZNI
*****************************
Donikian also quotes the following witticisms from the satirical magazine VOZNI:
*
"In Armenia today, 5% of the population owns everything, 95% owns the rest."
*
"The number of bureaucrats goes up as the number of people goes down."
*
"If some day you dream that you are both rich and in good health, you will better off if you don't wake up."
*
CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
*****************************
In my old age I don't mind admitting that I have been wrong about many things most of my life. Am I right about anything today? Only one thing: even when wrong, I know better - not in relation to others but in relation to my younger self.
#
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
***********************************
FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
*********************************
What we reveal when we brag about survival:
According to Emerson: "There is this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal." Namely, survival at all cost, even if it means practicing opportunism, hypocrisy, treason and betrayal.
*
Whenever I quote someone, I acquire a new enemy. People don't like to be quoted, only praised for their wisdom.
*
If you assess yourself as smart (hubris),
you are sure to act dumb (nemesis).
*
Denis Donikian: "The honors conferred on poets by politicians are the dishonor of poetry."
*
Here is Raymond Aron's explanation of how ideologies are implemented: "Well-supported facts are used to bolster up an ideology simply by omission of other facts, which are equally well established."
*
To have an approximate view of how far we have fallen, all you need to do is compare the writers slaughtered by Talaat and Stalin with today's faceless and nameless scribblers.
*
If you plan to go out hunting tigers, make sure your brother is not working with them.
*
The more patriotic an Armenian, the more Ottoman his vocabulary, style and conduct.
*
It is not necessary to hate your brother in order to assert your love of your homeland.
#
Sunday, November 07, 2004
************************************
We are addicted to bragging and lamenting. But whereas what we brag about (such as Dikran's ephemeral empire) is known, as a rule, only to ourselves, what we lament about (the massacres) is more widely known. Another peculiarity of ours: what we brag about we credit to ourselves, but what we lament about we debit to foreign accounts, i.e. the hypocrisy of the West and the barbarism of bloodthirsty Turkish fanatics.
*
As a child I too was brainwashed to brag until it dawned on me that most people didn't give a damn about us, or they cared about us as much as we cared about the triumphs and tragedies of countless other nations and tribes throughout history.
*
As a child I was taught about the fact that at a time when the French and the English lived in caves and forests like wild beasts, we enjoyed a Golden Age, our translation of the Bible was called "the queen of translations," and our literary works were universally acknowledge masterpieces; until I realized that the overwhelming majority of Armenians couldn't even name a single one of these so-called literary masterpieces.
*
The question that I was never taught to ask is, if we were civilized fifteen centuries ago, why is it that we have today the political awareness of children, that is to say, barbarians living in caves and forests? So much so that, the average Armenian considers anyone who fails to flatter his vanity by recycling chauvinist crapola is a hostile witness and an enemy who should be silenced.
*
To Armenians addicted to bragging, I suggest the following: Brag all you want, provided you do so in the privacy of your own homes and within the confines of your own club of mutual admiration, of which we have many more than a dog has fleas. But if you insist on bragging in public, do so in such a manner as not to be a source of embarrassment to decent Armenians.
*
I define a decent Armenian anyone who is aware of our collective failings, has acquired a more or less objective view of our past, and is thus in a position to decipher the writing on the wall. This type of Armenian may be rare, but he exists. As a matter of fact, I happen to be personally acquainted with some of them myself.
*
Finally, a warning: One of the worst mistakes an Armenian can make is to view our past through the eyes of our own historians. Imagine, if you can, a law that says, when it comes to character witnesses in a court of law, only mothers are qualified to testify for their sons.
#
Monday, November 08, 2004
***********************************
FROM A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
*****************************************
"Bush and bin Laden need each other to stay in power."
*
THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE
COMPLEXITIES OF REALITY
***********************************************
Reality keeps combining factors (of which there may well be an infinite number) constantly. It is impossible to catch up with it or to guess the next permutation.
*
TWO WELL-KNOWN MYSTERIES
**************************************
Why did God, who could have created a perfect world, create an imperfect one?
*
Why do smart people submit their destiny into the hands of dumb leaders?
*
WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?
*************************************
As a rule, this question is asked by men, who neither know nor understand themselves, when they are in pursuit of women, who know and understand themselves even less.
In this context, what could be more reductionist (to the point of contradiction) than the Biblical expression "to know"?
*
WHAT ABOUT MEN?
WHAT DO THEY WANT?
************************************************** *
Writes La Bruyere: "Women have no moral sense, they depend for their behavior upon the men they love."
As for men: they lose whatever sense they may have had at the sight of a well-filled pair of nylons on high heels.
*
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE
************************************
In an environment where everyone lies at the top of his lungs, those who whisper the truth will be ignored.
*
MORE ON WOMEN
***************************
According to Chamfort: "Elles son faites pour commercer avec no faiblesses, avec notre follie, mais non avec notre raison. Il existe entre elles et les hommes des sympathies d'epiderme et tres peu de sympathies d'esprit, d'ame et de character."
(They are made to deal with our weaknesses and stupidity, but not with our reason. Between them and men there exist epidermic sympathies but hardly any spiritual or intellectual interaction.)
#
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
**********************************
IN A FOOL'S PARADISE
******************************
It has been said that men of faith can reconcile themselves to life because they have chosen to live not in reality but in illusion. But illusions being ephemeral, Americans are bound to wake up and realize that they have been bamboozled, hoodwinked and flimflammed by an administration of baloney artists. That's when the excrement will hit the ventilator.
*
RUMORS
*****************
While in Armenia, writes Denis Donikian in his book of travel impressions, he heard the following rumors:
*
"In ten years Armenia lost a million Armenians."
*
The first president [Levon Der Bedrossian] built a villa near Valence, France, with stones exclusively from Armenia."
*
"The population of Armenia today is less than 1,500,000."
*
"The same president had a subterranean tunnel dug beneath his residence to serve as an escape route in case the street demonstrations against him became too hostile."
*
"The sudden death of his brother was actually an assassination."
*
"Whenever a politician is killed, the president gets the blame."
*
"The last catholicos died suddenly of cancer. He was caught trying to smuggle abroad the treasures of the Church. It was this that killed him."
*
"The present catholicos has also been diagnosed with cancer."
*
"In Karabagh, where he comes from, Kocharian was nicknamed the Cobra."
*
"The total population of Armenia today is no more than 1,200,000."
*
"Half of the casualties in Karabagh were killed by a bullet in the back."
*
LINES FROM VOZNI
*****************************
Donikian also quotes the following witticisms from the satirical magazine VOZNI:
*
"In Armenia today, 5% of the population owns everything, 95% owns the rest."
*
"The number of bureaucrats goes up as the number of people goes down."
*
"If some day you dream that you are both rich and in good health, you will better off if you don't wake up."
*
CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
*****************************
In my old age I don't mind admitting that I have been wrong about many things most of my life. Am I right about anything today? Only one thing: even when wrong, I know better - not in relation to others but in relation to my younger self.
#
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
***********************************
FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
*********************************
What we reveal when we brag about survival:
According to Emerson: "There is this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal." Namely, survival at all cost, even if it means practicing opportunism, hypocrisy, treason and betrayal.
*
Whenever I quote someone, I acquire a new enemy. People don't like to be quoted, only praised for their wisdom.
*
If you assess yourself as smart (hubris),
you are sure to act dumb (nemesis).
*
Denis Donikian: "The honors conferred on poets by politicians are the dishonor of poetry."
*
Here is Raymond Aron's explanation of how ideologies are implemented: "Well-supported facts are used to bolster up an ideology simply by omission of other facts, which are equally well established."
*
To have an approximate view of how far we have fallen, all you need to do is compare the writers slaughtered by Talaat and Stalin with today's faceless and nameless scribblers.
*
If you plan to go out hunting tigers, make sure your brother is not working with them.
*
The more patriotic an Armenian, the more Ottoman his vocabulary, style and conduct.
*
It is not necessary to hate your brother in order to assert your love of your homeland.
#
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