notes / comments

[Anonymouse]

Re: notes / comments

I guess I should rephrase then... give him the opportunity to see it my way if he wishes?

Well then, he can't do that, because he is an intellectual, and intellectuals are the most narrow minded.

[jgk3]

Re: notes / comments

Yes, intellectuals can be very narrowminded, and so can we, it just depends on what we're talking about and how important it is to us to feel right about it. I think Ara has repeated something along these lines very often in his writings here... perhaps as a sort of disclaimer?

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Sunday, November 05, 2006
******************************************
ARMENIAN ENEMIES,
TURKISH FRIENDS
***********************************
Is there a single Armenian today who thinks Turks are better than Armenians? Likewise, is there a single Turk who thinks Armenians are better than Turks? This may suggest that nationalism and racism are inevitable facts of life, which we must never give up combating.
No doubt some Armenians are better than some Turks, and vice versa, some Turks are better than some Armenians. Which reminds me of the following brief exchange in Zabel Yessayan’s autobiographical THE GARDENS OF SILIHDAR:
“Dad, is it true that xxxs are bad people?”
“There is no such thing as a bad people, my child. There are only bad men and good men.”
“What about the Turks then?”
“Same with the Turks.”
*
Are Turkish writers today better than Armenian writers? According to the Nobel committee, and now the world community, at least one Turkish writer is better than Armenian writers.
I once heard an Armenian poet and author of several textbooks say that the Nobel committee was a Zionist conspiracy. And immediately after Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize, an Armenian friend, whose patriotism is such that it would not allow him to read “enemy writers,” telephoned to inform me that Pamuk did not deserve the Nobel Prize. But then, with one or two exceptions, this has been said of all Nobel Prize winners.
*
In a recent issue of the ARMENIAN REPORTER I read a letter to the editor that said something to the effect that, if we are better, why is it that hundreds of xxxs have been awarded the Nobel Prize but not a single Armenian? Will this fact convince a single Armenian that xxxs are better than Armenians? I suspect it may have the exact opposite effect by reinforcing the notion that the Nobel committee is an offshoot of THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION.
*
Dissident Turkish historians today have more friends among Armenians than among their fellow Turks. Why should it be different for dissident Armenian writers?
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

it is true, intellectuals, even great intellectuals, can be very narrow-minded...and here i could cite many names. but it is even more true to say that hooligans, bullies, fascists, and racist are, by definition, not only narrow-minded, but also ignorant, dumb, and dangerous! / ara

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

i don't mind admitting that
i don't read everything that is posted on this forum,
perhaps because i have only a limited degree of tolerance for nonsense.
but then, isn't that true of all of us?
as for the fellow here who said that as an armenian he favors armenians over turks, from where i stand, and if your statement contains a single particle of projection, you couldn't be more wrong.

another point that needs to be emphasized:
i have at no time heard a truly decent human being asserting any kind of superiority over another. / ara

[Sip]

Re: notes / comments

Narrow-mindedness is ok when the truth is somewhere still within the width allowed by the mind.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Monday, November 06, 2006
***********************************
DIARY
***********************
Saddam Hussein has been condemned to death. Some see this as a major victory. I can only think of all the others in the Middle East and elsewhere who deserve to hang but who will die of natural causes?
*
We speak too much about Turks and massacres and not enough about intolerance, which happens to be the source of all crimes against humanity; perhaps because, if we speak of intolerance, sooner or later someone may ask, “How tolerant are we?”
*
If you keep asking the wrong questions, you will never get the right answers.
*
Only Armenians who know nothing about Armenian literature think my views are eccentric or anti-Armenian.
*
You cannot reason with men who are against reason.
*
In a cartoon by Wolinski, one Frenchman to another: “On account of Aznavour, Turks are threatening to boycott French goods. That’s not a problem because for some time now France has been producing nothing.”
*
“As an Armenian, I value Armenians over Turks,” a gentle reader writes. I suspect a Mongol will never say, “As a Mongol, I value the company of Mongols over Armenians,” probably because he doesn’t even know who Armenians are. And if swine could speak, no doubt they will say, “As swine, we value swine over jackasses.”
#

[gmd]

Re: notes / comments

Monday, November 06, 2006
***********************************
DIARY
***********************
Saddam Hussein has been condemned to death. Some see this as a major victory. I can only think of all the others in the Middle East and elsewhere who deserve to hang but who will die of natural causes?
*
We speak too much about Turks and massacres and not enough about intolerance, which happens to be the source of all crimes against humanity; perhaps because, if we speak of intolerance, sooner or later someone may ask, “How tolerant are we?”
*
If you keep asking the wrong questions, you will never get the right answers.
*
Only Armenians who know nothing about Armenian literature think my views are eccentric or anti-Armenian.
*
You cannot reason with men who are against reason.
*
In a cartoon by Wolinski, one Frenchman to another: “On account of Aznavour, Turks are threatening to boycott French goods. That’s not a problem because for some time now France has been producing nothing.”
*
“As an Armenian, I value Armenians over Turks,” a gentle reader writes. I suspect a Mongol will never say, “As a Mongol, I value the company of Mongols over Armenians,” probably because he doesn’t even know who Armenians are. And if swine could speak, no doubt they will say, “As swine, we value swine over jackasses.”
#

I realize the way for me to enjoy your writings is to view them as entertainment. So I will do that after throwing a few partying stones at you.


I am not "cultured" I am just a simpleton, I see humans as just another pack of predators roaming this planet. As important as all you intellectuals may be to the greatness of Armenian culture, how I wish our history was filled with more barbarians who recognized the need to protect our hunting grounds at any cost. Then you could all have felt free to practice your mental masturbation in the land of your fathers without any of us having to endure a hyphenated identity.

On tolerance: So easy to be tolerant when one lives in ignorance of the fact that memory and revenge are important human characteristics.

An unclean swine cannot be butchered for consumption, but the unclean Armenian can be butchered so that his wealth can be consumed.

I would not preach hate because I feel it but because I know others need its flames to give them the courage to do what must be done to win. Life is just a game and right now we are losing!

[jgk3]

Re: notes / comments

When our beliefs conflict so severely with those of another, why resort to calling the other one ignorant? What's the use? If we show them all the information in the world that proves our points, they will no longer be ignorant, yet they can still reject your ideas.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Tuesday, November 07, 2006
*****************************************
NOTES AND COMMENTS
*******************************
History is made by mobs that cannot think for themselves.
*
When I knew nothing I believed everything I was told by my elders. Now that I am no longer a child I spend most of my time trying to prove that I am no longer an impressionable idiot.
*
Some of our charlatans have become such experts in their field that they now believe in what they say.
*
Who qualifies as an intellectual? Anyone who has mastered the difficult art of thinking against himself. As for patriots and propagandists: for every intellectual, there are probably a thousand or even ten thousand of them.
*
Once upon a time I espoused every fallacy, prejudice, and misconception I now condemn. I know how hard it is to see one’s most cherished ideas as products of manipulators whose aim is to convince you to kill and die for what they only pretend to believe in.
#