notes / comments

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Monday, May 28, 2007
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FROM PROPAGANDA TO PROPHECY
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To a man of faith who believes in his particular ideology or religion, propaganda is not propaganda but a selfless act of generosity, and more particularly, that of sharing the truth, the only source of enlightenment, and the good news. When Cardinal Aghajanian was Vatican’s propaganda minister, the word propaganda was not used. What was used was “propagation of the faith.” Not a faith, but the faith, the implication being, there is only one true belief system, one truth, one god, one messiah, and one church.
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Armenians have disagreed with one another for centuries and they will continue to disagree until the end of time -- if they survive that long. Nothing new in that. What’s new is the verbal abuse. When confronted with the option of saying, “I disagree with you,” and verbal abuse, some of my readers choose verbal abuse. That’s another symptom of our Ottomanism.
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According to Sayre’s Law (after American political scientist Wallace Sayre): “In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the stakes at issue.”
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I think it was Nietzsche who said, if you speak too much about fools you are liable to become a fool yourself. One could also say, if an Armenian speaks too much about Turks, he is liable to become a Turk himself, or rather his conception of a Turk, that is, the lowest form of animal life.
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Prophecy consists in adding two plus two and coming up with the obvious answer.
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[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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THREE BOOKS
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The three books I am reading are EINSTEIN: HIS LIFE AND UNIVERSE by Walter Isaacson (New York, 2007), PLATO’S REPUBLIC: A BIOGRAPHY by Simon Blackburn (Vancouver, 2007), and WEIMAR IN EXILE: THE ANTIFASCIST EMIGRATION IN EUROPE AND AMERICA by Jean-Michel Palmier, translated by David Fernbach (New York, 2006).
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Walter Isaacson, the latest biographer of Einstein, belongs to the André Maurois school of biography, which consists in reading everything that has been written on the subject, quoting the most important and revealing lines, and abridging and paraphrasing the rest.
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Simon Blackburn, the author of the second book on Plato, admits in his introductory notes that he does not particularly care for Plato, which is why he gives as much space to Plato’s critics (of which there are many) as to his admirers (of which there are many more). The result is a balanced and objective assessment of one of the most influential books of all time.
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When Hitler came to power, some of the greatest intellects in Germany, among them Thomas Mann, Freud, and Einstein, chose exile. The very famous, like the three mentioned above, survived the ordeal of deracination, but many others, among them Stefan Zweig and Mann’s son, Klaus Mann, committed suicide. I cannot help thinking that, had Hitler been more tolerant and democratic, very probably he would have won the war, and I would now be writing these lines in German. One could say that, long before Nazi Germany was defeated by the Allies, it committed suicide. Something similar could be said about the suicidal tendencies of all anti-democratic power structures, including our own today.
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[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF TURCOCENTRISM
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It preaches to the choir.
It reminds the victims of their past victimization thus reinforcing their status and identity as perennial victims.
It misleads them into thinking they can be victimized only by foreign powers, never their own.
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Is there a single Armenian leader today whose words can be quoted and believed?
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The bigger the ego, the more fragile its structure, and the more uncertain its future.
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It took me many years to realize that I can change nothing and no one, but I go on writing the way an atheist goes on praying only because he was taught to pray as a child.
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Irving Howe on Sholom Aleichem: “He ridiculed their pretensions, he mocked their vanity, and …the irony of their claim to being a Chosen People.”
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[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Thursday, May 31, 2007

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NOTES / COMMENTS

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A good nationalist believes to lie in the name of patriotism is morally superior to speaking the truth.

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When man goes out in search of God, he is sure to come face to face with the devil; and when he speaks or acts in His name, the chances are he does so in the name of the devil.

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We study history not to prove ourselves right and everyone else wrong, but to learn from our blunders.

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Since identity is an abstraction, all kinds of absurd claims are made in its name. Some of these claims may be relatively harmless but others, such as claims of racial, moral, or intellectual superiority, have been the source of much misery, including wars, massacres, and genocides. “I know better,” is very probably one of the most dangerous assertions one can make.

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Those who are most in need of advice are the least receptive to them.

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The Turks and our leaders have combined forces to turn us into pillars of salt.

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[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Friday, June 01, 2007
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REFLECTIONS
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The unstated aim of propaganda is to make you feel good about yourself. Hence its popularity. Literature has no interest in that direction.
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When a charlatan calls me a charlatan, I conclude that (one) he knows the meaning of the word, and (two) he has too large an ego to suspect he may qualify as one.
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To allow a past crime to define your future is to consent being permanently at the mercy of the criminal.
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Jean Francois de la Harpe: “In France, the first day is for admiration, the second for criticism, the third for indifference.” Among Armenians, there are no first days.
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Colette: “If you are incapable of magic, you should stay out of the kitchen.” I suspect what she had in mind was not the kitchen but literature.
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Einstein: “I am a deeply religious nonbeliever.”
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What made Einstein great was his refusal to accept the word of established authority and to reject all obvious answers as final.
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[Armenian]

Re: notes / comments

Where politics enter, propaganda is sure to follow

This is like me saying: Where the self-proclaimed "philosopher/poet" Ara enters, self-hate and stupidity is sure to follow...

A Mekhitarist scholar and the foremost Armenian medievalist once told me the Battle of Avarair, the most famous battle in our history, never happened. It’s not just propaganda but pure fabrication by a pro-Mamikonian chronicler. True or false? Draw your own conclusions (or confusions).

The only confused one here is you.

The self-hating "Catholic" in question must sure know that they say the same thing about the God he worships. They say the same thing about the Christ he worships. And they say the same thing about and all the saints of biblical tradition and many famous secular leaders of medieval Europe.

So, the question remains: Why did the fool in question choose to question an Armenian hero/saint? And why did the fool hearing it accept it as gospel? The answer: Self-hate.

Some idiots claim Vardan Mamigonian never existed primarily because there is no surviving archival material found within Persian sources that reference the battle of Avarayr. However, taking into consideration the vast amounts of archival materials that have been lost or destroyed throughout world history especially within the region in question - this "revelation" is not major news to those with brains, a healthy sense of objectivity and self-pride. Nevertheless, when so-called Armenians choose to propagate such stupidity it is quite revealing of their low-intellect and self-hate. Having said that, even if Vardan 'never' existed - I would still defend his name, his message, his deed - to the death. All nations need heroes and saints.

We like to say that if and when the Ottoman archives are opened we will have access to the truth. A Turkish friend tells me the same about Tashnak archives. It seems the Tashnaks have consistently refused to open their archives to scholars. True or false?

Had you taking into consideration what Turks did to the Armenian race in the first place - you would have realized why the Dashnaks had to do what they did. Frankly speaking, the Dashnaks did not do early enough as they should have done against Turks and self-hating Armenians.

And your severe form of self-hate is simply breath taking.

I plead ignorance. I wasn’t even aware of the existence of these archives.

Yes, we all know how ignorant you are.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Saturday, June 02, 2007
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ON PROUD ARMENIANS
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Speaking for myself, I prefer humble Armenians, if only because we have many more reasons to be humble than proud.
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The word denialist is applied to those who refuse to acknowledge the reality of the Genocide. It could also be applied to Armenians who deny the fact of their Ottomanization.
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I was brought up to see religion and patriotism as noble concepts, but I know now that they are noble only when applied to fundamentally decent men. In the hands of a dupe who cannot think for himself, both God and Country may become instruments of intolerance and oppression, and ultimately justifications of war and massacre.
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After accusing me of being a foreign agent, one of my readers identifies himself as “a proud Armenian.” There is a type of chauvinism and paranoia that are unmistakable symptoms of fascism.
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In the presence of someone who identifies himself with a group – be it tribal or religious – I feel like a potential victim, someone who some day, given the right combination of conditions, may be killed in the name of God and Country.
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A “proud Armenian” is not just a single person but a fraction of a lynch mob.
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[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Sunday, June 03, 2007
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MEMO TO OUR PUNDITS
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You will never write a single decent line as long as you think your readers are lesser men, perhaps even naïve dupes like yourself.
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Since we don’t know everything there is to know – no one does – let us agree to listen to one another on the grounds that we may become aware of facts that so far have escaped our perception; and by one another I don’t just mean Armenians and Turks, but also Armenians and Armenians, or rather, Ottomanized Armenians and human beings, who place their humanity above their tribal or partisan loyalties. It is therefore to our advantage to treat our adversaries not as mortal enemies but as future friends.
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Changing our perception of the past is as good as changing the past.
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My writings are perceived by some as anti-Armenian. I reject the label. I am critical of certain Armenians because I see them not as Armenians but as by-products of Ottoman culture.
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What we learn from defeats and failures we may unlearn from victories and successes.
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If the atomic structure of the universe proves the existence of God, the atomic bomb proves the existence of the devil, or the other face of God, the one we pray to every day with the words, “Do no lead us into temptation.”
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[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Monday, June 04, 2007
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WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE
CANNOT BE DESIRABLE
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Tolstoy: “Aren’t we all of us flung onto this earth to hate and torment each other?”
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You cannot reason with someone who is infatuated with his own infallibility.
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Since dead-end controversies that are destined to remain unresolved to the end of time have become an integral part of our collective existence and mindset, the chances that we will ever reach a consensus with the Turks are “as dark as the prospects of an honest politician” (Chandler).
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If we assume consensus to be to our mutual advantage, willingness to compromise becomes not only inevitable but also necessary, because the alternative – negotiating without compromise – is not negotiating but imposing one’s will on others. Only the mighty may impose their will on the weak. To those who say, “If we have truth and the world on our side, we might as well have God on our side, and who could be mightier than the Almighty?” May I remind them that the world was on our side in 1915 too, and that what motivates the world is not truth but self-interest. As for God: unlike our pundits, I am more than willing to admit that not being an authority on the subject, I am in no position to make any pronouncements in His name.
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If on the other hand the Turks compromise and make concessions, our side will simply escalate their demands. It follows, our self-righteous and dogmatic defenders of the faith will do their utmost to never resolve our differences with the Turks. Because, if they are ever resolved, they may run out of their favorite subject and may even be condemned to irrelevance -- not a pleasant prospect for monomaniacal megalomaniacs.
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[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Tuesday, June 05, 2007
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ON NATIONALISM
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As far as I can see, the only reason nationalism is popular with some Armenians is that it allows them to divide the nation into nationalists (the good guys) and anti-nationalists (the lowest form of animal life).
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If nationalism is a good thing, was it good for the Germans, the Turks, and in general all fascist regimes that claimed to be nationalist? Can anything that divides us be good? If Armenian nationalism is good, can we say then all non-Armenian nationalists are bad? If that which divides us is good, does it mean, that which unites us is bad? There is only one thing that unites us, the Genocide. Does that mean by killing us the Turks did us a favor?
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We hate to be deceived, and yet, self-deception is the most widely practiced form of deception. Nationalism teaches us to brag by asserting our uniqueness and superiority to all other nations. If we are unique, that’s because all nations are unique. To confuse uniqueness with superiority is the height of self-deception.
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The flattery of brown-nosers: what is it worth?
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